#i know many people are rooting for mike to snap will out of it if any vecna stuff happens and that would be amazing too and i would cry

[madaboutmunson]

Devil Gate Drive

Free Space (Prompt B2 ) Summary: In which Eddie fixes a spooky campfire story that Steve mis told, sending them on a quest for a wish to be granted. Well, once, they get to Devil Gate Drive that is :)

Word Count:12196 @eddiemunsonbingo

AO3 Link ******************************************************************

One thing that is inevitable to happen around a campfire as darkness engulfs the people around it is storytelling. Some stories are to be nostalgic, some to open yourself up to others, but the most popular has to be those spooky stories. Ones to thrill and delight, specifically designed to be the perfect excuse to push wanting hands into holding or open waiting arms into protecting. But some of those tales aren’t just entire works of fiction. Some of those tales are rooted in some nutrient-weak soil of truth, but something keeps that myth alive by a sliver. So that keeps it crawling along and grazing its raw belly to reach a gathering such as this one. It simply needs to continue to be passed along until it can reach the correct listener at the correct time to bring it back to life.

And it is on a late summer night such as this that one such frayed yarn of a legend does just that.

“Welcome to Devil Gate Drive! The demon says as the gates lock behind them!” Dustin completed his story with an evil laugh. His shoulder slumped at the lack of reaction of the party.

A small round of applause emitted from Steve and Robin, but Dustin rolled his eyes and waved them away, folding his arms.

“It was a great story, Dustin!” Will offered kindly.

“Yes, very good. But not a surprise. I heard it before at another party,” El said with a small smile.

Max snorted out a laugh, which was music to everyone’s ears. Having been so long since they heard her express any kind of joy, “Wow! If even El has heard it before, imagine how many times the rest of us have heard it!”

Lucas nudged her in the ribs, which he immediately got flipped off for, “What she is trying to say is. It’s not you, it’s just an old story that gets told a lot. It’s scary the first time you hear it but after, not so much,” he consoled kindly.

“Last time, I ask for recommendations from you!” Dustin glared over at Steve.

“Hey! It’s a great story. Just because this bunch of dickheads don’t know how to appreciate a classic isn’t my fault,” Steve defended, eyeing the ground around the fire.

“I knew I should have stuck to my alien abduction story,” Dustin sulked and shuffled the toes of his sneakers into the dry dirt.

“You had sci-fi, and you let King Dufus-“ Mike started.

“Dingus,” Robin corrected him quickly and then waved him on to continue.

“King Dingus, change your mind to some ancient demon junk?” Mike shook his head, “That’s on you, man.”

“Oh, because your urban legend was so good,” Dustin made a face and teased him.

“Well, at least Will was scared of my story!” Mike barked back.

“Oh yeah. Terrified,” Will added unconvincingly.

Before Dustin could snap back, Nancy clapped her hands, “Well, before this pleasant evening descends into chaos, would anyone like a ride home?” Everyone except Steve and Dustin raised their hands. Steve frowned and lowered Robin’s hand for her. Nancy took out her keys, jingled them and walked to her car.

Robin immediately elbowed Steve in the ribs, “Ow, what was that for?”

“I’m ready to go home, dingus.”

“Yeah, and I’ll take you. Like I always do. You don’t need,” he carelessly waved a hand towards the group departing, “Nancy to do it.”

“Sounds like someone is a little jealous again,” Dustin muttered under his breath.

“Oh, Steve. Jealous? Colour me surprised,” Robin joked, gathering up their trash from around the dying fire, “Honestly, he’s probably just mad everyone didn't love that story so that at the end, he could say he told it to you.”

Steve folded his arms and frowned, “Ah, no, actually. I only told Dustin that story because his other one was lame, and also, what do I have to be jealous about? Nothing. If anyone is jealous around here, it's you two licence-lacking jerks!” 

Dustin shoved the half-empty Pringles cans into his backpack, “Steve, being jealous is one thing, but lying to your two best friends about it is just plain ridiculous. You were being jealous not two days ago and have been making snide comments about it ever since.”

“Jonathan again?” Robin tutted.

“No, actually, it's a new guy, and get this, it's not even Nancy-related.” Dustin chuckled as he gossiped with Robin, who stopped what she was doing and gave him her full attention.

“OK, that's enough. I am not jealous of anyone, not Jonathan, and certainly not some King of the nerds,” Steve laughed.

“Ah, so he admits it then,” Robin pointed a hand towards Steve and turned back to Dustin, “So who is this guy?”

“Oh, you know him,” Dustin smiled mischievously.

“I know a King of the Nerds? I thought that was you honestly, Dustin,” Robin laughed as Dustin mimed out proudly, putting a crown on his own head as she bowed to him, “Hmmm,” she pondered for a second before her eyes went wide with realisation, “Oh, no way! Really?” Robin made the devil horns symbol on her hand at Dustin.

“Really!” Dustin mirrored her actions in reply but stuck his tongue out simultaneously.

“Now, why would Steve be jealous of him?”

“I’m not jealous, ok!” Steve finally exploded, “If anything, he’s doing me a favour keeping you little shitbirds occupied at least one day a week!” Steve said, kicking and chucking things around while he searched the area, “Now, where is that stupid water bottle I told you to keep ready in case of emergencies? Hmmm? In case we needed it? Probably buried under a mountain of shit for easy access, I’m sure.”

“Yeah, I’m not getting a molecule of jealousy coming off you right now, Steve. Not at all. Not one bit,” Dustin said dryly.

“Oh wow. He really is jealous,” Robin started laughing so hard she nearly fell off the stump.

“You know what? I don't even know why I’m friends with you, absolute assholes. You use me like a personal taxi and-and agony aunt service. Then, all the help I give is thrown back in my face. From now on, you can forget it!” Steve said, finally finding the water and failing to unscrew the top on the first try, making Dustin join in with Robin’s laughter.

“Oh, that's right. Laugh it up, you little dorks. And you know something else. My story is a classic! The reason they didn't go for it is because you are an awful storyteller, and you missed out the best part.” Steve said, marching over to Dustin, thrusting the water bottle at Robin to take it from him and open it.

The fire hissed behind them with a metallic jingle and the sound of a zipper in the new darkness they had been plunged into. Steve turned himself to shield Dustin and threw an arm in front of Robin as he hoisted the water bottle high over his head. 

Their eyes frantically searched the darkness to no avail, but they were still adjusting. There is a snap of a twig, and all their heads snap toward it. Then, as a unit, they back up as much as possible.

“He’s right, you know,” came a low voice from the inky blackness, “You missed the best part,” a small flame illuminates a slender face surrounded by dark waves of hair. The flame goes out, and all that is left in its place is the pulsing glow of the end of a cigarette, “You’re supposed to tell them that the entrance can be found right here in Hawkins.”

The three of them relaxed a little, knowing it was just a human and not some demo-creature, but after what happened to some of the town earlier this summer, Steve was still on guard, “Get lost, creep!” he shouted towards the occasional glow but received an elbow in the side. As he turned to complain, he was blinded by the light of Dustin’s headtorch. Once he backed off to save his eyes, the beam of light turned to illuminate the guy who had been talking.

Tall, lanky-looking, all tough fabrics and edges, other than his big eyes and hair. A new idol for at least three of the party to worship the ground of. This was Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson.

“Eddie!” Dustin all but squealed at him as the man covered his eyes with his forearm.

Dustin quickly scrambled his way up higher and provided Eddie with his own spotlight, which made them both grin wildly.

Robin waved a hand in greeting, “Buckley, nice to see you out of uniform,” he chuckled with a nod, and his eyes moved to Steve, who looked like an overwhelmed and unimpressed Mother. His hands on his hips, and his tongue licking his teeth in seething annoyance behind tight lips.

Eddie dropped his head to the side, “Aww, not happy to see me, Harrington?”

Steve narrowed his eyes, “You think urinating on a fire is impressive?” He cleared his throat and looked up at Dustin, but his headlight stayed fixated on Eddie. Steve tensed his jaw and continued, “All you’ve done is filled the air with piss molecules or whatever now. So congratulations, I guess!” Robin quickly covers her mouth with her jacket

Eddie pouted as he began to circle Steve at a slow pace that Dustin’s headlight followed, “Was just trying to help you out, big boy, no need to get so uptight,” the last overly enunciated T he bit into the air between them, and then continues to walk around and observing him.

“I had it under control, thank you. You didn’t even get it all,” Steve complained as he walked over with the water bottle, masking his face with his jacket before pouring the water on the remaining embers.

Eddie wrapped his arms around himself and looked at the ground with a barely repressed smile, ”Duly noted, Harrington. Duly noted.” Eddie seemed to concede as his eyes watched Steve from under his hair.

“I don’t think that last bit would have saved the story, to be honest. They’ve all heard that story before. I probably could have shown them a creepy gate entrance, and they wouldn’t have been even remotely scared,” Dustin complained.

Eddie slowly tore his eyes from the grumbling man at the extinguished fire, “You sure about that, Henderson? It looked pretty damn creepy to me!”

“Wait. It’s real?” A newly intrigued Dustin.

“It’s just a set of random old gates in the woods,” an entirely-over-it Steve interrupted as he kicked more dirt over the fire.

“As real as I am stood before you,” Eddie followed up with an answer of his own.

“Oh my god, can we go see them?” Dustin scrambled down from the stump, excitedly rushing over to Eddie, who reached out and dimmed the head torch down a setting.

An exasperated Steve returned to the group, shaking his head with a laugh, “There is nothing to see unless one of your new hellfound hobbies is gross old gates?”

“D’awww,” Eddie gushed like a kitten had just pawed at him, “he really is jealous of lil’ ol’ me, isn’t he? It’s Hellfire, by the way. H-E-L-L-F-”

If looks could kill, there would have been a crater where Eddie had stood, “OK, last time I go over this. I’m not jealous of you, your stupid little board game club that is mostly math and playing pretend, what ugly bands you are into, or what laws you break daily!” Turning his eyes to Dustin next, he says, “It is literally a set of gates. You can walk right around them. Whatever they guarded is long gone. I’ve been there a bunch of times. It’s stupid.” Steve said condescendingly.

“If it’s so dumb, why did you go there more than once, huh?” Dustin fired back.

An amused smile graced Eddie’s face, “Yeah, why might that be, Harrington?” 

“Yeah, that does seem a little strange, even for you,” Robin said from inside her jacket, which was zipped up over her nose.

Steve mumbled something as he avoided eye contact with the others and kicked at the ground.

Eddie cupped his hand to his ear, “What was that now? Didn’t quite catch it,” he grinned.

“I said because it’s, um, a great make-out spot,” Robin made some grossed-out noises, and Dustin simply sighed. But Eddie continued to wait, seemingly unconvinced by this reply.

“Yeah, because some creepy old gates sound so romantic,” A disgusted Robin replied.

“Hey, it’s foolproof, okay. Everyone knows being a little scared works! That’s why people go on dates to scary movies, not romantic ones,” Steve defended.

“Sound logic. It’d work on me,” Eddie shrugged, shoved his hands in his pockets, and took a few long strides between the two very confused older teens, “So what you are saying, Harrington, is the first time you went there was to make-out with someone and not because of the other part of the story you missed out?”

“Wait, what is the second part of the story?” Dustin asked eagerly, the beam of his headtorch finally leaving Eddie and falling onto Steve.

“It’s not a second part! It's why the couple went to the gates in the first place, and I didn't miss it. It just makes it sound more fairytale than scary campfire story.” Steve corrected matter-of-factly, “How long exactly were you spying on us?”

“Long enough,” Eddie winked at him.

“What is wrong with you?” A perplexed Steve shook his head at the metalhead.

“So you just missed out the original motive for the couple and replaced it with they just stumbled upon it one night walking in the woods?”  Dustin gestures pointedly at the trees surrounding them.

Eddie clasped his hands behind his back and rocked back and forth on his heels, trying very hard to hide the satisfied grin that threatened to break out across his face and send Steve right over the edge.

“Yeah, well, it's certainly more scary than a wish being granted! That's like Aladdin or some little girl’s story.”

“HEY!” Robin complained, and Steve’s face immediately apologised for him, “You know what, maybe we should hear the alternate version and decide, huh? Eddie, if you wouldn’t mind?” Robin sent a scowl at Steve and an equally threatening forced smile at Eddie.

A slight growl escapes Steve, and Eddie claps his hands and rubs them together, “So Harrington almost nailed it, except for in the original story, our pair of high school sweethearts aren’t the perfect match they seem to be, well at least not to their parents. He’s a low-down dirty punk, and she’s a sweet as cherry pie girl next door. They hear that they'll be granted one wish if they make it to Devil Gate Drive, but it will come at a price.” Eddie shrugged one shoulder, “But what price wouldn’t our lovebirds pay for one another to live happily ever after? No price is too high, right?” He spun on his heel and wielded a wicked grin an inch from Robin’s face, making her jump back in fright, “Right?” He says with an evil chuckle.

“So their wish doesn’t get granted?” Dustin asked a slight nervousness in his voice now.

“Oh no. They get their wish exactly as they asked for it. They get to be together forever, and no one can ever tear them apart. Just like they asked,” Eddie smiled over at Dustin.

“So, what's the problem? Happily ever after, right?” Robin asked, pulling Eddie’s focus back to her.

“Well, they had to pay the price, and that may have dampened the forever they were tied into just a little,” Eddie says with a smirk.

“Oh no, did one of them have to die? Or-or become a hideous monster?” Robin guessed as Eddie smiled happily at the listener's engagement and pumped his eyebrows at Steve, who simply rolled his eyes and checked his nails in response as Eddie turned back to his captivated audience. 

“No, something much more simple than that. Just a kiss,” Eddie says simply.

“Is that it?” Dustin throws his hands up, “They kiss one another and get their wish?”

“Not one another, doofus! It's a price they have to pay to someone else,” An irked Steve interjected.

“Still, it's just one kiss, and they get to be all happily together forever. That's easy,” Dustin scoffed.

“Yeah, well, when two people are in love, they shouldn’t be thinking about kissing anyone else! Not for any reason,” Steve snarled, raising Eddie’s eyebrows.

“And now we get to the reason why the story was altered,” Robin gestured both hands towards Steve with a nod.

“No, not that at all,” Steve protested as Dustin and Robin continued to nod knowingly at one another, “And can we not talk about this in front of a stranger!”

Eddie’s surprised expression melted to something compassionate, “In Harrington’s defence, the story does get quite dark from there on. Maybe he thought it might be a little too much for young, impressionable minds to handle. So he wisely gave you the PG remake,” he looked over at Steve, “Right, Harrington?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Steve said with a glance at Eddie and a mumbled thanks.

“So what happens? We can handle it,” Dustin asked quickly. Eddie looked over at Steve again, who shrugged and waved a hand carelessly in front of himself.

“Well,” Eddie began, “The couple decide that it’s worth the price of one kiss. So they go to the gates and approach the demon with their wish to be together forever, and no one would ever be able to tear them apart. He asks who will pay the price, and our little rebel-without-a-cause gent, repulsed by the thought of seeing his girl kiss anyone that wasn’t him, offers to do it himself.” Eddie crouched down to get on the level with his seated audience, “He kisses the demon, and they are free to leave Devil Gate Drive. They return home, their parents accept them, just as they asked, they get married, they get their little picket white fence house, and from the outside, everything looks peaches and cream,” Eddie’s smile grew wolfish, “But behind those doors, a coldness had slowly been eating away at the warmth of their love little by little gradually for years. The Demon’s kiss haunted the man. He would kiss his love, but it was never the same. The spark would attempt to flicker into existence but would quickly fizzle out, and though he tried hard to play his part, she could tell there was something wrong, and she too longed for something else, until finally their love gave out and was no more.”

“What so the end of the story is they just break up? That is a kind of lame ending,” Robin looked disappointed.

Eddie cackled, “Oh no, nothing as easy as a break-up. They could fight and holler all they wanted, but every time one of them tried to leave, suitcase packed, storming out the door,  they’d get to that white picket gate, aaaand,” Eddie clicked his fingers with a sharp snap, “They ended up right back in their little home, all the things they packed unpacked. Trying to make a break for it from work? Nope! Zapped straight back home. Trying to romance someone else? No way! You get the picture.”

“Oh, that is truly evil!” Robin shuddered.

“Well, that's what they get for trusting a demon,” Steve scoffed.

Eddie stood up from his crouched position and opened his mouth, about to say something, when Dustin spoke up, “It’s not the demon’s fault they made a stupid wish without thinking about it. Everyone knows you have to be specific in your wishes. They should have said something like, We wish to be happily in love with one another forever, and no one can tear us apart, and we’ll be together forever. Then, the unhappiness part couldn’t have happened. It’s easy.”

Robin raised an eyebrow at Dustin, who made a face to indicate the idea she just had had also landed in his brain, as they both looked at Steve in unison.

“No! Absolutely not, no way!” he said with as much authority as he could muster and waved his hands in an X shape in front of himself, “Eddie, tell them it's just a set of old gates, and it's too late to be creeping around the woods in the dark looking for them.”

“Well, they aren’t deep in the woods or anything,” Eddie laughed, speaking to Robin and Dustin, but stopped abruptly when his eyes met Steve’s, “but it is late, I guess.” Eddie twisted his rings around his fingers, saying, “I could be willing to tell you what happened last time I went there if, and only if, Steve tells me why he went back a second time,”

“Fine!” Steve said, grabbing Eddie by the shoulder and leading him away from the others. Once out of earshot, he pulled him closer and, in a hushed voice, reprimanded him, “What the hell are you doing? We don't want to encourage them. I’m trying to deter them. You know it's weird out there!”

“Is it? You tell me,” Eddie responded quietly with a smirk.

“Ok, ok. The first time I heard the story, the next day I snuck out to find them, but it was just a set of gates, there was nothing on either side,” Steve shifted nervously from one to the other, “I was just a kid, ok? I believed in that shit, like an idiot,” Eddie looked at him and softly shook his head but stayed silent for him to continue, “So I tried cleaning them. I thought maybe all the ivy and stuff was in the way,” suddenly Steve found himself lost in his memory, of those iron gates embraced in stone that nature was desperately trying to claim back as its own, “And then…I think….I thought…” Steve's words drifted off as did his gaze until Eddie's ringed hand reached up, turned him back to face him, and looked him directly in the eyes.

“And then what happened?” Eddie asked quietly, dropping his hands slowly back to his side.

Steve looked over him, “And then I thought I saw a spark right where the gate lock is, but the next time I came back, it didn't happen, or any of the other times I came back again.”

Eddie’s eyes widened, “A trick of the light, maybe?”

“Yeah, yeah, and we absolutely do not tell those two any of that, okay? I need you to back me up out there. Hawkins is full of weird shit. I don’t want to be chasing after them in the dark, for eaten up by a-” Steve stopped himself quickly, “A ditch, or something.”

“Sure, man. I’d love to help you, but I can’t,” Eddie said awkwardly.

“What do you mean you can’t? You said if I told you-” Steve complained, but Eddie cut him off by softly grabbing his jaw and turning his head to the vacant tree stumps and missing backpacks.

“I can’t help you because our audience seems to have left!”

“Well, at least they can’t have got far or know where the gates are,” Steve says, pushing Eddie’s hand away and quickly gathering his backpack.

“Sure they do!”

“How could they know where they are. I didn't tell them, neither did you, and everyone else thinks it's just a stor….” Steve’s face dropped from condescension to horror, “Oh fuck, the directions are in the story. SHIT!” Steve went from sitting to sprinting faster than he ever had done in track at school before he stopped dead, turned around and shouted back at Eddie, “Hey, are you gonna help me or not?”

“No can do, Harrington, Saturday night is big business for me, got people to see, you know?” He heard Eddie shout back but could no longer see him. Steve huffed and busied himself, trying to remember the story’s directions by the beam of his torch alone.

Dustin and Robin stood before the gate as a glow emitted at the centre of the padlock. Robin instinctively put her arm in front of Dustin, who pushed it away, and the glow folded in on itself to a singular speck of light and disappeared into nothing.

“Goddamn it! What the hell happened that time?” Dustin complained and sat on the floor, resting his head in his hands.

“I don’t know! I don't know!” Robin exclaimed, her hands in her hair, “But I definitely saw it that time. I can’t believe Steve knew about this and didn’t tell us!”

“I know, right? Now that we know that all this upside-down business comes from the lab, we could wish it away. We could have no town deaths, and nothing bad would have happened to Will. I bet we could even throw in Billy not being a complete asshole and, most importantly, that Eleven got the help and friends he needed rather than getting experimented on.”

“Yes, yes! Exactly, we could save everyone, right? The story didn't say how long the wish had to be. It just had to be one wish, right?”

“Riiight,” Dustin said slowly and clapped his hands together, “I know why it didn't work just now,” he said with a big smile.

“Why?”

“Because when you threw your arm out, I thought, ‘I wish people would stop treating me like a kid.’ Maybe the wish has to be unanimous or something. Like the couple in the story, they both wanted exactly the same thing, and the gates opened for them!”

“You genius child!” Robin rushed over and grabbed him by the shoulders, making him giggle. Their laughter became interrupted by the approaching sound of wooden things clanging and knocking against one another. They both gripped one another tightly in fright until the torch light came into view, stopped and was angled up to reveal the shadowed face of a less than-amused Steve Harrington.

“What are you idiots doing out here? Are you both insane?” He hissed quietly when he got close enough.

Robin thumps him first on the arm, “Ow!” Steve frowned, rubbing his arm in complaint.

“How could you hold out on us like this?” She scolded as Dustin threw his own punch on Steve’s other arm with a laugh, which he quickly turned into the frown he was supposed to be wearing.

“I wasn’t holding out anything. One, it doesn't work, and two, after everything we’ve been through the last two years, do you really want to be wandering into some weird gate thing?” Steve gestured at the gates, and as he looked, he saw they seemed to have not changed at all, not since that fateful summer day when he was out here on his own, with only his radio for company.

Two plain iron wrought estate gates were held shut tight by a thick knotted chain and an ancient padlock delicately embossed with filigree. The top and bottom of the gates, absent of post caps, glinted like the sharpened edges of daggers, ready to shred anyone who tried to crawl under or over them. The moss-covered stone pillars that flank them, the hinges embedded in their sides, still stood, a weathered gargoyle on each. 

“Look, we just thought we could undo all the bad stuff that happened, bring back Barb, protect Will and Eleven,” Robin explained, and Dustin gave her a little nudge in the side, “E-Even makes Billy a nice guy, so Max is safe too, and you won't get knocked out. Besides, whatever is beyond that gate is no match for us, not with you along with us.”

Steve looked at their hopeful faces and groaned but tried one last thing, “You heard what Eddie said about wishes. If you aren’t specific, they can be turned against you. This all just could be a trap, so just,” he looks between the two of them, “just let me go first ok? Stay behind me, and if anything goes wrong, anything at all. You run, lock the gates behind you and don't come back, understand?”

“As long as you promise that if you get separated, and you get to make a wish, you stick to the same one, so you can get out too. Deal?”Dustin looked at him with all seriousness, “No Martyr crap.”

“Deal,” Steve said, swallowing hard, “Here,” He reached behind his back and pulled two wooden baseball bats out of his bag and handed them one each, “Just in case.” Steve pulled out a third for himself, his old trusty nail bat. “Ok, let's give it a try.”

Robin and Dustin filled Steve in on the exact wish they had planned out. They stood before the gates, bats braced over their shoulders, ready to swing at anything that came their way. Steve was the first in line.

The padlock began to glow, and the gate hinges creaked as the leaves of the gate moved back and forth, trying to free themselves from their restraints. The rattling echoed through the woods, and suddenly, the glow condensed to a singular orb of light that gently floated to one of the pillars and disappeared beneath the ivy and moss covering it. And with that, the gates creaked back into their normal position. Unmoving and unopened.

Robin rushed toward where the orb had landed. She hurriedly brushed away the plants to get to what was underneath a square brass plaque. She scrambled quickly for her torch and used the light to reveal the inscription.

“Five,” a confused Robin reported back.

“Five what?” The boys replied in harmony, only to be met with a shrug as their eyes followed the light beam to the shining plaque, which looked almost brand new other than the number five that seemed hastily hammered into it.

“Maybe we need two more people?” Steve questioned.

“No, the story had a couple pass through, and when it was just me and Robin, it almost opened too!”

“Maybe it’s….er…” Robin tapped on the gates five times, and when nothing happened, she tried the stone and then the gargoyles, but nothing happened.

She stepped back next to Dustin, who was also busy looking around the gates for anything they might have missed. Then, suddenly, the plaque started to glow.

“Whoa, whoa, what did you do,” Dustin exclaimed, looking Robin over.

“Nothing, nothing! Did you?” Dustin shook his head in reply as they both slowly turned their heads to the shuffling sound behind them.

Steve was doing half of some kind of dance. One hand in the air in front of him as he twisted his heels from right to left into the dirt, quickly stepped around with a twist of his hips, and kicked his leg out to the front and across himself with a triple step, humming something.

“What are you doing? We’re trying to figure out a puzzle here, and you’re what? Dancing?” Robin complained, and Steve stopped dead and looked a little embarrassed.

Dustin tugged on Robin’s jacket, “No look,” The plaque had stopped glowing, as Steve had stopped dancing.

She quickly turned back to him, “Wait, explain to me why you were dancing.”

“Because of the song,” Steve said, looking a little weirded out. He looked at the two blank faces in front of him, “Ok, wow! It's not even that old! The lyrics to the song say, at the age of five they can do the jive down at Devil Gate Drive’, so I tried to remember some jive moves that my Nonna taught me.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Do it again!” Dustin all but yelled, gesturing to Steve’s feet.

“Well, you don't normally do that dance on your own. I mean, you can, but it's usually danced with someone else,” Steve muttered awkwardly and extended his hand toward Robin.

“I am not co-ordinated enough for dancing,” Robin held her hands up with a laugh.

Steve moved his extended hand to Dustin, who sighed but took it all the same.

“Ok, just hold my hands and copy my feet at first, and then if I put our hands up like this,” He hoisted their joined hands together above Dustin’s head, “Just follow the moment of the spin, ok.”

After a few stumbles and an argument about which way he should turn to spin, they got into a pattern of sorts, “It’s working, guys! It’s working. Keep going”

Steve and Dustin, with huge smiles on their faces from having much more fun than they should have, pick up speed.

The glowing plaque creaked and cracked as the glow seemed to warp it until the plaque pieces and padlock finally dropped to the floor. A breathless Steve and Dustin stopped their dance, and as their eyes met, “We tell no one of this, understood?” Dustin said.

“OK, sure. But you should know, you’re pretty good. I wasn’t expecting you to be, but you clearly have some kind of natural rhythm,” Steve complimented his friend.

“Really? You think? Maybe it was because I had such an able leader to follow?” Dustin gushed back, but before Steve could fire back another kind word, Robin made them aware of the new situation.

“Guys, I hate to break up this bonding session, but um, the plaque did fall away, but, um, there is just a new one where it was,”

“Are you fucking, kidding me with this shit right now!” Dustin seethed, “Six, ok, Steve. Is there a line about being six?”

“Yeah, it's, um, something like, ��they get their kicks’, I think,” Steve wracked his brain trying to remember.

Before he could even hum the line a second time to himself, there was a loud clang as Robin kicked hard at the chain holding the gates together, followed by a dull thud of the chain hitting the ground. 

“Man, she is awesome!” Dustin grinned up at Steve.

Robin smiled over at them and stepped back in their first formation as the gates slowly creaked open all by themselves, but what could be seen through them was certainly not the forest that they had not seconds ago been able to see through them. 

Steve carefully stepped forward, his bat ready to swing as he took in the new scene before him. A cold room lined with walls of grey stone, broken up occasionally by some hideously violent scenes depicted in stained glass. The scent of incense and snuffed-out candles fills the air, and directly opposite them is a giant set of solid wooden doors with rusted metal hinges.

“Are we absolutely sure about this?” Steve asked one last time.

“A chance to undo all this shit? To save all those people, to help Will? Yeah, I am one hundred per cent certain. We can all have our old lives back.” Dustin enthused, and that was all Steve needed to get him to step through the gates, but once inside, he found the place completely deserted.

He stayed quiet, hoping to hear the faint rustling of some foe or beastie, but all he could hear was the soft hum of electricity. He shrugged at the other two and walked toward the giant doors opposite. An unusual sensation bristled over him the closer he got to the doors, and it intensified as he reached out his hand.

“STEVE! DO NOT TOUCH THAT!” Dustin squeaked out, and Steve stopped in his tracks as the other two rushed towards him, Robin holding up a handheld mirror and giggling. As he stared into it, he saw his usually voluminous hair standing on end above his head.

“It must be electrified somehow. Hold on. There look!” Steve and Robin followed Dustin’s finger as it traced along the wall following a chunky cable and finally came to rest over a set of three switches, “Anything in your song about things being on or off?” Dustin asked, rushing over to the knife switches on the wall, each sticking out halfway, neither on nor off.

Robin joined Dustin at the switches, but Steve busied himself elsewhere at a table, frantically scribbling and smoothing down his hair.

“Geez, these look straight out of Frankenstein or something. If we pull them all down, that will turn off the power?” Robin said, full of awe, dusting the cobwebs from them and proceeding to flick the webs from her fingers back into the room behind her.

“Well, that sounds like a good first try,” They both got to task pulling the switches into the down position. There is a change in the hum, but when Dustin finds a random nail on the ground and throws it towards the door, a small zap of electricity lights up around the projectile.

“Up?” Dustin questioned, and they pushed all the switches in the opposite direction. Robin tosses something towards it this time, but the same thing happens.

“Well, there are only a certain number of combinations. We can just try them all,” Dustin shrugged happily as Steve shoved a piece of paper in front of them.

“There, those are the lyrics I remember. They’ve helped so far. Maybe if you had them too, I figured that might be quicker?” Steve said, but his eyes were looking over the switches, “So where are we at with these Dracula switches?”

“Frankenstein,” Dustin corrected.

“Yeah, well, whatever,” Steve waved his hand.

“It’s alive!” Robin said suddenly

“Ok, ok, I get it. I mixed up my movies, you guys, geez, priorities!” Steve shook his head, looking up at the switches.

“No, Dingus. The lyrics ‘Come Alive’ twice. Like, it's connected, right. So the first two on and the third one off?” She reached up and pulled the third switch down, 

The hum of electricity died, and for good measure, another metal scrap got hurtled toward the door. This time, it happily bumped against them and dropped to the floor, unfrazzled.

Robin passed the hastily scribbled lyrics to Dustin, who read them over as they moved in the usual formation in front of the doors, which Steve carefully opened as quietly as possible, but the creaking of the doors might have woken up everyone in a ten-mile radius if it hadn’t been for the fact, that none of the people in the vicinity would be waking up any time soon.

The cool night air whooshed through the open doors and hit them full force, making them stumble backwards. Once finding their feet again, they realised they had been in a chapel or church of some kind because at the foot of the stairs out of the building appeared to be a graveyard, split apart by a gravel path that led to another set of gates. On them, something flashed occasionally with light.

“Eyes open, keep close, bats ready, try to move like a ninja. Something doesn’t feel right out here,” Steve whispered quietly.

Steve took the first step down and was treated to a thunk on the back of his head. He whipped his head around only to find a very apologetic-looking Robin, “Sorry, guess that was too close.” She whispered back with a smile.

They continued down the steps and path, careful in their movement and silent as the grave until they reached the next set of gates.

What had been glinting in the moonlight was a beaten-by-the-elements mirror attached to a piece of rope that held the two tall metal gates together.

“What is this like a light thing?” Robin grumbled, angling the mirror around, trying to capture a beam of moonlight to move around the graveyard. Dustin took the lyrics out of his pocket and reread them whilst Steve covered their backs, his head moving from left to right to cover both sides of the path.

“Maybe it's to do with stars, that's right there at the top?” Dustin poked the paper and held it up for Robin.

“No, it can’t be. So far, it's been in order, right? And we just did that chorus-type bit, so we must be on the second verse now.” 

“You know, being scared aside, this has been kinda fun. It’s like an adventure, you know, but less blood and guts and more puzzles, which is preferable when you are very much in the game itself,” Dustin says with a chuckle.

“You know what, yeah, this has been fun, like before all hell broke loose at the mall, and we were figuring out that message.” Robin fondly recalled moving around the mirror and checking the back of it, “Except, of course, this is much easier.”

Dustin made a pained noise, “Why would you say something like that?”

“I’m just stating the facts. Reading song lyrics is not as difficult as translating Russian.”

The ground shook, not enough to knock them down, but enough to have them scrambling for the lyrics again, searching for mirrors, reflections, or anything related to that.

“Uh, guys. How you doing with that gate?” Steve’s voice wavered.

“Nothing yet, but we’re trying to find something to do with mirrors,” Robin said, a little flustered.

“Well, let me help you out there. There isn’t any, so I suggest you try out any other ideas you’ve got because we’ve got company.”

“Company?” Dustin laughed, turning around, only to be greeted by a shambling figure approaching in the distance, groaning, “Shit!” He said shortly and turned back to the mirror.

“Wha-what is- shit!” Robin exclaimed, picking up her bat again, “I’m gonna cover Steve. You’ve got this, buddy!”

Dustin tucked away the lyrics in his pocket and held the mirror in both hands, examining it, holding it at different angles in the light. He even tried cleaning it on his t-shirt, but nothing happened. He took out his torch and shone it directly on the mirror in the hopes that it would illuminate a clue somewhere around them, but what it did instead was light up more of the graveyard and alert the two older teens that it wasn’t just one member of the undead they would have to deal with. The stench in the air and the hands clawing out of gravesites around them made it clear that soon they might be overrun.

“Come on, Henderson. You got this!” Steve coached as he braced himself, ready to swing at the approaching figure.

Bolstered by his hero’s words, Dustin focused back on the mirror, “Come on, there must be something here,” he whispered to himself.

“Uh, Dustin, trying anything would be good at this point,” Robin’s concerned voice increased in volume, followed by the swish of a bat in the air.

“Shit-shit-shit, ok. OK! Maybe I’m overthinking this,” Dustin frantically looked over the gate, and his eyes landed on the rope tying them together. He quickly spun his backpack around himself and rustled in the pockets before finding his Swiss army knife. He flicked out one of the blades and sliced easily through the rope. He tutted at how easy that had been and pushed the now untethered gates, but the gates pushed back and held firm.

“What in the-,” Dustin said slack-jawed as he pushed on the gates one more time with all his might, but the same thing happened.

Behind him, he heard the swishing of bats, “Stay back, you putrid asshole!” Robin shouted.

A grunt from Steve, and there is another swish and a clatter of bones. Dustin’s heart pumped so hard he could hear his pulse in his ears, blocking out the sounds of battle behind him. Frustrated, he held up the mirror and yelled into it with a face of fury, “WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?”

The mirror flew out of his hands so quickly as the gates threw themselves open, “Guys, it's open!” He yells.

“Ok, now listen,” Steve struggles to say with another sound of something rushing through the air, which ends with a clatter and the sound of dry heaving, “Listen,” Steve tried again as he spat on the floor, “Don’t turn back just look ahead, what can you see?”

“It's just, er fields, there is a broken cart, more path and a set of gates with a box in front of it.” Dustin managed but was desperate to take a look behind him. He was trying his very best to just do what he could until they were all safe.

This time, another loud whack filled the air with a squelch and the sounds of Robin coughing and spluttering.

“Ok, that’s good, that's good,” Steve said unsteadily, “I want you to find something to bar the gates, anything, a piece of wood, a rock, the broken cart, anything you can move, then bring it back and shout for me. Got it?”

“Got it,” Dustin confirmed and ran to find the chunkiest piece of broken cart he could find and dragged it back to near the gates, “Ok I got something,” he shouted, with his back pressed up against the wall, head looking directly away from the gates until he hears them slam shut and the wood is wrenched from his hands.

He opens his eyes and can see Robin backed up against the gates as Steve heaves the piece of wood into place. They both looked disgusting, covered in various coloured congealed liquids, intermittently heaving and spitting on the floor, catching their breath. Steve caught him looking over and rushed to him with a big smile on his face as he shook him by the shoulder, “You did so good, dude, So fucking good!”

“I did?”

“You really did!” Steve beamed proudly with a sniff and wiped his nose and mouth with his sleeve.

“Steve, can we save the proud parent routine until we are out of scent radius of these things, please?” Robin warned them.

Steve grabbed Dustin’s shoulder and forced him to walk in front, “Eyes ahead, ok, Henderson? Pick up the pace a little, alright?”

Robin ran ahead of them, and soon their quick walk migrated to almost a jog, “What was back there?” Dustin asked breathlessly.

“Um, you know zombies in the movies?”

“Yeah”

“Well, let's just say those are the My Little Pony version of the real thing.”

“You guys dealt with them easily enough,” Dustin said with a small smile of adoration. He aimed at Robin and then up at Steve.

“Er, well, we dealt with enough to get out of there.”

“What do you mean?”

“Listen, let's save this conversation until we are somewhere much more structurally sound.” Steve looked back, gripped the shoulder of Dustin's jacket, and dragged him along into a run.

Dustin kept his eyes front and saw that the box was not ordinary. The glow from it illuminated Robin's face as she stooped over it, poking it, turning to the gates, and then back to the box.

The box in question was a very particular kind. This was a classic Wurlitzer 2000 jukebox that Robin was flipping through the songs of and pushing its buttons, getting increasingly more stressed, “It’s not Devil Gate Drive, It’s not any songs by Suzi Quatro. Then I tried some songs I liked because I’m the only girl here. I’m just going through the female artists now, trying to figure out who the jukebox queen is,”

There is a crunch and the squeak of the old gates opening again. Frantically, Robin bangs her fists on the jukebox glass, “Come on, what is it?”

Steve hurriedly hip-bumps her out of the way, flicks through the pages and punches in the number. The record arm moves and picks up the record, the gates to their right click open, and the music rings out across the landscape.

Caaaaaaan 

anybody 

find me 

somebody to 

Love?

As they barreled through the gates, they slammed shut behind them. Steve pushed them along until the nature around them began to melt away. Tree stumps started to be replaced by spare tyres, hills by piles of abandoned cars of eras gone by until there was an audible pop behind them, and as they turned, the gates they had just run through vanished. Turning around again, they can see couples to their left and right, just as bewildered as they were, looking around, holding one another tight.

“Queen! Of course!” Robin rejoiced a little more relaxed, though not by much, “But how did you guess the song?”

“Lucky, I guess,” Steve said, urging them forward towards a pounding beat they could all hear. As the piles of scrapped cars and trucks piled higher and higher, almost as tall as buildings, they pressed on until the view in front of them stopped them.

A pit bigger than the Quarry in Hawkins spread below them. This one, however, was barren of water but full of people, specifically couples of all eras and ethnicities, dancing together, huge smiles on their faces that didn't budge as they twisted, jived, waltzed, tangoed, and discoed around the place. Huge bonfires littered the area, making incredible waves of heat flow up and over them almost rhythmically. Above it all, on a rocky outcrop, a creature sat on a gigantic gilded throne at odds with the kingdom of trash and scrap surrounding it.

From that distance, it couldn't possibly be human-sized, closer to giant than anything. Two pointed, warped and twisted double-pronged horns on its head, the bases of which were smothered by hundreds of serpents moving over one another. Its large eyes were aflame as it surveyed the entertainment below, and its evil grin was fanged. Its upper body was bare, showing off the deep red of its toned, branded and scarred torso. From the belt of shackles around its hips and downward was a fur of the deepest black that ended in two large cloven hooves.

And just as Steve had managed to digest what must be the demon before him, the creature snapped its head towards him. He felt it looked right at him, but that must be impossible with the thousands of people here, this far away. Steve stumbled back with fright all the same as the demon threw back its head and unleashed a loud, wicked booming laugh that echoed around them, and the dancing creatures of the pit mimicked it with their own reedy cackles.

“Yep. Yeah. This was a horrible idea. We should just find a way out,” Steve said worriedly as he backed up slowly from sight of the pit but soon found himself coming to an abrupt stop. He turned to see his two friends looking back at him.

“The way back is gone, you saw it disappear the same as we did, and we’ve come this far, Steve. If we can’t go back, we may as well go forward.” Robin soothed and gestured over his shoulder.

“Robin’s right. And this is our chance. This is our one chance to make everything right.” Dustin agreed, holding his hands together like he was in prayer.

“You want to try and have a conversation with that thing?” Steve exclaimed, looking and pointing over his shoulder at the monstrosity that had now stood up to its full height from its throne, “You think that thing is gonna give a crap about Will, Barb, or Hawkins. No! It's gonna take one look at us and eat us like a snack, OK. That thing cannot be reasoned with. Look at it!” Steve protested urgently as a creeping sensation moved up his spine, “We haven't even looked for a way out. There could be hundreds. It's just how we came in is gone, right guys?” He looked for agreement from his friends, but all he saw was the colour drain from their faces, and their eyes travelled up as they were quickly overcast with shadow.

“Your hairy friend is correct, little morsels,” An impossibly warped and deep voice came from above Steve’s head, “There is a way out, but there is but one way to get there.” The demon clicked its deep red fingers tipped with black nails with grain and knots like wood. All four of them found themselves in a room with black rock walls, a hearth to simmering lava that folded over itself, and the remainder of the room contained giant-sized furniture made of silver, draped in black worn sheer fabrics, depicting strange animals and bones, “To make your wish,” The creature says sitting on another throne-like chair at the end of a long table, as it steepled its fingers together, “I trust you have one?”

Steve quickly gathered Robin and Dustin behind him, “Don’t hurt them. It’s my stupid fault we’re here. Let them go home.”

The demon leaned forward and raised its furry jet-black eyebrow to a sharpened point, “Is that your wish? For two of you to go home and one to stay? Strange if you ask me, but it is not my wish to make.”

“No!” Dustin shouted defiantly, “That isn’t our wish!”

“Ah, I see, it is not unanimous. Well, take your time. I have plenty of that. You three, however, not so much,” it smiled impossibly wide, as a few snakes that adorned its head slithered forward to taste the air between them, “but again, that really is more of a you problem, isn't it?”

“Tell me little bird,” It pointed a sharpened nail at Robin, “You are desperately quiet. Do I frighten you?”

“Ye-Ye-Yes,” She barely managed, shaking and clinging onto Steve simultaneously, almost pulling him back with her.

“Ah,” It grinned, “Finally, an honest one among you.” The snakes on its head began to uncoil from around the horns and fall down to and spill over its shoulders, “Is this better?” It asks but stops suddenly, “Ah, I remind you of someone, do I not? HA! Oh, she’s clever, isn’t she,” It laughed loud like bark and clapped its hands together, “I guess the jig is up. So be it!”

Almost like running water over a watercolour painting, this creature began to melt into something new, something they recognised, someone they recognised. Eddie Munson.

Instinctively, Steve lurched forward to attack. Now, the enemy was more his size, but Robin and Dustin held him back.

“Ah-ah-ah, big boy. Don’t be fooled by appearances in this place,” his smile quickly fades to something all the more sinister, “I could still have your insides for dipping sauce with a wave of my hand.” Steve, still vibrating with rage, forced himself to step back.

“Why did you-” Dustin began, but he was quickly cut off.

“Why did I suddenly appear in your lives, befriend you and infiltrate your little party? Well, now that would be spoilers, wouldn’t it? Suffice to say you have access to something I want, and though I have tried my best to get it, my duties here keep me from getting too far. I shall speak no further on the matter, and the feeling I’m getting about your wish, in particular, is that you want to go right back where it started anyway. And that works for me. There is one problem, however,” Eddie puts his hands to the sides of his face in a cutesy way, “The wish still has to be unanimous,”

“It is unanimous. We all want the same thing. Steve just panicked, is all,” Dustin quickly answered. Steve nodded.

“And on top of that wish, that we all get home unharmed, and you keep your evil ways away from all of us!” Robin added with gusto.

“Interesting.” Deep in thought, stroking his chin, he says, “You see me as evil and terrible and scary, and yet, I have been nothing but benevolent. You know, technically. The three of you shouldn't even be allowed in here, a group of three, without a droplet of lust or anything but platonic love on you. That doesn't cut the mustard here, not for me, not for my superiors. We dine on love’s young dream here. So, I bent the rules. I made it a test. A little loophole, if you will, and you two seemed so desperate to get through the gates, and I know how much you would each love a moment in the spotlight, congratulated by your peers, your friends, to be strong, to be intelligent, to be wise.” He got up from his seat and paced around the table, “I even gave you a challenge when you were getting bored of my little games, and then when you got here, I didn't chuck you directly in the pit before discussing your wish. And you have the gaul to stand before me, ungrateful and petulant.”

“You did all of that?” Dustin choked out.

Eddie nodded with a tuneful hum, “Yes. And Steve here has been so desperate to breach my gates for so long. He’s been graciously passing around my legend for nearly a decade now. Isn’t that right, champ?”

Now the colour drained from Steve’s face, his mouth opened to say something, but the words would not come.

“Stories spread like wildfire in the mouths of the young, but more importantly, so does belief. That is why I had to intervene when I heard Steven here twisting my tale. I was disappointed, to say the least. He’s normally so good at the exact details. Sweethearts just end up here without even thinking about it.” He beamed a toothy grin at them, as Steve could barely process the information, “But as I said, this wish is not unanimous. It hasn't been since you got to my gates, and frankly, it is getting a little repetitive saying as much. So, though you are here, you cannot leave. So, I suggest you all try to get on the same page. Do try and hurry along. I mean, I literally have all the time in the world, but I do get bored terribly easily. Especially when I’m not getting all the attention,” he sighed and headed back to his chair, kicking his legs over one of the arms and drumming his nails on the other.

“Wait, if all those people came with the same wish, then why are so many people still here?” Dustin asked.

“Oh, Dustin, you clearly didn't hear the message of the whole story! These sweethearts come here, head full of forevers, and then when they stand where you are, they state their wish. I ask for my price, and they remember the story's ending, don't they? So, being the soft-hearted fiend I am, I make them an offer. They can pay the price, have their wish, take their chances out there, or they can stay here, no price to pay, and stay as in love as they are at that moment, forever.”

“You-you tricked them,” Steve stammered furiously.

“Did I, now?” Eddie lurched forward with a sneer, thumping the table, “Or did I give them a choice? A CHOICE THEY MADE!” Eddie bellowed furiously before quickly shrinking back into a smirk, “Take a look again if you wish, Steve. There isn't a sad face in the house other than you three ingrates. I tire of this. Make your wish. Don’t make your wish. It’s all the same to me, my sweets.”

“If we don’t have lust or romantic love, what is the use in keeping us here? You could just send us home, and we’ll be sure to tell everyone your story properly,” Robin used all the charm she could, and it earned her a side glance.

“Gosh, you are clever, aren't you, birdie,” He swung his feet to the floor and paced over to them, looked each of them over, “That is because you have something far more valuable than mere love. The absolute worst thing you can be in any realm. One of you is…” he made a come hither motion with his finger, which none of them were drawn in by, and yet he still smiled as he breathed out with a gasp of ecstasy, “A traitor.”

The three friends burst into a cacophony of accusations, all being thrown at Eddie.

“That’s impossible. We’re best friends. We’d never betray one another!” Steve shouted adamantly before turning to Dustin and Robin, “He’s just trying to make us turn against one another. Don't listen to him. Just decide the wish, and let's get out of here.”

“MMM mmm mmm, descension is my favourite amuse bouche,” Eddie smiled and licked his lips as he leaned against the table on the heels of his hands.

“Wait!” Dustin shouted suddenly, “Wait! Shut up!” He squeezed his eyes shut with the shout before focusing again on Eddie and holding up three fingers. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Eddie rolled his eyes, “Three! Any other mysteries of the world you wish me to unravel,” he laughed.

“A-ha!” Dustin smiles smugly, “And what t-shirt was I wearing the first day we met?”

Eddie’s face soured, “A "Weird Al" Yankovic t-shirt!” The grimace on his face tightened his lips like he was fighting against them opening.

“Dustin, what are you doing, man?” Steve whispered, pulling him back into the huddle with him and Robin.

“Only busy trying to find a way out of external dancing damnation!” Dustin replied as insulted as possible.

“What? Have you lost your mind?” Steve stressed as he grabbed Dustin and shook him by the shoulders.

“Yeah we need to finalise this wish, the Eddie stuff we will unpack later I promise,” Robin firmly pointed out.

“Listen, you’re both missing the point. I just figured out two things just now. One, That thing has to answer our questions. Two, the answers to those questions cannot be lies. Maybe he can’t lie at all, I don’t know, but anything we ask he can’t lie about.”

“What does this have to do with our wish?” Robin complained.

“That means one of us is lying about wanting this wish. I’m not saying either of you is a traitor, and maybe you have your reasons, but this is our chance to undo everything. Please reconsider.” Dustin pleaded with the older teens.

“Look, we all want that wish to come true. Not one of us wants to have anything bad to have happened to anyone else.” Robin put her foot down, “He’s clearly just trying to over-exaggerate something like Steve not wanting us to come to the gate in the first place. He’s just twisting it. Pitting us against one another,” Steve nodded at her in agreement.

Dustin and Robin looked at one another for a few seconds, and both turned to Steve simultaneously, “It’s you!” Robin gasped as she clasped her hand over her own mouth.

Steve felt his heart race, looking between the two closest friends he ever had. They didn't understand. Yes, it was terrible what happened to everyone, and Steve did want to undo everything, but there was something much more potent at play here. He raised his hands in surrender, and with a cracking voice, he yelled, “Please stop this. I’ll make your deal!”

There was a snap of fingers, and Dustin and Robin, mid-shot at Steve, were frozen in time.

“You know I am really contorting the rules for you now, Steve. The rule is the wish is unanimous,” Eddie purred as he circled Steve with a leisurely stroll, his hands clasped in front of him, not merely adorned with Eddie’s rings but so many others.

“It will be if the other two people can’t think or speak. It only has to be me,” Steve sniffed as he dropped his head in shame.

Eddie’s finger hooked under his chin to raise it, “My, my,” he tilted his head with a soft, adoring look, “He’s smarter than he looks, and let on.”

“It's not smart. It's sneaky!” Steve frowned with a tear threatened at his waterline as he snatched his head away from Eddie’s hand.

Eddie placed his hands over his heart, “Truly, you wound me so profoundly, my beauty. To turn away from the man who has done nothing but your bidding for years now.”

Steve’s eyes turned from sadness to surprise as Eddie continued, “Tonight, I hid your secret until I could no longer. I have my binds, as do we all. But from the moment you sat crossed-legged at my gates, sobbing your eyes out as Freddie Mercury begged me on your behalf for someone to love, did I not give you that in spades.”

“No, you did not!” Steve yelled, “Stop lying! You did no such thing!”

“I DID!” Eddie yelled right in his face, his voice boomed so loudly the room shook, and debris fell crumbled from between the stones to the floor, as Steve turned his face away, “I gave you everything I could. Did your parents not shower you with money and gifts? Did you not suddenly have the eye of most of the people in your school? Did you not become adored by your peers? Did you not become king of your tiny realm?” Eddie gesticulates wildly around the room as he bellows his efforts. He then drops to something quieter, his fanged teeth clenched and his fingers pinched to deliver the final blow, “Did I not find you the woman of your dreams and place her in your very path. In arms reach?”

“Well, you failed,” Steve pinched his nose, holding back his emotions as best he could, “None of them loved me,”

Eddie raised his chin and deeply breathed, “That is not what you asked of me.”

“You can’t love one way. That's not how that works! It’s just another, uh, trick of yours,” Steve waved his hand away as if brushing the past from his mind.

“I gave you what you asked, you had people to love, and as a cherry on top, you had people that worshipped you,”

“But it wasn’t real. It was all bullshit. What I needed back then I found without your help! Robin and-and Dustin, they care about me. They love me!” Steve stepped forward, brandishing his words like a weapon against his foe.

A growl rumbled from Eddie, “You don’t need these kids, Steve. I can give you anything you wish, just as I always have!”

“I do need them.”

“No, you don't!”

“I do. I need them to love me. Without them, I’m nothing,” and that pushed him over the edge. As his tears fell, they hissed and spit as they hit the stone floor beneath him, “And now, because of how selfish I am for it, I will have lost them.”

“YOU DON'T NEED THEM!” Eddie roared, his eyes glowing a deep red as his chest heaved.

“And what of the love I give, hmmm? The love I have given? Always will give. Is that not enough to sate you?” Eddie's eyes ignited. The hellish flames danced in them with jealousy and pure rage. Steve, lost for words, wiped the tears from his eyes. Half horrified and half in disbelief. “You think a creature, such as I, is incapable of such complexities as love. Well, you are wrong! Is a street sweeper not as capable of love as a poet? Can a peasant not woo a prince?” Eddie’s eyes searched Steve’s, his frustrated voice dropping to a whisper, “Can a demon not love the very soul of an earth angel?”

“If you love me, you’ll let us go,” Steve angrily answered back.

Eddie narrowed his eyes, pointing accusingly at Steve, “Is that what you do to things you love, Steve? Do you let them go? Or do you cling on secretly, desperately, until they drop you like a bad habit?”

Steve looked at his friends and back to Eddie, “I’m ready to make my wish.”

Eddie’s eyes bored into Steve’s, his nostrils flared in anger as he pressed his lips together tightly before taking a deep breath, “Very well. Hand over your prized trinket.” he sneered.

Steve frantically patted himself over, “I don’t have a trinket. Whatever that means.”

“What, you're two best buddies who love you so very much, never gave you anything you hold dear?” Eddie snipped.

Steve looked over at his friends again, remembering their times together, side by side in battle, sitting battered and drugged on a toilet floor, getting ready for prom, and that was when the idea came to him. He turned back to Eddie, reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys.

Eddie snatched at them menacingly, holding them up. The flames in his eyes flickered green as he held them in his grasp before pocketing them, “And your wish?” he seethed through gritted teeth.

“I wish to rewind everything to earlier tonight at the campfire, where all my friends and family were safe, and that I never told Dustin or anyone else I care about that story.”

“That's all?” Eddie raised an eyebrow in disbelief, “Not riches, not saving everyone, not throwing me into the abyss?”

“Yes, that’s all.” Steve blinked down at the floor and hung his head ashamed.

“Your wish is my command,” Eddie smirks as he saunters to Steve to claim his prize.

As their lips touched, Steve’s mind went blank. 

All he could feel was a sharp pain in his ribs.

“Hey, Dingus! Wake up. It’s nearly over,” Robin whispered with a huff of a laugh.

“Oh shit. Are you ok? Is Dustin…DUSTIN?! DUSTIN!” Steve called out frantically, only to be met with the annoyed, narrowed eyes of Dustin Henderson to his right at the side of the campfire.

“Is it too much to ask, to have a moment in the spotlight, just once?” Dustin grumbled.

Steve looked around at the others with an awkward smile, “Ha, uh, Sorry guys, real vivid dream.” He sat closer to Robin and took her hand in his as they listened to the rest of Dustin’s alien abduction story.

“Hey, are you alright?” Robin asked as Steve looked around the fire. He bit his lip as his eyes fell over Will, El, Max, and Nancy. The guilt swished heavily in his guts. It was just a dream, he tells himself.

Soon enough, they are packing up. Nancy offered a ride home, and Steve didn't stop Robin from going.

“Hey, looks like it's just the two of us, buddy!” Steve happily pulled Dustin in for a one-armed side hug.

“What is with you tonight?” Dustin laughed, shrugging him off.

“Nothing, nothing, just you know. It was a nice night.” Steve hummed pleasantly as he easily found the water bottle to put out the fire's dying embers and collected up his backpack as he and Dustin walked back down to the car.

By the time they reached the car park, Nancy is still parked in her spot, her hands over her ears as everyone else is arguing over who should sit where.

“Bet you’re glad you stuck with me, huh?” Steve chuckled and nudged Dustin in the ribs.

“No matter what happens down there. No matter who bats their eyelashes at you, I get shotgun!” Dustin said with the utmost seriousness.

“Of course, Absolutely,” Steve beamed as they approached the chaos. 

Dustin threw an arm in front of him, which he almost barreled over, “Are you high? Did you eat like a special brownie or something? Is that why you fell asleep, and since you woke up, you’ve been acting like you fell right out of a Disney musical?”

“No, man. Is it ok for me to be happy for once?” Steve laughed, reaching into his pocket for his keys, “Shit!” he dumped his bag on the ground and started fishing out his torch, only to be blinded by a set of headlights.

A silhouette moved into the beam after a door slam, “Need a ride, Henderson?”

“Eddie!” Dustin beamed excitedly, and Steve grabbed his arm to hold him back, but he just got a frown and shoved for his effort.

Steve’s eyes made contact with Eddie’s. Dream or not, this guy was still a stranger to him. To his surprise, Eddie swallowed nervously as he approached.

“Maybe? Steve here lost his keys somewhere between here and up there.” Dustin gestured into the dark woods.

“Oh really?” With a delighted grin, Eddie said, “Not like Harrington to make a mistake, is it?”

“You’d be surprised!” Dustin laughed, but Eddie’s eyes didn’t leave Steve’s.

“Is there a problem, guys?” Nancy called over as people were finally taking their seats, and Dustin ran over to explain.

Eddie stepped closer, and Steve braced himself for something terrible, but all he felt was him take his hand, “Well, looks like it must be opposite day today, huh, Harrington? Today I get to be the saviour,” his smiled morphed to a smirk as he pressed the keys into Steve’s palm, and began stepping backwards towards his van.

Steve tried to shake it off quickly and held the keys up, “Found ‘em,” He called out before getting into his car and starting it up. Dustin promptly jumped into the passenger seat as Nancy pulled away, and Steve followed swiftly after her, not wanting to stay there any longer than he had to, still shaken and weirded out. 

Steve looked in the rearview mirror at the figure leaning against the van as they got to the exit. 

Eddie shifted, raised his hand to his mouth, and blew him a kiss.

[variousqueerthings]

I’m watching s11 so time to reflect on s10 part 3: Charles Emerson Winchester (the third)

in my first post I talked about personal wants from s10 and about Margaret and wishing there was more of her journey happening (also edited to include the amazing yelling she does in follies)

in my second post I talked about Klinger getting so much more (deserved) focus as time goes on by the other characters, and about how I read that character as one of the only ones that’s got a stable sense of self

and so we come to Charles, who has no stable sense of self at all (lol) -- no, okay that’s not quite true, his love of art and music and food and surgery are very real, to the point that every time he has a love interest episode it’s like he’s more excited about just having someone to talk to, than actually youknow... in romantic lurve (it’s the aroaceness of it all)

Warning about this one: it got really fucking rambly, and I don’t think I reached a conclusion, so just... so unfiltered thoughtwise

where he’s always butting up against himself is the whole “my family expects me to be so and so,” which also informs some part of his snobbishness, but then sometimes people are just mean to him because he’s a weird kid (the irony ofc being that the MASH 4077th consists of weird kids, but alas, such is the burden of being a Foil)

that being said, I do on occasion go out loud “this could never have happened with Frank” and one of those episodes was of course “sons and bowlers” in which he sits with Hawkeye, while he’s desperately trying to reach his dad

I love that they chose those two for this, because it was pretty clear that Charles’ relationship with his father is probably polar opposite to Hawkeye’s with his, and now they’ve really given us that spelled out by Charles I-will-keep-all-of-my-emotions-right-here-and-then-I-will-die Winchester

I was writing that I felt like there was some great stuff with Charles in these later seasons, but actually now I’ve written out his main episodes I notice that for the most part they’re more comedic in nature -- “communication breakdown” (in which he’s just an autistic mood and the others should be nicer to him imo), “snap judgement/snappier judgement,” in which he is a terrible lawyer, but also calls Hawkeye a third rate lothario, which I rate as one of the funniest throwaway jokes of the season, “the tooth shall set you free,” which is a serious episode in which he has the non-serious part, and “pressure points,” in which he and Hawkeye and BJ wage war in the tent (and also Charles is right once again tbh)

where I think Charles really shines is that he’s so embedded in ensemble narratives and also very seldom lets people know anything about him, so when he does have an episode like “sons and bowlers” it uh... bowls you over.... (I hated that)

I may also be biased because I think he’s such an interesting character, but often his comedic episodes are things where I read him at odds to the comedy framing -- that is, for example the autism mood in “communication breakdown,” or the way “the tooth shall set you free” suggests (as many other things do) a lot of questions about his relationship to asking for help, about being vulnerable, and also... dentists. but also those other things! 

I always have mixed feelings about him being the Foil when he’s well passed being considered part of the family, but there’s something wonderful about thinking about him -- abrasiveness as a person + his pride + his self-confidence (sometimes misplaced) + snobbishness  -- and taking all of those traits and making someone one can really root for (Frank could never because Frank never genuinely tried) 

I think a part of it is also that David Ogden Stiers radiates so much warmth and hilarity that it shines over onto Charles (similar to how BJ would not work if it weren’t for Mike Farrell appearing to genuinely be all those things BJ tries to present himself as) 

this has all gotten a bit unfocused, but there’s something I wonder about in terms of how I feel some characters are a tad too underserved (Margaret  and Father Mulcahy) while others are really shining through (especially Charles and Klinger) in these later seasons, what it is that makes them to my mind when I see them

I think with Klinger, Margaret, and Father Mulcahy I was able to write my way to what I feel about them at this point -- there’s also something about Hawkeye that’s hard to sum up in one post. He has genuinely great focus episodes, but he doesn’t get to exist/have fun/be a part of the ensemble without there being drama so much these days, and I feel like sometimes you’re watching a guy who’s already down getting punched over and over 

with Charles it maybe is a lot vaguer, or else I just haven’t ruminated on the point so much, but I do think the balance of him in the episodes -- light-hearted comedic to sudden single Moments that hit you in the face -- is technically good, even as I also think that the ones where he’s “given his comeuppance” are often not related to anything he’s done so badly wrong (was it @genderquer-klinger who wrote a good post about that?) 

in a lot of ways this has been him since the beginning and in that sense s10 isn’t any different -- in my post about the episodes I think were the most fitting for what I needed from a late season (something deeply exploring characters and furthering their relationships with one another/furthering the narrative/going deeper into Themes) I didn’t have any on there that focused on Charles, although “sons and bowlers” was close and the Hawkeye and Charles parts of it are some of my favourite on the show as a whole

as a conclusion to this (and can you tell you’ve been taken through my brain processing, rather than an actual edited post) I think what I need to do on my next watch is note the ways in which Charles exists in episodes from when he first arrives at the 4077th and until the end

have a hypothesis that he’s a character with some episodes that go really hard (I’m also thinking about “the life you save” end s9), but that a lot of him is found more in comedy episodes that “aren’t meant to be that deep” but a bunch of autistics looked at him and went “one of us!” (and.. yeah... that is what happened)

also I was just perusing through s10 episodes again and in “identity crisis” Charles has another one of the subtly funniest moments on the show, I just

[holds tongue depressor]

Charles: tell me do you know anything about anatomy?

Guy he’s about to fuck with: No

Charles [snaps tongue depressor]: Yes, I thought not

I just... cannot... with the comedic timing of him

(also both in that one and in “sons and bowlers” Charles and BJ team up to fuck with someone by making him think he’s sick)

(also also last note to bring it to the notion of “stable identity” + combined with “some of the comedy comeuppances aren’t that funny” I think some of the lack of stable identity read into him also comes from a bunch of us projecting onto him as someone who is deeply repressed about who he is and what he wants, and so often acting against his actual deeper wishes, and that often when he shows more of his real self he gets rebuffed -- and you know, that’s not technically wrong either, the show does have these moments in canon, for example how he talks about his father in “sons and bowlers” -- it’s just that it never becomes a “you know I may not wish to marry/have children at all, also I’m autistic as they’ll call me 50 years in the future” kind of conversation)

[doggytail-duck]

No but imagine if Will gets Vecna’d and what gets him out is Jonathan desperately singing Should I Stay Or Should I Go

Bonus points if the whole party joins in and it’s this whole “look how loved you are, Will” thing

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S1:E2; Chapter Two, The Weirdo On Maple Street - [Pt. 3]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘠/𝘯, 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘴, 𝘋𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯.

|| 𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

"Ready are you? What knows you of ready?" Mike spoke in a voice that was supposed be Yoda's.

Mike had been showing her his room; he was now showing her all of his toys. El gave him strange looks at his unusual voice. He continues in his normal voice.

"His name is Yoda. He can use the Force to move things with his mind, like this." Mike then quickly shoves all of the toys off the table.

"Whoosh!"

Eleven looks around and all sorts of items she had never seen before on Mike's dresser. Mike, had now moved on to his favorite dinosaur toy.

"This is my dinosaur, Rory. Look, he has a speaker in his mouth so he can roar." He turns to show her, only to realize she was now by his dresser and was looking closely at everything in curiosity. He put down Rory and joined her.

Eleven took note of all the things before her; what appeared to be a shiny gold woman with wings and many other figurines like it that stood on wooden platforms.

"Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year. Except for last year when we got third. Mr. Clarke said it was totally political."

El smiled at one of the trophies that read HAWKINS MIDDLE SCHOOL TEAM PROBLEM SOLVING CHAMPIONS, next to it a picture with five kids all holding a large trophy. El recognized everyone. She smiled when she saw the only friend of Mike's that offered to help her; Y/n. He was standing in the middle, one hand holding the trophy, the other one was behind a smiling boy, two of his fingers sticking up making it look like the other boy had bunny ears.

El's smile fell when it dawned on her that she recognized the boy. She gasped silently, her mouth agape. Mike took note of this and watched her carefully as she slowly brought her finger to the picture. Mike watched as finger landed on his missing friend.

He looked back at her in shock. "You know Will?" She didn't say anything, her mouth still open and a very concerned look on her face.

"Did you see him? Last night? On the road?"

Before she could say anything, the loud noise of halting vehicle broke the silence. Mike quickly ran to his window in a panic, his mom was pulling up the driveway.

He ran back over to El.

"We gotta go."

He grabs her hand, yanks open his bedroom door, and drags her down the steps. He halts at the landing of stairs, staring in horror as his mom is at the front door, closing it behind her. Her youngest, Holly was in her arms, and so was her groceries. Before she could see anything, Mike ran back upstairs with El, as quickly and quietly as possible.

Karen Wheeler stopped in her tracks when she thought she heard someone upstairs.

"Ted? Is that you?" She calls out.

"Just me mom!" Mike yelled out frantically as he ran through the hallway.

"Mike? What are you doing home?"

"One second!" He brought El back into his room and lead her to his closet, not before closing his bedroom door.

"In here. I'll be right back, okay?" Mike instructed, slightly out of breath.

El stood rooted in place, fear in her eyes.

But Mike was frantic. "Please, you have to get in, or my mom, she'll find you. Do you understand?" El only looked at the closet, then back at Mike.

"I won't tell her about you. I promise."

"Promise?" She asked, clearly confused.

"It means something that you can't break. Ever." He explained quickly.

"Michael?" Mike's mom could be heard from downstairs.

They both looked to the door, then back at each other. "Please?" Mike pleaded.

El looks between Mike and the closet, unsure before walking inside, and turning to Mike. He quickly closed the door and she began to back up further into the closet, panic setting in.

- 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

"Pop!"

Eleven struggles to break free from the men's hold as they carry her by her arms down, back into the room.

Sobs racked her body as she uses all her strength to turn and look back at Papa.

"Papa!" He steps out into the hallway and remains standing, doing nothing to help her, yet she still calls for him.

"Papa! No!" She screams her throat raw and her legs never stop kicking.

"Papa!"

They round the corner and at the end of the short hallway lays the dreaded room. The cold unwelcoming florescent light floods from the open door. Her resistance becomes stronger and more violent.

"No! No! No!"

Her screams become incoherent when the two men chuck her to the ground, she scrambles to feet in an attempt to stop the copper door from closing. Alas, she is too late for the steel door had slammed shut before her.

"Papa!" She yelled, slamming her palms against the cold copper.

"Papa!" She tries banging her fists, but to no avail.

"Papa! Papa! Papa!" Her screams turn to sobs.

"Papa."

She backs away from the door and retreats to the corner of the very small room where she tucked herself away. Her heart sinks to the floor with her, unable to do anything but curl up in a ball on the ice cold tile.

"Papa." She whimpers quietly.

- ��𝗡𝗗 𝗢𝗙 𝗙𝗟𝗔𝗦𝗛𝗕𝗔𝗖𝗞 -

Eleven backs up until her back hit the wall and she slides down till she is sitting on Mike's floor. She hugs her knees to her chest and allows her sobs to come.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"I just... I don't feel good." Mike was sat, hands folded together on his couch with his mother. He was giving her a false excuse of why he was at home during a school day.

"I woke up and my head, it really hurt bad, and my throat was all scratchy, and I wanted to tell you, but the last Tim's I told you I was sick you made me go to school anyway, and-"

"Michael."

"Yeah?"

"I'm not mad at you."

Mike was surprised to hear this from his mother.

"No?"

"No, of course not." She adjusted herself so that she was closer to her son, grabbed his hand in her's and sighed.

"All this that's been going on with Will, I can't imagine what it's been like for you."

Mike looks down to his lap, taking it in. No one had asked how he was doing with his best friend missing. It was hard. The whole party was worried. He never considered that and it was... refreshing to hear that his mother understood. He looked back at his mother as she continued.

"I just... I want you to feel like you can talk to me. I never want you to feel like you have to hide anything from me. I'm here for you. Okay?"

He nods his head. They both look up when they hear a soft thud from upstairs.

"Is there someone else here?" She asks.

Michael considers what his mom just told him. "No."

"Huh. Weird. Hey by the way, did you do something to my plant out front? It looks amazing!"

"Oh, that? Um, well, no that was Y/n."

"Really? Wow! That's incredible, he needs to tell me his secret. I could really use his help! Say, speaking of Y/n," she nudged her son, a teasing smirk on her face. "Anything going on between you two? Do you like him? Does he like you?" She asked, getting more excited with each question.

Mike's face scrunched up. "Ugh! Mom! He's just a friend! He's, like... my brother! How many times do I have to say that?" He whines.

"You're right, you're right! I'm sorry, my bad." She throws her hands up in surrender. "It's just... you two would be so cute toge-"

Mike stands up from the couch quickly. "Mom!" He interrupts, then sighs. "Thank you for understanding and letting me stay home, it means a lot, really. But I should probably go upstairs now and lay down, okay? Okay. Bye."

He runs upstairs before she can respond, leaving her sitting on the couch, in confusion.

"...Okay," she says to no one in particular.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

Lucas, Dustin and I were biked to Mike's house to meet him there. Once we arrived, he quickly rushed us up to his room. El was sitting on Mike's bed, a blanket on her legs. I remain standing next to everyone else but I give El a smile and a wave. She timidly smiles and waves back.

"Are you out of your mind?" Lucas argued.

"Just listen to me." Mike began.

"You are out of your mind!"

"She knows about Will."

My head snaps up at the mention of him. "What?" I quickly look to El and then back at Mike, my eyes wide.

"What do you mean she knows about Will?" Dustin asks for me.

Mike took a few steps towards his dresser and picked up the picture of all five of us at the science fair.

"She pointed at him, at his picture. She knew he was missing. I could tell."

"You could tell?"

"Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place that Will disappeared?"

"That is weird." Dustin agreed.

I turned and slowly walked over to El, cautiously taking a seat next to her, but still giving her enough space. "Is that true?" I ask in a gentle whisper. She looked me in the eye and gulped, and ever so slightly nodded her head 'yes'.

I chuckle in disbelief and look at the boys hopefully.

"And she said bad people are after her. I think that maybe these bad people are the same ones who took Will."

"Guys, think about it. I think he's right. I think she might know what happened to him." I speak up, hope in my voice.

"Then why doesn't she tell us?"

"Well, maybe she's scared of you two!" I accuse.

"Why should she be scared? I'm tired of this." He walks straight over to her and starts raising his voice.

"Do you know where he is?"

"Lucas..." I warn, my hands subconsciously ball into a fist in anger.

Suddenly he grabs her by the shoulders, shaking her and begins yelling in her face. "Do you know where Will is?"

"LUCAS!" I bark. Standing up immediately, I rip his arms of her, she's cowering in fear. "Dammit man, get your hands off of her! And you wonder why she's scared," I scoffed, crossing my arms.

"She should be scared! If you know where he is, tell us!" She doesn't say anything and she bites her lip trying not to cry. "Lucas! Listen to me. I know you're scared and worried about Will, okay? We all are, but we have to be patient okay? She's scared, she's lost, she probably doesn't know who to trust, we just need to be kind to her alright?" I plead.

"Ya know what? No. There's no time. This is nuts. We have to take her to your mom." He says turning back to Mike.

"No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger." Mike argues.

For the first time in a while, Dustin spoke up, his voice soft.

"What kind of danger?"

"Her name is Eleven?" Lucas asks.

"El for short." Mike corrected casually.

"Mike, what kind of danger?" Lucas pressed, his voice grew significantly louder.

"Danger danger," Mike yelled back.

I look around, breathing heavily as I take everything in. Mike puts his hand up to my brother's forehead in the shape of a gun. Then the same to Lucas. Lucas swats away Mike's hand almost immediately.

Lucas begins to panic. "No, no, no! We're going back to plan A. We're telling your mom."

I try to grab his arm as he stomps towards the door, but he shoves my hand away. He rips open the door, only for the door to be slammed shut all on it's own, making everything around the room shake. We all stare at the door in confusion. He tries it again, but the door continues to slam shut. Then, we all see the lock turn by itself.

'Okay, well... I know I didn't imagine that.'

Simultaneously, we all turn to El to find her standing, blood dripping from her nose giving Lucas quite possibly the sharpest glare I have ever seen.

"No." She states firmly. It's enough to send a chill down my spine.

It's silent for a few moments and I breathe out a shocked chuckle. "That... was the coolest thing I have ever seen."

[princess-of-riviaa]

Claiming

Pairing: Walter Marshall x Erin Quincy (1st person POV)

Summary: You experience your first heat as a brand new shifter. Walter, being the good alpha he is, helps out his struggling omega.

Warning(s): depictions of animal attack, age gap (Erin is 25, Walter is 38), alcohol use, a bit of angsty Walter, dirty talk, possessiveness

Author’s note: This is my first piece of work I made for the ABO Universe. I hope you guys like it!

Word count: 3,931

Two weeks ago, I’d been on a camping trip with my two step-brothers, Scott and Chris, when my life had forever changed. One second, the hiking trail had been clear and safe; the next, some kind of animal was jumping out of the brush and fighting my breakfast sausage out of my hands. I later learned that the animal had been a wolf, but that realization only came when I had my first Shift three days later.

Though the night had escaped my memories, when I woke up in an unfamiliar mansion to an unfamiliar group of faces the next day, they filled me in on the details. The man in front—tall, with deep brown curls that were almost as distracting as his thick, muscular shape—had told me that I had Shifted the night before and ended up on their doorstep. And yes, Shifters—not werewolves, as most fantasy books called them—were real, Walter informed me during my surprised silence.

Walter Marshall—that was the stunning stranger’s name. He was an Alpha of one of the two packs that lived in this mansion, and I was more than welcome to join them. I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around what had become of myself—and I knew better than to hope that my family would understand—so I accepted the generous offer.

I had been with the pack for three weeks now. Winnie Marshall, Walter’s twin sister, was the Alpha for the mansion’s other pack. Walter had found me first—he had actually been the one to stop me from giving into my animalistic instincts on the night he found me, and had been the one to bring me in from the pouring rain—and technically had claim to me. But, because I hadn’t officially been claimed by him, Winnie argued that she had as much right to me as her brother did. So she took me under her wing. She’d explained everything to me, been there in my moments of panic and embarrassment to assure me that everyone goes through this, and it’s not going to last forever.

The only other two people in the house that were my age were two betas. One of them, a young man named Mike (though everyone called him Mikey), was the center of attention at the mansion, though he surprisingly had his eyes set on the quiet girl who loved books. Her name—I met her last, simply because she’d locked herself in the library for a week-long reading challenge—was Amber Connelly. As the only other beta under the age of thirty, she had an… interesting relationship with Mikey. And by that I mean they were both head over heels for each other, though they only ever bickered, and neither of them seemed aware of the others’ feelings. But they never acted on their feelings, and no one ever expected them to, simply because Mikey was Walter’s Beta, and Amber was Winnie’s, and packs didn’t mix, especially if their was a chance of a Claiming.

Claiming—that was the part of all of this that had intrigued me the most. It started with a bite. One person had to bite their partner directly over the heart, hard enough to leave a scar that would be there forever. In another sense, one wolf had to mark their partner as their territory. It was possessive in every sense of the word, and I couldn’t deny that deep down inside of me, I wanted to share that intimate, lifelong promise with Walter.

It was insane for a number of reasons. Not only had I met the Alpha just a few weeks ago, but I wasn’t even officially in his pack, and a Claiming with an Alpha would make me second-in-command. There were a few steps I would be skipping if that happened. Not to mention that Walter Marshall was the only unclaimed Alpha over the age of thirty-five in the entire city, and there was a reason for that. I didn’t know the details, but I knew it had something to do with his past. Our age was another factor. He was almost 40, while I had just turned 25.

And yet, here I was, wanting his mark anyways. He was quiet and reserved enough to make him mysterious, and that only pulled me in more. In the first week I was there, I found any way I could to talk to him, mainly to thank him for giving me a safe place for this new season of life. But he had disappeared with Andy and Charles Barber—two Beta brothers—for an entire week. Winnie had only said that they were taking care of business on the other side of the city, but when the three men came back, there was a darkness to all of them that told me whatever they had been doing… It hadn’t been fun.

Walter was harder to reach in the days that followed. When I would knock on his office door and ask him if he was able to train me today—something both he and Winnie insisted on their packs doing in their daily routine—he would snap and order me to leave, the sound of his growl following me out the door. He apologized for his behavior three days later, and bought takeout from my favorite restaurant to make it up to me, but I still couldn’t forget that side of him. The side of him that turned his soft blue eyes completely black. The part of him that was all animal, only selfishness and cold edges.

And yet, even after all of that, I still wanted him. I’d lost count of the number of times I’d woken up panting in the middle of the night, rising out of a dream of those blue eyes looking down at me as he fucked my throat, making me gag and cry around his cock. The sound of my own moans had forced me awake before dawn this morning. The memory of Walter’s intense gaze holding my reflection’s as he fucked me in the bathroom had followed me all day.

I was still wound up as I made my way to the game room. The smell of alcohol was strong throughout the house. The packs were celebrating Walter and Winnie’s thirty-eighth birthday tonight, and everyone, it seemed, was intent on getting blackout drunk. There were three kegs in the living room. It took Shifters a lot longer to get drunk, so I wasn’t surprised to find that the kegs were already halfway empty by the time I filled a cup for myself.

But I was surprised to find Walter perched on the roof when I made my way up to my regular hiding spot. He didn’t look over at me when I climbed onto the roof, but he didn’t seem startled when I took a seat beside him, and I knew his Shifter senses had probably heard me before I’d even climbed up the stairs that led up here.

“I see you stole my hiding spot,” I remarked as I took a sip of my beer.

“This way my hiding spot first, actually.” There’s amusement in his eyes as he looks at me out of the corner of his eye, but the amusement is only a cover. I note the darker emotion hiding beneath, and I recognize it instantly. It’s the same thing I’ve been feeling since my first Shift.

Loneliness.

“So technically you stole it from me,” Walter continued, giving me a ghost of a smile.

Though the air was light between us for once, I couldn’t stop myself from asking, “Why are you hiding on your birthday?”

He sighed and looked out at the valley below us. The city lights reflected in his eyes, making the blue in them sparkle. He chugged back the rest of his beer before answering, “I’m thirty-eight tonight.”

“So I’ve heard.” The light tone was clearly forced, but I continued anyways. “Congratulations.”

His long fingers parted thick curls before he clutched the roots of his hair and squeezed, looking frustrated and… defeated. “I’m thirty-eight—and I still don’t have a goddamn mate.”

Oh.

I didn’t know what to do. Part of me was more than ready to say, Take me. Claim me. I’ll be your mate. But I knew that was overstepping. I didn’t know how to comfort him.

“Walter—” I began.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t burden you with this. I think I’ve had a few too many drinks.”

We both knew that was a lie. He was too collected to be drunk. Everything—save for his brutal honesty—screamed completely sober.

“I just…” He went on, then stopped himself.

I put a hand on his arm and had to physically force myself not to lean into the warmth of his body heat. When his blue eyes met mine, I nearly lost control. God, I wanted him. I wanted to ran my hands through his hair; wanted to know the way his moans sounded as he filled me up; wanted to feel his mouth on me—

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my mind. “It’s okay,” I told him. “You can tell me.”

He hesitated.

“You’ve been there for me since I got here,” I pointed out. “It’s only fair that I do the same for you.”

His eyes scanned my face, and I got the feeling that he could see into my soul. It unnerved me as much as it made me want to bear myself to him. He finally said, “You don’t owe me anything, Erin. I was being a good Alpha.”

“You let a stranger into your home,” I argued. “That qualifies as more than simply being a good Alpha. There’s other packs in the city, yet you were the only one who opened your door to me. And you’ve let me stay here when you could have just as easily sent me away. You’re not just a good Alpha, Walter, you’re…” I almost said, you’re everything, but I caught myself.

But the way he looked at me… I had a feeling that he heard what I didn’t say.

“And maybe you think I don’t owe you,” I went on, “but I want to be there for you. I want to give you whatever you need.”

His eyes left my face to stare at the hand I placed on his arm. He reached for it, and at first I thought he was going to push me away, but he simply held my hand between his own. He opened my fingers and stared at my palm as if he was going to tell me my future. A thick, calloused finger traced across the lines on my palm. The touch was simple and gentle, but it made me shiver nonetheless.

“I’m the only Alpha in the city without a mate,” he finally admitted. “That fact has never bothered me before. I always liked being on my old. I thought I was better that way. It was enough always having to keep an eye on Winnie; I never had a want for someone else to look out for.”

“But now…?” I guessed there was a “but” in that sentence.

His focus was locked on his fingers as he traced the outline of my hand. Something about the way his rough skin felt against mine… It made heat stir in the pit of my stomach. I didn’t realize I had started to lean into him until there was just a few inches of space left between us.

“But now,” he finally said, and sighed. “Now I find myself wanting something I don’t know if I can have.”

“A mate?” Why couldn’t he have that?

“You.” He finally met my gaze, just as the words clicked in my mind.

Heat made my cheeks burn bright red as I repeated his words. “M-me? What do you mean?”

“I mean I want you.” His gaze was unapologetic, yet the twist of his mouth… I could tell he was fighting some internal battle. “When I first saw you in that back alley, hiding under that shed from the rain…”

I was silent as he spoke, simply because I’d never heard all the details of what had happened that night, and Walter was the only one with that memory.

“I had Shifted too,” he admitted. “The pack Shifts together on full moons. The Omegas and some of the Betas are less overwhelmed by it if we’re all together. But something had drawn me away from the pack, like some string had pulled me out onto the streets…”

Only once he said something did I realize that I did remember a part of that night. It wasn’t a memory of what had happened, but rather… a feeling I had gotten. Like someone had been calling my name and I had gone in search of them.

“I’d never experienced anything like that before,” Walter continued. “And when I found you, shaking from fear and the cold… I knew I had to do something. The urge to protect you was overbearing. So I brought you home. I told myself it just from the intensity of the Shift that I felt like that, but when you Shifted back the next morning… I knew I couldn’t just let you walk away. So I told you to stay, and I knew that if you had said no, I would have done anything to change your mind.”

“Walter…” My voice was a quiet whisper as my thoughts began to race. “Do you think… That feeling… I felt it too. Is that what…”

“What having a mate feels like?” he guessed.

All I could do was nod. Somehow I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear him say it.

“Maybe.” When his gaze met mine, I realized he looked as lost as I felt. “I couldn’t say one way or another; I’ve never had a mate. But if it is…” He finally dropped my hand, only to cup my face and pull me towards him. “Listen to me, Erin. Even if…” He paused, as if he was struggling to say it out loud, too. “Even if we’re mates, that doesn’t mean you have to choose me. You can walk away. Hell, you can even…” He practically flinched at these words, as if saying them was a physical blow—“You can even choose someone else. Another man. I’m not going to force you into anything.”

I didn’t know what to say. “I think I want another drink.”

Disappointment flashed in his eyes, but it was gone in a blink. He rose to his feet, insisting that he get it for me. I watched him walk away. He took four steps—and froze. His entire back went rigid, too stiff for a human. His Shifter instincts had picked up on something.

I froze, wondering what was happening, what he had picked up on.

But he merely turned to face me again. Slowly. “Erin.”

I tried to sense his source of distress, but I couldn’t pick up on anything. The only thing I picked up on was how that look in his eyes sent heat straight to my core. “What is it, Walter?” I was on my feet and closing the distance between us in a matter of seconds.

“Don’t move!” he practically yelled.

I paused, almost jumping at his volume.

His eyes were wild, frantic, looking like an animal caught in a trap.

“What’s wrong?” I asked again, resisting the urge to reach out to him.

“Do you know what’s happening to you?” Every muscle in his body was taut as he asked the question.

I frowned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He simply said, “You’re going through heat.”

Oh.

Winnie had explained that to me on one of my first days here. She’d said it happens to every female Shifter. Her hormones—particularly the horny ones—exploded, and every male Shifter around her could sense it. Apparently, it drove the males as crazy as the females, though it was dangerous to be an Omega—specifically an unclaimedOmega—around any Alphas while in heat.

That’s why Walter wasn’t moving, wasn’t even breathing: he was trying not to pounce on me and take what he wanted. What we both needed.

All those dreams about him… They finally made sense. I was preparing for my first heat.

Only once he brought it to my attention did I realize just how hot I was. My heart was hammering in my chest, flames boiling beneath my skin, and—god, when had I gotten so wet?

“Walter…” My voice was a high-pitched whine.

“You’ll be okay.” He didn’t sound convincing in the slightest. The look in his eyes matched the relentless ferocity rising in my core.

God, I needed him. “Please…”

He squeezed his eyes shut. “I can’t, Erin. We’re both unclaimed. I won’t be able to control myself—”

I took a step towards him—and practically cried out. The burning in my core—between my legs—it was unbearable. I needed to ease the ache inside of me. My hand moved of its own accord towards my legs, and before I knew it I was touching myself over my jeans.

Walter’s eyes were locked on my hand. “Erin… you’re killing me.”

“Please, Walter,” I begged, my body no longer under my control. “I need you. I can’t breathe—”

That was when he kissed me. He wasn’t the first person I had kissed, but he felt like the first person who mattered. Our mouths molded together and I moved against him in a way that said, I’m choosing this. I’m choosing you.

“God, I can smell you,” he breathed into my neck, his low voice nothing more than a moan. “You’re already wet for me, baby.”

All I could do was moan as he pressed me against his erection. His mouth trailed down my neck, over my clavicle, and stopped over my heart.

“I want you,” I cried out as I ran my hands through his hair. “Mark me, Walter. Please.”

He brought his mouth to my chest, but he didn’t bite me like I expected him to. Instead, he brushed a soft kiss against my skin. I whined as he pulled away and moved me from his lap.

“Did I do something wrong?” I panicked, feeling like an idiot—

“No,” he assured me. “You’re… god, you’re perfect. But I’m not about to fuck you on the roof. I doubt you’ll want the entire neighborhood to hear you moaning for me.”

My face flushed instantly, but I didn’t say anything as he rose to his feet and pulled me inside, not stopping until we were in his room. An Alpha’s room was a place very few people ever saw. It was more intimate than a regular bedroom; it was stepping into his territory, walking onto his turf, and I knew that something had permanently changed between us as I crossed the threshold into the room.

The room was rather simple. A king-sized bed was pressed against the left wall. The crimson sheets were the only color in the room. The right side of the wall had a desk covered in files and papers. Newspaper clippings hung above it, stamped into the wall with thumb tacks. I didn’t have a moment to read what all the papers were about before Walter distracted me.

He arms wrapped around me as he lifted me up in the air. My legs instinctively wrapped around his waist. I clung to his shoulders, but he held me easily, as if I weighed no more than a few pounds. The show of pure strength did nothing to help the wet mess between my legs.

Walter walked us to the bed and lied me down on my back. He hovered over me but didn’t move to touch me. The longing and lust in his eyes was so vibrant, so undeniable, that I writher beneath him.

But his tone was calm as he said, “I need to ask you again. Is this what you want, Erin?”

“So much,” I breathed before pulling him against me.

His thigh moved between my legs, and he deepened the kiss as his leg pressed tightly against my core, applying pressure where I needed it most. Though our hands ran along each other’s bodies in a hungry frenzy, he kissed me differently than he had on the roof. It wasn’t rushed or desperate this time, but rather deep and slow and just as sensual. My toes curled.

I cried out as his mouth moved to my ear. He nipped at my earlobe—an action that sent shivers through my body—before whispering, “What is it, baby girl? What do you want? My fingers?”

I writhed against him.

“My mouth?”

Oh, fuck.

“Both?”

A wanton moan escaped me before I could stop it.

“Or are you already too desperate? That’s what it smells like to me. My little omega’s falling apart and I haven’t even touched you yet. You’re already desperate for me to fill your aching cunt, aren’t you, baby girl?”

His tone was different than I’d ever heard it. He spoke in a low, husky voice, and his tone was teasing but demanding at the same time. It made me dizzy.

“Already forgotten your words, omega? Has the heat gotten to your brain?” He buried his face in the crook of my neck and rubbed his nose along the skin below my ear. He was scenting me. “Or is it your Alpha who’s gotten to you?”

Instead of answering, I clawed at his clothes desperately, trying to undress him in my lustful haze. He allowed me to take his shirt off, though he undid his pants himself. His body… how was he even more impressive naked? I took one look at those sculpted muscles, at the dark swirls of hair that covered his chest and stomach, and knew that that was the kind of body that put the gods to shame. His cock bounced against his stomach as he stepped out of his underwear. It was thick and long, and as I watched the red, aching tip release pre-cum, I wondered how I could possibly fit his girth inside of me.

“My turn,” he breathed before moving to hover over me again.

One minute I was clad in my shorts and t-shirt, and the neck my clothes were in shreds on the floor. Walter’s hungry gaze made note of every inch of skin I beared for him, and I was too fucked out to feel self-conscious.

“Fuck me, Alpha,” I begged. “I need you inside of me!”

He growled before spreading my legs and pressing his length against my core. Our lips met just as he pushed inside me, and my nails dug into his shoulder at the burst of pleasure that ripped from me. His mouth was on my chest a second later, and as he kneaded my breasts in his hands, his teeth cut into the skin over my heart.

Claiming me.

...

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[writefandoms]

Rumors

Levi x GN!Reader

Summary: There are a lot of rumors about Levi floating around, some truer than others.

Word Count: 1k

The days were long during training. Your days had consisted of constant sparing and ODM practice.

But now you were a full fledged scout, adorning the Wings of Freedom to prove it. You’d been a scout for about a month before your first expedition. And coming back with only a few scrapes and bruises proved that you earned your place in the Survey Corps.

The expedition was brutal, so many people lost their lives. You had to watch as your friends that you had trained with for months were ripped to pieces.

The Commander led you all with an iron fist, marching you forward back towards the walls. He didn’t even flinch as some members of the back line were grabbed by a few Titan straggler.

Sitting in the dining room, it was clear the mental and emotional toll the first expedition had taken on the newbies, yourself included. Even Faye, one of the loudest people you ever met, sat next to you in silence. Her eyes lingering on the empty seats at the once full table.

“Here.” You placed your half eaten bread onto her plate, “Eat up.”

She gives you a small smile while picking up the loaf, “Thanks.”

You rub her back lightly as she chews, to which Faye visibly relaxes. She munches away, clearly lost in her own thoughts.

Not wanting to stare, your eyes roam the room. Gazing at each persons face, not lingering for more than a few seconds.

In the far back of the area, the higher ranking Scouts sit.

Hanji, Mike, even the Commander himself were all chatting away amongst themselves. It’s hard to believe that everyone at the table had witnessed more death and cruelty than you could ever imagine.

Scanning their faces, you notice Captain Levi sitting on Erwins right side. A small cup in his hand, as he listened in on the conversation. He never joined in, only scoffing or nodding along.

You’ve only spoken to the man once. It was right after the expedition, and you were in a bad way. Nightmares kept you up at night and you often wondered up to the roof. The cool night breeze against your skin helped clear your head. The cries of you fallen comrades would be slowly forgotten as you got lost in the stars above.

He never told why he was up there, but at the time you didn’t question it.

“It’s past curfew, cadet.”

You didn’t respond immediately, choosing to stare at the stars for a bit longer. “Not a cadet anymore, Captain.”

It was his turn to be quiet, your back was to him but you could hear him step closer, crouching down he sits next to you. Two pairs of legs dangling off the side of the roof.

“It’s never easy.”

“What?” You turn to him for the first time that night.

“Every expedition is harder than the last, I’m not going to lie and say it gets easier. It doesn’t.”

The silence envelopes you both once again with less tension in the air. It’s almost comforting.

“I don’t know if I’m cut out for this.”

“Maybe you’re not. No ones forcing you to stay.”

His words are blunt and bring you no comfort. Something in the back of your mind tells you to leave, take his words to heart. Run back home and start a family, open a shop. Live a normal, peaceful life.

“This isn’t the sort of life that anyone wants, but someone has to take a stand against those shitty titans.” He stops for a moment as if contemplating his next words. “If you want to leave then that’s your choice. Just know that know one’s built for this life.”

All you can do is nod, digesting his words. After a moment you sigh and lay flat on your back. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever heard you talk this much.”

He scoffs and leans back on his palms. “I don’t think I’ve ever wanted to talk to you this much.”

“Ouch that hurts, Captain.” You hold your chest in mock pain, making him roll his eyes.

“Get used to it, soldier.”

Lost in your own head, you don’t real when he snaps his head up towards you. As if sensing you wondering eyes.

A few months back you’d probably have looked away in embarrassment, a bit scared of the intimidating man. Now you held his stare, lifting your free hand to give him a wave and small smile.

Levi didn’t wave back, choosing to only nod in your direction. You’re sort of surprised that he even acknowledged you. He holds your stare for a few more seconds before turning his attention back to the other veterans.

There were a lot of rumors about the short captain. About his past in the underground, doing whatever it took to survive. They say he was dragged in the Survey Corps kicking and screaming.

While some of these rumors seemed far fetched, you didn’t know enough about the man to dispute them.

But you didn’t need to know his past to see that he’s suffered. There was a constant sadness swirling in his eyes. No matter what he was doing, those cold silver eyes displayed a deep rooted pain.

Everyone here had a sob story, but you could tell Levi’s pain goes deeper than that. Probably all the way back to his childhood. If the rumors about him being from the Underground are true, he would have had to do whatever it took to survive. He never even mentions his last name, sometimes you wondered if he even had one.

Sometimes you long to get closer to the distant man, to break down his walls and see his vulnerable side.

Across the room he places his cup down and stands, excusing himself. Hanji whines something at him, but he ignores her.

The exit is on your left, so he has to walk towards you to leave.

As he approaches you notice he’s still holding his plate. Stopping in front of your table, he sets the dish in front of you.

Faye stares in awe at the display in front of her, but chooses to stay quiet.

“Eat.” Is all he says before turning away.

On the plate is an untouched piece of bread, with a thin spread of butter over it.

Maybe it’s time to start a new rumor about the Captain, a small smirk crosses your lips, Captain Levi is a huge softie.

[wheresmynaya]

Lost in the Lights Ch.10|Brittana

A/N - Am I heartbroken about that embarrassment of a game I had to witness last week? Yes. Do I wanna talk about it? God, no LOL. Hopefully the McKinley Titans do a better job in the playoffs! Might even mess around and make QB!Britt’s Game Day playlist 🤷🏽‍♀️

Available on ff.net (x) ao3 (x) & under the cut

Santana stomps her way over to Quinn’s locker and slams it shut in one big huff. Quinn looks up from packing her duffle bag, annoyed confusion written all over her face.

“Problem, Lopez?”

Santana continues to grimace but looks hesitantly around the locker room, her brows furrowed and her shoulders stiff. Her chest feels tight with everything she’s been holding in and she swears she’s about to burst at the seams if she doesn’t say something soon.

The squad filtered out minutes before and Brittany’s still practicing on the field with the Titans, but she can never be too sure. Someone’s always listening it seems and she can’t be burned a second time.

“Hello?” Quinn waves her hand at Santana, “Is there a reason that you’re going around slamming lockers?”

Santana can hear the annoyance in her tone but her facial expression says differently when their eyes finally meet. For as long as they’ve known each other, all it takes is one look to realized something deeper is going on.

Quinn softens, “Shit. What happened?”

Santana shakes her head and lets out the tiniest whimper, “I’m fucking this up.”

Quinn catches Santana just as she stars to slide down the lockers in trembling mess. She pushes Santana to sit on the bench instead.

Hot tears start to stream down Santana’s cheeks like the floodgates have finally opened. She hasn’t let herself feel the brunt of everything yet, not until now. It’s a little relieving, but it’s not enough.

“What are you talking about?” Quinn asks.

“I’m fucking this up.”

Quinn lets out a sigh but keeps holding Santana up as she continues to sob. Instead of pressuring her to talk, Quinn just let’s the girl cry it out first.

\\

Once Santana has finally settled down some, Quinn hands her a couple tissues from the travel pack she keeps in her duffle. She eyes her wearily before trying to get an answer out of Santana again.

“So, are you going to tell me what’s going on now?”

Santana’s averts her gaze to the ground. Her jaw is set and her lips are sealed as she wipes the angry tears from her face.

The reluctance to talk has Quinn rolling her eyes.

“Don’t be stubborn. You’ve been in a bad mood all day then you go and do that,” Quinn gestures to her locker, “Just tell me. Is it about your dad? Is he giving you a hard time again?”

Santana shakes her head.

Quinn thinks, “Is this about JBI’s blog? Because I doubt anyone is believing a word he says after his whole tater tot conspiracy was a bust. He’s already lost a ton of followers, I think he’s just reaching now.”

“It’s not that.”

“Okay…then what is it?”

Santana lets out a deep sigh, “She just wanted to talk and I couldn’t even do that.”

“Brittany?” Quinn asks hesitantly.

Santana nods.

“What’d she want to talk about?”

Santana threads her fingers together and squeezes, “Us.”

Quinn looks confused, “And you couldn’t talk about that because…”

“Why do you think?” Santana grumbles, “Because I’m a goddamn coward, that’s why. She wanted to talk about us and what we were doing and I just – I couldn’t.”

Quinn sighs and starts to rub Santana’s back.

“I knew it was coming. She’s been wanting to talk for weeks now I think. I just – I did what I always do,” Santana admits, “I got in my head about it. I let that stupid little voice take over. I told her I didn’t feel the same way she did. I told her that I wasn’t looking for something serious.”

Quinn stays quiet as Santana continues to rant.

“I don’t know why the fuck I said that! I thought I was getting better at this. I thought I was making progress but I still ended up doing the same thing!” Santana adds, “I fucked this up and now she’s done with me, Q. I didn’t think she’d do it. I thought I’d have more time to figure everything out.”

“What’s there to figure out?” Quinn wonders.

“I don’t know,” Santana shrugs, “How to have a girlfriend when most of the student body here are assholes? How to have a relationship with someone that isn’t solely based on sex or how to boost my reputation? How to do any of this when my dad can barely look at me because I’m gay! How am I meant to be any good for her when I can barely look at myself sometimes? I’m ready and I’m not and that’s the worst fucking thing about this. I’m my own goddamn enemy.”

Quinn looks a little surprised by Santana’s honesty but she nods like she gets it.

Santana moves to hold her head in her hands. That might’ve been the first time she’s ever owned her sexuality so easily but she can’t even enjoy it right now.

“What do you want to do?” Quinn asks but Santana only shrugs again.

She’s been thinking about that all night and day, but there’s only one thing that keeps coming to mind and it isn’t really an answer. It’s more like a realization that’s probably been in the back of her mind for a long time now, maybe since the Homecoming dance.

She doesn’t know how it’ll help now. This isn’t some rom-com movie where all it takes is this grand gesture, a profession of her true feelings and all is right in the world. No, there’s real work to be done first and she hasn’t a clue where to start.

“I don’t want to lose her,” Santana replies softly.

“Well, fix it then?” Quinn suggests which earns her a disbelieving look, “What? You’re Santana Lopez, resident bad bitch of McKinley. You’re not supposed to be afraid of anything, yet here you are letting all of these fears push you around.”

“I’m not afraid.”

“Santana, you literally just said – “

“I know what I said!” Santana snaps.

Quinn purses her lips but relaxes, “We’ve had this conversation so many times. When you don’t try, you let them win. You want that? You want these people to be the reason why you can’t go out on that field tomorrow night and kiss the girl that you love?”

Santana doesn’t even waver at the word, she just wonders how long Quinn’s known.

“No.”

“Well then…”

“It’s not that easy.”

“Sure it is.”

“Tell that to Kurt,” Santana huffs, “He gets a slushie facial on the regular. Remember that kid everyone thought he was dating? He was bullied so badly that he had to transfer schools! I can’t deal with that. If I get into one more fight, that’s it for me. Honestly, I don’t think I could handle going through the rest of this year dealing with that shit and I can’t drag her down with me. She’s so much better than this place and everyone in it.”

Quinn narrows her eyes, “Well for starters, Brittany put a stop to slushie facials. There hasn’t been an incident in months.”

“That you know of,” Santana replies, “The football team isn’t the only ones capable of throwing a slushie in my grill.”

“You act like you’re taking on the entire world by yourself,” Quinn argues, “You realize you don’t have to do that, right?”

Santana frowns, “What are you talking about?”

“You’re trying to protect her and that’s thoughtful and all, but did it ever occur to you that she doesn’t need it?” Quinn replies, “You keep putting yourself in this position, but you don’t have to be in it. You have more people than you know that are rooting for you. Lean on them because you don’t have to face these people alone.”

Santana laughs bitterly at that, “You and who else? My mom? You guys going to create a secret service to follow me around everywhere to make sure nothing happens to me?”

Quinn lets out a frustrated sigh, “Well what now then? You just going to let them dictate your life? Just like your dad?”

Santana’s jaw tightens at that. She knows Quinn struck that nerve on purpose and she both hates and loves her for that.

“You can’t compare yourself to Kurt,” Quinn adds, “What you’ve both gone through is different so you can’t use him as an excuse.”

“He doesn’t deserve the way people treat him,” Santana replies, “The way I’ve treated him.”

“And neither do you, but there will always be assholes wherever you go,” Quinn says, “The difference between you and him is that one of you isn’t going to let them win. One of you is still trying.”

Santana’s at a loss for words and they both fall into silence.

“You said you don’t want to lose her?” Quinn mentions a moment later, “Well it doesn’t look like that from where I’m standing.”

“I don’t want to lose her,” Santana reiterates.

“Then you should probably talk to her before you give her the wrong idea, genius.”

Santana shakes her head and lets out a bitter laugh, “You make it sound like it’s the easiest thing in the world to do.”

“It is.”

“Says the girl that has practically dated Mike Chang for months yet refused to put a label on it until two weeks ago!”

Quinn purses her lips at Santana’s outburst, “We didn’t put a label on it because Mike’s parents didn’t want him dating during his Senior year. It had nothing to do with what we wanted, but that’s not what we’re talking about. We’re talking about you and Brittany.”

Santana sucks in a breath to calm herself down. It’s like a quiet apology that only she and Quinn share after years of friendship. They just sit together for awhile in silence while Santana’s mind works through it all.

“I don’t do relationships, Q,” Santana admits softly.

“You have an excuse for everything,” Quinn laughs, “You don’t do them because you’ve been dating boys this whole time when you’re gay as hell.”

Santana smiles at that.

“Are you really considering stepping back in the closet just because you’re too afraid to go out of your comfort zone?” Quinn asks, “Because that’s the kind of message you’re sending.”

“I don’t know,” Santana huffs.

“Jesus,” Quinn groans as she goes to face Santana fully, “The answer is no. You’re not going to do that. You’re a fighter, Santana. I don’t know when you forgot that but you are.”

Santana sits a little straighter. She doesn’t know when she forgot either.

“We’ve been friends for so long and I’ve seen the difference in how you are with Brittany versus all the dumbass guys you’ve dated,” Quinn says, “It’s a good different and you deserve it. After all that bullshit you went through last year, you deserve to have someone too. I don’t know how many times I need to tell you that before it gets through.”

Santana feels a different kind of loved, a kind that only longtime friends can share, as she takes in Quinn’s advice. There’s few people in her life that she can trust to give it to her straight and Quinn’s one of those people.

“You hear me, Lopez?” Quinn urges, “You deserve this and so help me God, if anyone tries to  say anything to you or her I’ll – “

“Okay, okay,” Santana pauses her with a chuckle, “I get it.”

Quinn relaxes and gives her an encouraging smile, “Talk to her.”

“Tomorrow’s that big game or whatever,” Santana frowns, “I don’t want to be a distraction.”

“Then do it after?” Quinn suggests, “Whatever. The sooner the better though.”

\\

That night, Santana paces her room trying to screw her head on straight. It’s pep talk after pep talk, anything to ease the anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. If she’s prepared well enough, then maybe it won’t be so scary to put her heart on the line like this?

At least, that’s what she’s trying to tell herself.

Tomorrow’s the final game of the Playoffs and she knows how important that is for Brittany, so she doesn’t want to cloud her concentration. She’ll keep to herself and leave Brittany be for now.

Santana decides that she’s going to approach Brittany after the game like Quinn suggested. Hopefully she’ll be in high spirits after a big win and Santana won’t have to compete with the blues of losing.  

Who is Santana kidding? She knows that if anyone can take the Titans all the way, it’s Brittany.

\\\\\

As Brittany returns home after her morning run, she’s surprised to see her mom up and about in the kitchen. She takes out her headphones and kicks off her sneakers just in time to hear her mom call out to her.

“Morning kiddo!” Whitney calls out cheerfully. She’s wearing her polka dotted apron and there’s a spatula in one hand, a frying pan in the other.

“Morning,” Brittany smiles as she ventures in. Her stomach grumbles at the smell of bacon, “You’re up early.”

“Got the day off today,” Whitney tells her, “Thought you could use a real breakfast to start off the day. It’s an important one.”

Brittany smiles before going to grab a water. She was hoping the run would help clear her head since her thoughts have been running a muck since her conversation with Santana in the locker room. It helped a little, but the brunette still lingered in the back of Brittany’s mind.

Santana was a mystery to her. A beautiful, frustrating mystery.

“Everything alright?” Whitney asks with her brows furrowed.

Brittany continues to stare off in space, “Totally.”

“Then maybe you should shut the fridge,” Whitney teases, “You’re letting out all the cold.”

Brittany snaps out of it and realizes that she’s just been standing there with her bottle in hand. She tries to laugh it off and fills her mouth with water before turning to watch Whitney cook.

She’s cracking eggs into a mixing bowl with one hand now, Brittany always thought that was so cool, but Whitney still looks at her skeptically.

“You nervous about the game today?” She asks.

Brittany has to think. She’s always a little nervous before a game, but those are good nerves and she’s use to those. The feeling inside her now though isn’t something she’s familiar with. She kind of feels suspended, still stuck in this limbo with Santana even though they’ve talked.

If you can even call it that.

Maybe that’s what it is? Nothing feels resolved, none of her questions have been answered. If anything, there’s even more of them! It’s not a good mindset going into the final game of the playoffs. She’s been trying to tell herself that all night, but it hasn’t seemed to work.

She’s hurt and a little disappointed by how everything turned out. She hasn’t liked someone so much before and it’s been so long since she has gotten attached to anyone. It’s hard having to be around Santana now; what is she supposed to do with all the little things she has learned about her? It seems wrong to throw them away, but she doesn’t know what the point is in keeping them.

She’s not gonna need them anyway at this rate, but that also makes her wonder. Was that it for them? A whirlwind two weeks then this? Is that all they are meant to be?

Call it crazy optimism but as much as Brittany wants to throw her hands up and call it quits, she can’t. She’s never been a quitter and this thing that pulls her and Santana together is too strong to ignore. She could barely go a day without speaking to her, let alone the rest of her time in Lima. Maybe she should try again, but that also opens her up to getting hurt a second time.

When she sees Whitney look up at her from the corner of her eye, she realizes she hasn’t answered yet.

“My head’s just full of other things right now,” Brittany admits as she plays with the latch on her water bottle, “It’s hard to concentrate.”

Whitney quirks her brow at that, “What’s going on?”

Brittany only shrugs.

“Boy drama?”

Brittany shakes her head.

“Girl drama?”

Brittany hesitates before shaking her head, “I don’t really want to talk about it yet.”

“Okay,” Whitney nods, “You aren’t in any trouble, right?”

Brittany smiles at that, “No, mom, I’m not in any trouble.”

“I’m just checking,” Whitney chuckles as she cracks the last egg into the bowl. She pauses for a moment before looking to Brittany, “Well kiddo, focus on one thing at a time. You don’t have to go solving all your problems at once, okay?”

“Okay.”

“I know I don’t need to tell you that,” Whitney adds, “You’ve got a good head on your shoulders, but everyone needs a little reminder every now and then. Whatever it is, it’ll work out.”

Brittany feels a tiny spark of hope within her and nods, “One thing at a time.”

“Exactly,” Whitney winks, “Now go shower. Check on your brother too, these eggs won’t take long.”

\\

Brittany decides one thing at a time means winning this game before anything else. Football is what she’s good at, it’s where she thrives and now is as good of a time as any to get back to that.

Being apart of the Titans and getting them this far was her first commitment when she came to McKinley and it’s only right that she sees it through.

\\

It’s the last day before Thanksgiving break so a lot the students – and even some of the faculty – have already checked out. With it being a half day, classes are also on a shortened schedule on top of the Pep Rally at the end of the day. Most people are super excited for the game later; everyone’s decked out in their McKinley High spirit gear and the Titans walk around in their home jerseys.

Everyone offers Brittany and the Titans their luck too – everyone except for the Hockey Team. They just stare bitterly from the outskirts of the crowd where they will always stay if they continue to keep a losing record.

Brittany doesn’t pay any attention to them. She just attends her classes as normal and tries to avoid running into Santana for a second day. Thankfully, she has done a pretty good job of doing just that. She doesn’t even look her way in the cafeteria during lunch although she knows Santana’s there. Like always, she can feel her eyes on her but she doesn’t give in – not this time.

It’s always a different story when she gets to her last class of the day.

\\

Ms. Holliday greets Brittany with a knowing smile as the quarterback enters the classroom. The English teacher is dressed in jeans and a McKinley Titans spirit shirt with her hair tied up with a frilly red and white scrunchie.

“Exciting day,” Ms. Holliday says.

Brittany nods, “Definitely.”

“You’re gonna crush it,” She replies with a pat on Brittany’s shoulder before handing her a worksheet.

Brittany heads to her usual seat, a little thankful that Santana isn’t there yet. She’s been anticipating this moment all day, wondering if it’ll be different than the day before.

Yesterday, they didn’t speak. They didn’t even look at each other. They just sat in a long uncomfortable silence until the bell rang and they both could get the hell out of there as fast as they could.

But Brittany feels different about today and she doesn’t know why.

She knows she should be focusing on the game ahead, but she won’t lie and say it’s easy to go another day without talking to Santana. She’s been the best part of her day for awhile now, it feels off to be without her – especially on Game Day.

Brittany shifts into gear as she sees Santana enter the room from the corner of her eye. She looks up and watches the Co-Captain near their table; her books are hugged to her chest but her eyes stay glued to the floor. It’s the same as yesterday and it has Brittany feeling a little deflated.

But it doesn’t last for long.

“Hi,” Santana whispers as she starts to get settled.

Brittany’s eyes widen and she’s so surprised by the unexpected greeting that she almost forgets to return it.

“Hey.”

“How are you today?”

Brittany tilts her head and smiles even though Santana misses it, “Good. Nervous, but good.”

“You don’t have anything to be nervous about,” Santana tells her like it’s fact, “You’ll be great.”

Brittany softens, “Thanks.”

Santana continues to busy herself with getting her materials out while Brittany patiently waits to see if something more will happen, but nothing does.

It’s another class of sitting in silence, but it feels different this time. It’s not as heavy as it felt yesterday and Brittany’s grateful for that. Really, Brittany just feels a little relieved as she watches Santana get dismissed early for the Pep Rally.

“I’ll see you later,” Santana says and it’s another surprise, “Good luck if I don’t.”

Brittany only smiles, “Thanks.”

\\

The Pep Rally comes and goes and now it’s just a countdown until showtime. Brittany does everything she normally would in preparation for a game and even heads to the locker room early to get ready.

It’s different without Santana there, but it’s for the best.

The Titans need her all because this kind of game is about all or nothing. With a loss, that’s it for them. Their season’s over and for a lot of Seniors on the team, this is it. This is potentially the last game they ever play in their high school career and Brittany can’t have that on her conscience if she doesn’t give it her all.

She gets dressed to the sounds of her Game Day playlist which never fails to get her in the mood to kick some ass. With having the whole locker room to herself, it’s easy to get lost in the music as she continues to get ready. She makes sure she grabs her lucky towel and tucks it into the waistband of her pants before sliding on her left glove.

All that’s left now is a bit of eye black and her helmet before she’s ready to go.

\\

When she and the Titans take to the field for the first time, the feeling is like no other. The crowd is a sea of red and white and it’s the loudest it has ever been. The team rips through the banner and pulses with unwavering determination.

They’re hungry for a win and they’ll take down anyone in their path.

Brittany can feel the roar of the spectators in her chest and pumps her fist in the air as she admires the packed stands. It’s one of the coldest nights so far in November but she feels warm beneath the stadium lights. She knows it won’t last long though and keeps her hands tucked in her handwarmer pouch as she makes her way to the Titans sidelines.

It’s kind of inevitable that she sees Santana and the Cheerios there too.

They’re facing the crowd and waving their pompoms as they call out cheers to get the crowd even more pumped. Santana and Quinn are front and center and Brittany can’t help but steal a glance in the brunette’s direction. It’s only a quick one – enough to catch the brilliant smile she wears – before players interrupt her view.

“Pierce!” Coach Beiste calls out, “Coin Toss.”

Brittany nods and jogs out onto the field with Mike and Matt to meet the referee and the Team Captain from Crawford County Day along with their two elected players. They shake hands and introduce themselves first before the Ref goes over their usual speech about sportsmanship.

Everyone agrees to do their part in keeping the game fair before the Ref asks the visiting team whether they want heads or tails.

“Heads,” The Team Captain calls out.

The Ref tosses the coin in the air.

Everyone watches it spin several times before it lands to the turf. They look to the ground and the Ref bends to call out the outcome.

“Tails!” He says before gesturing to the Titans, “Titans it is your call.”

“Defer,” Brittany replies, trying to keep the smirk from showing. Winning the toss is kind of like a good omen, but she’s not counting her lucky ducks just yet.

The Ref nods and announces the Titans’ decision before the players leave the field.

Crawford County Day’s special teams comes out and the Titans’ special teams does the same. Brittany hangs back by Coach Beiste as they watch Kurt kick the ball away, signaling the official start of the game.

They hadn’t played Crawford County since the early weeks of the season, back when Brittany was still working on her relationship with the team. It was a rough start back then, but the Titans were able to secure a win in the end. They’re in a much better place than they were so Brittany’s excited to see what this game offers.

\\

Crawford County ends up being an even better competitor than Brittany thought.

It seems like the Titans weren’t the only ones working on their rhythm and communication since their last matchup. The Titans trail Crawford County by two touchdowns. It’s like every time they score, Brittany and the Titans aren’t that far behind with one of their own.

However, the Titans were shut down in their last drive and came up without any points.

It’s an offense-led game, but Brittany doesn’t like the idea of playing catch up all night. Not when there’s a Championship Game on the line. She wants to get into a better position going into the half because she knows they’ll be getting the ball afterwards. By then, she hopes it’ll be a blow out once again but she can only judge it one play at a time.

\\

There’s still 6 minutes left in the first half which is a lot of time depending on what you can do with it, especially when you’ve got the ball – and right now, the Titans don’t. If Crawford County was smart, they’d waste as much time as possible so the Titans won’t have much to work with by the time they receive the ball again.

Judging by the current situation, Brittany thinks that’s exactly what they’re going to do.

“Shit,” Brittany mutters as she waits anxiously on the sidelines. She can faintly hear the Cheerios cheering and it makes her want to look over. She’s been doing well so far, why mess that up now?

Brittany doesn’t have a reason. She just looks over instead like it’s second nature.

And like always, Santana’s already looking back at her.

It’s cliché to say, but she steals Brittany’s breath away. She’s waving her pompoms and going through the motions, but her pretty brown eyes never leave Brittany’s.

There’s a hint of a smile on Santana’s lips, it’s barely there but Brittany knows it all too well. She knows all kinds of Santana’s smiles but this is the one she doesn’t see very often. The last time she saw it was the Homecoming bonfire. She can’t remember what they were talking about, but she definitely remembers the way Santana looked at her that night.

It has Brittany smiling back and for a moment it feels like it’s just them on the field. It makes her happy just as much as it makes her sad, because they could’ve been so great together.

“Damnit!” Coach Beiste curses when Crawford County gets another first down.

It jolts Brittany out of her staring contest with Santana and forces her head back into the game.

They need a miracle because at this rate, the Titans are going to be down by three coming out of the half. That’s not the worst scenario possible, but Brittany doesn’t need them getting ahead anymore than they already are.

She watches the ball get snapped and the opposing team’s QB drops back. He searches for a target and launches the ball downfield, but something miraculous happens – a Titan defender catches it.

The crowd goes crazy and the sidelines are even rowdier as Matt takes off with the intercepted ball. He zips through the other players until he’s ultimately dragged down by their quarterback of all people. They’re in great field position now and Brittany can’t be any happier.

“Do something with this, Pierce,” Coach Beiste tells her with a hard pat on her back.

“Yes Coach,” Brittany replies before tugging on her helmet and getting back out there.

\\

The Titans are able to score once more before the half is called thanks to Matt’s interception. They leave the field in high spirits despite still being behind on the scoreboard by a single touchdown.

Well, most of the team is in high spirits.

“I don’t know why we can’t run the ball more!” Karofsky complains, “Lady Lips can’t catch for sh–“

“Hey!” Sam snaps.

“What?” Karofsky flinches at him, “It’s true.”

“It’s not.”

“You’re right,” Karofsky frowns as he turns to Brittany, “I thought you said you were taking us to the Championship?”

“You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink,” Brittany replies coolly.

“Did you just call me a damn horse?”

Brittany shakes her head, “I’m saying this is a team effort. I can only do so much. It helps no one by tearing each other down.”

“Your head is in the clouds and we can all see it,” Azimio says.

Brittany’s stunned, “What?”

“You’re distracted,” Karofsky answers, “You’ve been like that for awhile.”

“Shit, I would be too if I was hooking up with Lopez on the low,” Azimio mutters beneath his breath.

That puts Brittany over the edge and she’s rounding on him before she realizes it.

“You don’t know anything!” Brittany shoves at him so hard that he nearly falls off the bench. The amount of strength behind the shove shocks everyone because Azimio isn’t a small guy.

“Yo! Chill out!” Azimio pushes her away.

“Talk about her one more time,” Brittany shoves at his hands as Mike starts to pull her back, “I dare you. Talk about her one more time.”

“He was just talking shit,” Karofsky defends with a smirk, “But looks like he might be on to something.”

“That’s enough,” Coach Beiste says before looking warily at Brittany, “Easy, Pierce. Whatever that is, deal with it later.”

Brittany regains her composure while Azimio and Karofsky do the same.

“I give everything to this team,” Brittany states, “I put in extra time on the field. I show up early, I’m the last one to leave. Who else here takes that kind of initiative? I can’t do everything!”

Karofsky waves her off but that just makes Sam even more annoyed.

“You’re such an ass,” Sam tells him, “You’ve been holding up this team’s progress since Britt got here. Who knows if you really want to win this thing.”

“What are you yapping about now, Evans?” Karofsky rolls his eyes.

“You don’t put in the work!” Sam says, “Britt would’ve thrown at least three TD passes by now if she had more time in the pocket but you’re so crap at blocking!”

“What?” Karofsky scoffs, “Let’s count how many times she’s been sacked this game. Oh wait, you can’t because she hasn’t!”

“That’s not because of you!” Sam replies, “She’s slippery, she gets out on her own no thanks to you.”

“What about knockdowns?” Kurt asks, “There’s been a few of those.”

Sam nods, “Yeah, that too!”

“Maybe you just need to be faster?” Azimio cuts in, “All that Bieber hair is probably weighing you down.”

Brittany lets out a sigh as they all start to argue. One thing she hates about being on a team full of guys, their arguments are usually ridiculous and pointless.

“That’s stupid,” Sam grumbles as he fixes his shaggy hair, “Britt needs better protection from both of you. We can’t get downfield because you – “

“We’re doing our job!” Karofsky yells.

“Bullshit,” Puck grumbles, “We have to rely on the passing game because neither of you can create a gap in their D. I’ve been getting snuffed out all night!”

“That’s definitely not on me,” Azimio brushes off, “You couldn’t get yardage if you were the only one on the damn field!”

“The hell you say to me?” Puck snaps and lunges at Azimio.

“Hey!” Coach Beiste booms, “How about focusing on your own roles, huh? If anyone’s going to call out what’s going wrong with this team right now, it’s me. I’m the one coaching this team, not you so cut it out.”

Everyone quiets down but Karofsky continues to stew in his annoyance. It’s nothing new to Brittany, as soon as they’re down – no matter the amount they’re behind – Karofsky and Azimio never fail to complain. Instead of taking ownership, they point the finger at anyone else in the room and Brittany hates that.

“I don’t want to hear anymore of you blaming one another. Each and every one of you are responsible for the outcome of this game,” Coach says, “No one is above or below anyone. You share this load so you better be doing your part. If one of you fails, everyone does. You hear me?”

“Yes Coach,” The team says in unison.

“We might be behind right now, but we’re gaining on them,” Beiste says, “This team is in much better shape and they’re getting worn out. Keep at it and we’ll come out of this on top. You all know what to do, you’ve proved it time and time again. Stay focused. Just keep going, keep putting that pressure on them.”

Brittany inhales a calming breath. She’s done a good job of staying calm and cool under the pressure, she’s done a good job of not telling Azimio and Karofsky’s crap get to her, she can’t stop now. They’re so close to a victory, she can taste it.

Coach Beiste eyes everyone, her gaze steely with her fists resting on her hips. She looks larger than life in front of them, “This is your moment, Titans, take it!”

\\

The Titans take to the field once more after halftime and Brittany remains optimistic about their situation. They’ll be starting the second half by receiving the ball, so it’s the perfect opportunity to tie things up. She tries to forget about the arguing and Karofsky and Azimio’s claims about Santana and get her head back in the game.

\\

The Titans end up on thin ice after their opening drive of the third quarter is a bust.

Brittany was really banking on it to tie the score but Crawford County’s pass rush is too intense. She’s starting to see her O-Line getting worn down despite everyone thinking it would be Crawford County whose fatigue would start to show by now.

It’s been scoreless on both sides as the game clock continues to eat up the third quarter. The Titans are still a TD away from tying things up and Brittany really wants that to happen before they enter the fourth quarter.

They need a big play to get a new set of downs but like Puck said in the half, he’s been getting shut down all night. The first down is only a couple yards away and a running play would be perfect but it might as well be a mile against the re-energized defense.

They need something Crawford County wouldn’t expect, something sneaky.

So in the huddle, Brittany calls the play despite Coach’s detest. It was all or nothing, and this would be just enough to get momentum going again. They need a spark, something that would breathe life back into this team after the morale has been slowly chipped away.

This was the only way she knew how to do that.

“Peek-a-boo,” Brittany says and looks everyone in the eye to make sure they’re with her.

Her teammates look surprised but they nod.

“Alright,” Brittany nodded resolutely, “Titans on three. One…two…three!”

“Titans!” They yelled out in unison with a clap before getting back to the line of scrimmage.

Her heart was racing but this is exactly what she loves about the game. It’s all about the adrenaline and making every play count. She can do this.

Puck gets into position beside Brittany as she readies herself for the snap. Her eyes stay searching the defense for any movement, always scanning.

“Down…hut,” She says lowly. She watches her inflection and thanks her lucky stars that no one on her O-Line flinches, “Down…hut.”

Again, her O-Line are statues. She was hoping she could draw an offsides from the opposing team, but they don’t move either. She stomps her left foot and Puck changes positions, “Down…HUT!”

The ball is snapped perfectly and she quickly fakes the handoff to Puck before he charges to the left. Brittany watches the mob of players move along with him before she’s tucking the ball and taking off in the opposite direction. She just needs a few yards to get the first down and she runs like hell towards it.

She can see in her peripheral that Crawford County’s safety and corner have started to gain on her. Her feet move faster and she jolts her arm out in a stiff arm that connects with one of the players.

The corner tumbles to the ground but there’s still one more Brittany has to worry about. The safety wraps gives her a hard shove but she outstretches the ball in hopes that she can still land the first down before she falls out of bounds.

Brittany hits the turf hard and the ball pops out but she can hear the Ref’s whistle blowing. She glances up in time to see him signal the first down and suddenly her shoulder doesn’t hurt all that bad.

She hops up from the ground as her teammates rush her, but even in the swarm of red and white jerseys Brittany finds herself glancing to the sidelines where Santana looks visibly relieved. Her pompoms are clutched to her chest but when she sees that Brittany is okay, Santana narrows her eyes almost as if to say don’t do that again.

Even if things are weird between them right now, it’s still nice to know Santana worries about her. Brittany smirks though at the chastising look and mouths an apologetic, “I’m sorry.”

But Brittany isn’t, not really. The smile she wears after making an incredible play can probably be seen from space, but they’re not done yet.

“Hell yeah!” Puck shouts excitedly as he slaps Brittany’s on the helmet, “That was so awesome!”

“Let’s do something with this,” Brittany says as determined as ever before getting her team back to their new line of scrimmage. She calls the next play but she wants to keep this momentum going and calls out, “Hurry! Hurry!”

Mike and Sam are set up with Matt on the opposite side. Puck’s next to her again to offer extra coverage as the ball is snapped. She drops back and searches for an open receiver but the linebackers are quickly closing in. The more time she sits in the pocket, the bigger chance she has of someone on her team getting penalized for holding. She has to act now!

Suddenly Matt gets open and Brittany fires the ball into his open hands. It’s like a laser beam but he makes the catch and brings it into his chest before getting tackled to the turf. It was a nice grab for a good chunk of yardage, another first down.

“Let’s go!” Mike cheers as everyone gets back into position.

The clock continues to tick away but they’re in way better field position now, Brittany has to make something of it. The endzone is right there, if she can’t get a strike she’s going to be really disappointed in herself.

In the huddle, she calls a play that’s well-practiced amongst the receivers but the challenge is whether or not her receivers can put enough distance between them and their defenders. A pass like this could be easily picked off and if it does, that’ll be a big blow to the Titans’ morale.

“Down…” Brittany calls out as she readies for the snap, “Down, HUT!”

Similar to the play before, her receivers take off but instead of running up field they make quick slants in different directions. Brittany looks for the most promising target and fires towards them. This time it’s Mike and he leaps into the air to make the catch. The ball continues to stay secured in his arms as he drops back to the turf and heads for the endzone.

Brittany watches it all happen in slow motion. One step, two step, three step, SCORE!

The stands erupt in applause while the team celebrates. Brittany rushes down to join them and for the first time all quarter, she feels like she can recognize her team again. They head to their sidelines as the special team is brought out for the extra point.

While everyone watches and waits to see what Kurt can do, Brittany’s glancing to Santana again. At first, she’s looking at the kicking team too but then she turns to Brittany almost as if she could feel her watching.

Santana quirks her brow and tilts her head toward the field but Brittany keeps staring. Maybe that hit earlier has knocked a couple screw loose but Brittany can’t find it in her to look away. She’s been depriving herself for the past two days now and in this moment, while she’s surrounded by her teammates and she’s meant to be tuned into the game, she just wants to look at Santana.

And she knows she shouldn’t want to go over there and kiss her either, but she can’t help what her heart wants.

The crowd cheering again after Kurt’s kick is good is the only thing that breaks Brittany’s concentration. The Titans have now tied with Crawford County and there’s still a whole quarter left in the game. Everyone looks revived and Brittany has such a good feeling about what’s coming next once they get the ball back.

\\

Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Titans lead by a field goal and they’re already closing in on another TD but again Crawford County’s D isn’t letting that happen so easily. They’re on third down and short but Karofsky’s already started up with his bullshit again after another pass was batted to the ground.

“I knew you’d choke,” Karofsky scolds after Brittany calls a timeout, “What the hell was that?”

Brittany shakes her head but continues to keep her cool, “It looked like they got the jump on you. Maybe you need to keep a better eye on your man.”

“I had my eye on him!”

Puck laughs, “I bet you did.”

Karofsky shoves at him and Puck shoves back. Matt quickly gets in between them and pushes them apart.

“You’re blowing this for us,” Karofsky claims as he glares at Brittany, “You were just all talk! Now that you’re here, you’re choking.”

Brittany frowns. She knows he’s just taking out his frustrations on her because she’s the leader of this team, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less. She doesn’t usually believe a thing he says, but the more he runs his mouth the less she starts to believe in herself.

Is she blowing this for them? Should she be doing more? What more could she possibly do?

“How about you take some ownership?” Brittany says instead, “As soon as something doesn’t go our way, it’s my fault. Well, what about you? What are you doing to make this team work? What’s your contribution?”

“This is bullshit,” Karofsky growls as he takes a step closer to her.

Brittany doesn’t waver, “Yeah. It is.”

She just keeps her chin held high and her fists tight by her sides. She could go off right about now, unleash all the pent up feelings she has about him and his shitty attitude and the comments he’s made about Santana.

She could do it, but she won’t. For the sake of this team and for Santana, she won’t. She’s better than him and she can’t stoop to his level no matter how bad she wants to.

“It’s not her fault you’re outmatched,” Sam replies as he pushes Karofsky back to his side of the huddle.

“I’m getting tired of you always defending in her!” Azimio snaps.

“We’re a team, that’s what we do! We have each other’s back.”

Karofsky just shakes his head before Brittany takes back the huddle. She calls her next play and tries to rally a bit of support but she can see her O-Line is tired and it doesn’t help that Karofsky keeps making things negative.

“Let’s just focus here,” Brittany tells them, “One thing at a time.”

So Brittany and most of the Titans do just that.

It’s one play at a time, one touchdown, one win. That’s all they need to do to come out of this on top.

Brittany sets up another play action and has Puck get into position next to her. The ball is snapped and she fakes it to Puck but #87 for Crawford County is in her face in an instant. It happens a lot quicker than it usually does so she has to scramble. She tries to duck and dodge him while looking for someone to offload the ball, but then she’s blindsided by #99 coming in from the opposite side.

She’s hit hard once again and drops to the ground with two defenders wrapped around her. Miraculously, Brittany was able to hang onto the ball during that sack but she’s slow to get up.

Actually, she’s slow to even move.

[hargrove-mayfields]

Ooh, okay, "defensive bills" please, and "self indulgent B w/ braces"? (Oh, and if it's not too many, "Billy’s H&M hair" and "broken necklace oops" and "role swap au" please??")

defensive bills- this one is like a sibling bonding thing. Max is autistic bc that’s my favorite ever, and Mike calls her a slur (not maliciously kids are just like that, especially in the 80s), and her heart is broken. She initially doesn’t tell anyone about it because she feels like she’s overreacting, but she lets it slip what’s bothering her after the next time it happens. She makes Billy promise her however that he’s not going to be nasty to the kids to make them stop, so instead he goes above the kids’ heads to Karen, since he’s already got some pull there, and gets Mike in trouble.

Max trusts Billy a teensy bit more, and he benefits from this too because he’s learning like, rational solutions to life’s problems instead of just freaking out and attacking people. After a long time of this apprehensive trust thing they’ve got going on, Billy admits to Max that he had a little sister that his momma took with her when she left, and that’s why it was so hard for him to get along with her, and why he still was so aggressively protective of her even though they didn’t get along.

self indulgent B w/ braces- I had this thought about like, what if Neil had knocked a couple of Billy’s teeth out when he hit him as a kid. They were baby teeth so they came back, but maybe too many come in at once, so there wasn’t enough room and there’s one up in his gums causing trouble.

Years and years down the line, he’s living with Joyce now after being removed from Neil’s custody, and she makes Billy go to all his doctors and dentists appointments because she’s actually a responsible mother. But at the dentist they’re like holy hell kid your mouth is messed up, so he has to very begrudgingly get braces to get everything back in order before his wisdom teeth come in and knock every thing crooked, which would be a worse problem so he agrees to let it happen.

Basically the entire fic is Billy being nasty to everyone around him because he’s A) constantly irritated by the constant pain in his mouth B) afraid that if he lets them, people are going to make fun of him C) not allowed to smoke anymore because of yellow spots and D) already struggling to adapt to the new environment that is living with the Byers’. Also features Max poking lots of lighthearted fun at him for being a metal mouth, and an exploration of the root of his self confidence issues/why he holds so much value in his appearance!

Billy’s H&M hair- so I got to thinking about how his hair looks mostly unstyled in that shoot, and I took inspiration from that to write a fic. There was almost a fluffy reason for it, but you know me, I love angst, so instead, Billy’s hair is a mess, all frizzy and loose and greasy, because Max ran away again and he was told not to come back home without her. He’s been at it forever, so he’s exhausted and just too busy looking for her to take any care of himself.

He ends up at Scoops looking for her because he knows that’s where the kids flock sometimes, and when he asks Steve if he knows where they are, he forget about the black eye and the scab in his eye brow put there by Neil, and pushes his sun glasses up. Steve is like dude, what happened to your face, and Billy just doesn’t even have it in him to lie anymore, so he tells Steve all about Neil and everything that’s happening with Max right now.

Max is found, but before Billy can take her home, Steve slips him his number, thinking he’s being nice and offering him help if anything like this were to happen again, but Billy takes it in that way, so even though he looks like a total disaster right now, and he definitely cried when Max came back, he winks at Steve and makes a little I’ll call you later gesture. Steve is more than a little flustered by the mix-up but definitely not opposed to it!

broken necklace oops- Billy fidgets a lot with his necklace, which was his momma’s, just running the pendant across the chain over and over again, but then it snaps one day. Him and Steve were hanging out when it broke, and Steve offers to help fix it, but Billy is so upset that he takes it the wrong way, thinking that Steve wants to fix him, and they get in a big fight over it.

Billy storms off and ends up getting flayed, so when Steve doesn’t hear anything from him in the next few days he thinks it’s just because they’re done, broken up after the things that were said when they fought. Except he still has the necklace, Billy had thrown it at him and he kept it for a few days hoping he’d come back, but he gives up and he goes to return it at the pool, but he walks in on the sauna test. Cue a little bit of panic, a lot of arguing, and Steve helping to save Billy before it’s too late.

role swap au- This is a super long fic, it’s basically a rewrite of all three seasons with Billy and Steve switching places!

So Steve is the rich kid from California in big trouble with his parents for being rebellious and a pinch of homosexual galavanting, so he gets sent to the small town his father grew up in as punishment. Billy’s already the King of Hawkins High, but his status at the top of the high school hierarchy is slipping because he’s too busy for parties now that his kid sister got him caught up in this monster hunting nonsense.

Bratty Steve arrives in town, and Billy is somewhat interested in this new kid and what he has to offer until he starts to steal his attention away. They have their little pissing contest with Steve coming out on top because Billy refuses to fight him, but Billy can’t be bothered with picking up the pieces of his social life because Max says the monsters are back and she’s making him take her and her friends out to some junkyard and shit.

The summer of ‘85 rolls around, Billy’s been officially kicked out by Neil for being a mooch and his friends have all abandoned ship for the new Cali boy who stole his thunder, but honestly, he doesn’t really care because he’s got a super cool new best friend working at Scoops anyways, and he’s pretty sure they’re done with the monsters.

But then Steve, who is working as a lifeguard and who Billy bumps into after a party, gets flayed, and Billy is the one that’s concerned, because Steve’s friends aren’t really loyal nor do the kids know or care about him. The stuff with the Russians goes mostly (emphasis on mostly) ignored because Billy’s making the kids help him with Steve, but they aren’t able to get the mind flayer out of Steve because a distraction with Dustin trying to handle the transmission himself comes up.

In the end at the battle of Starcourt, Billy decides to try to step in because he was supposed to be taking responsibility for Steve, and he’s screwed everything else up and he realizes in another world, they could’ve been friends, so he tries to push Steve out of the way. They both catch a couple of the little stabs and they definitely still need medical attention but nobody get impaled so they all live!

[biillyhargroves]

Give me some Billy surviving. I NEED it

this is an older ask that I am FINALLY getting to (oh gosh I’m so sorry) and since it fits really well with a concept I’ve been wanting to write for a while it’s going to be based on this post (and honestly I’d love to continue it if people would be into that!!! so lmk!!!) (I mean I’ll prob end up doing it anyway but it’s nice to know when y’all are into a story, y’know?)

up from the ashes

“Get away from the door! Max! Max!” 

The voice belongs to Mike, but it is Lucas who grabs her arm tight. The last thing Max sees before she is yanked away is Billy’s body contorted on the sauna’s tiled floor. He screams an animal howl and she strains against Lucas’s grip. She shouts her brother’s name, over and over again, like a chant. “Billy!” she calls. “Billy! It’s gonna be okay, Billy. Can you hear me? Billy!” She strains against Lucas but he does not let her go. Behind her, she thinks she hears someone ask, “Does it go any higher?” Will steps cautiously forward, eyeing the sauna door. He grabs the lever and pulls, pulls until the metal clanks and the gears shudder to a grinding halt. Billy screams- louder this time - and Max pleads, “You’re gonna kill him!” 

“Will lived,” El reminds her. She is at Max’s other side, her hand on Max’s shoulder, and Max’s body slackens. “Will lived,” El repeats. Max can barely hear her over Billy’s pain. She thinks he is saying something, but the words are too disjointed to be sensible. The square window is fogged up down, the steam inside densely opaque, but they see a shadow moving inside. It is unsteady. It gets bigger and bigger. It falls against the door with a loud bang! that sends them all jumping. Max shrinks away; she thinks she might’ve fallen if El and Lucas were not there to hold her. “I think,” El whispers, “it’s working.” 

But Max can’t look. She buries her face in Lucas’s chest. His arms wrap around her and she feels El’s hands on her back, too. Billy is pounding on the door. He is screaming; a long string of expletives turns into a pained yowl, something feral and inhuman, and then…

And then they hear him fall onto the floor, and all the screaming stops. 

“Turn it off.” This is Mike again. Max lifts her head to see Will pushing the lever back to cooler, cooler, cold. The churning of the vents inside the room stutter to a halt. Max takes a step away from Lucas and El, and this time they both let her go.

“Did it work?” she asks no one in particular. Her heart is pounding so fast and loud it is all she can hear. There is no more movement from inside the sauna. “Billy?” she says cautiously. She makes her way to the door and stands on her tip-toes to see inside. “Billy?” she repeats. The fog has not yet cleared. Steam is still swirling in the cooling air of the sauna. When Max grabs the handle, it is warm to the touch. She takes a deep breath, and then she yanks the door open. 

Billy is on the floor. 

He is turned on his side, his wet hair plastered to his face, obscuring his features. He is covered in sweat. His whole body is sleek with the stuff, and his jeans are about soaked through. One palm is open and there is a long cut down its middle. Drops of red dot the floor near Billy’s arm, and there is a bloodied shard of broken tile next to it. Max can feel eyes on her, can feel the others’ bodies all pressed against the small doorframe. She kneels beside Billy and rests a hand on his back. 

“He’s breathing,” she says. She swipes at a tear she’d been trying to hold back. 

“Did we do it?” Lucas asks. 

“I think so,” Mike says. “Right?”

He looks to Will, and so does Max. Will only shrugs. Max turns her attention back to Billy. She gingerly moves some hair away from his face. “Billy,” she says softly. She nudges his shoulder. He makes a small noise that sounds like a whine and he tries to curl away from her. “Hey, hey, hey,” Max says. She holds him in place, an easy task in his weakened state, and when he tries to turn his head away she says, “It’s just me. It’s okay. It’s okay now.” 

“I didn’t mean it,” Billy mumbles. He sounds like he might cry. “I didn’t- I didn’t want to-”

“I know,” Max assures him. She rubs his back, squeezes his shoulder. “I know.”

Eleven steps into the room. Mike tries to tighten his grip on her hand but his fingers slip between hers. She hovers behind Max for a brief moment, and then steps around Billy and kneels at his side. He is still muttering, repeating the same things again and again- I didn’t know- I didn’t want this- I didn’t do it - It wasn’t me - It wasn’t me - It wasn’t me. But he stops when El’s shadow falls over him. His eyes, bloodshot and red-rimmed, flicker up to her. Max feels his muscles stiffen. 

“You-” Billy says, brow creasing as he blinks warily up at El. “You were-”

She nods her head. There are a million questions on his tongue but he cannot pick out a single one to ask. He stares at her silently. El places her hand on top of Max’s, which is still on Billy’s shoulder. 

“We should,” El says, “get him out of here.” 

“How are we supposed to move him?” Lucas asks. Billy seems to answer for him, though not in so many words. He begins to ease himself upright, the girls’ hands hovering over him- steadying and guiding him. 

“Are we sure it’s even gone?” Mike asks. 

“It’s gone,” Max snaps. It must be true. She knows this. She knows this because she is holding Billy up and she can feel his body shaking. She knows this because she has never seen him look so small and scared, she has never heard his voice crack the way it had, she has never seen him cry. He is afraid, really and truly afraid, and she believes his fear.

“How do you know?” Mike demands. 

“I just know, okay?” Max says. 

“She’s right,” Will says. All eyes- including Billy’s -turn to him. “It’s gone.” 

“You’re sure?” Lucas asks. Will nods. They sigh, it seems, in collective relief- all except for Billy, who is watching Will cautiously. He seems to be thinking something, though Max isn’t quite sure what. He shudders when she starts to stand. 

“El’s right,” she says. “Let’s get out of here.” 

The trip home is, for lack of a better term, cumbersome. The girls pile Billy’s things into the trunk of the beat-up Camaro- Max had wondered what had happened to it when Billy came home just a few nights before; the windshield is splintered and cracked, and there are chips in the blue paint. She hadn’t had time to ask, for Billy snuck the car away before Neil could see the damage (surely, they both knew, his father would have something to say). She thinks, now, that she knows the answer. 

When Max asks Billy if he thinks he can drive, he can nods. Still, she does most of the steering from the passenger seat. They move at a crawl, the boys ahead of them on their bikes, all the way back to the Wheeler house. Billy does not ask where they are, or why they are here. He doesn’t say anything. This, Max thinks, unnerves her the most. 

He does not protest when she tells him to park the car, or when she yanks the keys from the ignition. He follows almost obediently behind her as she and El lead him into the house and down into the basement. He does not notice, or at least seems to ignore, the whispering that short-circuits when he comes within earshot. Mike and Lucas watch him cautiously. Will watches him, too, though there is more empathy there. 

“I know it’s a lot to ask,” Max says when Will is helping her root through the bathroom cabinet for the Wheelers’ old first aid kit, “but do you think you could maybe…try to, like. I don’t know. Talk to him? You can say no, but. I mean. Since you-”

“Max,” Will says. “I get it,” he says. “And it’s not a lot,” he assures. “And yes.”

“Thanks.” She pokes her head out of the room. Billy is leaning against the wall, his brow furrowed as he looks about the room. Max can tell he is uncomfortable. His muscles uncoil when she says, “Hey. Come in here.” 

Will slips out of the room as Billy slips in. Max shuts the door behind him and Billy sighs, relief and exasperation expelled in one breath. He sits when Max tells him to, opens his injured palm when she reaches for it, doesn’t even wince when she presses a soapy washcloth against it. 

“You gonna explain any of this?” he says. His voice is still hoarse, and is at least an octave deeper than his normal register. He sounds exhausted. “You seem to know-”

“Later,” Max interrupts. She leaves the cloth on the lip of the sink and swabs a weak alcohol pad over the gash. Again, Billy does not react. He has, Max knows, done this many times before, on many different kinds of cuts. 

“I deserve to know,” Billy presses. “Don’t I?”

“I promise,” Max says. She is tearing open an expired packet of gauze. “Later.” 

“All your little friends seem in on this bullshit,” he says. Max should be annoyed, wants to be annoyed, but she finds that she is actually relieved. Relieved, and maybe a little bit grateful that he is here, with her, talking to her, sounding almost like himself. 

“I know,” she says. “It’s a long story.”

“Right,” Billy sighs, and he doesn’t even seem mad. He watches absently as Max winds the gauze around his hand. “I just-” he starts, and then he shakes his head. “I don’t-” he tries again, but loses this thought, too. “It was like-” and again he stops. His throat is getting tight. Max can tell by the pull in his voice, the slight quiver of his lip, the water welling up in his eyes. He looks up at her. “How’d you get it out?” 

She wants to ask, Get what out?, but she knows he wouldn’t buy it. It wouldn’t buy her the time she wants, that she needs- because the Mind Flayer is still out there, somewhere. They got it out of Will and it came back for Billy. They got it out of Billy and- where will it go next? Where is it now? Does it know where they are? Will it come back for Billy? Will it come back for all of them? There is no time to explain, because they may have to run. Max shakes her head to clear it. She uses a strip of slightly-yellowed medical tape to secure the gauze, then begins to clean up her supplies. Billy inspects her handiwork, running his thumb over the covering on his palm. 

“Thanks,” he murmurs, “shitbird.” 

He is quiet, but not so quiet that Max can’t hear him, and that stupid little word- the insult that has become a nickname, the one he bellows through the house or over the pounding music in his car, the one he slings at every opportunity -makes her smile. 

“Just…take it easy for a minute, okay?” she says. “Don’t rip that open.” 

When she looks back at Billy, he is smiling, too. It’s a small smile, barely there, but it’s enough. Enough to convince her that she was really right- that Will was right- that right now, in this moment, the Mind Flayer is lurking underneath the surface. They are okay. 

“I’ll be right back,” Max says. Billy nods his head. There is chatter outside the door, an argument had in hushed whispers, and it ceases the minute Max opens the door. “I can hear you, y’know,” she says pointedly. “And if I can hear you, he can hear you. And no, he’s not flayed anymore. And yes, we can trust him. He’s not a spy.”

“How can you be sure?” Mike asks.

“The Mind Flayer is out of him,” El insists. “Right?”

“Right,” Will says.

“See?” Max says.

“Max,” Lucas says. “That still doesn’t mean-”

“I’m stopping you right there,” Max says. She lowers her voice and prays that Billy won’t hear her, that what she has to say won’t embarrass him or upset him or make him mad. “He’s scared. Okay? I’v never seen him that scared. He doesn’t know what’s going on. And what if the Mind Flayer’s not done with him? We can’t just leave him.”

“He might,” El reasons, “know what the Mind Flayer wants.”

“Or at least help us figure it out,” says Will. 

“So he’s staying,” Max declares. “Got it?” When no one speaks, Max says, “Good.” She steps toward the couch and lets herself fall into it, bumping into El as the cushions sink beneath her. “So,” she begins after a few beats of silence. She looks at everyone in turn, and then to the bathroom door, which she had left closed for Billy’s sake. “Where do we go from here?” 

[may85]

Summary: As you go through the motions of grief from a love lost, you try to move on, but things take a certain turn.

Pairing: Jim Hopper x Reader

TV Show: Stranger Things

Word Count: 1614

Warnings: Angst mostly

Joyce holds your hand in a tight grip, so tight that both your hand and hers are losing circulation.

The Key whirred loudly as it gained momentum. The wall splitting even further, revealing the deep, angry red orange veil of the Upside Down.

Hopper fought Grigori on the platform and you both rooted for your man to kick his ass. With one last blow to the face, the Russian  Schwarzenneger went down, his head getting caught in the Keys machinery.

The Key had already taken up too much space and had destroyed much of the platform, leaving Jim trapped.

Your hand froze on the key, not wanting to turn it, but you'd already promised Hopper that no matter what, you and Joyce would finish the job.

Hopper towered over you, his hand cradling your face, "Promise me, Sweetheart,"

You shook your head, gripping his wrist like he would disappear right then and there, "Hop… I can't,"

He nodded, his eyes filling with tears, but he didn't dare let them fall, "Yes, you can Y/N. You can and you will,"

"B-but, I can't lose you… Please," you cried, a sob ripping through you.

Hopper pulled you to his chest, his hand in your hair and the other on your waist, "I love you, Y/N,"

"I-I love y-you too," your body jerked with a hiccup as your gripped his jacket.

"Y/N," Joyce said, giving a quick squeeze.

You shook your head, big tears rolling down your cheeks. Hopper stared straight at you, his own eyes filling with unshed tears again.

He nodded his head and you both mouthed one last 'I love you,' before you and Joyce turned the key.

A white flash, so hot that it was felt through the glass and had even melted some bursted from the main Key, making you and Joyce close your eyes from the intensity.

Within mere seconds the Key died, the roaring slowing down to slight hum before stopping altogether.

Your chest heaved, a great heaviness on your lungs and heart as you realized that Hopper was no longer standing there and no trace of him was left behind.

Hopper was gone… and you never felt more alone than you did right then.

°°°°°°

Outside, orders were being barked out, sirens were wailing and flashing lights made your brain feel as if it were short circuiting.

Then you saw El, her nose bloody, her chin wobbling with the onslaught of fresh tears.

How your feet carried you to her, you'll never know, but you both broke down in the parking lot of Starcourt Mall, falling into a heap of screams and wails.

The party all came over, laying their hands on your head or shoulders, all weeping at the loss of their Chief, father and friend.

You had all but shut down as the days went on, not knowing where to go or what to do. It was difficult and even more so when the day of the funeral came around.

Dr Owens made sure that Jim would get full honors and the funeral and burial that he deserved, even though there wasn't a body to bury.

You sat on your bed dressed in long black sleeves, black pants and a pair of black slip ons, holding the shirt Magnum PI shirt that Jim had last wore.

Sweat and blood stained parts of it, but you couldn't bring yourself to wash it.

As you sniffled, the door creaked open and El peaked into the room a brush in hand.

"Y/N?" She said softly.

You wiped your eyes, giving a tearful smile, "Hey,"

"Help, please?" She asked, holding up the brush.

You nodded, placing the shirt on the bed and leading her over to your vanity. Soft, sad smiles were shared between you two as you ran the bristles through her curly hair. 

Once the tangles were out, you placed a hair clip on the side to keep her bangs out of her eyes.

Eleven looked at you through the mirror, her breath hitched, "Time to go,"

Most of the town was gathered around the seven foot hole in the ground. The wind was gusty, making it seem that the tent that covered the chairs for family would blow away.

You sat in the middle seat, Joyce, her boys and Nancy to your left, with El, Mike, Dustin, Steve, Lucas and Max to your right.

Their families stood behind the chairs and a few unfamiliar and familiar hands patted your shoulders as they walked by to stand.

The pastor began the normal funeral talk and all you could do was glare angrily at the opened ground.

Your knee bounced as you felt a tight coil in your stomach ready to snap at any given moment. This was total and utter bullshit and all you wanted to do was lash out and be angry that Jim was taken away from you.

The only thing that kept you from storming away, was El. She wrapped her arm around yours, nuzzling her cheek against your arm as she gripped your hand to rest on your knee.

The service was short, thankfully and you had to get away for just a little bit. Turning to Joyce, you spoke quietly, "Can El stay with you for a few hours?"

Joyce rubbed your arm, "Yeah, of course. You alright, Y/N?"

"I-," you gulped, eyes burning, "I just need to get away from all these people. I can't take one more 'Sorry' or another stare,"

She nodded, giving you a quick hug, "We'll be at the house when you're ready,"

El knew you needed to leave, but that didn't stop her from gripping your arm, "Don't go,"

Clearing your throat, you gave her a quick squeeze, "Just for a few hours, Hun,"

"Friend's don't lie," she said softly.

You cupped her cheeks, giving one side a quick pinch, which irked her, but she smiled, "No lies. Just a few hours,"

She was hesitant, but she slowly let go of you, keeping you to your word.

You don't really recall how you got to your current location, but you were there all the same.

Jim's cabin.

You stepped over the booby trap and up the rickety steps. The door was left ajar, and you remembered what the kids had told you about the Mind Flayer fight.

Gently, the door was pushed open and you were met with a mess. Shelves knocked over, shattered glass, a huge hole in the roof just to name a few… it broke your heart all over again.

You carefully stepped over the broken things and made your way to Jim's bedroom. There, untouched, was the box marked Sara.

Jim had kept the photos of him and his daughter amongst other belongings in that box and you wanted to keep them safe.

With the occasional sniffles, you carried certain items from the cabin that would help you and El along the path of grief.

°°°°°°

Months went by and it quickly became colder over Thanksgiving. The first had been somewhat of a struggle for you both, but you each offered each other the encouragement needed to get through your heartaches.

The cabin roof had been repaired, seeing as you couldn't let that just go to shit. Too many memories were made at the shack. 

To commemorate Jim, you decided that both of you would decorate the cabin and spend the month December doing all the things that Hopper had done. It would be a bittersweet ending to the year.

El was over at Mike's with the party while you had gone to the store to stock up on groceries. This was your first night back alone, but something just felt, not off, but different… and you couldn't put your finger on it.

Snow had fallen and at the current time, 4 inches had covered the ground. Snowflakes still fell lightly from the sky and the temperature had dropped drastically enough that you couldn't risk going to get El.

After placing a call to the Wheeler's to make sure it was fine that she stay the night, you put one of Jim's jackets on and went out to get some wood for the fire.

It was quiet… almost too quiet and the hair at your nape had stood on end making you shiver. Choosing to ignore it, you continued to slowly shift through the snow to wood pile put by the shed.

You sniffled due to the extreme cold; for once not because of crying and your face nearly felt numb.

SNAP!

Your head shot up at the sharp break of limbs, your breath fogging thickly as you breath became labored.

It was dusk, but just dark enough that you couldn't make out clear things, just the outline about a forth of a mile away. 

You counted silently to ten before another loud snap echoed closer to you than you would've liked.

"Who's there!?" You yelled, making you wince.

You knew the rules to the horror movies and yet rolled your eyes when you thought you'd been spending too much time with the kids watching scary movies.

You squinted at movement along the tree line, "Answer me!"

Whatever it was froze, turning towards you then taking off in a run.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" You gasped, turning and running yourself.

Just as you reached the steps, you tripped over a tree stump, hitting your head hard on the bottom step.

You felt hands rolling you over, your vision blurry due to blood getting in your eyes. Blinking, you could've sworn you were looking into the blue eyes of…

"Hopper?"

A sharp pinch in your neck and everything went black.

[jon-astronaut]

Just a quick little character study on Max because she has been getting too much undeserved hate. And I read a post reminding that all Max knew was abusive men (her step-father, Billy) so of course she was skeptical of other men too.

The thing is Max likes Lucas. A lot.

Sure, he is “the stalker”, he is a complete idiot, he says all the wrong things. But Max likes him. Because he is also the first person who understood her in this crazy town, who included her in things, who listened to her. And just sometimes he would say the right things.

She would always call him out on his bullshit and he accepted that. Maybe that’s why she broke up with him five times but she took him back five times too. She is still 14 though. It is not like she was committing to Lucas for life.

Lucas is cool. He respects her boundaries. They are friends before everything else. They have fun together and even when Max is rolling her eyes at him, somewhere she smirks too.

She trusts Lucas. (She would be a fool not to after everything they have been through.) The problem is that, she doesn't trust him not to change.

She remembers, from her early memories, that her mother and father used to laugh a lot too. Until the laughs turned into shouts for them and tears for Max.

When Neil came into the picture, her mom described him as the perfect man. Either she was lying or he was faking it before because turns out he was far from being the perfect man.

So yeah, the first time Max breaks up with Lucas it’s because he yelled a little too much when they were playing a stupid game at the arcade. It wasn't even an angry shouting. Lucas was rooting for Max and he had a bet with Dustin who was rooting for Mike. So when Lucas was down because he lost the bet he protested somewhat loudly. Max flipped him off saying he should find another girlfriend.

Lucas isn’t Neil. He is nice and calm. Max knows . It was just that she was reminded of all the times Neil yelled at her mother.

Whenever her mother wears something too showing Neil makes her change it. Every time, her mother walks back upstairs without objecting.

So, when El came to her about Mike the first thing she did was to drag her to the mall. She tried not to say too much and let El chose her own clothes, find her own style without a man there to interfere. She makes sure to remind El that no piece of clothing was out of reach.

Mike isn’t Neil. He loves El and respects her. Max knows It was just that with all his lying and them being joined at the hip she was reminded of all the times Neil tricked her mother and didn’t give her mother any space.

There is always something breaking in the house. Neil pushes Billy to the bookshelf and two photo frames falls to the ground. Billy grabs and snaps her skateboard into two.

So, when the party was over at Steve’s and Dustin annoyed the older boy and Steve picked the younger boy's comic out of his hands as a retaliation she expected Steve to rip it in half. She turned her face away only to hear Steve toss it back to Dustin without any harm. 

Steve isn’t Neil or Billy. He had changed; he is always so kind and protective with the party. Max knows. It was just that he was ‘King Steve’ once and that reminded her too much of how Billy used to be (when he was alive).

Neil slaps Billy and almost slaps her mother. Billy holds her wrist way too tight.

So, when she saw Nancy and Jonathan arguing it took her so much power to stop herself from rushing over there.

Jonathan isn’t Neil or Billy. He is always so caring and soft with Nancy. It was just that she knew how fights ended and even though a second later they hugged it out, it could have gone the other way too.

Despite popular belief, especially from Mike, Max didn’t hate all these men she knew in her life. It’s just that when she lived with a certain type of men most of her life it was hard to believe the opposite type of men existed too.

So, she breaks up with Lucas far too many times. She is too hard on Mike about El. She lectures Will and Dustin about girls and feminism all the time (even though they are respectful to women for their age). She still doesn’t trust Steve the way Dustin and the others do. She always searches for any bruises on Nancy’s face. She keeps an eye on Robin too because anything could happen.

Because she knows she needs to be careful. Because nobody sheltered her from everything at home and nobody told her mother that she didn’t need to stay with someone like Neil. So, she becomes that somebody for women, for people around her.

[tossertozier]

you mentioned possibly doing a ben or mike writing guide.. would you.. be willing to post a mike one. i'm plotting a fic and im struggling to get my mans down?? also i think abt ur fics weekly bare minimum.

hi there!!! i did my best. i tried to not sound preachy or like a know it all bc y’all know i can barely write. i hope this is helpful in some way!! disclaimer of of course this is all just my opinion & there’s no wrong way to write, you’re the only person who can tell your story!!

[[MORE]]

i think the first really important decision you have to make as Person Writing Mike is his

family & background

-are both of his parents alive?

-if yes, what’s their relationship like?

-if no, who’s his primary caretaker? what’s their relationship like?

-if no, when did they die? did he cope well with it? what’s his relationship with their memory like?

these are really really where you gotta start to write mike imo. or any character! i think one thing stephen king is to be admired for is he doesn’t neglect the parent-child relationship as so many people who write youth do. your parents are the most important people in your life for a long time. i don’t think there’s a wrong or ooc way to answer the above questions tbh. canon has really left a wide open field for you to run amuck in.

(example: i’ve mentioned in the past that my & tfat mike being a small adult is no mistake and intentional. it’s a bit of a throwaway scene, but i mention in on pointe that mike’s parents are coming. it’s intentionally done there too. mike is goofier, more outgoing, more immature in general in that fic in the small bits he’s in & that’s all a response to his familial life. )

culture + friendships

after you answer those questions, important follow up questions are:

-are the losers his first set of friends?

-how much social exposure has he had?

-has he dated? who is he attracted to?

-who influences him? (celebrities, family, culturally)

-what are his cultural interests? what does he do in his free time? how would that impact how he interacts with the rest of the world?

again, no wrong way to answer these. i’ve seen a super broad spectrum of indirect answers to these questions. even thinking about where he might pick up patterns of speech can make him feel much more like a realized character. i’ve noticed some people dip fully into aave to an extent that doesn’t even seem logical in their character’s current situation & it can really seem like a caricature, but i think to write mike without any sense of aave at all is a little ?? too. just be cognizant of it is my only real advice here. it doesn’t so much matter as long as you don’t forget who mike is which next point

humor & personality

-what do you think he would find (shows, comedians, youtube videos) really funny?

-does he have something he quotes often? something he started saying ironically but never stopped?

man i know i’m all there’s no wrong way to write mike !! in this post but i will say real quick that i think mike is funny and i don’t really respect depictions of him where he’s not. i think this is where the movies really just fucked up. book mike drops some of the funniest lines of the book. and honest to god tip is to write out a scene as you feel the urge too, look away for five minutes, look back and give half of richie’s lines away. (or... dialogue.) this sounds like a joke but it was what i did when i first started writing & tfat

i’d always be like “n the funny part goes... to richie.” and thats a fandom inclination too. nooooo. avoid this trap. it doesn’t even make sense. have u ever been in a friend group where only one person... makes jokes? that’d be genuinely so weird. especially bc if you give the joke away to someone else, you can also build on it. amazing things start happening when u start thinking of the characters in flexible patterns. like for example, i almost always give absurdist humor to stan now. wholesome to ben.

mike’s humor is largely situational to me. solid comedic timing & he’s an observant person. sometimes i read back my own writing & have to change the pov bc richies making jokes about things he would never ever notice to make fun of. mike would. mike genuinely sees all. i think he’s just got one of the most analytical brain of the losers. & i think intelligence is subjective and people are smart in different ways but i think it’s foolish to write him as anything other than incredibly intelligent both academically and emotionally. he’s just a natural observer and pattern notice-er. which brings me to my next mike thing:

love & selflessness

i think the biggest part of mike being harder to flesh into a fully realized person is the fandom tendency to make him kind and nothing else. here’s mike. he’s nice. next. bc the book kind of points out his selflessness in his decisions and it makes itself one of his strongest character traits.

especially bc nice seems to trump him having any other emotions. ...no?

i believe in general, but ESPECIALLY in the case of mike, that kindness is a choice. it’s one i genuinely believe he’d make, over & over again. but a choice he makes. he gets annoyed with his friends being annoying like anyone else would. he gets hurt when he feels left out. he feels tired & anxious & hungry and all those other human things. sometimes he might not let it show outwardly, but there’s a difference between that and not giving him feelings at all.

people are selfish. it’s a defense mechanism. it’s to protect us. it’s not a bad thing. we think of how the world impacts ourselves first. we don’t always act upon those thoughts or voice them, but don’t forget to let mike have them. he doesn’t need to be happy for his friends all the time, or rooting for them or supportive. he should have his own things going on.

also. mike’s not a doormat. yes, he stays in derry. but those were life-death consequences for generations of children. it’s really not comparable to almost any decision mike would make in a pennywise free universe. yes, he made a sacrifice in the book but i don’t think he’d just lay himself down in any given universe to whatever fate wants to hand him. but this is where i end this topic bc i’m actually only barely beginning to get to this topic in my own fic!

it’s hard writing the losers young sometimes bc i do feel relationships are naturally a little unbalanced based on basic maturity levels as young people. sometimes friendships just are unbalanced bc of who people are at that time. everyone involved can still be good people in these relationships. it’s about growing together and learning how to be good friends to each other.

for example, in &tfat: certain losers are always checking in with others. others are really wrapped up in their own shit and don’t really notice what bothers the others. it would probably take a chart the size of a textbook to explain how i think this dynamic wholly pans out in full. and yeah, i think it grates on mike a little bit that he is always the checker and never the checkee.

but even when mike snaps, even when he gets upset, i always write it coming out of him with a lot of love. i genuinely think mike, regardless of experience in that fic, has the deepest understanding of love as its own concept and an understand of how exactly it rules his life and and his relationships. mike knows to feel strongly about something he has to care about it. there are lots of things he just doesn’t care about. in the book it’s stated he’s difficult to connect with as an adult. he’s distant. he’s focused on what he wants to focus on. i think mike is actually the most interesting when he becomes a little bit of a disaster man with very little time for what doesn’t interest him.

which last thing, dislikes & disinterests

-what annoys him?

-what makes him genuinely angry?

-what bores him to tears?

i always make jokes that i bring up the nastier parts of the losers bc i love nasty boys but thinking of things people don’t like is as much a part of them as the things they do.

for example, in &tfat, i write richie as making fun of “nerdy” things like anything you could find at comic con. i write bev as not giving a fuck about sports. bill doesn’t care about richie’s music tastes. eddie hates getting condescended to.

bc of the ... kind thing, mike’s one of the harder losers to do this with. i genuinely think mike would listen to any of his friends tell him about anything. & he knows, in return, they can’t say shit when he wants to ramble about history. but dislikes can also be super situational.

again, for example in & tfat: mike doesn’t like when his friends talk about college right now. no one is really being sensitive to him at all. he hates getting blamed for stuff that isn’t his fault, mostly bc it keeps happening.

anyway. i based a lot of my mike (mostly sense of humor and personality) off of a mix of real life friends of mine. it’s a luxury. i know. i’ve been blessed to have friends from literally all walks of life & for me borrowing little habits & quirks & sayings & jokes to slip into my fics and characters is my way of writing one massive love letter to those ive known. i hope i’ve helped you in some way anon. n if not.... don’t be sad i’m hardly one to take writing advice from anyway jandjxjx

overall, as i used to do often, i’d genuinely stop myself and say: is this a person, or a convenience for the plot? and if it was the latter, sigh, and get my backspace key ready.

[insideoutstory]

Inside Out → Chapter Ten

summary: Christine chaperones the kids on an adventure, only to find the last thing they were looking for. word count: 5.5k warnings: angst, character death as displayed in Stranger Things 1.03

[ masterlist ]   [ FF.net ]

At ten after three, Christine and Eleven headed out into the backyard. Christine walked her bike around from the front of the house, and returned to find Eleven pacing the tree line. She stared down at the watch that Mike had given her, chanting under her breath. 

“Three-one-five. Three-one-five. Three-one-five.” 

“El, it’s okay,” Christine assured her, taking a seat on the stoop. “School lets out at three-zero-five, so it’s gonna take a few minutes to get here. They’ll come.” 

Eleven nodded, and ceased her chanting. Still, she continued to pace. 

As Christine had predicted, the boys were a few minutes late. She wasn’t surprised to find Mike at the head of the group, pedaling so fast his feet were in danger of slipping off. He might have run Eleven over if he’d been going any faster. 

“El! You’re okay!” 

“Yes, she’s fine,” said Christine. “We sat inside all day, listened to music, and she’s still in one piece. As promised.” 

Mike did not acknowledge Christine, or her smirk. She suspected it had something to do with the relieved smile Eleven was now sporting since he’d pulled up. 

“God, Mike would ya wait up?” Dustin panted as he and Lucas careened into the backyard. “I’m gonna have a heart attack. Hey, Chrissy. Hey, Eleven.” 

“Can we just do this?” asked Lucas. “We’re losing light, people!” 

“Alright, geez.” Mike waved a hand, gesturing for the other boys to get a head start. Then he patted the seat of his bike, turning back to Eleven. “Come on. We only have a few hours.” 

Eleven climbed onto the bike with trepidation. Her legs dangled aimlessly on either side, and she had to cling to Mike as he pushed off of the grass. They teetered, and then shot off after Dustin and Lucas. 

Christine climbed on her own bike, already shaking her head. She had a bad feeling about this. 

The boys led the way down the streets. They seemed to know where they were going, which was more than Christine could say. The houses began to thin out, giving way to bushes and trees. They must have been traveling toward the town border. 

They coasted to a stop on the side of the road, along a dark patch of forest. The crime scene tape hanging between the trees did nothing to help her nerves. 

“Okay,” said Mike. “So this is where they found Will’s bike.” 

“What was Will doing all the way out here?” asked Christine. 

“He lives around here,” said Dustin. “He always takes Mirkwood home.” 

“Mirkwood?” 

“Yeah, it’s from Lord of the Rings,” Lucas explained. 

“Lucas, it’s from The Hobbit. How many times do I have to tell you? It’s The Hobbit!” 

“How many times do I have to tell you that it doesn’t matter?” 

“Enough,” Christine groaned. “Why do we call it Mirkwood?” 

“Because,” Dustin said brightly, “if there’s any place in Hawkins that looks like it’s plagued with dark magic and giant spiders, this is it.” 

She turned to look at the tree line—twisted trunks and shadows and darkness. 

“Okay. I officially hate this.” 

“Then don’t come,” snapped Mike. He helped Eleven off the back of his bike, and turned to face them all defiantly. “You may be scared, but we’re not. We’re going in there, and we’re going to find Will.” 

He turned on his heel, marching into the woods. It would have made a grand exit, if he didn’t have to pick his way through brambles and steer his bike around roots and twigs. Eleven followed him dutifully. 

“Don’t worry, Chrissy,” said Lucas, wheeling his bike past her. “We got this.” 

“Yeah,” added Dustin. He patted her on the arm. “We’ve got your back.” 

They filed into the forest, following the path that Mike was forging, and leaving Christine to deliberate on the side of the road. But as much as she disliked the idea of wandering in the woods, she disliked the idea of the kids wandering alone more. So she kept her grumbling to herself, and forced her bike into the dying foliage. 

It was not an easy trek. Early November meant the ground was already covered by a blanket of dead leaves a few inches thick. Their sneakers slipped and sank between them, right down into the mud. The rain from the past few days only made it worse. As if it wasn’t bad enough, they weren’t exactly on even ground. There was no path in sight. Rocks and wandering tree roots blocked their way, and more than once, their bikes got tangled in twigs and ivy. Each time, Christine forced everyone to stop so she could unstick the wheels. Mike was vocally unhappy about this delay, but Christine was adamant. If they thought they’d be allowed to flounce out of her sight while they were wandering illegally through a crime scene, they had more than one other thing coming. 

It felt like miles before they stopped. 

“Alright,” said Mike, looking around the clearing. “I think this is where we found Eleven.” 

“Is it?” asked Dustin. 

“Yeah. I think I recognize that tree.” 

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Dude, they all look the same. They’re trees.” 

“Shut up, Lucas. There’s more space here. The trees are farther apart. Right, Dustin?” 

“I don’t know, man. It was pretty dark that night. And it was raining.” 

“Exactly. Besides, what does it matter where we found her?” 

“Because! This is where she saw Will!” 

“Nuh-uh. She never said she saw Will.” 

“She knows where he is. It’s the same thing.” 

“That’s not the same thing.” 

“How is that not the same thing?” 

“If she knew where he was, she could have just taken us straight to him! We wouldn’t have to hike all the way out here first!” 

They continued to bicker, Dustin stepping in every now and then to mediate. Christine simply waited, hands on her hips. They had a long way to go, and playing referee would just be a waste of her precious energy. 

She scanned the surrounding trees. Mike was right; there was more space between them now. But it didn’t make the forest seem any less foreboding. It felt like the shadows were closing in on all sides, a solid wall encroaching with the setting sun. A prickly feeling was rising on the back of her neck. As she looked around, she realized she wasn’t the only one. 

Eleven had stepped away from Mike. She was staring at the trees too, her hands in fists at her sides. The look of terror was back, the deer in the headlights. 

Christine crossed over to her, ready to ask what was wrong. Before she could, she heard it. 

“Guys, stop,” she ordered, and again when Mike tried to argue. “I’m serious. Stop.” 

By some miracle, they relented. Even Mike’s pissy expression faded in the silence that followed. Together they listened, scrutinizing the trees. 

A twig snapped. 

Eleven seized Christine’s hand, and the boys collectively gasped. Lucas slid off his backpack, the zipper loud as a chainsaw. 

“Stop!” Christine hissed, waving him off. “Lucas, stop moving!” 

“I need my wrist rocket! What if it’s the Demogorgon?” 

“Oh shit,” Dustin whispered. “We are so screwed if it’s the Demogorgon.” 

“Whatever it is, we are not taking any chances,” said Christine. She squeezed Eleven’s hand, trying to look down at her without taking her eyes off the trees. “Do you know where we need to go?” 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Eleven nod. 

“Alright, go. Quietly. Boys, go.” 

Christine stared down the darkness, listening to the kids shuffle behind her. She waited until they were a safe distance away before she moved, slowly backing up to her bike. The sound was gone, but the prickle on her neck was not. She knew she was being ridiculous. But with all the talk of monsters and superpowers, she had a right to be on edge. 

She followed the kids out of the clearing, and onto a path they’d found on the other side of the trees. That was a relief. Not only was it easier to walk, but it was easier to keep an eye on everyone. The noise in the trees might have been nothing, but she wasn’t planning on letting any of the kids out of her sight—especially Eleven. 

Christine stayed in the very middle of the party as the sun began to set. She counted her charges compulsively—Dustin and Lucas in the back, Mike and Eleven up front. They’d been talking in low voices for miles. It was mostly Mike, but Eleven seemed to be getting the hand of conversation, her words getting longer and steadier. Not that Christine was eavesdropping. It was just easy to hear them when no one was speaking in a good five-mile radius. 

She noticed that Mike was sporting a new cut on his chin. She wished she could say it was a mystery. Dustin often came home with scrapes and bruises he wouldn’t explain. That was different from the ones he couldn’t explain. She knew boys played rough, but she also knew that most of the party had a tough time at school. They were too proud or scared to talk about it, though, so she wasn’t sure what she could do. It was frustrating, to say the least. 

She watched as Eleven pointed to the wound, and Mike brushed her off. Whatever she said next surprised him, and made him smile all too happily. 

Christine didn’t realize how closely she’d been following them until her bike collided with Mike’s. 

“Hey!” He squawked in protest, grappling with his handlebars as they veered off course. “Watch it!” 

“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t…I’ll just…” 

Reluctantly, she fell back. Mike rolled his eyes at her, and Eleven giggled next to him. It made his irritation vanish. 

Christine tried to keep her pace slow after that, putting some distance between them. She didn’t like that she couldn’t hear their conversation anymore. She couldn’t even see Eleven’s face. 

Dustin and Lucas appeared on either side of her. 

“You okay, Chrissy?” asked Lucas on her right. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks, Lucas.” 

“You sure? You look kinda…iffy.” 

“What is that supposed to mean?” 

“N-Nothing! I mean, nothing bad. I just thought you seemed, you know—that you might be kinda, um…” 

Dustin sniggered on her left. “He means you’re making your giraffe face.” 

Christine gaped. “Excuse me?” 

“Your giraffe face. You know?” 

He puckered his lips, looking more like a sea bass than a giraffe. His eyes bulged, and he craned his neck up as far as it would go, peering down his nose at Mike and Eleven in front of them. 

“I do not look like that.” 

“Nah, it’s more like this,” laughed Lucas. He stretched his neck and squinted. His giraffe had more eyebrow wiggling, but less lips. “It’s what you look like whenever you drop Dustin off for school.” 

“I do not!” 

“Not always. Just when you’re worried. Which is a lot.” 

She frowned. She didn’t think she worried a lot. Sure, she worried about Dustin sometimes. He had a hard time with bullies at school, and she was sure things were only worse with Will missing. And now she had to watch out for monsters and kidnappers and whatever else was creeping around Hawkins. 

So she wanted to make sure Dustin got to school okay. That didn’t make her a giraffe. 

“Hey, it’s okay,” said Dustin, with another pat on her arm. “It’s cute that you worry about me.” 

“I’ll give you something to worry about,” she grumbled, but she wasn’t sure that he’d heard her. 

“We just noticed you seem pretty protective of Eleven now.” 

“Of course I am? She’s like, twelve with no hair, no clothes, no basic vocabulary. And apparently she’s got a bunch of people after her trying to hunt her down like an animal.” 

“Supervillains,” Dustin blurted. 

Lucas groaned. “Dude, they’re not supervillains.” 

“Fine. Mad scientists. I bet she’s some kind of test subject. That’s why she has that tattoo.” 

“Hold up, tattoo?” Both boys shushed her, and Christine lowered her voice. “What tattoo?” 

“It’s on her wrist,” Lucas explained. “Zero-one-one. That’s why Mike calls her Eleven.” 

“God. Who would do something like that?” 

“I’m telling you, she’s a science experiment! Like Wolverine! That’s probably how she got her powers in the first place!” 

“Makes sense,” Christine sighed. 

Her gaze drifted back to Eleven—the shaved head, the skinny arms, the delicate, hunched shoulders. She was calm now, even smiling as she talked to Mike. But Christine couldn’t forget the way fear looked in her eyes, or her hollow voice when asked about her family. Had her real family been taken from her? Had she been abducted? Or worse, what if she hadn’t been? What kind of father would do something like this to his kid? 

It was a few seconds before Christine noticed the boys were staring at her. 

“What?” 

“You agreed with him,” said Lucas. 

“What? No, I didn’t.” 

“Uh, yeah you did,” said Dustin. “I said she had powers, and you said ‘makes sense.’” 

“Dustin, I’m humoring you. None of this makes sense.” 

But he did not seem to believe her excuse. His surprise morphed into a shit-eating grin. “You saw them, didn’t you?” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Oh, come on! You saw her powers, right? You saw her move stuff with her mind?” 

“I definitely did not,” Christine said resolutely. “She’s a fugitive, not Jean Gray.” 

“Nice one.” 

“Thanks.” 

“But I know you saw something.” 

Christine kept her eyes straight ahead, trying to ignore Dustin’s curls as he bounced along in her peripheral vision. He would not go away. 

“I…I don’t know what I saw.” 

“I KNEW IT!” 

Christine and Lucas shushed him, which made Dustin duck down for some reason. After nearly tripping himself off the path, he turned to Christine with rapt excitement. 

“So? What did she do?” 

“She didn’t do anything, okay?” 

“But what did you see?” asked Lucas. 

“Nothing! Look, my—my TV was just having issues. All the electronics have been weird this week. The brown out, remember?” 

She’d intended this statement to raze their excitement, but Dustin and Lucas turned to each other with intent looks. 

“Do you think she can control radio waves?” asked Dustin. 

“No way,” said Lucas. “And anyway, how would that help her close a door?” 

“It wouldn’t! Which means she has more than one superpower! How sick is that?!” 

“They’re not superpowers! She’s just weird!” 

“In more than one way! Damn. She’s like a real life Scarlet Witch!” 

“Scarlet Witch doesn’t have telekinesis, dummy.” 

“Hey, Wanda can move things! And we don’t know how Eleven’s doing it, so it could be chaos magic! Or it could be the Force!” 

“Nobody’s using the Force,” Christine insisted before they could get into another argument. “Look, I don’t know how much of your story I believe. This whole superpower, special sense, monster thing—it’s crazy. But I do think that something weird is going on. Now if Eleven can help us find Will, great. But right now I’m just trying to make sure she stays safe. That all of you do. Got it?” 

The boys nodded solemnly. Then Dustin leaned forward to smirk at Lucas. 

“Told ya she’d believe me.” 

Christine slapped his hat off into the brush. 

Dustin scrambled, but was unable to recover it. He cursed as he smacked down his kickstand, going to look in the bushes while Lucas and Christine cackled behind him. 

She turned to Lucas as his laughter died away. “Hey. Are you okay?” 

“Yeah, I guess.” He stared ahead, his jaw taut. “I don’t care about any of this mad scientist stuff either. I just wanna find Will. That’s the most important thing to me.” 

“I know, bud.” 

“We…We are gonna find him, right?” 

Christine wished she’d never seen Lucas so hopeless. He’d put his faith in Mike and Eleven, followed them out into the woods on their word so they could find their friend. But there was no confidence. And Christine didn’t want to lie. 

“I hope so,” she said, with a supportive smile. “And if we don’t find him today, maybe we’ll find him tomorrow. Will’s always seemed quiet, but he’s smart. And he’s got some pretty cool friends looking for him. He’s got that in his favor.” 

Lucas gave her a half-hearted smile, but did not respond. Dustin was already catching up to them, still cursing under his breath. 

“I know!” he said as he leveled with them. “I know, watch my language. Sorry, Christine.” 

“Hey, I’m not your mother,” she said with a shrug. “We’re in the middle of the woods with a potentially psychic runaway, looking for your friend who’s being hunted by a Dungeons and Dragons monster. You can curse all you want.” 

“Shit,” he said experimentally. Then, when she didn’t stop him, “God damn it. Son of a bitch. Motherf—…” 

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” 

The forest was getting darker. Shadows around them subsided into blackness, making it difficult to see. The boys flicked on the headlights on their bikes, but it didn’t help much. Despite Christine’s reservations, the group spread out naturally. Eleven was forging ahead, faster now that she felt they were getting close. Mike stayed by her side, but they were well ahead of everyone else. Dustin was losing stamina fast, and Christine and Lucas hung back to ensure that he wasn’t left behind. Lucas didn’t have the energy to give him shit for slowing down. Christine couldn’t blame them. Even her feet were starting to hurt. 

Finally, the trees started to thin out. The canopy of branches overhead gave way to navy blue sky. Brambles turned into tall grass, which eventually bled into a flat lawn where the path ended. And up ahead, Mike and Eleven finally stopped. 

“Oh thank God,” Dustin panted. “I think I’m gonna die.” 

“Just hurry up, man,” complained Lucas. They hurried ahead, and Christine brought up the rear. They were definitely on someone’s lawn. A gravel driveway stretched between a lonely length of road and a single story house on their left. None of the lights were on, but it was clearly lived in. There were boxes out on the porch, and sheets hanging in the yard to dry. Christine wasn’t sure where the trail had spat them out, but everyone else seemed to know where they were. 

Dustin and Lucas dropped their bikes dejectedly. 

“What are we doing here?” Lucas demanded. 

“She said he’s hiding here,” said Mike. 

“Um…no!” 

“I swear,” Dustin wheezed, “if we walked all the way out here for nothing…” 

“That’s exactly what we did!” 

“Okay, hold on,” Christine interjected. “Can somewhere tell me where we are?” 

“That’s Will’s house,” Lucas said angrily, jabbing a finger at the property. “You know, where he lives? Where he would be if he wasn’t—oh, I don’t know—missing?!” 

Christine’s heart sank. She looked up at the dark house, surprised to find herself a little bit heartbroken. Just for a couple hours, she’d managed to fall under the spell of the boys’ story. But superpowers, government conspiracies, mad scientists…none of it was going to help find Will. That was a real problem. A very real lost boy who they had no way of finding. 

Eleven was standing at the head of the group, her wide eyes looking crestfallen as Lucas began yelling. 

“I told you she didn’t know what the hell she was talking about!” 

Mike rolled his eyes, but even he seemed disappointed. He turned to El, sounding very tired. “Why did you bring us here?” 

“Mike,” Lucas barked over El’s stammering. “Don’t waste your time with her.” 

“Hey,” said Christine, holding up a hand. “Come on, Lucas…” 

“What do you want to do then?” Mike demanded of him. 

“Call the cops, like we should’ve done yesterday!” 

“We are not calling the cops!” 

“Hey, guys?” 

“What other choice do we have?” 

“I don’t know!” 

“Guys!” 

Dustin was standing a few feet into the yard, staring out at the main road. It was empty at first. Then Christine saw the lights of two police cruisers and an ambulance speed by. 

Christine’s heart sank a little further. 

“Will,” Mike breathed into the night air. 

Exhaustion forgotten, everyone ran back to their bikes. They were a scrambling mess of tripping and squeaking and false started pedaling. By the time they hit the street, Christine could have sworn the boys were moving just as fast as the cruisers. They flew across the pavement, following the sound of the sirens through the night. Then the sirens stopped. They followed the lights instead, close enough to hear the commotion of a crowd. And then they spat out into another clearing. 

It was a quarry. Christine couldn’t help but look up in awe at the cliffs that stretched up over their heads. She’d never been to this part of town before. The rocky walls created a natural basin, a huge dark lake that bled out from the shore. Christine wondered if teens came here to swim at all, or if it always felt this dark and creepy. 

“Pst!” Dustin was hissing at her from behind a fire engine. “Move it!” 

She hurriedly wheeled her bike over, ducking behind the vehicle and peering around the side with the kids. 

There were upwards of twenty people standing near the water. Policemen, state troopers, EMTs, firemen. They created a wall around the shore, blocking view of whatever they were staring at. But she could hear the water sloshing, her the worried whispers of all those bystanders. Only one thing in Hawkins had earned enough attention to cause this. 

“It’s not Will,” Mike said, shaking his head. “It can’t be.” 

A few policemen exchanged looks at the edge of the lake, then forlornly drifted away. It left a gap in the wall of first responders, a window to the water, where two rangers were pulling something out of the water. 

If there was room in the human body for her heart to sink more, it did. 

It was a corpse, laid out on a stretcher. Judging by the size, it was a child. And there was only one child in Hawkins that was unaccounted for. 

“It’s Will.” Lucas’s voice broke. “It’s really Will.” 

“It’s—It’s not,” said Dustin, shaking his head. “It’s not, Chrissy. Right?” 

He looked up with her, begging her to agree. But Dustin’s eyes were already shining with tears. 

Christine bit her lip, and tugged Dustin to her chest. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders as they began to shake. He sobbed into her chest, his arms squeezing the life out of her waist. She knew there was nothing she could say. So she just patted his head, and tried to hold back her own tears for his sake. 

Mike backed away from the crime scene, and Eleven trailed after him. Even she looked like she was on the verge of crying. 

“Mike…” she said brokenly, reaching out for him. 

But Mike smacked her hand away. 

“Mike?” he repeated angrily. “Mike what? You were supposed to help us find him alive! You said he was alive!” 

“Mike, stop,” Christine scolded weakly. 

“No!” He rounded on her, his voice shaky. “She lied to us! Why did you lie to us? What’s—What’s wrong with you? What is wrong with you?!” 

Eleven shook her head. “Mike…” 

“What?!” he snapped, and Eleven took a tiny step back. 

Christine pulled away from Dustin. “Mike, stop. You’re scaring her.” 

“Good! She should be scared! Will was!” 

“Mike!” 

But he was already moving. He ran back to his bike, wiping his face as he went. It took him a few tries to get the thing upright because his hands were shaking so badly. 

“Mike, come on,” Lucas said through tears. “Don’t do this, man. Mike!” 

“Mike, where are you going?” asked Dustin. “Mike!” 

They called after him as he got a running start and took off into the darkness. Dustin made a move to run after him, but Christine managed to grab him by the sleeve. 

“No, no. Let him go. He wants to be alone.” 

“But Will…” 

“I know, Dust. I’ll call his mom to make sure he got home okay. Right now…I think I should take you guys home.” 

It was a sign of how broken they were that no one argued with her. 

Christine kneeled down in front of Eleven, who was still staring after Mike. She pried the girl’s hands from her head, and held them as gently as she could. 

“Hey, it’s okay, El. It’s okay. You were just trying to help.” 

“Mike,” she sobbed again. “But Mike…” 

“I know. But he’s just really scared, okay? He’s gonna come back. But right now he’s scared and sad, and he just needs to be alone.” 

“Alone…is bad.” 

“Sometimes, yeah. But sometimes alone just lets you think. It lets you feel things without worrying about everyone else.” Eleven still didn’t look convinced, so Christine rubbed a hand along her arm. “Hey. You are not going to be alone. You can stay at my house tonight, and we can have more waffles tomorrow. You do not have to be alone.” 

Eleven blinked back her tears, looking up at Christine. “Promise?” 

“Yes,” Christine said immediately. “Promise. I promise.” 

She braved a smile and squeezed El’s shoulder. She still looked shaken, but she nodded all the same. 

“Dustin…?” Christine asked, but he was two steps ahead of her. 

“Come on, El.” He’d wiped his face, and already mounted his bike. His cheeks still shining with tears, he still mustered a smile. “My bike is way cooler than Christine’s. You see these things on the wheels? You can stand on them, and then just hold onto my shoulders. It’s kind of scary at first, but it’s really cool.” 

He helped Eleven on his bike, and Christine patted Lucas on the arm. He barely responded, only managing a sniffle. 

“Come on, Lucas. Let’s get you home.” 

They took off together, Dustin and Lucas having to take the lead back into town. Christine rode between them, her eyes bouncing back and forth like a pinball machine. Dustin, Eleven, Lucas. Dustin, Eleven, and Lucas. They were all still there. Dustin, Eleven, and Lucas… 

They stopped in front of the Sinclair house, where the lights were still on inside. 

“Do you want me to go in with you?” Christine asked. 

Lucas only shook his head. She nodded, not expecting much else. Still, she fumbled with her words. What was there to say? 

“Okay. Just…be careful, alright? Get some sleep, and…we’ll check in with you tomorrow.” 

Dustin and Lucas nodded to each other, words failing even them. And then Lucas walked up the driveway alone. They waited until he had parked his bike, until he’d gone through the door, until the shadows of his parents greeted him in the living room. Only then did Christine flip her kickstand up, and they headed back to their own houses. 

“Are you gonna be okay?” Christine asked him as they pulled onto their own street. 

 Dustin just shrugged. There was no real answer to a question like that. 

“You can stay at my place too, if you want.” 

“Are you kidding?” asked Dustin. “I’m not gonna be allowed to leave the house until…ever.” 

Christine smiled feebly at the joke. “Still. I can try and persuade your mom.” 

“Nah. I think I…I kinda just want…” 

“It’s okay, Dust. I know.” 

They rode into her backyard. Eleven climbed shakily off the back of Dustin’s bike, and walked with Christine to the backdoor. Christine held it open for her, then hesitated. 

“I need to walk Dustin home, okay?” she asked. “You can lock the door, and you can watch me from the window. I’m only gonna be like twenty feet away. And when I come back, I’ll knock like this, so you know to let me in.” 

Christine knocked against the open door, two slow, and three quick. Eleven’s eyes widened, ready to argue. But then she looked at Dustin. He was hovering behind Christine, his eyes sunk to the pavement, scuffing his shoe against the stoop. Slowly, Eleven nodded. 

“Thank you,” Christine said earnestly. 

Eleven closed the door, peeking out through the back panel so she could see them. Christine gestured to the side of the house, showing Eleven which way to walk. Then she wrapped an arm around Dustin’s shoulder and headed next door.

The Hendersons’ front door wrenched open after a single knock. 

“Dusty!” Mrs. Henderson exclaimed. “Where on earth have you been? I’ve been worried sick! I know you said you had AV club, but it’s past dinner! It’s nearly…Dusty?” 

Dustin had not responded. He stepped forward, and hugged his mother tightly. Mrs. Henderson looked down in surprise, then looked up to Christine for answers. All Christine had to do was shake her head. 

“Oh…oh no.” Mrs. Henderson clapped a hand over her mouth. She sunk down to her knees, pulling Dustin fiercely to her chest. “Oh, baby, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, sweetheart.” 

Both of them began to cry. It took everything Christine had to make sure that she didn’t start too. She had to keep it together. Just a little longer. 

After several minutes, Mrs. Henderson ushered Dustin into the house. She attempted to do the same to Christine, who took a step back. 

“I’m fine, Claudia…” 

“No,” Mrs. Henderson said fiercely. “No, no, no. I am not letting you stay in that house alone tonight. You can stay here.” 

“Really, Mrs. Henderson.” Christine glanced over at her own house, where she could just make out the shape of Eleven in her father’s bedroom window. “I think we all just need to be alone for a little while. To…To process…things...” 

She wrapped her arms around her chest, making herself seem smaller until Mrs. Henderson sighed. 

“What on earth happened, Christine?” 

“We…We don’t know. The boys had AV club, and after that they were still really down. So I said I’d take them on a bike ride around town, so long as we stuck together. They just wanted to do something, you know? And then we saw the cruisers and we followed them down to the quarry, and…” 

She trailed off again, trying not to look at the way Mrs. Henderson covered her mouth. 

“And did—did they find…?” 

“Yeah. Looks like it.” 

Mrs. Henderson shuddered a gasp. “Oh, that poor boy. His family, and—and for you to see that!” 

“I got them out of there as soon as I could,” Christine promised. “We took Lucas all the way home first, and…and Mike took off on his own, so I have to go call his mom now. I just wanted to make sure that Dustin…was safe first, I guess.” 

“Thank you, Christine,” Mrs. Henderson said breathlessly. “I cannot thank you enough. I…oh, come here, sweetheart.” 

She pulled Christine into a bone crushing hug. It felt nice to have her hair stroked, to have someone pat her back. Christine felt her own tears welling in her eyes, and had to pull away before they could break free. 

“I’m—I’m gonna call the Wheelers,” she managed, taking a few steps back. “But I’ll come back in the morning. Just to be sure.” 

“Alright, dear. And if anything happens, anything at all! You don’t hesitate to come over here! I don’t care if it’s three o’clock in the morning. You bang on this door until Dusty or I let you in.” 

“Thanks, Mrs. Henderson.” 

She turned away before the woman could call her back. 

Back at her own house, Christine knocked carefully on the door. It opened a crack, Eleven’s big brown eyes peering through before she opened it the rest of the way. Christine slipped inside, and locked every lock on the door. She leaned her back against it, and closed her eyes for a moment. 

“Okay?” 

Eleven was peering up at her in the dark, face full of concern. Christine used her dwindling energy to summon a smile. 

“Yeah. I’m okay. How about we get some lights on, hm? Maybe some music.” Together they walked around the room, turning on the lamps and all the lights in the house. After such a long day in the woods, it was nice to have something to chase the shadows away. Back in the living room, Christine talked Eleven through turning on the stereo. She let her pick her own tape this time, ending up with some of her dad’s James Taylor. As soon as she heard the gentle chords of “Fire and Rain,” Christine felt the last of her energy drain away. 

“Hey,” she said softly to Eleven. “I’ll be right back, okay? Bathroom. You know, privacy.” 

Eleven nodded solemnly, and turned back to the stereo. 

Christine walked down the hall, shutting herself in the bathroom and leaning heavily on the door. It felt stupid to be so upset. She didn’t even know Will all that well. She had to keep it together for Eleven. It felt stupid not to be upset. He was just a kid, and she’d just seen his damn body fished out of the lake… 

She had to bite hard on her lip to keep her crying silent. She turned off the light again, and sunk down onto the floor.

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

COSMIC - S1:E5; Chapter Five, The Flea and The Acrobat - [Pt. 4 - FINAL]

A Will Byers x Male!Reader Series

𝘏𝘰𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘣 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘴 𝘔𝘳. 𝘊𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯.

|| 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕 ||

With Dustin in the lead, we found ourselves stopped atop a hill, at what I assume is a scrapyard. Old vehicles like abandoned cars and buses scattered around the area.

Dustin came to a stop and looked around.

"Oh, no." He muttered.

"'Oh, no'? What's, 'Oh, no'?" Lucas asked in a panicked tone.

Dustin turned around to look at us.

"We're headed back home."

"What?" Even Mike seemed to be frustrated.

"Dustin, are you sure?" I ask, irritation and exhaustion creeping up on me.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Setting sun, right there." He pointed past us in the direction of the sky. "We looped right back around."

I sighed, shifting on my feet as I run a hand down my face.

"And you're just realizing this now?" Lucas snapped.

"Why is this all on me?"

"Because you're the compass genius!"

"What do yours say?"

We all checked our compasses, mine was wobbly but nevertheless, pointing North.

Lucas, Mike and I all spoke at once.

"North."

We all sighed, and Dustin began slowly pacing, looking off into the distance deep in thought.

"Makes no damn sense."

"Maybe the gate moved," Mike offered.

"No, I don't think it's the gate." Dustin began looking all around us. "I think it's something else screwing with the compasses."

"Maybe it's something here?"

As Mike spoke, I didn't fail to notice the look that crossed Lucas's face as he slowly turned to face El.

"No, it has to be like a super magnet." Dustin replied.

Lucas rose his hand and began pointing at El accusingly. "It's not a magnet. She's been acting weirder than normal. If she can slam doors with her mind, she can definitely screw up a compass."

El stood rooted in place, a look of guilt and fear in her eyes.

"Why would she do that?" Mike snapped.

"Because she's trying to sabotage our mission. Because she's a traitor!"

As much as I hated to admit it to myself, it was the only logical explanation we had. It could be all too easy for her to screw with our compasses after what she showed herself capable of.

I shook my head, ridding myself of the conclusions my brain wanted to jump to.

"Lucas, come on. Think about what you're saying. Why would-" I rested a gentle hand on Lucas's shoulder to try and calm him down, only for him to rip his arm from my touch.

"Enough, Y/n! I'm so sick of you defending her! You of all people should be more worried for Will."

"I am!" I snapped, feeling the anger, fear and confusion of all I've been carrying the past few days shoot up to the surface unexpectedly.

I took a deep breath, trying to compose myself. "Just... Please. Hear her out."

Lucas never met my eye and only stomped towards the poor girl intimidatingly.

"Lucas, what are you doing?" Mike asked, following behind Lucas worriedly.

"You did it, didn't you? You don't want us to reach the gate. You don't want us to find Will." Lucas was in her face by now, and it as if the poor girl was on the verge of tears.

Dustin and I were toe in toe with the others and I walked up to Lucas, ready in case he decided to something rash.

Mike seemed to have the same idea.

"Lucas, come on, seriously, just leave her alone!"

"Admit it." Lucas spit.

"No." El muttered.

"Admit it!" We all jumped when Lucas began screaming.

He grabbed her right arm and examined her sleeve. There was a streak of shiny dark crimson on her sleeve.

Lucas swatted away her arm in disgust and frustration at the sight.

"Fresh blood. I knew it."

Dustin and I watched speechless as the boys began fighting.

"Lucas, come on!"

"I saw her wiping her nose on the tracks! She was using her powers!"

"Bull! That's old blood. Right, El?"

We all whipped our heads to El, waiting for her response.

At this point, she was fighting back tears, and her breath hitched.

"Right, El?" Mike asked again, less confident.

She began sobbing as she choked out her words.

"It's... not... it's not safe."

My stomach plunged as Dustin and I shared a look of worry and shock.

⊹ ⊹ ⊹

"What did I tell you? She's been playing us from the beginning!"

Lucas and Mike seemed to be having it out now and they wouldn't stop despite the many protests from either Dustin or I. My body seemed to have shut down, staring helplessly as my two best friends fight, at a complete loss for words from shock and knowing my words will make no difference.

"That's not true. She helped us find Will!"

"Find Will? Find Will? Where is he, then? Huh? I don't see him."

"Yeah, you know what I mean,"

"No, I actually don't. Just think about it, Mike. She could have just told us where the Upside Down was right away, but she didn't. She just made us run around like headless chickens."

With every word my body was feeling more and more on edge, my anxiety set in as I felt uncomfortable in my own skin at my friend's tearing each other apart. I started shifting back and forth, my hands rubbing the back of my neck.

Either Dustin noticed this, or he was sick of the fighting as well - or both for that matter - he stomped towards the boys and intervened.

"All right, calm down!"

"No! She used us, all of us! She helped just enough so she could get what she wants. Food and a bed. She's like a stray dog."

"Screw you, Lucas!"

"No! Screw you, Mike. You're blind... blind because you like that a girl's not grossed out by you. But wake up, man! Wake the hell up! She knows where Will is, and now she's just letting him die in the Upside Down."

"Shut up!"

"For all we know, it's her fault."

"Shut up."

"We're looking for some stupid monster... but did you ever stop to think that maybe she's the monster?"

'I don't want to believe it. I don't want to believe that El is the monster. I don't want my best friend to be missing, I don't want my friends to fight all the time. But at the same time, I can't afford to dismiss the possibility that maybe Lucas had a point. Not about her being a monster. No, that I refuse to believe, but her having something to do with everything that's been going on.'

What came next was a blur.

Mike couldn't take it anymore and lunged at Lucas, the boys toppled to the ground and began wrestling in the dirt. Dustin, El and I screaming at the top of our lungs for them to stop.

I looked to Dustin and El and back at the fighting boys. I ran to them attempting to pry Lucas off of Mike in a panic, knowing there was a big chance I'd get hit. But I didn't care and I couldn't stand by and do nothing.

"Enough! Please, stop! Just-"

I closed my eyes as I saw the blur of Lucas's hand strike me accidentally as he swung his arm back, ready to punch Mike. I felt the back of his fist collide with my nose and I fell back with a painful yelp.

I heard a shrill shriek and opened my eyes in time to see Lucas fly backward in the air about five feet and slide into an abandoned car door, lying unconscious.

I looked to Lucas in horror and ran to him, not caring about my gushing nose.

I dive in front of Lucas, trying to shake him awake.

The boys were right behind me.

"Lucas! Lucas, wake up! Lucas."

Nothing. I checked his head for injuries, my hand never leaving him as I look over my shoulder at El, horrified.

"What did you do?"

El stood rooted to the ground, sobs wracking her body as blood dripped down her nose. I could tell the guilty look in her eyes was genuine but I didn't have time to feel bad for her right now.

Lucas was my main priority. I turned my attention back to my friend.

Dustin and Mike were just as panicked as I was.

"Come on, wake up. Come on!" Dustin yelled.

"Come on, man. Lucas?" Mike muttered worriedly.

"Lucas? Lucas, come on!" I sniffled, weakly shaking him.

To my tremendous relief, Lucas slowly came to with a groan and his eyes fluttered open.

The three of us chuckled and laughed in relief. The weight in my lungs and heart were lifted at the sight

"Lucas." Mike let out in a shaky breath.

Lucas slowly sat up and blinked a few times, processing what just happened.

"Lucas, you okay?" Mike asked.

There was no response from our friend.

Dustin spoke up shakily as he held up three fingers.

"Lucas... Lucas, how many fingers am I holding up? Lucas, how many fingers?"

Mike began reaching forward towards Lucas's head, already one step ahead of me.

"Let me see your head." He offered gently, he was cut short went Lucas angrily shoved Mike's hand away.

"Get off of me!" He grunted, struggling to stand up.

"Lucas, come on, you could be hurt. Let us help." I try, my voice soft reaching for his shoulder.

He pushed my arm away in anger as he stood up, storming past me.

"I said, get off of me!" I detected a hint of fear in his voice this time and less anger, making me more sympathetic than angry at him.

Mike began to chase after him but Dustin and I seem to have the same thought as we both caught each of his arms

"Let him go."

I watched sorrowfully as my friend left without us.

"Man, let him go."

We all shared a somber silence when suddenly Mike spoke up.

"Where is El?"

I looked to where she had been standing previously only to find no one else in sight.

Mike's breathing increased and he began shouting for her.

"El! El!"

"Eleven!" Dustin had joined in.

I stood frozen, my voice failing me. I looked around me as hopelessness sunk in and solidified into guilt. The icy wind whipped my collar as the desperate voices of my friends was lost to the wind.

She was gone.

[kariachi]

Storyline thoughts for the earlier mentioned Morningstar Vengeance Mode (because I’m a digimon nerd that’s why). Warning, shit’s fucking long.

Okay, so, we start with Mike introduction as usual and it goes a lot different. Not completely different, but despite him and Kevin clearly not liking each other from the word go there’s a lot of changes. He doesn’t have eyes and teeth on Gwen for one thing- she and Ben are just a means to the Ruin Max Tennyson end and he’s going to make full use of them, can’t do that if one’s a half-dead thrall

Still flirts? Still flirts. It’s his default way of communicating with people in his age range who aren’t other Ossys or Elena. So he’s flirting with Gwen and Ben and sniping and snapping back and forth with Kevin because they’re too young to be thinking in terms of mating options but just old enough to be growly over territory.

The only other person who fights with him over it is Manny and he doesn’t even want the territory he just doesn’t want Mike to win. The others are either too far removed from their roots to want territory, are Erinaen and therefor non-territorial, live outside of territory range, or are Cooper and have accepted that the others are more dominant forces than him

Mike joins the team, everyone is happy except Kevin

Ken rescues happen, Max is found, mentions being happy about how well Mike is holding up among all his other ‘hi kids’ shit, Mike is notably colder than normal, is surprisingly affected by Max’s death

He is so fucking pissed, though that doesn’t come out until later. How dare he fucking die before Mike could ruin him. How. Fucking. Dare.

For a while Kevin is the glue holding the team together despite himself while Gwen is a wreck, Mike is a more put together wreck, and Ben is trying to pretend he’s not a wreck. It takes a while for everything to even back out.

(Not sure if I want to modify What little Girls Are Made Of... Like, on the one hand I’ve been writing Mike as having the Spark for a while now, but on the other what would having him be verified an Anodite do for the story besides encourage Gwike?)

Eventually this version’s version of Darkstar Rising comes along- earlier, probably, and with a lot more shit with the Plumbers Helpers before it happens- and we don’t have Magister Dumbshit (I can’t remember his name, this works) talking about vigilantism and crap, but about the fact that Max authorized a bunch of underage civilians to get involved is illegal, alongside a whole host of other things that are brought up that basically boil down to both “sit down, the professionals will handle things from here” and “holy shit your grandpa was a piece of shit”

The Tennysons are freaking out, because some of the shit brought up is stuff nobody would’ve known to look into if they hadn’t heard about it from family, and eventually it comes out that Mike is the one who made the call.

This is where we get the backstory- Max was involved in his father’s death (how? I don’t know yet. I don’t even know how he went yet. Also how bitter Mike is and just how he ended up going this far may vary depending on if I decide to keep Devin a thing. I kinda don’t want Kevin one of the Plumber Kids for this... Devin was thing but not Kevin’s father? Or his father but nobody knows/knew it? Eva seems the type to get knocked up by a one night stand and roll with it.) Max was involved in Mike’s father’s death, it was classed as an accident or his involvement was small enough that it wasn’t considered or he was just there, who knows, whatever the situation Mike put the blame on him and has been working with the Tennysons to take advantage of Ben’s hero worship to gather dirt. He was going to ruin his life, but with him dead the least he can do is ruin his good reputation.

Ben and Gwen of course flip and cut all ties with him while Kevin is torn between “Can’t blame him too much” and “Yeah, fuck him, territory thief” (Kevin no, he was here first, stop). With Kevin’s help they’re able to fake some shit to restore Max’s good name, managing to both get Magister Dumbshit to let them keep helping with the Highbreed Stuff but also managing to get Mike in trouble with the law (only half on purpose, because damnit don’t attack their family and make them consider how shit their grandfather might actually be)

That last one’s fun, making sure Mike will want to return to start more shit while also giving us a bit of darkness for the Tennysons to grapple with and try to reconcile. It doesn’t become a theme, but they do have to actually stop and consider that they just got an innocent guy in trouble with the law, partly by accident and partly because they were angry. (Kevin, meanwhile, sits sagely. He knows the feel, been there so very often.)

We still get the team-up for the Highbreed Finale, which stays mostly the same, with just minor edits to fit the new canon. Mike’s involvement ends with him and Kevin glaring each other down and silently parting ways, both too tired after all that to start shit.

From that point Mike is a regularly recurring villain across the series with a few different story types- 1) Out for Max’s blood, 2) Out for Ben and Gwen’s blood, 3) Fuck Off Levin This Neighborhood Is Mine, and 4) Miscellaneous

He loses the first 2 types, of course, but sometimes manages a win in Type 3 episodes. Makes it a nice power struggle between him and Kevin as they try to ‘take over’ Bellwood and Undertown.

I’m not sure whether or not I’d keep the Dominus Librum inccident... On the one hand without Mike being all half-starved I don’t know that it completely fits, but on the other we could have him finally taking drastic action to stop being so fucking hungry. Could maybe tie it in with a modified In Charms Way...

The boys lose their powers as a result of the artifact and for a while get along great without them, mostly because they’re celebrating being normal for the first times in their lives and hey, who else are they gonna celebrate with. But the effects turn out not to last long and between that and Mike’s continued hate for the Tennysons, well...

Then, we get a different In Charms Way where there’s no fucking pseudo-romance angle, purely platonic manipulation, and have it happening at the same time as Dominus Librum. How might things have gone if friendships had truly blossomed? Will we ever know? *shrug*

Mike’s involvement in the Ultimate Kevin arc stays the same, this time being brought in despite everyone’s best interests because he’s the leading expert that isn’t half-eaten and also they’re hoping he’s as interested in powering down Kevin as Gwen is

He really is. Has been avoiding that fucker like the plague, has no intention of ending up gristle between his teeth

While all this shit is going down, he notices the similarities between his and Gwen’s powers and begins looking into magic- even winning a few fights with Kevin through it (seriously, please picture both of them having big maps of Bellwood with their territories marked off on it that they just growl over occasionally)- which leads into the next altered episode

Couples Retreat is entirely different, like the episode idea I offered a while back. Charm opens her door to a battered and tired teenager laying on the charm and asking to be taught magic. She’s surprised, a little confused, and Gwen is visibly against the idea, so she says yes. The rest of the episode consists of the Tennysons trying to get her to change her mind while Kevin celebrates in the background because a Mike in a different dimension is a Mike without claims to Bellwood.

Charmcaster does not change her mind and the last we see of the two in UA is them in Charm’s library, going over the basics.

During OV half the time Mike is seen it’s with Charmcaster. His magic improves and he continues to hold a fucking grudge. They make a good team, she treats him like an annoying younger brother when she isn’t treating him like a student, it’s a fun team-up and the way she keeps correcting his form is hilarious. For the most part things seem normal, though sometimes Charm seems off.

Eventually though she starts acting too off and Mike goes to Cooper for help with whatever the problem is because he doesn’t exactly have many friends and Cooper is the best of moral grey. Cooper then goes to Kevin, and Kevin gets the Tennysons involved. This becomes a multi-episode arc where the old team get together again- Ben, Gwen, Kevin, Mike, with added Rook- to figure out what’s wrong with Charmcaster and fix it. They do. The final scene has Charm and Mike leave on shaky but maybe better ground with the Tennysons, a silent promise that maybe things could truly improve between the groups.

The flash forward episode has Charmcaster in the background

Mike is mentioned as not coming because even nearly 20 years later still Fuck Maxwell with a Pineapple.

[keepingupwithlinmanuel]

Hamilton in Puerto Rico: a joyful homecoming ... but it's complicated

About 20 miles (32km) west of San Juan, traces of Miranda are inescapable in Vega Alta, an unglamorous town of 39,000 people where his extended family still lives. Its theatre was torn down in the 1970s to make way for a car park, but a small new plaza built by his father includes a bakery, bar, cafe, souvenir shop – hats, mugs, T-shirts, postcards, lifesize cardboard cutouts of Miranda – and a small museum showing off artwork, awards, cast recordings, family photos and theatre programmes. On the walls there are colourful tile mosaics that include Miranda’s face, the Hamilton logo and the Puerto Rican flag. Salsa music plays as tourists snap photos.

A short walk away, on a cul-de-sac of single-storey houses where the quiet is punctuated by squawks from tropical birds, is the home where the young Miranda and his sister would while away summers with their grandparents. He would often run over to see his neighbour Margo Rodriguez and enjoy her homemade limbers – a local treat that resembles a popsicle frozen in a plastic cup. “He spent a lot of time with me here, singing, drawing and making jokes,” says Rodriguez, now 85. “I would pretend to play guitar with a broomstick and he would sing. He was a good kid. He was priceless.”

She is not alone in her pride. Elliot Knight Nater, a music director, says: “This town loves him. When they know he’s coming here, you can see 200 to 300 people waiting: people who used to see him as a kid running in the streets.” He added: “I hope he never gets into politics because people change as soon as they get in that position.”

And yet Miranda’s family is steeped in politics. His great-uncle, Gilberto Concepción de Gracia, was the founder of the Puerto Rican Independence party. His father, Luis Miranda, is a Democratic party consultant who left the island at 18 to chase the American dream and, despite speaking little English, found that New York “fit like a glove”. He settled in a Latino neighbourhood in Washington Heights – the inspiration for Miranda’s breakthrough musical In the Heights, which he brought to Puerto Rico in 2010. Luis Miranda was a special adviser to the New York mayor Ed Koch in the 1980s and helped manage Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand’s successful campaigns for the US Senate.

His son has taken on the baton. Accepting a Tony award in 2008 for In the Heights, he waved a small Puerto Rican flag. Hamilton, which celebrates diversity by casting people of colour as the founding fathers of the US, was hailed by New Yorker magazine as “the Obama-era musical”. Its cast delivered a pointed statement to the vice-president, Mike Pence, after one performance, while Miranda has tweeted that Donald Trump will go to hell for criticising the mayor of San Juan after the hurricane. He has also gone to Washington to plead with Congress to help Puerto Rico with its economic crisis and appeared on the comedian John Oliver’s HBO show to rap: “Paul Ryan, I’ll come sing Hamilton at your house. / I’ll do-si-do with Pelosi, I’ll wear my Hamilton blouse. / Your citizens are suffering, stop the bleeding, stop the loss. / Help Puerto Rico, it’s just a hundred miles across.”

Amid the Spanish colonial buildings, cobbled streets and ornate balconies of old San Juan, where tourists disgorged by giant cruise ships wander among cats and pigeons, many are expressing their gratitude before opening night. Javier Santiago, 59, the director of the National Foundation for Popular Culture, has a small shrine to Miranda, including the red shirt he wore for the Broadway run of In the Heights, and invites young visitors to try on Miranda’s cap. Some burst into tears. “That’s something they will never forget,” he says.

“We feel very proud of the work he did in In the Heights. He showed the soul of our community: the getting together, the importance of family. This is a side that West Side Story never showed. Hamilton coming here is symbolic of the Puerto Rican soul that will never die. He’s in the diaspora that left Puerto Rico to go to the United States; his parents brought him back every year and he never lost contact with his roots. The idiosyncrasy, the Latin way of being, is in him, pumping in his heart.”

But in Puerto Rico, neither a nation nor a state, where people can vote in US primaries but not in presidential elections, nothing is simple or straightforward. Hamilton was due to be performed at the University of Puerto Rico, where its producers spent $1m upgrading the theatre. Then, late last month, the show was abruptly switched to the Luis A Ferré Performing Arts Center because of concerns about student protests over budget cuts enforced by Washington. The Hamilton set was taken down, shuttled across town and hastily rebuilt.

Luis, 64, a former student at the university, was disappointed by the move but endorsed it. “There’s many things that you could compromise but security is not one of them,” he says. “If there is a minimum possibility that anything can happen, that should be enough for the production to move.”

But Nelson Rivera, a retired art history professor at the university, accuses the producers of losing their nerve. “I think the government threw shade at the students: ‘Oh, they’re a bunch of terrorists, get out of there.’ They fell for it. They should have won over the community, the university, and nothing would have happened. We’re very nice people.”

...

Miranda’s father is aware of the identity politics and does not shy away from them. “The forever debate is who is Puerto Rican,” Luis Miranda says in an interview with the Guardian in the theatre foyer, hours before the first dress rehearsal. “You hear the debate among normal people: ‘But he’s not Puerto Rican, he’s from New York, he’s from Puerto Rican parents.’ But what we do know is that there is enormous pride in him, particularly since he’s so proud of being Puerto Rican. He has said many times that he is using the megaphone and the spotlight that he has gotten thanks to Hamilton to push forward things like the recovery of Puerto Rico.”

Luis Miranda also appears to embrace the complexities of his son’s forays into politics, having fought many such battles himself. “I hate Trump and anything I could do to defeat Republicans, even now my friends who are Republicans, I would do because they have allowed the party to be hijacked by this orange nut. When you do that, you know people are going to be with you and people are going to be against you. It’s no different in Puerto Rico, but the important part that I hope I taught my kids is that you make decisions and you take stands and some will applaud you and some will criticise you, but you take the stand you believe is right.”

This is really good and worth reading to get your head around the various issues.

(The only thing I would add is that the production is not making a profit off Hamilton PR and that plus where the money is actually going is a good thing to bear in mind when talking about ticket pricing.)