#imagine Hopper calling Jonathan Sport

[jonathanbyersphd]

Very important question:

If Hopper calls El kid and he calls Will buddy, what is Jonathan's fun nickname going to be?

[gibbsbi]

A Billy kind of love

- Growing up in Hawkins, being close with Steve and Jonathan

- Hopper The Godfather 🤪

- Babysitting the kids growing up

- Moving at 14 because father got a promotion

- Living in NYC and not even a few months of living there, getting r**** and then two years later parents die in a car crash so Maria returns to Hawkins to live with her moms best friend in her old house

- Debbie (the “aunt”) trusts her and doesn’t care how long or where she is seeing as she works long hours and lets her do whatever she wants

- Maria riding her fathers motorcycle around Hawkins and no one knowing who she is

- Summer before her senior year

- Lives on Max and Billy’s street and sees Max one day trying to do a trick on her board and helps her out

- Max becoming quickly attached and introduces her to the group only to find out that they all knew her ( is highkey jealous and becomes clingy af)

- Reunited with Steve and Jonathan and the kids

- Mother figure (sorry Steve)

- Everyone calling her Ma and El becoming so attached she calls her Mom when she doesn’t realize it, when she’s sleepy or in a panic (which is often lets be honest)

- Takes care of her in Hopp’s absence, stays over when Hopp is working late and feeds her actual food

- Hosts Dungeons and Dragons at her house every other week and everyone sleeps over during the summer

- Billy banging on the door only to find Maria opening it in just a tank and small sleep shorts with her glasses on and a zip up hoodie that’s falling off one shoulder

- Shocked for a moment before turning on the charm

- “Hey, you must be Maria right? I’m Billy, Max’s older brother. She never told me you were so gorgeous”

- Maria letting out a small scoff/laugh and telling him about the tradition of sleeping over every other week, eyes lighting up when she tells him what they do

- Him listening attentively to what she says with a small smile and thanking her for watching out for the kids, politely declining her invite to join them for dinner even though he lowkey really wanted to but instead wishes her goodnight and kisses her hand goodbye

- Everyone in shock at his behavior

- Lets Max stay there and for the rest of the night everyone is staring at Maria in shock

- The next day everyone leaves and Maria takes El and Max to the pool in her old pickup truck

- Sets up across the pool, directly in the line of sight of the lifeguard

- Billy immediately noticing it’s the girl he saw last night and sits up in his seat, peering over his sunglasses and bites his lip as Maria peels off her tank top and shimmies out of her shorts to reveal a tight red bikini that leaves little to the imagination

- Glaring at the other people checking her out

- Notices she comes the the pool every Monday, Wednesday and weekend for a couple hours before closing and stays till close when not as many people come unless the kids drag her and makes sure to be working those shifts

- Billy flirting with her at any and every opportunity but to no avail

- “Need some help applying sunscreen gorgeous?”

- “Actually yes please i can’t reach my back”

- Is slightly flustered at her soft skin and the small sigh that leaves her cherry lips

- Dies when he hears her speaking in Italian for the first time

- She was yelling at Hopper

- Noticed how he gets flustered when she speaks in her tongue and makes sure to compliment him in it somewhat often just to see his ears burn red

- Would make any and every excuse to see her and stops by her house claiming to look for Max

- The first time he’s reluctant to come over and get max is because he’s sporting a split lip and a bruise from his father but goes over anyway

- Tries to avoid eye contact and remain cool by keeping his sunglasses on even though it’s dark but when Maria gasps and cradles his face, taking off his glasses, he doesn’t see pity he sees heartbreak and is confused

- Immediately drags him to her couch, “sit”

- Gently cleans up his lip, letting out the softest sorry when he lets out a small hiss and gives him a pack of iced peas to bring down the swelling in his cheek

- “Max! Go to bed I’ll be there in a while I forgot to do something for a class”

- Forces him to stay the night and takes care of him

- From then on would come to her in the middle of the night to patch up and would cuddle with her, leaving a thank you note on her pillow, leaving before the sun came up

- Finds Max’s Walkie-Talkie one day when he hears your voice

- “Max… ple-please….. can….. can’t bre”

- Drops the Walkie-Talkie and sprints to her house, banging on the door but it’s locked so he runs to her window that’s always open and calls out her name

- “MARIA!”

- Finds her collapsed on the kitchen floor half conscious

- Barely coherent she tells him to get her nebulizer in the pantry cabinet and he fumbles around with shaking hands trying to figure it out

- He’s terrified, she’s barely breathing

- When her breathing becomes normal he doesn’t let go, he’s terrified

- She tells him it’s normal, her asthma is really bad and flares up randomly and leaves her so weak and tired

- Picks her up and cradles her to his chest

- “Let me take care of you now”

- Becomes SO protective

- Carries an extra inhaler on him at all times

- Never lets her forget to take it everyday at lunch

- After a really bad episode he confesses

- Cutest couple >:3

- He teases Maria but can’t handle when Maria does it back

- May have screamed when going on her motorcycle for the first time

- Hates the kids for stealing Maria’s attention

- Becomes a better person and has a better relationship with max

- Loves holding her in any way as a form of reassurance

- Secret hidden kisses

- Hand. On. Thigh. When. Driving.

- When either one is driving

- Doesn’t drive as fast anymore, still really fast but slightly slower but will speed up sometimes to make her laugh

- Keeps her mixtapes in the car

- Only lets her change the music

- Maria cutting Max and Billy’s hair

- Billy leaving marks on her to show people that she’s his and when she gives him some he becomes so proud and shows them off

[okaybutlikeimagine]

Jim and el going to go see billy play basketball at school and billy being so surprised cause no one has ever gone to go see him play

♥ I. LOVE. THIS. SO. MUCH. ♥

Ohmydear okay okay so i’m imagining Billy like, basically never talking about games. He’ll say he’ll be back late some nights and when Hop asks he’ll just cite: “Basketball.”

And that’s it. Just says it casually and nonchalantly and then leaves w/ his duffel.

 And Hop was totally in some kind of sport in high school. Like football or something. He knows they have games and stuff it's just… Billy never mentions them and Hop doesn't really wanna step on toes or anything. He's still learning and he doesn't wanna suffocate the boy.

Except….

One week Billy seems extra tired and stressed and bratty. He's rushing out of the house after grabbing an apple and Hop calls after him: "where's the fire, kid?"

Billy takes the apple out of his mouth.

"I've got extra practice all this week. There’s a major game this Friday and coach said there might be a scout and….. Yeah." Billy shrugs and runs out the door.

But Billy keeps talking about this game. Comes home tired as all hell and flops on the couch and rants for a good half hour about it. About how the coach has been pushing them so hard and it’s such a major game and he keeps telling them the team can’t screw it up. Or in the morning he’ll shovel cereal into his face and speak w/ his mouth full about how they need to destroy this team on Friday bc they’re their biggest rivals and “What’s gonna happen if this scout notices me? I kinda hope he notices me. Should I hope he notices me?”

And so it takes Hop until about Wednesday morning before he decides they need to go. Billy has never told him when games were but he won’t stop talking about this one, won’t stop freaking out about it, won’t stop getting genuinely excited about it, hopping around after he comes home from practice one day pretending like he’s still playing basketball and then riling himself up.

So when Billy leaves the cabin for school on Wednesday, Hop turns to El and says: “Do you want to go to the basketball game this Friday?”

El tilts her head.

“What basketball game?”

“Billy’s.”

“They let us go?!” She asks, eyes wide with excitement.

“Yeah, we should go support him.”

She nods her head excitedly.

And so when Billy is out late for practices, Hop comes home w/ a posterboard and some paint and they sit at the table and paint a little sign for Billy (they have to wait till he gets home and passes out to go digging through his gym bag to figure out what number he is).

And so when Billy sends them both a farewell before heading off to the game, Hop and El wait a few minutes before Hop breaks out the face paint, paints little whiskers on El’s cheeks, lets El paint little paw prints on his own, and then grab their poster and jump into the car and head out for the gym.

And when they get there, a little early to find a seat, they recognize a couple of familiar faces scanning the bleachers.

“I cannot believe you dragged me out to a basketball game.” Robin’s voice drawls, arms crossed but slight fear in her eyes bc wow too many people.

“C’mon, Billy’s been talking about it all week I had to come, he never talks about games. And I couldn’t go alone. Plus you guys are totally friends, whether you admit it or not.” Steve responds, busy searching for a seat.

“I tolerate him for you.”

“You guys gang up on me all the time!”

“I mean, sure, we bond over messing with you, but-” Robin turns her head, irritated with all of these faces looking at her when she sees: “Is that El? Hey!”

And El runs up to Robin to say hi to her and Steve, Hopper walking up behind her and they all 4 find a seat together and if you don’t think they leave a trail of slightly confused and gossipy whispers behind them then you are greatly mistaken bc basically the whole gym has broken out into ‘Hey, isn’t that Chief Hopper? What’s he doing here?’ ‘I think he’s Hargrove’s foster dad or something.’ ‘I heard he’s actually Billy’s biological dad and Hop finally got custody back.’ ‘Is that THE Steve Harrington? What’s he doing w/ Band Geek Buckley?’ ‘They worked at that ice cream shop before the mall exploded. Now they’re at Family Video.’ ‘Wow, he’s really hit bottom if he’s coming back to school to watch a basketball game w/ the Chief of Police. How fucking weird.’

But the little group of 4 doesn’t (really) notice bc they’re chatting away about how Billy has been so excited and nervous about this game and how there’s a scout here and “D’ya think he might get a scholarship for basketball, Hop?”

And ohmydearmeDUDES imagine they announce the team all excitedly w/ lots of grandeur and lights and the boys running out of a big paper tiger head or something and Billy gets the loudest applause of all bc of fucking course he does, people both love and hate him but he’s the best player on the team and you just… you HAVE to clap for Billy Hargrove. And so Billy isn’t surprised at the cheers he’s getting, it’s the biggest game of the year and everyone is here, except none of his friends ever show up. It’s not Jonathan’s or Nancy’s or Robin’s scene, Carol and Tommy have stopped coming since Tommy got kicked off the team at the beginning of the year, and Billy doesn’t really talk to anyone else. He doesn’t bring up his games to anyone, either, bc he doesn’t wanna sound like he’s needy or something.

So he’s not expecting to see anyone he cares about in the stands. He’s just letting his heart flutter wildly with his nerves as he riles up the crowd and pumps his fists and puts on a show like he’s not scared as all hell for this game when…

When...

When he sees a sign that says: Go Billy! on it w/ little paw prints and his number in the corner.

No one makes signs specifically for him that don’t also include some sort of lewd remark.

So he shifts his eyes down and sees-

Oh my god no way they came.

It’s El, smiling the biggest, brightest, widest smile, little blue whiskers on her face, eyes crinkling up. Next to her is Hop, clapping happily with his eyes so full of pride Billy’s gonna drown. To the other side of El is Robin, clapping a little slower with a smirk that says You better be real damn grateful i’m subjecting myself to this for you.

And then Steve, cheering and whooping and clapping and smiling and he sends Billy a little wink and Billy is melting he’s absolutely falling through the earth bc what the fuck they actually came I didn’t think they would actually come.

His crazy, cocky facade falls and he starts running up to where they’re sitting, a couple rows back from the front, fully ready to tackle them in hugs or something, ask what they’re doing here and why they came and just ohmygod I’m so glad they came I can’t believe they’re here-

When his teammate grabs a hold of the back of his jersey and pulls him back towards the court with a “Where you going, Hargrove? The game’s this way!”

And so Billy shoots the boy an irritated look before looking back towards his family they’re my family my family is here with a wave and a genuine smile and all of the warmth boiling in his heart.

And Billy does GREAT. They destroy the other team and Billy as always is the one they praise the most and everyone is crowding around him and rushing out onto the court to congratulate him but he pushes himself out of the crowd and doesn’t pay attention to anyone because his family is here and El is standing there waving with her sign and asks: “Did you do it?”

Bc she’s still confused on how basketball works (Hop tried to explain the rules to her while Steve tried to explain the rules to Robin and they were both very lost, though El was a lot more interested than Robin was) and Billy scoops down to hug her and say: “Yeah, we did alright.”

And they all laugh and Billy ignores everyone but his family as he goes to grab his bag and they head out, Billy telling them he has to go back to the locker room with his team to get the after game notes from his coach “-but after that we should like… get ice cream or something.”

Hop nods. “Sounds like a plan.”

And so after the coach tells them good job and gives them their final notes on the game, Billy takes a super quick shower and runs back outside and sees Steve standing there, hands in his pockets, leaning against the side of the gym.

Billy smiles wide.

“Congrats out there, Tiger. You really did take my throne, didn’t you?”

“C’mon, I had it before you left.” Billy shoves Steve’s shoulder and they walk.

“You… you did real good out there. Think the scout noticed you?”

Billy shrugs. “I dunno, the coach hasn’t said anything about it yet. He just told us to celebrate this weekend.”

Steve nods, about to say something else when Billy shoves him behind another building where the lights are out and kisses him silly against the wall, the faint sound of the still cheering and chanting team somewhere behind them, the drumline doing cadences into the night as Billy kisses Steve like he’s starved. Always kisses Steve like he’s starved.

“Thanks for coming, Princess.” Billy whispers against Steve’s throat once they’ve pulled away.

“I know it meant a lot to you. Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

And so they meet up with everyone at their respective cars and head out for ice cream together and Hopper says “You did great, son.” over his own cup of ice cream and Billy is trying so hard to stay cool but let me tell you, the boy is beaming over this praise and love and he’s answering all of El’s questions about basketball and he’s helping Robin pick on Steve and it’s heaven.

And now can we all just IMAGINE El saying Max should come along to the next game. And then the next game Max brings Lucas, who brings Dustin who brings Mike who brings Will. And then the NEXT game where Will is like: “You’re his friend too! I know you don’t like sports games but Robin comes so you can come too.” to Jonathan who comes along w/ Nancy and then Hop brings Joyce and Billy has a whole damn SECTION just for his family and friends who are all cheering him on in their own ways and they ALWAYS go out for pizza or ice cream afterwards (Mike and Dustin will say they tag along just for the food after the game and Billy will flick their ears when they say it)

And it’s just so NICE. and LOVELY. And BILLY HAS A FAMILY WHO LOVES HIM AND SUPPORTS HIM AUGH.

[stanielman]

Stranger Things Season 4 ~Predictions~

These are things that I could see happening/think would be really cool if they happened.

- I guess they’re staying with the whole story of the Russians opening the Upside Down and I’d assume Hopper is now there (for storytelling reasons) because that’s where they’re trying to open a new gate/do the research to open a new gate

- Back in Hawkins, I think that the party would be pretty disbanded :(

- They’re in high school and have kind of all gone off to do their own things (Dustin being a theatre/nerdy kid, Lucas getting into sports, I don’t know about Max, and Mike would continue to be himself because he’s the leader of the group and we already saw that he holds onto things in season two when he was still attached to El)

- But! They’re all getting back together to go visit Will and El for Christmas (season 4 takes place over Christmas, right?)

- I really hope the Byers moved to Maine because that’s where Bob wanted to move so I’m just going to say they moved to Maine

- Since Billy died, we have room for one new character to have a main title (assuming that Steve, Robin, and Erica don’t get removed from their main character titles, but we’ll talk later about how they could be in the plot) and I think it should be Will’s ~love interest~

- I don’t care if they are already dating and Will is trying to figure out how to tell the party and it gets extra hard when they’re acting all awkward, or if it’s obvious that they both like each other and they have a big confession right before the final battle, but Will is gay and gets a fricken boyfriend because I say so

- So Mike, Max, Lucas, and Dustin are going to Maine for Christmas and Nancy’s going to bring them (to see Jonathan) and I think that the only other person joining the trip is going to be Karen Wheeler. She’s been a main character since season one and is the only one that doesn’t know about the Upside Down and it’s about time she learns (and gets an actual storyline). Let’s just continue the story in season three of her being a bit fed up and tired with Ted so she’s going to get out of the house for what she thinks will be a fun trip

- But oh ho ho let’s get the actual plot started

- Remember how the Russians are trying to open the gate and are learning new information? Well they learn about El and (to connect the Maine gang with Hopper and the villains in Russia) they kidnap her

- Maybe Hopper told them about her because he wants to use her as a way to draw Joyce to Russia to save him, or maybe they just learned that she existed and went to go find her. Maybe Brenner’s alive. I don’t know. 

- And I also feel like El would still not have her powers and wouldn’t get them back until the final battle for ~suspense~ and a haha funny moment that the Russians kidnapped her for nothing (maybe they also kidnap other kids with powers like Kali!!) 

- Also, it’d be cool if Will had powers....

- So El is in Russia and Joyce needs to go get her back and tells Jonathan and Nancy to stay with the kids and takes Karen on a fun girls’ trip to Russia (fun!)

- But of course the kids don’t want to sit around and do nothing (and maybe Will senses the upside down and knows El’s in trouble?). Jonathan and Nancy always have their own subplot going on and I’d imagine that’d still happen but I don’t have the energy to predict what it could be

- So this is where Steve and Robin come in (I have no idea how to get Erica involved, but maybe her, Suzie, and Murray can all have just a fun little cameo). The kids need a ride to Russia to help El so they call them up to bring them!

- I couldn’t care less what little fights lead up to the final one. So let’s talk about death

- Now, every season there is one new character that is so sweet and well meaning that dies. And we have only mentioned one new character: Will’s love interest

- PICTURE IT: They admit their feelings for each other before the final battle and kiss (everyone, especially Robin, being proud while watching on the sidelines) and then Will has to watch his new love interest die in front of him in a situation that HE got him into

- And we are long due for the death of a main character

- It’s obviously not Hopper. They tried and it would be ridiculous if they dragged us through that artificial heartbreak in season three once again

- And I think the Byers are safe. Joyce has watched two (nearly three if you count Will) of her loved ones die in front of her so why would they play that card again with one of her kids? And the fans would literally kill the Duffers if they killed Will (and that would honestly make the entire series pointless. The inciting incident was Will going missing and you’re going to say that we went through all of that only for him to die in the end????)

- Jonathan, Nancy, Dustin, Max, Lucas, and Robin’s deaths wouldn’t be very interesting or have much to advance the plot. If they want Avengers Endgame deaths, then these guys are open for side deaths that’ll make us cry on the way to the Big Death, but be alright with in the end

- And Steve would be on that list but he’s such a fan favorite and has had quite the redemption. I could see him sacrificing himself for the kids though (and then Dustin crying over his body with Robin and Nancy in the background!)

- The death needs to be something that really tears our hearts out but we learn to respect. So we turn to Mileven. If Mike were to die, I think it’d be like a Steve death with self sacrifice that makes the group mold together to finally defeat the monster for good because he brought them all together (and Karen just learned about the upside down and what Mike has been fighting and is so worried for him to have to fight this monster again and then has to watch him die). And El would bring the story round in such a good way. She opened the gate and started this whole mess and so her death, in turn, ends it

- But they should not pull a Romeo and Juliet and have Mike and El both die.

That’s it. Those are all my thoughts. Have a great day.

[willel]

Where will El and Will Start

I’ve been accused of being biased towards Will and El. And you know what? 

They’re totally absolutely right. But even with my huge bias, I am a reasonable person. There are few things I expect and don’t expect in the upcoming season and I wanted to discuss them. 

First, I wanted to address what I expected of season 3 and what didn’t happen.

Season 3:

In season 3, I did not expect Will and El to be best buddies/soulmates. I expected them to be awkward. Why? Because I imagined they didn’t have a lot of contact outside of The Party AND I expected even when El was with everyone, there was little time for them to get to know each other one on one. This expectation was met not only with Will, but with Max. They were sorta friends/friendly, but hadn’t spent time alone together or gotten to know each other more than just the surface level. As we saw, El and Max just needed a moment to finally click with one another to make the friendship bloom.

In season 3, I expected to start seeing Will and El click. Not as Max and El did, a more complicated confusing kind of click. They’re the two of the party with supernatural inclinations. They have a weird connection that they nor the audience really understand. So, I expected as the supernatural stuff started unfolding, Will and El would be bouncing information off each other and sharing it with the group. This did happen.... once. The one conversation El and Will had this entire season was the one instance of what I expected to happen. In the end, I will say that expectation wasn’t met. 

In season 3, by the end of the season, I expected Will and El to be more than timid friends. Not best friends like Max and El, but certainly more than... whatever season 3 was. So, that expectation wasn’t met either.

So one expectation met, two others weren’t. This leaves season 4 in a very awkward position. 

Will and El are living as a family now. They’ve been living together for 3 months actually and now they’re moving away from all their friends somewhere else. This leaves me questioning how we will see Will and El in season 4. 

One thing I didn’t want in season 3 and what I definitely don’t want in season 4 is Will and El ALREADY being best buddies. I want to see the journey. I want the friendship build up. I want to see how they come to trust one another, to see them openly speak about what happened in season 1 and season 2. I wanted to see Will tell El how thankful he was. Or if El expressed more guilt for opening the gate in the first place, for Will to reassure her it wasn’t her fault (she was still bothered by the ‘wound’ in season 2, as Kali harshly but correctly pointed out)

But you see, they’re living together now. If season 4 starts out with them still being at odds with one another, won’t that be weird? If a year or two passes by, am I really supposed to believe they’ve never worked things out and became closer? Neither Will or El are petty enough to just ignore each other for an entire year. 

So, let’s discuss my expectations of season 4 now

Season 4:

I expect Will and El to still be awkward friends. They don’t ignore each other. They have chit chat about mundane things as friends do. If El still isn’t in school, Will sometimes shares his homework or schools book with her so that she’s still being educated in something. A positive but surface level relationship. 

I expect at the beginning of the season, Will does not confide anything personal to El and vice versa. Will is already hesitant to share his true feelings with his mother and Jonathan, I’m willing to bet he never tells El anything about his personal feelings and El doesn’t share hers either. it’s not because they dislike each other, it’s simply they haven’t moved past the point of being acquaintances even while living in the same house for a year. They’re just roommates, nothing more. El would sooner call Mike and Max and discuss her feelings than walk to Will’s room who’s right across the hall. 

I expect by the end of season 4, the previous expectation will be flipped totally on its head and Will and El will become more like siblings for real and not just awkward roommates. How this will happen, I am not sure. But I feel as though El will be the one to make it happen. Will has a history of bottling things up until it’s at a breaking point, whether it’s his personal issues or supernatural issues. Jonathan is the one that usually breaks through Will’s personal issues before they blow up (”Being a freak is awesome.”). I think, El will become the one that can break through Will’s supernatural issues before they become a problem. 

Ok, so those are my 3 big expectations for Will and El in season 4. I want to discuss the final point a little more.

To put it simply, both Will and El are alarm bells that work slightly differently. Unlike Will, El can’t exactly sense something bad is happening. Usually, she discovers something is wrong by accident. In season 2 episode 7, she went to find Mike and Hopper right as the Mind Flayer was wrecking the lab. It was a coincidence that she buzzed in at the right time. In season 3, it was a coincidence that she buzzed in right as the Mind Flayer was possessing Heather. 

In Will’s case, if something bad is happening around him, his body immediately alerts him to the danger whether he knows what’s going on or not. In season 2, his mind flickered into the Upside Down, warning him of the approaching storm (the Mind Flayer) plus the prickling on his skin from the Mind Flayer’s presence. In season 3, the prickling sensation continued as the Mind Flayer was acting up again. 

So, let’s say there’s a scenario where Will is getting bad feelings again, but ignores it. If El happened to stumble into something odd, and needed to confirm it, Will is her guy. Like Jonathan is able to call bullshit on Will (pretending he likes sports for Lonnie or trying to burry his outcast feelings like nothing is wrong), I think El will be able to as well, but for supernatural stuff. 

After all, that’s what friends/family do. They don’t let you lie to yourself, right? 

I think to fulfill my expectation that Will and El will become more like siblings instead of awkward friends, a wall needs to be broken between them. I think El will take the hammer to this wall via supernatural bad stuff happening and needing Will to open up to her about it. Pretending it’s not happening doesn’t stop it from happening. El is the superhero from all those comics he likes reading, I think he’ll see that and make a change in himself to stand up to his fears. (and maybe in doing so, somehow helping her regain her powers too. In a ‘maybe if you do this your powers will come back?’ kind of experimentation)

[su8arandspite]

For Old Time’s Sake

Summary: It’s 1995 in Hawkins. When Heather Johnson returns home for the Hawkins High School reunion, she comes face to face with an old lover. Or, alternatively, the one where Steve falls in love with Heather all over again.

Steve Harrington x oc

Warnings: 18+, mature content, smut

Tags: @casaharrington

The town of Hawkins kept its secrets well. From the outside, and to every kid who made a run for it after high school, not much about the town changed. Small town stillness washed over the buildings and suburban homes that Heather Johnson passed on the drive home to her parents’ place. If not for the empty lot where the Dairy Queen had been and the newly painted houses, Hawkins could have been a time machine to 1985.

She parked curbside outside of her childhood home. Through the trees, just past the Harrington home, she could vaguely make out the ruins of what was once Hawkins Lab. Even abandoned, it brought bile to her throat. When Heather left Hawkins, danger eschewed the rosy lens of childhood she knew it under. Time blurred and muddied her memories, but fleeting images of a boy with a baseball bat comforted her; whatever it was, they defeated it together.

Heather yanked the keys from the ignition. She didn’t come back to dig up old nightmares. Steadying her breath, she hauled her suitcase from the hatch of her car into her old home. Whatever she saw ten years ago in that shadowy building couldn’t hurt her now.

She retired to her bedroom that night with a head swimming in unsaid words and forgotten dreams she bottled up and left here in Hawkins. Traveling through the hallways of her parents’ house brewed an unwelcome, lonely sense of dejavú that could swallow Heather whole.

The door closed softly behind her. Heather looked to the window next door, partially out of habit, partially wrapped up in foolish hope, but instead found the curtains drawn. She longed for the secret notes passed through window panes on late nights and the stolen kisses as he stumbled into her bedroom. That was- they were- long gone now.

Now, standing alone in her girlish lilac bedroom, she felt like a stranger in her own life. The knick-knacks, trophies, polaroids, and photo booth strips belonged to someone else entirely. She thumbed over the picture frame sitting proudly on her nightstand, swiping the dust away from the picture-perfect memory of two smitten teens. Her mother must have retrieved it from the floor and replaced it sometime after she left. The crack down the center obscured her face, but she cared more about the way Steve looked at her. Just as she let herself want, her finger caught on the crack and blood sullied the cheap frame. Cursing, she cushioned the wound between her lips to dull the bleeding.

Heather Johnson blossomed into her own person through the past decade; she had a place to call her own, a job she felt passionately for, everything she once doubted she could earn without her Daddy’s help. Something about Hawkins, though, made that woman shrink slowly back into the scared girl who ran away from it.

High school for Heather looked picture perfect. In some ways, it had been, yet a part of her always felt sandwiched into the tiny pond that Hawkins was and desperate to swim upstream into the outside world. For someone with as many friends and as surrounded by people as Heather the Cheerleader had been, she never felt more lonely. Her friends’ parents worked boring desk jobs that required no traveling and most of them had one boyfriend or another to waste their time with. She kissed as many boys as she could just trying to make up for the loneliness she felt in her parents’ absence; it always found its way back. Until Steve.

Steve Harrington lived next door. He talked too much, slept around quite a bit, and had a poor taste in friends. Heather might nod along and listen as Laurie or Becky rambled off reasons why he could not be trusted, but she never cared to listen. She liked to think she knew Steve perfectly well.

The first time Heather met Steve, she might have agreed with what her friends thought of him. They knew each other only through summer block parties and whatever other events their parents dragged them to until 1982. That summer leading up to sophomore year changed a lot for Heather; her body filled out and her Dad started leaving home more. She took up a job lifeguarding at the community pool and returned to school in August sunkissed, slightly curvy, and in need of a little trouble. Steve, who received a shiny new BMW for his sixteenth birthday, looked exactly like the kind of trouble she wanted.

She had him completely, utterly wrapped around her finger by the end of September. Heather and Steve soiled every inch of that car as summer came to autumn. She only meant to distract herself, but her desire for fire and trouble died down into an ache for the boy next door. Heather let herself love him wholly. Steve became her future; he tamed her rebellious spirit into a lovestruck girl who wanted only for him to stay with her forever.

Forever, for Heather and Steve, instead became the beginning of junior year. He stomped on her heart and spit it right back at her. As Heather pulled back to lick her wounds, Steve zeroed in on his next prey. Nancy Wheeler stood for everything Heather could never be. Girls like Nancy didn’t just offer up their virginities to the first boy who called them pretty or invent their own hangover cures out of necessity. Heather hated the thought of Steve with someone like that, because she could never be half as good. Good girls like Nancy shone like blank canvases void of any tarnish and squeaky-clean enough to bring home to Mom; Heather the Whore and her Father-sized baggage could never compete with a girl like that.

Even now, the sight of that swimming pool nauseated her. Mr. Harrington had it drained years ago, but she only saw the very end of Barbara Holland’s life, the thing that took her, and the boy she still loved already falling for Nancy Wheeler, all right outside her bedroom window. Heather yanked her curtains shut. The demogorgon might be unreachable now, but nothing so far healed her battered little heart.

---

“Joey, you little shit! Let go of your sister’s hair”

Heather clung to the kitchen island, watching as the red-headed toddlers tornadoed across the living room. Carol stormed out of the bedroom sporting only one shoe and looking more grown up than Heather ever imagined she would be. Tommy and Carol’s wedding unsurprisingly predated the prompt birth of their first child by mere months. Between the two nightmares currently messing up their house and the heavily pregnant bump in her purple gown, Carol looked about one temper tantrum away from a spectacular breakdown of her own.

However exhausted parenthood and married life looked to someone like Heather, that new sheen in Carol’s eyes and the bizarrely adult change in Tommy’s demeanor suggested otherwise. The life of a Hawkins housewife, with all its cliquey glory and PTA snobs, suited Carol’s catty nature and, to everyone’s surprise, fatherhood had calmed Tommy’s recklessness. Heather took one look at their messy, chaotic, love-filled life, and her confidence crumbled. Her life in New York outpaced anything Hawkins could offer her, but she couldn’t pretend that she had once not wanted anymore more than this life with Steve.

“For fuck’s sake Tommy, would you hurry up?”

Carol herded her husband towards the door, cursing under her breath at his inability to correctly tie a necktie. If not for the wedding rings and Carol’s baby bump, Heather might have mistaken the scene for a recreation of their senior prom night.

Heather piled into the backseat of Carol’s mini-van. Tommy stuck his head out of the driver’s seat as they sped off to Hawkins High, screaming:

“Class of ‘85, motherfuckers!”

Carol yanked him back into the car by the collar. She added a swift smack to the head for good measure. Heather smiled to herself; at least some things never did change.

As the burgundy minivan pulled into the spot once reserved for Heather’s Jeep, she saw her life from the outside. Without the safety of her green and white cheerleading outfit, Hawkins High School looked a whole lot less impressive than back in the day.

Tommy and Carol dispersed into the crowd not long after their arrival, while Heather gravitated towards the open bar. She greeted passersby who recognized her and watched the crowd swell. She stirred her drink absently and watched the night unfold around her.

Old cheer squad members earned careers in fashion or television or teaching. Her third grade best friend married her ninth grade lab partner. Old Hawkins friends gathered like nothing ever changed, but Heather felt acutely aware that everything had.

Meanwhile, Steve tore himself away from a conversation with a few classmates he only vaguely remembered. He stopped a few feet away from her, as if unsure whether or not to proceed.

Time dealt Steve Harrington the short hand. He stayed in Hawkins, he told himself, not out of fear but just to keep an eye on things for a while. Jim Hopper promised to call if any more monsters popped up. No need, he said. I think I’ll stick around a while longer. First, Nancy and Jonathan Byers, even Billy Hargrove, graduated and took the fast track out of town. By the time Dustin and Lucas and Mike and the rest of the rugrats set off to college, Steve was fresh out of excuses.

Hopper took a quick visit down to the record store where Steve took up a job to pay his bills. He leaned down over the counter Steve worked behind and lowered his voice:

“What the hell are you still doing here, kid? We both know you don’t belong in this shithole.”

“Yeah,” he deadpanned. “You’re probably right”

Hopper, more a father to Steve than his own ever was, refused to let him give up like this. Where Steve saw in himself the self-righteous asshole who vandalized the town movie theater, Hopper saw the young man who readily put his own life on the line to save those kids.

“Look, I don’t really care what you do,” he lied. “Just quit feeling sorry for yourself and do something with your life.”

The next morning, Hopper arrived at the station to find Steve Harrington sitting with his tail between his legs in the chair facing his desk. By that time the next year, he was the latest member of the Hawkins PD. And a damn good one at that, he might add.

For the first time in his life, Steve had everything he could want. Everything, that is, except someone to share it with.

His heart skittered as he worked up the courage to get Heather alone. He’d heard that she came alone and wanted little more than to catch her attention. Things ended so badly between them- his fault, really- that he hardly imagined she wanted to see him again. So, with the same sense of humility as that fateful morning in Chief Hopper’s office, he tapped her shoulder:

“Save me a dance? For old time’s sake.”

Gooseflesh rippled her bare arms; she would recognize that voice anywhere. Heather set her cocktail glass on the bar, turning her head towards him. He looked the spitting image of the nervous boy who first asked to take her out to the movies. Hands scrunched in his suit pockets, and sporting the very same crooked smile she remembered, Steve Harrington stood before her.

Heather’s powder blue dress blended well with her skin tone in the dim gym lighting and her dark hair popped against the fabric. His heart swelled at the sight of her standing in the very same gym they shared their first kiss in. Steve wondered how he ever let a girl like that slip through his fingers.

“Okay,” she said. “For old time’s sake”

He led her by the hand to the makeshift dance floor, feeling for the first time in ages the sweaty anticipation of a lovestruck school boy. Her rosy cheeks swelled with a smile in tandem with her shaky hands as they locked between the ducktail of hair at the nape of his neck. His hands resting easily on her hips, they danced.

“Y’know,” he chuckled. “I really didn’t expect to see you again. I’m glad I did”

The way he looked at her, even after all these years, sent Heather to the verge of tears; no one had looked at her like since she was a teenager. Since she and Steve were in love.

“Yeah,” her voice came out soft and small. “Me, too.”

They’d come full circle. Although life led them in different directions, and took Heather and Steve to the wrong people in their journey to find the love they first had in each other, it seemed their story looped back to that dingy old gym. Steve knew the second he saw her that tonight would be a whole lot more than reminiscing with a lost lover. Even if Heather didn’t know that, yet, Steve didn’t mind waiting.

Steve would wait forever for her if it only meant that he could see that smile one last time. The way her brown eyes sparkled in the dim lighting, the way her hips filled out the fabric of her gown, the way her delicate touch ghosted over him as they danced; Heather was filled with reminders of the way he once loved her. The way Steve still loved her.

Heather cupped his cheek, stroking it with her thumb and watching after him with a melancholy smile.

“I am so proud of you,” she whispered.

Heather clung to her once-lover long past the end of slow songs, the two swaying to synthetic pop tunes. It seemed that each of them darted around fears that, should they let go of each other, they might never get the chance to do so again. Whether she admitted it to herself or not, Heather let herself believe that, maybe, she was always meant to find her way back to him. She felt not like an adult but once again like a teenage girl nervously dancing with the prom date of her dreams.

He nuzzled his nose forward against her cheek. His hot breath fanned out against her skin and pulled her in even more. The sweet, mesmerizing scent of Steve’s rosewood cologne, the ghost of spearmint chewing gum, and a hint of musk hypnotized Heather. As he finally kissed her, Heather folded into his touch. The kiss was a decade in the making, the kind featured on movie screens and cheesy discount novels. Every word they were too afraid to speak into existence and all their repressed emotions poured into the kiss.

Reluctantly, he broke off the kiss. Only as the final song of the night faded into its closing note did Heather pull herself away from his warmth. Steve stole a quick kiss to her cheek. They walked slowly towards the edge of the dance floor.

“Here,” he said. Steve draped his sports coat over Heather’s shoulders.

Hair bouncing along with his lopsided grin, Steve couldn’t take his eyes off of Heather and that captivating laugh of hers. Even as she led him away from the dance floor, Steve found himself absorbed in her. Her neatly styled hair fell rebelliously out of place, the heat on her cheeks and perspiration from nerves and the dancing all adding just the right amount of lived-in smudge to her make-up. Heather looked radiant. The words fell out of his loose lips like thoughts so strong that his mouth couldn’t contain them:

“You’re beautiful.”

She slumped into a seat, letting out a breathy laugh. He slid into the empty chair beside her. Although his mind seemed acutely aware that they were running on borrowed time, Steve swore that the night would last forever. Time was edging on despite his best efforts to run backwards against the current; he would never be fifteen again, and their relationship would never be from a clean slate again.

She thanked him quietly. Another stolen kiss followed. The night grew thin around them, their classmates retiring to whatever lives they put on pause for the night's trip down memory lane, but neither could be bothered to tear themselves away. Heather was quiet for some time afterwards, trying to make sense of her emotions. Steve turned to her, forehead pulled in thought:

“We made quite the mess, didn’t we?”

Heather paused, tearing herself away from the fears of yesterday. Her eyes flickered to him. She smiled sadly. All Steve has to do was stay. When it was Heather’s turn to choose Steve, she decided to run instead. It seemed neither of them had the courage to face the very real feelings between them that even time and betrayal couldn’t seem to erase.

“Yeah,” she said eventually. “We sure did.”

He chuckled dryly, rubbing his palms together in thought. The universe seemed to laugh at them, to revel in the tragedy of their bad timing; love itself just wasn’t enough to make them work. His eyes begged Heather to ease his nerves. Steve needed Heather to give him some sign that this was more than just in his head.

“Why is this so hard for us?”

The worry in his tired face looked all too familiar to Heather. A sinking feeling returned to her stomach.

It wasn’t until the summer after graduation that Heather let herself start to forgive Steve for breaking her heart. With the drama and confines of high school now behind them, Heather and Steve vowed to make that summer theirs. A last hurrah of bad decisions with minimal consequences. What they intended to be a string of crashed house parties and getting drunk by the quarry instead was a summer filled with late-night conversations on the hood of Steve’s car. With Heather often teetering between sunburnt and sun-kissed after a shift at the community pool and Steve sticky and burnt out from serving ice cream at Starcourt Mall, they lacked much time or energy to live out the summer they outlined.

Neither of them really minded the extra time to themselves. In fact, Steve soon found himself excited for his shift to end and comforted by the knowledge that Heather was waiting for him in the parking lot, food in hand. By late June, Heather had his order memorized and Billy Hargrove had stopped trying to get her to hang around with him past closing time. That was how they found themselves devouring take out from Dairy Queen, still in their work uniforms, and sitting closer than necessary on the BMW.

She wiped the grease from her fingers with a napkin, laughing. Heather caught a glimpse of Steve in her peripheral vision- dripping with happiness, a shine to his eyes, his Scoops Ahoy sailor hat sagging lowly on his head.

Having Heather back in his life, even if only for brief, stolen moments on the hood of his BMW and late summer nights thick with their past, the future; it patched up the broken parts of his battered heart. She felt like home. It might only be for the summer, but Steve fully intended to hold onto every second with Heather that he could.

“Hey, Steve?”

He looked so eager, so happy to see her. Steve wouldn’t even know what hit him. That summer, he slowly tore down the walls their break-up built against her and she knew from the start that she couldn’t take him with her. The thing about running away from her problems, it seemed, was that Heather had to abandon every good thing in her life right along with the bad. Unfortunately, that included Steve.

She knew she should have told him from the beginning, that she never should have let herself get that close to him again so soon before leaving town. Heather should have told him, and yet she couldn't bring herself to break it to him. Not that Heather hadn’t tried to; she had, many times. It just hurt too much.

His laughter tapered off into an inquisitive hum.

“Do you ever think about leaving Hawkins?”

Maybe it had treated him less than kindly the past year or so, but it was still the only home Steve had ever known. The thought of skipping town never crossed his mind. He decided a long time ago that he would stand his ground and fight until his dying breath if he had to- Steve was braver, more stubborn than Heather that way. Another reason she would tell herself they didn’t work out; Steve Harrington was a fighter but Heather Johnson was a survivor. And sometimes that meant putting herself first.

“No, I can’t say that I have. Why?”

She shrugged, uncharacteristically shy:

“I don’t know,” she balled the napkin up into a makeshift stress ball. “I-I just think maybe I need to get out of this town, Steve. Parts of me can’t seem to shake what I saw, what I did-“

She let Barbara Holland die. Heather watched from her bedroom and did nothing as the thing ate her whole. And when she saw the damn thing again, she hadn’t been strong enough to kill it. She couldn’t save its future victims.

“Hey,” Steve pulled her under his arm. “Don’t say that, okay? You did what you could… We all did. It’s not your fault.”

Tilting her chin upwards with his fingertips, Steve pressed a meaningful kiss to her lips. She leaned into him. His embrace quieted her thoughts enough to mute her worries away. It wasn’t the first kiss they shared that summer, but something hid behind it that made Heather unable to shake him- so much so that she lost her nerve to break the news to him. She left Hawkins the next morning, while Steve dreamt of seeing her again.

The guilt ate at her from the inside out until the town she once loved only suffocated her with living nightmares and her own inadequacies. Deep down, Heather knew that running away from her problems would not solve anything. Still, she craved a change of scenery, an escape from the reminders of what Hawkins truly was under its all-American suburban facade. Hawkins was, quite simply, home to the gates of Hell and Heather didn’t want to stick around and wait for them to crack their way open again.

They had, eventually, done just that; only, Heather wasn’t by Steve’s side that July Fourth when he needed her the most.

Steve stood abruptly, offering her his hand:

“You want to get a drink?”

Nodding, she smiled. The last thing she wanted was to leave Steve’s side. Heather took his hand and followed him through the parking lot. They walked in a comfortable silence. She squeezed his hand in hers.

“Steve?”

The pair paused beside his car. Heather glanced up at him with the guilt of a child caught breaking their parents’ valuables while playing inside the house.

“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you I was leaving,” she paused. “I should have.”

Steve’s eyes softened. He brushed loose hair from her face, smiling sadly.

“I know you are,” he said. “It’s okay, Heather. That was a long time ago.”

Forgiven or not, Heather still juggled her feelings of guilt and lingering feelings for Steve between stolen glances on the drive home. He may have absolved her, but Heather still needed

to forgive herself first.

“Come on,” Steve opened the passenger door. “How ‘bout that drink?”

---

The pair of them stumbled into Steve’s old bedroom between stolen kisses and wandering hands. Retracing steps from a lifetime ago, they fumbled blindly in the dim lighting, too utterly consumed in each other to care much for the world outside those walls. There was only the electric rush of pure, raw sexual chemistry and unresolved feelings.

Steve pulled back momentarily, lips dripping in unspoken words. Heather shook her head, stroking his cheek sensually with her thumb:

“Not now, Steve,” she shushed him, her waiting kiss soaking up his silent fears.

He pulled her hips flush against his torso, working blindly on her dress zipper. Steve’s rough palms explored every inch of her flesh that he could reach. He pinched purple hickies into the crook of her neck, chasing after her as her head flopped in pleasure. Heather hadn’t let anyone mark her skin that way in years. Steve made her feel young again, like his touch was the Fountain of Youth and she was Ponce de Leon, drinking him in deeply.

Her dress pooled on the floor around her feet as Steve pushed the thin straps from her shoulders. She looked even more mesmerizing than he remembered. Heather grew into her curves; time transformed her from a bewitching teenage beauty to the woman of Steve’s dreams. And he wanted to feel, to taste, every inch of her.

Spreading her legs apart ever so slightly, Steve dropped to his knees before her. He thumbed at her through the meager fabric of her lace panties. Another hickey on her smooth upper thigh. He groaned at the smell of her arousal. His expert mouth latched hungrily onto her core through the fabric.

Heather wriggled in pure, hot pleasure against his magical lips. Her fingers dug into his scalp, pulling on his hair just the way she knew drove him crazy. Steve pushed aside her panties, buried his nose, his lips into her most sensitive nerves. She tasted like heaven to him, the mere sight of her writhing above him an ethereal vision. Her taste dizzied him and Steve coddled her closer to his lips.

Steve loved the chase almost as much as the kill itself. He knew what he was doing, and knew he was damn good at it, too. If Steve had been a wolf in the bedroom as a teenager, then the only thing to stop him now was a silver bullet. And Heather was his full moon.

Her first orgasm hit hard and unexpectedly early, received by Steve’s eager tongue. He pulled her in by the neck for another kiss. The salty taste of her own arousal clinging to his breath intrigued Heather; touching Steve turned all her other experiences into blurry non-memories. Touching Steve felt like coming home after a long day.

The sight of Steve in all his naked glory sent Heather into a tizzy. She licked teasingly along his length, easing her way into giving him the head of his life. As she worked, Heather focused in on the bliss reflected in his face.

“Jesus,” he whined. “I forgot how good you were at that.”

Eager to be inside her, Steve reluctantly pulled her back up to her feet. He backed her up against the bed. Heather melted back against his pillows, a siren waiting for him to fall right into her trap. He kneeled over her figure. Steve kissed her sweetly. One hand thumbed at her clit. In one fluid motion, he pushed inside her.

Steve loved the way she clung to her. Her touch only egged him on. Steve rutted into her deeply. He made love to her with a veracity and dedication that put every other man she’d been with to shame. It was only Steve.

With one final grunt sandwiched by her name, Steve came deep inside of her.

She fell back against his sheets, spent in a fucked-out bliss. Heather felt her life in the city slipping further from her mind the more Steve Harrington and his magnificent cock drew her to a future here.

“Do you remember what you said to me the night Nancy and I broke up?”

Heather hummed in her sleepy daze, nodding:

“Sure, I do.”

“Did you mean it?”

She rolled over on the pillow to face him, fully awake now. Heather blinked through the darkness. Grasping in the dark, she clamped their hands together. From behind his messy hair, Steve looked like a shivering puppy left out in the rain. A soft smile graced her lips. She thought of the last time she saw that look.

“She never loved me.”

Nancy might have been the good girl toying around with Hawkins’ playboy, but instead she tore Steve to shreds and ran for the hills. Now, he wanted someone to sympathize with him. Heather, though, had no room in her life to be anyone’s second choice.

Heather tossed the hat to her candy striper costume on the duvet, sighing. She pawed at the vomit stain on her skirt with a damp towel. Perhaps the only person in town who had missed Steve and Nancy’s fallout, Heather left Tina’s party early to lull a dangerously intoxicated Brittany Matthews home before she ruined anyone else’s costume.

“What? Why are you even here, Steve?”

“I don’t know,” he shrunk down. “This is the first place I thought of.”

Oblivious to his pity party, Heather fussed about. She tried to clean the night’s memory of her drunken, sophomore team mate nearly passed out on Tina’s front porch right off her dress right along with the stain.

“What the fuck are you talking about, Steve?”

“Nancy,” he suddenly fell sheepish. “She never loved me.”

Heather watched after him, incredulous. Her hands gripped at the soiled towel as she bit her tongue. Steve, craving some sort of reaction from her, pressed on:

“I should have known,” he sulked. “I mean…God, when did I become such a fuck-up? This is bullshit. Of course it was. I should have known no one could love me-”

“Oh, fuck you! I did! I loved you so much, Steve. You had to have known that.

“What? Heather-”

“You broke my fucking heart, Steve. I’m not about to pretend that I didn’t see this coming and I’m sure as hell not your shoulder to cry on”

She tossed the soiled washcloth right at his chest. If Steve hadn’t been crying before, he sure was now. Still no movement.

“But-“

“I think you should leave.”

When he made no moves to do so, some part of her snapped right along with the last string of her heart that still reached out for Steve. She plucked the picture frame from her nightstand, their picture, and chucked it towards him, only narrowly missing his head. It landed on the floor under her dresser, as cracked and broken as their relationship, where it stayed until well after Heather graduated and left home.

“Get the fuck out, Steve.”

He faltered a moment, her words hitting him full-force with the one thing he must have known and feared but chose to ignore for the past year. Thick layers of tears caked his cheeks. Steve moved slowly and fluidly back towards the window he snuck in through, hoping all the while that he might uncover some magic words to undo the damage he slung onto her poor heart. He found only silence, and by the time his feet hit the ground, Steve knew he’d really done it this time.

He wanted only to be the carefree fifteen-year-old who got to kiss her in secret moments shared in the backseat of his BMW and late at night in her bedroom, when her parents were asleep. Steve wanted Heather back, but this was too little, too late. She locked the window behind him.

Looking at him now, her heart ached. The stubborn parts of her hadn’t forgiven him for breaking her heart all those years ago. Yet, she mostly just wanted him.

“Yes.”

Steve pressed his lips lightly to her knuckles.

“For what it’s worth, I loved you too.”

Steve leaned over the extra pillows to face her.  

When Steve awoke the next morning, he found himself surprised to see her messy hair splayed out across the pillow beside him, and utterly bewitched by the sight of Heather curling into the sheets as she slept soundly in his bed. He thought, though not for the first time in his life, that he might like to wake each day to the sight.

Later, as he walked her to her car, the idea still bounced around his mind. He grabbed at her hips, using every last drop of cheekiness to woo her away from that car. Steve let Heather go once before and he spent the next ten years regretting it.

“Stay.”

“You know I can’t.”

“What’s keeping you?

She exhaled with a soft laugh. Her home, her friends, her career, all waited for her back in the city. The only thing Hawkins, Indiana had that New York City didn’t was Steve Harrington.

“I’m sorry,” she kissed his lips sweetly. “Goodbye, Steve.”

He stood at the curb, hands balled into his shorts pockets, and watched her drive off until the Honda turned out of sight. Steve smiled after her, sporting the same smile he’d flashed the first time he told her his name, only this time a bitterness hid behind it.

Like Lot’s wife fleeing Sodom, Heather knew better than to turn around, knew his puppy dog eyes would trap her here forever, melt her down into a pillar of salt. And, like Lot’s wife, she did anyways.

She knew she’d see him again, if only in her dreams.

-----

Heather nervously twirled the phone cord around her finger. She stared at the slip of paper and dialed his phone number, her mind stuck over the words. The last time she felt this afraid, Heather lodged an axe into the neck of an interdimensional monster. This time, though, she knew that wouldn’t solve her problems.

“Steve? I need to see you.”

The trek to Indiana did little to calm her nerves. She drove silently, the radio turned down to silence. No matter how many times Heather practiced the speech in her head, it didn’t get any easier.

She stood at his doorstep. Fiddling with her hands, she contemplating blowing him off. Heather felt out of place at his apartment. To her, Steve would always be the boy next door. No matter what happened tonight. She thought of him always as he was then- handsome, full of life, brimming with dreams. Full of love for her.

When he opened the door to let her in, Steve couldn’t dull his smile. He looked almost the same as the boy in her memories. The love hadn’t quite left his eyes yet. It was with the comfort of this thought that she stepped inside.

Steve’s apartment was neat, small, homely. She could see him settling down before the TV with a beer or fussing over his hair in the mirror by the door. The thought made her smile.

He sat down with her on the couch, hands clasping with hers. His bright eyes watched her closely, waiting and ready to accept her back into his life.

“Is everything okay? You sounded upset on the phone.”

“I just- I wanted to talk.”

“Talk?”

He blinked. Steve knew this song and dance and he was tired of trying to keep her here. Tired of letting her toy with his heart.

“I haven’t seen or heard from you in months and you came all this way just to talk?”

Steve told himself he would hear her out, but his emotions got the best of him. He raised his voice in frustration. The abrupt shift in tone caught her off guard. She hadn’t meant to upset him. Heather deflated in her seat, the speech she’d had prepared now stuck in her throat.

“Forget it,” she rose. “I don’t even know why I came here.”

He followed her out onto the sidewalk. Heather walked out of his life too many times for him to let her go again.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know! Home, I guess.”

“Don’t you dare walk away from me again!”

The brunette stopped in her tracks, whirled around to face him. Angry, frustrated tears welled in her eyes. He stood just close enough for her to touch. Close enough for her to feel his heart breaking.

“And why not? We both already know how this ends.”

“I love you so much that it hurts. Why can’t you just admit that you want this, too?”

“That’s not why I came back, Steve.”

“Well, then, what? Is this some kind of a game to you-“

“I’m pregnant.”

His expression blanked. Steve didn’t know the first thing about fatherhood. His own gave him next to nothing to start from; the last thing he wanted was to find himself repeating his father’s shitty parenting style. He liked to think that he had finally shed the damage his absentee parents did to him, and that he had found a way to fill the gap their cold demeanor created where affection should have been in his childhood, but that didn’t stop his fears of repeating the vicious cycle.

Heather looked just as afraid.

“Do you really think we’re ready to be parents?”

“No,” he held her hand tighter in his. “But I know that I’m not my father and we can learn from our parents’ mistakes. You’re my future, Heather”

“Do you mean that?”

“Of course, I do.”

They sat together on his front porch steps. Silence engulfed them for a moment as her earth shattering news settled in. Fear crept back up on Heather the longer he stayed quiet. Did Steve want to raise this child with her? Did he want her? Her questions and insecurities were overwhelming.

She broke into tears. “I’m scared, Steve.”

“Me, too.”

He held her close to his chest as she cried. A few tears slipped from his own eyes. Steve combed his fingers through her hair and whispered comforts into her ear. Suddenly, he saw a future for himself. A modest, comfortable cottage with a nice yard for the kids to play in, maybe a dog too, and Heather standing beside him with all the love in the world in her eyes. It was comforting, warm. He wanted that future, with her.

“Stay here, with me. I love you, Heather, and I want to raise this baby with you, if you’ll have me.”

Sniffling, she turned her chin upwards to face him.

“Okay,” she said. “Yes, I will. I love you, too, Steve.”

As he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, Steve knew that everything would turn out okay. He loved Heather Johnson and that was enough for him.