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fluffypichu876 · 11 months

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DMC bosses ranked by difficulty

Alright, I have finally finished it. My tierlist ranking the bosses from every DMC game based on their difficulty! (except for DMC2 and the reboot. I haven't played the latter, and DMC2 is not worth replaying xD)

The list is mainly based on my personal experience with each game on DMD (and the difficulties below it). Here it is!

You might have noticed that the DMC5 Dante bossfight is not there. That's because it's been a while since I last played as Vergil, and I don't remember the finer details of that fight. If I had to place him somewhere based on my flimsy memory though, he'd probably be next to his DMC4 fight.

Replaying these worderful games and making this list while I did so was lots of fun! If you'd like to make your own tierlist, feel free to ask me for the link on Tiermaker! (I'll add the link on the post if demand is high) But like I said above, it lacks the DMC2 and DmC bosses, so if needed, you'll have to add these yourself.

I also wrote down my thoughts on each boss down below, alongside some advice for the bossfights! It ended up a bit longer than I expected, though xD

(very long text below!)

My thoughts on each boss, from easiest (low tier) to hardest (top tier):

- Tier 1: Too easy

Mundus 3 (DMC1): He can barely even attack you. Just spam Ifrit and activate DT to finish him quickly.

The Savior (DMC4): You don't need much skill to fight this boss. Use Trickster to easily avoid his punches. If you're impatient like me and would like to end this boring boss as quickly as possible, use Distorted Real Impacts on his chest crytal once it's possible.

Phantom 2 (DMC1): This fight is optional and can be skipped by entering any door in the hallways. But even if you decide to fight him, just parry his fireball attack a few times, which isn't too hard to do once you get the timing.

Dante 1 (DMC4): He's a tutorial boss. Naturally, it's not very difficult. On DMD, he feels more like a little taste of Dante 2, but even so it's a pretty chill battle.

Qliphoth Roots (DMC5): This game's tutorial boss (Urizen doesn't count). As expected, it's a pretty chill fight. There's plenty of room to dodge the roots and they're pretty slow when attacking.

Doppelganger (DMC3): This boss is very easy. Doppelganger only attacks you if you're right beside him, which is rare unless you actively try to be near him (he also has a ranged attack but it's very easy to dodge). Use multi-hit attacks like Prop or Revolver to quickly activate the lamps in the room. Time it right to stun Doppelganger for a little while. If the whole room is lit, the boss will be stunned for a pretty long time, so feel free to bully him :)

- Tier 2: Not that bad

Containment Room (DMC4): One of the worst bossfights ever made. Despite that, it's (thankfully) not that difficult. Well-timed Snatches and Busters will quickly destroy the screen and kill a few Gladius. Keep your eyes open and ears sharp for the Gladius's strikes and for the electricity on the ground.

Griffon (DMC5): The first familiar to be fought in Mission 18. Griffon is not that threatening when he's fighting alone. He can be stunned very easily with either Kalina Ann, and Round Robin, his scariest move (for me at least), is only used immediately after he recovers from a Stalemate. His Double Check can get in the way during Nightmare's bossfight, but relocating out of its way (or staying on ground/jump-cancelling depending on its height) should help avoid it.

Shadow (DMC5): The second familiar you'll fight in M18. The big kitty is generally stronger than Griffon, but just as easy to stun with the Kalina Ann(s). Hedgehog is a very scary move, with plenty of range and lots of damage potential. Like Griffon's RR, however, Shadow will only use it once, immediately after it recovers from a Stalemate, so keep an eye for that. During Nightmare's bossfight, Hedgehog should be your main worry, but pay attention on Shadow's position to not be hit by its longer range attacks.

Sanctus (DMC4): This pathetic easy bossfight somehow manages to get on my skin and annoy me to no end as soon as I take a single hit. This cowardly old man protects himself with a magic shield, and once you break it, he will begin to run away like a scared chicken. And worse yet, if you don't damage him enough, HE WILL JUST CONJURE HIS SHIELD AGAIN. Ugh. The fight gets easier once he activates The Savior, since countering his punch with the Buster will skip the shieldless phase and allow you to beat Sanctus up to your heart's content :)

Gilgamesh (DMC5): This big thing made of demonic metal is an absolute slug to take down, but it's not a very challenging battle. Just pray you don't make too many mistakes or you'll have to fight it aaalll over again :D

Lady (DMC3): Originally, I wanted to rank Lady on Tier 1, but although you can easily cheese her fight with Quicksilver, you might (for some reason) want to fight her without it. Still, I recommend you do it. This fight can get a little annoying.

Sanctus Diabolica (DMC4): The same as his first fight, but EVEN MORE ANNOYING. His final attack with the Sparda becomes an actual threat on higher difficulties, so do your best to get the Buster timing right so you don't have to fight him again.

Gigapede (DMC3): This boss will only give you trouble if you're trying to get an SS mission rank. Other than that, just enter DT to help you tank any projectiles you can't dodge.

Hell Vanguard (DMC3): The Vanguard is a normal enemy, and one of the tougher ones, but when it fights alone it's not much of a threat. Dodging and parrying its scythe is very easy, and its teleport attacks can be easily dodged by either jumping, rolling/dashing, or (if you're brave) by blocking through Royal Guard.

Berial (DMC4): The first real boss in DMC4, and considering the record of previous DMC games, he's a very easy one. His sword swipes are quite predictable, and he doesn't deal that much damage, even on DMD. He's sightly harder to fight as Dante because he may counter attacks the same way he would try to counter Nero's Buster, meaning you have to pay a bit more attention.

Bael (DMC4): The big frog is pretty slow and quite vulnerable to attacks, so taking him down shouldn't be much trouble. The Rusalka can get a little more annoying, since they are faster and more agile, but they are pretty predictable. Breaking the ice in his back for a Buster opportunity is the only troublesome thing in this fight, especially on DMD.

Dagon (DMC4): Basically the same as Bael, with a few small differences.

Echidna (DMC4): Echidna's attacks are highly telegraphed and can be easily avoided once you learn their signals. She is a bit tougher when you fight as Dante, since he lacks the huge damage from the Buster opportunities and can't approach her as quickly without Snatch. Overall, a fun but not very challenging fight.

Nevan (DMC3): Just listen to her voice lines and dodging everything she throws at you becomes very easy. Be careful about two things though: 1 - Once her vulnerability phase ends, she'll try to engulf you in darkness for some decent damage. 2 - Her kissing attack. She'll only use it at the very end of the battle, but if she catches you, (I think) the only way to escape is by activating DT on the spot.

Nelo Angelo 1 (DMC1): Nelo Angelo looks intimidating, but on his first fight, he isn't very threatening. He has few sword combos, is not very aggressive, and only has one (easy to dodge) ranged attack. He can block you but Ifrit's charged attacks easily break his guard.

Artemis (DMC5): This boss was a lot easier than I expected. Her laser attacks are easy to dodge and her other projectiles can be shot rather quickly, allowing you more mobility on the arena (when playing as Nero). The only threating thing in this fight is Artemis's scream attack, which she performs whenever you stay too close to her. It can be a bit difficult to predict, but it's nothing that Gerbera can't dodge.

Vergil 1 (DMC3): Like in DMC1, Vergil's first encounter isn't very difficult. He only uses his slower attacks and can't go into DT. Dodge his swipes and immediately punish them, temporarely locking Vergil into a sort of "stunned" state. The Summoned Swords will likely catch you off-guard when you play on DMD for the first time, but you'll get used to them in no time.

Goliath (DMC5): DMC5's true first boss, and a pretty good one at that! But a first boss is a first boss, and unless you're Phantom or Cerberus, your fight is probably gonna be easy. Like Berial, Goliath's attacks are very telegraphed, as they are meant to teach you how to dodge. His long range attacks add a bit more difficulty, and on DMD this boss can hit pretty hard, so you have to pay close attention to his body language.

Nidhogg (DMC5): Nidhogg is more annoying than he is difficult. Playing as V is kind of a mixed bag: not many players adapt to his playstyle, myself included, and that certainly doesn't help in this battle. Nidhogg's fight consists of beating three (sometimes four) targets at the same time. If you defeat all of the three worms in the back, Nidhogg will fall down completely vulnerable. It's the best way to fight him, but doing this can be a little hard, since the worms revive pretty quickly.

Elder Geryon Knight (DMC5): A very lenient boss that could have been much more difficult. This was probably done on purpose, since playing as V takes time to adapt to. Your main worry when fighting this boss is to keep Griffon and Shadow alive. This can be difficult since they tend to stay next to their target to attack, and the Knight is full of strong area attacks. Summoning Nightmare helps a lot, since it can cause plenty of damage alongside reviving V's pets.

Mundus 1 (DMC1): For some reason, this fight changes the game's genre from hack-n'-slash to space shooter. Always found that weird. But anyways, Mundus 1 is not really difficult when you learn that all of his attacks track you. Knowing this, just fly around in circles and you're mostly safe. The one exception is the laser beam attack, but that can be avoided with Vortex's I-frames.

Urizen 1 (DMC5): The first (obligatory) Urizen fight is all about memorizing his patterns. His magic attacks always follow a very predictable pattern, and once you known enough about them, the boss gets pretty easy. Pro tip: Mid-air Gerbera parries the fireball attacks really well. Just be careful with your timing.

Nightmare 1 (DMC1): This boss is extremely predictable and its attacks are pretty easy to dodge. If you observe its behavior, you will learn how to manipulate the core it exposes for you to attack (extremely helpful to avoid red cores). The only annoying thing here is its sludge-jaw attack that forces you to fight a previous boss.

Nightmare 2 (DMC1): Pretty much the same as the first fight.

Jester 1 (DMC3): This is the only mandatory Jester fight in the game, and it's kinda easy. The spheres only follow three possible patterns, and they are pretty easy to dodge. Blocking them with Royal Guard is a bit trickier, but certainly not impossible. If you want a free opportunity to bully Jester, just shoot Kalina Ann at him about three times while he's taunting and invulnerable to damage. If done correctly, he'll get "tired" and do nothing against you. This is also true for all of his other fights.

- Tier 3: Difficult but manageable

Leviathan's Heart (DMC3): If you know how to crowd control, this fight shouldn't be a problem. The way I fight this boss is: Spam A&R's Aerial Cross on the right lung, using well-timed Enemy Steps and Air Hikes to remain in the air. Once the heart opens, stand in the middle of the arena and use Royal Guard to block at least two of the red lasers. After that, use a DT Explosion, a Release, and a few more melee strikes for great damage. Rinse and repeat until the fight ends.

Cavaliere Angelo (DMC5): Although Mr. Cavaliere takes a lot from Nelo Angelo's and Credo Angelo's bossfights, I feel like he has the easiest battle between them. There are so many options to counter him, completely trivializing some aspects of the fight. His sword swipes aren't that difficult to dodge, and they can be parried very easily with multi-hit attacks like Revolver or Light Blow. Royal Guard can take time to get used to, but if you're good with it, the fight becomes even easier. I dunno, maybe I had less trouble with this guy because of my previous experience with all the Angelos, but difficult fight or not, this boss will always be a hell lot of fun to fight.

Malphas (DMC5): I really don't like fighting this chicken, but thankfully the bossfight is not terribly difficult. The key is to Enemy Step and Jump Cancel like crazy to stay in the air, allowing you to automatically dodge the majority of Malphas' attacks. Keep an eye for a few spells, though, like the aerial spikes one. When the chicken goes crazy, don't follow the game's advice (unless you really know what you're doing) and dodge every attack with precision. Punch Line allows you to hit the bird safely during this phase. Once it gets tired resume the fight like normal.

Phantom 1 (DMC1): Ah yes, Phantom 1, only the first boss and already this far into the list. What makes this boss difficult is the armor protecting him. That, and he is quite aggressive, always attacking you at any opportunity. Supposedly, the best way to fight him is by jumping on his back and attacking the weak, unarmored spot. I've never managed to make it work though, so I just learned how to dodge and parry his attacks (probably the worst way to fight him xD). Pro tip: Using Stinger on Phantom's mouth while he charges the fireball attack will immediately stun him.

Urizen 2 (DMC5): The second obligatory Urizen fight, and a significant step up in difficulty. Urizen's tentacle attacks have huge hitboxes, and they remind me of Arkham's fight a little too much for comfort… You can dodge them just fine with the wise usage of Trickster, but Royal Guard is just as good. He'll also occasionally summon his crystal to protect himself and cast his magic attacks. Thankfully, SDT does more than enough damage to break the crystal in a matter of seconds. Basically, to suceed in this fight, learn how to properly dodge/block his physical attacks and preserve your SDT for the crystal (or use Quadruple S if possible). Pro tip: Whenever Urizen uses his shockwave attack ("What an eyesore."), you can use RG to stay in place. But a better technique is to first Royal Block the shockwave and then spam the Block button, performing a chain of Royal Blocks and charging your DT like crazy. This should work on all of Urizen's fights (I've only done it on M17 though).

King Cerberus (DMC5): King Cerberus is one of the most fun bosses in the game, but he can be rather difficult to beat, especially because of his huge healthpool, which causes your mistakes to add up considerably as the boss takes plenty of punishment before going down. Learn how to avoid all of his attacks and you should be fine. They aren't too bad to dodge with the default dodge or Trickster, but I recommend using Royal Guard for Release's damage potential, so that the fight doesn't drag on for too long.

Urizen 3 (DMC5): The hardest Urizen fight for sure. The first phase isn't too bad: be careful with Urizen's melee attacks (he mostly kicks the ground, so stay in the air to automatically avoid most of his blows) and pay attention to the ocassional magic attack he may use. The second phase spices things up: He begins to use more magic attacks (such as the annoying purple swords) and becomes more aggressive. But the third phase is where things get real: Urizen begins to summon lasers everywhere, restricting your movement on land, and starts to use some nasty melee attacks that destroy your healthbar with little effort. That one spike attack in particular… So basically, to defeat M17 Urizen, try to fight him mid-air, and keep a good eye on his magic attacks. Take the advantage whenever he falls down to his knees and deal as much damage as possible (Real Impact is recommended). Also, Trickster is your best friend.

Nightmare (DMC5): One of the toughest bosses in this game. By itself, Nightmare is a big, powerful opponent, but it's not fighting alone. Griffon and Shadow are also after your blood. Defeating these two won't help much, since they just revive at full health anyway, so keep your focus on Nightmare itself. Don't drop your watch on the other two familiars, however, and try to not activate their Stalemate accidentally, since that could mean an unwanted Round Robin/Hedgehog to your face. Nightmare will occasionally retreat to heal Griffon and Shadow back to full health. Use this short opportunity to deal as much damage as possible (again, Real Impact is recommended). Pro tip: Before even fighting this boss, make sure to destroy the three hidden Qliphoth roots in the level. Why? Nightmare can use the purple magic spots in the arena to heal about half of its health back, and that sure isn't fun. Destroying the roots will destroy these spots. It will also bring three breakable pillars inside the arena. Trick Nightmare into breaking these to free plenty of green orbs, restoring a big ammount of your healthbar.

Phantom 3 (DMC1): Very similar to Phantom 1. He now has more health and can use a new meteor attack when he has about 1/4 of his health left. This fight can drag on for a bit, so if you're impatient like me, just lure Phantom into jumping and breaking the glass below him, triggering a cutscene and instantly ending the fight.

Cerberus (DMC3): Oh boy, another tough first boss rip hell vanguard i guess. Cerberus can be problematic because his attacks are fast, have big hitboxes, and have barely any tell (especially when he's half health and below). To beat him, you have to play safe and constantly pay attention to his body language. Royal Guard helps a lot in dealing with his fastest attacks (for example, the stupid lunge attack). Pro tip: break the ice in one of his paws, then release a full-charge DT explosion. Cerberus will then fall for a while, completely vulnerable to damage.

Nelo Angelo 2 (DMC1): Nelo uses some new tricks in this fight, such as his unparriable Ifrit-like combo. He is also more aggressive. I'm not sure of this, but it seems that only Nelo 2 and 3 can try to counter you during his block stance, so watch out for that. Other than that, not much changes. Also, the arena has two green orbs in it, which makes the fight a little easier.

Griffon 2 (DMC1): If you don't have a good strategy, this boss is going to be a pain. The arena is small and Griffon spends most of his time flying out of range while his lightning attacks try to fry you, and when he does come down, you have little opportunity to safely attack him. The best strategy I found was to first destroy the bird-kite thing he creates with a well-timed Rolling Blaze, and then, once he comes down, use fully charged Meteors to drain his health away (be wary of the lightning, though).

Griffon 1 (DMC1): This fight is optional if you're on New Game+, since you don't need to re-obtain Ifrit to open the exit door. Griffon alternates between two phases: one in which he flies and summons plenty of lightning, and one in which he lands on the ground to fight you face-to-face. The best strategy here is to grenade-roll while he flies to both dodge the lightning and charge your DT. Once he lands, keep spamming full-charged Meteors at a good distance. Repeat the process until he's dead.

Griffon 3 (DMC1): Here, the strategy above still applies, which is good because this fight can't be skipped. Griffon 3 fights a lot like Griffon 1, so if you're used to that fight, this shouldn't be too problematic. Once Griffon has lost about a third of his health, he will fly very high and be immune to all your attacks. You'll have to use the teleporters in the arena to climb up to the upper floor, which is a pain to do because Griffon keeps spamming his lightning attacks and you're unable to see them until it's too late. Once you manage to get there, shoot with the Grenade Gun and Griffon should go straight down. From now on, the fight is a lot easier. Repeat the Meteor spamming until it's over.

Agnus Angelo (DMC4): The only bossfight in this game that is actually easier when you are controlling Dante (at least for me). What makes Agnus such an annoying boss is the fact that he constantly spawns enemies such as Gladius, Basilisks, and Cutlasses (the fish don't stay in the battle though). These being Buster-gimmick enemies, you'd expect Nero to have a easy time, right? Well, that surely wasn't the experience for me. Nero's Buster animations are kind of long, which means, for example, that you could get a hold of a Gladius, get locked in placed for a second or two, and take a dumb hit from another Gladius, from a Basilisk, or from Agnus himself before even throwing the stupid living sword. Dante's Coyote-A, on the other hand, does Buster's job just as well and way more quickly, thanks to its speed, little endlag, and great stagger ability. God. Other than that, Agnus himself isn't much of a threat. He just flies around using very slow attacks.

Arkham (DMC3): Here he is, the worst bossfight in the history of DMC games. I could give an entire essay on why, but I will make this quick. The first phase is not so bad. I recommend jumping to dodge his badly telegraphed attacks. To deal with the Legions (the fish he summons), use Kalina Ann's blast alongside a few jumps to avoid unnecessary damage. For the second phase, keep holding R1 + forward and spam Spiral and Kalina Ann. Doing this will cause Vergil to spam Rapid Slash (his best attack in this fight). Stop shooting when Arkham becomes red and time your jumps to safely avoid the eel-projectile thingies. With enough patience, this bastard will finally go down.

Credo Angelo (DMC4): Credo's fight is visibly inspired by Nelo Angelo's, and that alone makes him a formidable opponent. For most of the bossfight, Credo's combo attacks will be rather easy to avoid, since he is quite polite and will give good enough warning of his next movement. You can also Buster his spear for generous damage (this can be a bit hard to time, though). However, once he reaches about 1/4 of his health, Credo will get quite frustrated, and much more aggressive. His combos are now faster, stronger, and much less predictable. He can also now use Summoned Swords (not as threatning as Vergil's, thankfully). In conclusion, fight him like you would fight Nelo Angelo or Vergil and you should come out on top!

Vergil 2 (DMC3): This is where Vergil spices up his battle style by a lot. He has Beowulf equipped and can now use his Devil Trigger, which greatly increases his damage, defense, and speed. It also slowly heals him for as long as it's active. He's still pretty manageable though. Pay attention and dodge his attacks with precision. Use your own Devil Trigger to try and knock Vergil out of his DT, otherwise, he'll just heal a lot of health back.

Vergil (DMC5): Mr. Vergil is back, and as expected, he is quite the tough boss, one of the hardest ones in this game, for sure. During the main story, you actually fight two different Vergils: the M19 Verge and the M20 one. They're mostly the same, but with a few, significant differences. M19 Vergil fights a lot like he did in DMC3, except in a much slower pace. His attacks are generally slower and easier to punish, and he gives you plenty of breathing room between attacks. Just don't take risks and strike at the correct moment to beat him rather easily. That is, during the first phase at least. Once his health reaches 2/3 or below, he will enter SDT and become much more agile and aggressive. Like in DMC3, DT Vergil has superarmor and high defense, as well as health regeneration, and unlike that game, it will not go away through the player's input, so attacking Vergil during this state is not a very good idea. SDT will only go away once Vergil finishes his flying divebomb attack, which can be interrupted earlier through certain means (Royal Release is my personal favorite). Once Vergil reaches 1/3 of health, he will summon Doppelganger to assist him. The spectral demon dies pretty quickly, though, so focus your attacks on it. Overall, if you're already used with Vergil's previous bossfights, this one shouldn't be too much trouble. Focus on dodging/blocking his attacks and find the best ways to punish them. M20 Vergil is a little different in certain aspects: his "stunned" state lasts very little, but he can now enter a "super stunned" state that allows Nero to shred his healthbar with a Buster. His SDT lasts much longer, but it no longer has superarmor, and he will only heal a small ammount of health the instant he activates SDT. Continue to fight him like you would in M19, just don't forget to Buster him when the opportunity arises! Pro tip: Break-age Buster Arm does insane damage, trust me.

Dante 2 (DMC4): As Nero, at least, this bossfight can vary between mildly challenging and very challenging. This, of course, depending on how you tackle the fight. I, for myself, went for the somewhat cowardly strategy of just abusing Snatch and Buster. It's quite simple really, just wait for Dante to enter endlag and go for a nice Snatch, and quickly Buster before he breaks out of it. This should work for good damage for the majority of times. If you try to be more stylish, though, Dante can get problematic, since he perfectly reads your every move, meaning, if you're not careful, you aren't landing a single hit on him.

Jester 2 (DMC3): This fight won't differ from the first one until Jester has half his health left. Once this happens, he'll summon a huge living ball, making it more difficult to damage the clown. But the biggest problem is that, once the ball is summoned, Jester will become more aggressive and add new elements to his basic sphere attacks, making them much harder to avoid. The best advice I can give is to try to damage him as much as possible before he enters this phase.

Nightmare 3 (DMC1): Once again, Nightmare refuses to change its moveset, but don't commemorate yet. If you weren't careful on the last two fights, its cores might be glowing red, which means it will take a lot less damage from your attacks. You can still beat it like this, but it's going to take a while. Once it reaches a third of its health, Trish will show up. Don't worry though, all she does is use a very slow lightning attack. But what pisses me off about this boss is that once you "kill" it, it doesn't actually die and enters a desperation phase. Here, it's pretty much impossible to attack the core up close without taking huge damage. Air Raid is probably the best way to deal with it.

Geryon (DMC3): Geryon is a big test of patience, and dear god I have none of it. Swordmaster is the best style here, since Real Impact + Tornado deals plenty of damage to the horse. If used right, you can kind of get Geryon stuck in a loop by hitting him just after he recovers from falling down.

- Tier 4: Pretty tough

Damned Chessboard (DMC3): This bossfight is a matter of learning Royal Guard. If you taunt and perfectly block the Damned Queen, and use the Gauge to Release on the King, the fight becomes much easier. But without Royal Guard, this is one of the worst fights in the whole game. Pro tip: use the I-Frames from a jump or a dodge-roll to make blocking the Queen easier and safer.

Beowulf (DMC3): Beowulf has plenty of health, so it kinda becomes an endurance match on DMD. The only reason I put him on Tier 4 instead of 3 is his second "phase" (when he's between 1/3 and 2/3 of his health), in which he just runs around spamming Volcano and lowering down cages. There's barely any opportunity to safely strike him during this. If you can manage to Just Release on Beowulf's eye, he'll take a lot of damage, greatly shortening the fight. Pro tip: don't shoot any guns at him on the third "phase". If you do he's very likely to use the dreaded feather attack.

Jester 3 (DMC3): Pretty much the same as Jester 2, except now he takes even longer to die. You're gonna have to endure that second phase for a little longer now. Getting good RNG helps a lot.

Agni & Rudra (DMC3): For some reason I have a lot of trouble with this boss, mostly because I suck at dealing with two bosses at the same time. But anyways, the best way to fight these guys is through Cerberus, more specifically through Revolver. This attack parries their sword strikes with ease. Once a brother has been parried 4 times, he'll lose the body and take more damage from your attacks (great opportunity to release DT explosion and the Royal Gauge) before he gets back up again. Royal Guard is a great complement in this fight, blocking anything that Revolver can't. Try to balance your strikes to kill both brothers at about the same time, because fighting only one body with both swords gets pretty problematic. Overall, I think most players would put Agni & Rudra on a lower tier, but I died a lot before I got the hang of it so…

Mundus 2 (DMC1): The Prince of Darkness lives up to his reputation as one of the hardest final bosses possibly ever made. Even so, I still wouldn't put him on a higher tier. This guy only gives you trouble until you memorize all of his attack patterns. Once you do that, he's not much of a problem. On lower difficulties, jumping on the flying platforms and slashing him with the Sparda while on DT is the fastest way to kill him. But on DMD, you will probably want to take it safe and attack him from long-range with Round Trip and the Sparda's DT shots. Pro tip: Kill the lava dragon that Mundus occasionally summons to restore a generous amount of your health.

- Tier 5: REALLY hard

Nelo Angelo 3 (DMC1): Most DMC fans seem to agree that Nightmare 3 and Mundus 2 are the hardest bosses this game has to offer, but I disagree. Sure, these two are challenging, but they're extremely predictable, and once you get their pattern, it becomes pretty easy. Nelo Angelo 3 is not like that. This man is very aggressive and will not let you boss around him. He will guard your attacks and constantly try to counter them. His summoned swords can be a nightmare if you don't learn how to dodge/destroy them. You can stagger him, but it doesn't last very long. And finally, the camera just sucks. This was the most troublesome boss in all of DMC1 for me, but even so, I think he's the most well-designed one in the entire game. It's a pretty fun fight!

- Tier 6: May God help you

Vergil 3 (DMC3): The best consolation I can give you is that, once you beat this boss, everything else looks much easier in comparison. Vergil 3 is THE hardest boss in this whole franchise. In fact, I created Tier 6 before starting DMC3 DMD already thinking that he would probably be the only one here. There's a lot happening in this fight, but the biggest reason Vergil 3 is so tough is what I call his desperation phase. Once he has 1/3 of his health left, Vergil will go absolutely insane, and begin to frequently use Super Devil Trigger and Judgement Cut End. The first one is a variation of normal DT, in which Vergil either spams Helm Breaker or uses his Yamato-Helm Breaker-Stinger combo. On DMD he is guaranteed to mix in Summoned Swords. Unlike normal DT, Vergil cannot be knocked out of Super DT. You'll have to dodge everything he throws at you until he gets tired. Judgement Cut End is a series of normal Judgement Cuts that follow three possible patterns. The problem is, only one of these patterns can be consistently dodged. The others are almost pure RNG. But the absolute cherry on top is that both Super DT and JCE heal Vergil, meaning that in the final moments of the fight you have to take every single opportunity you can to damage Vergil, otherwise he just heals everything back (especially if you get the unlucky scenario where he just spams JCE to his heart's content). Oh god. So yeah, Vergil 3 is a great boss, but Jesus Christ they didn't have to make it so damn difficult on the last 1/3 of the fight.

If you read all of this, thanks for listening to my rambling xD.

#jesus christ formatting lists on this website sucks #big shoutout to notepad++ for helping me #really helpful text and coding freeware #10/10 reccomended #but anyways i loved making this tierlist #i should do tierlists more often #a funny thing i noticed is that as the bosses become more difficult my advice becomes even longer xD #probably because tougher bosses tend to be more complex #or maybe i just have some hard feelings about them #also really fitting both nelo angelo 3 and vergil 3 are alone on their respective ranks #that guy can get really serious when he wants to #boy this is my biggest post yet #i'm surprised tumblr allows this many words in a post #i mean some people post their fanfics here so i guess it's not that surprising...#devil may cry

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candied-cae · 2 years

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And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - Reunions and Secrets

Chapter 13/? - - - Read it on AO3

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Word Count: 13,809

Summary: Hop is racing back home to see his girl, the rest of the party is simply killing time until some parents show up. But, the three who boarded a plane from California might not be the only ones jumping into things... There just might be a few more faces coming back around...

More ST Fics

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Unfortunately, the walkie Steve handed the Byers boys had a dead battery. So the folks in the car couldn’t call ahead and tell El that her dad was coming back. Which just about made Hopper mad enough to swerve off the road. He felt like every second she didn’t know was a second she was sad or in pain. The boys assured him that, while she obviously missed him and was going to be crazy happy to get him back, she was happily watching a movie. But that didn't ease him. He needed to get back to Hawkins and let her know he was okay. And he needed to do it at that very moment.

At the house, everything was otherwise fine. Everyone was bundled together across the couch or sitting on pillows in front of it, wrapped under various blankets.

After Jonathan had to go, Argyle and Nancy were left sat together on the left, surprisingly getting along pretty well after Nancy resigned herself to the fact that he was pretty good company. His easygoing everything still confounded her, but, somehow, it made Nancy stop in her tracks and think to at least give it a try. Now that she knew he wasn't just stupid and unaware. Instead, he just chose to lean on the happier side of things anyway, and Nancy could use a skill like that. They still weren't super close, but there they were, sitting next to each other while Mr. Banks approached the climax of his character arc.

Next to that pair sat Steve and Robin, with Erica between them on the floor. Obviously, they were together, as best friends like them liked to be. Robin had even gone so far as to have her legs crossed over Steve's while El hugged onto her arm. Robin wasn't entirely sure how she managed to secure a spot in the girl's heart since they barely met before she left for California, but it made her feel pretty good anyway.

Next to El were Mike and Lucas, with Dustin sitting below them on the floor cushions. Their band of boys on the right end of the living room had included Will until he had to leave for the airport. But they still sat close together. Like they had for sleepovers from years past. They were all comfortably awaiting the arrival of some real adults and to start eating the dinner they’d put together.

And the movie itself was beginning to wrap up with that damned ‘Let's Go Fly a Kite’ scene that had Steve doing everything in his power not to sniffle. If nobody looked at him, no one would see that the last few minutes always made him tear up. He just had to keep it together. Just for a minute longer.

And then Robin looked over.

Of course, she did. Because she noticed what this movie did to him when they watched it together last time. But she didn’t draw any attention to him. She just nuzzled in a little closer to his side and rested her head on his shoulder as they watched the credits roll past a kite-filled, cloudy sky. It was nice being known like that, he decided. Nice to have someone know what you needed and how to go about it. Even if she pushed his buttons too.

As the movie was just ending, there was frantic honking coming from the driveway. The kids had just the time to get stood up and look at the front door before it was thrown open by Jonathan and Will.

“El! Come on!” Will yelled, looking like he was bursting with good news.

El was already approaching, planning to see Joyce and welcome her back, when from behind them walked in Jim.

“Hi,” he said like it was the only thing he could think to say after missing his girl for the past eight months.

And while she was slowly stepping forward a moment ago… the second she saw his face and that warm smile he was wearing, she was running right into him. Probably could’ve knocked him over if he hadn’t braced for it. And before wasting another second, she was wrapping her arms around him and noticing how differently they fit together this time. He was so thin, and she was taller, her arms longer.

But it was still him. It was still Hop.

She buried her face into him as the tears dropped from her squeezed-shut eyes. Jim also looked like he was about to cry if it was any consolation. Then, after a moment, there was a barely-said mutter spoken into his shoulder.

“What’s that, kid?” he asked her to repeat.

El pulled her head back just enough to spill out between her cries,“ I’m sorry. My- they never came back- I’m sorry I couldn’t find you-“

“Hey. No.” he pulled her in tighter as he said it,” No sorry’s from you, kid. I don’t even want to hear ‘em. I knew if there was any way you’d known, you woulda got me back, alright? I didn’t doubt that you would have gone beyond hell and back to save me. Okay? It’s not your fault, and I never thought it was. Not for one second, El.”

She tucked herself back into him as if trying to escape the rest of the world to focus entirely on the fact that he was actually back with her,” I was waiting the whole time. I always left the door open three inches. I never stopped believing you’d come back.”

He chuckled, and it shook her in such a familiar way. Filling her with the warmth of his laugh for the first time in too many months,” Oh, I know. I know you did. It’s okay now, I’m here. I’m here. I’m sorry I was gone so long, kid. But I made it back before I missed a birthday.”

She nodded her head against him and huffed her own laugh,“ You did.”

“We’re going to have a big one this year, you hear me? No hiding and no secrets this time. You and me, we're going anywhere you want to go, and anyone you want to bring can come. Okay?”

“Yeah.” she agreed while she wiped at her eyes and finally pulled away enough to really look at him,” You look so…”

“So…? Not fat?” he joked.

She laughed, but she missed the squish. Then she looked back up,“ And your hair…”

“My hair? Look at your hair.” he ran his hand over the short buzz with a sigh,“ Yeah. I kinda stole your look, kid.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, what do you think?” he asked, leaning his head down and turning to the left and right to let her make a proper evaluation.

“Bitchin’,” she decided before reaching back around his middle,” Except for this part. Don’t like this at all.”

“You don’t? I tell ya, when I go see my doctor, he’s going to say that being presumed dead was just what I needed. You just wait and see.”

She shook her head, and that was the moment Joyce came in. She and Murray struggled with some of the bags, seeing as her boys and Hopper ran to the front door without helping. But when she made it in the door, she just looked at her girl.

El’s smile brightened a little more, and she said,” Thank you.”

Joyce pretty much just dropped everything at that and surged forward to get El into her arms. There was no denying that, over those eight months they’d been without Hopper, El had become her kid too. El sniffled against her for a minute until they all came down from the emotional high of their return. Past El's greetings from them, there were handshakes and hugs with Hop and more hugs and kisses on cheeks from Joyce as they both made their rounds through the rest of the room.

That is until Hopper put a hand to his stomach and groaned,” This is nice and all, but I was promised a big supper. Can we eat already?”

They all laughed at that and motioned to the open dining room doors for the adults to trickle into. The kids moved all the bags from the doorway into the living room and brought all the food in from the kitchen. Then dinner was finally underway. It was nice. Warm. The only dinner like it the Harrington House has ever seen. It was a good change.

They didn’t talk about what happened - or, more accurately - what was happening. They knew they couldn’t avoid it for very long, and the kids really did want a plan for what they could do to keep pushing forward. But… it was suppertime. They could talk about how awful everything was later. But for that moment, they could eat and laugh at how terribly Hopper stuffed his tortilla as it burst at the seams and spilled out all over his plate.

But once they’d all had their fill, Nancy mentioned Susan. It was time to get back to business. Steve was the one to call her trailer, it was already after 8:30, but she answered quickly and said she’d be there shortly for whatever conversation it was they were going to have.

During this, El noticed that Jim and Joyce were connected by their pinkies. Not outright holding hands at the dinner table. But still, they were just a little bit tied together. Just two pinkies, barely crossed, but they said a lot. She looked at it a beat longer before finding their fond smiles and asking,” So I get to keep staying with Miss Joyce, too?”

“Uh-” Jim startled slightly. Like he’d been caught red-handed. But after a second, he simmered down and answered,” Uh, yeah, kid. You can keep staying with Joyce, too. When we aren’t homeless, that is. We both can if that’s fine by all of you,” he said around the whole table, pointedly including Jonathan and Will in the question.

“Yeah.” they all seemed to answer. Happy that their household wouldn’t be splitting apart with the good news, and in agreement that it was about time for Jim and Joyce to get to be happy together. They've been heading in that direction for a while anyway, right? Then everyone moved to the living room, so they could try and figure out more of exactly what’s been going on everywhere.

“Alright, we need favorite songs.” Nancy started as she sat down and pulled back out her notebook and pen.

“What?” Jim asked, clearly that question was just about the last one he’d have expected upon his grand return. He was in Russia for eight months, after all. Surely that sort of thing should’ve come up first.

“You’re favorite song.” Robin repeated for Nancy,” We need to write it down and everyone’s getting their own on a cassette with a Walkman before much longer.”

“Okay?” he agreed, still confused,” it’s-”

“It's 'You Don’t Mess Around With Jim',” El answered for him, a proud smile tugging at her cheeks. God, they had to hurt by then. If she smiled any harder they'd bruise. Her grin just hasn’t faltered since her dad walked through that door. Not for one moment.

“Yeah. She’s right. Obviously.” Jim agreed. It wasn’t a difficult guess. It was the song he played when they moved into his cabin together. The same one he blasted in the car when he had a good day. It seemed like it was more his song than Jim Croce’s sometimes.

They looked expectantly to Joyce next, who just sort of furrowed her brows and asked herself,” What is my favorite song?”

“What about ’Uptown Girl’?” El considered.

Joyce scrunched her nose and shook her head.

Jonathan tried to come up with something next,“ Well, it has to be something Fleetwood Mac, right?”

“I mean, probably. They are my favorite, but I’m not good at remembering the names.”

“What about ’Dreams’?” he offered.

To that, she shrugged and gave a thoughtful,“ …Yeah. Yeah, I like that one.”

“Okay, but do you just like it, or do you love it? ‘Cause, it kinda needs to be one that you really love, like a lot.” Robin emphasized.

“Um… okay, what’s that one that’s all…” Joyce asked her kids and started humming a chorus line.

“Oh! Oh! I know it… It’s- it’s-” Will racked his brain for it. The title was on the tip of his tongue,” It’s- Oh! It’s ’The Chain’! Right?”

“Okay, then that’s it.” Joyce decided,” That’ll be my favorite.”

“And Murray?”

“What is this for?” He questioned Nancy back, like something as simple as his favorite song was a sort of sensitive information that she’d abuse.

“Saving your life?” she answered.

“And if I don’t buy that so easily?”

“Alright, you paranoid bastard,” Erica cut in, having no patience for him,” Newsflash: there’s an evil mind wizard who might try to possess the box of nuts and bolts on the end of your neck. And if he does, the only hope you’ll have is that somebody in this room will have the good sense to put some music over your ears that'll snap you out of his spell. So, unless you really want to die over a song title, I suggest you cough it up.”

“I see you’re still a pleasure, Miss Erica Sinclair…” he held a snide smile for her before answering,” It’s ‘No More’ by Billie Holiday. Duh.”

“The ‘duh’ was petty and uncalled for.” she checked him.

“About as uncalled for as a five-year-old on the doomsday team?” he threw back,” What’re you going to do, color the wizard to death with crayons?”

“This eleven-year-old,” she corrected,” has already stabbed a tire on a police car and swung on a psycho with a blunt object for the cause, and she’s prepared to do a whole lot more. What’ve you done for it? Besides lying about a vacation to Alaska?”

He held up a finger at her,“ For the record, we did go to Alaska. We just also took a little trip over to-”

And then there was a knock on the front door. Susan Mayfield must have arrived. And they didn’t even get through where Jim has been, what Henry/Vecna/One was, or what they were going to tell her about any of it. At any rate, it was happening right now. Nothing they could do about it. They’d just have to follow Jim and Joyce’s lead.

Steve stood up from the living room and went to answer the door. He was the one who invited Susan over, after all. But then, he was left only to find it wasn’t Susan Mayfield standing on his front porch, but Karen Wheeler instead.

“Hi, Steve!” She smiled at him, holding a glass container with what looked like lasagna in it,” Thought we’d take the first shift to drop off some food to keep you kids fed-”

That was when her eyes slipped from his frozen expression and over his shoulder to see Ms. Byers in the living room,” Joyce? When did you get into to-”, and then her gaze fell just to the left,” Hopper?! Okay- Okay, what is going on here? He’s supposed to be… ”

“Sorry, sorry! Hard getting these all in one trip.” Claudia called up as she joined Karen in the doorway with at least three different containers of food herself.

When neither Steve nor Karen responded, Claudia turned to the other mom to ask,” What’s going on?”

And when she looked back inside and saw the same guests that had Karen stunned, she reacted in just about the same way,” Joyce? Ho-Hopper? What’re you…?”

“Um... Surprise?” was all the boy could come up with.

“Surprise?” Karen questioned back at him.

Joyce came forward to meet her at the door,“ Hi, Karen. Claudia.”

“Joyce, what the hell is going on here? He- He died. There was a service, and there were articles, and the news- And- And you mourned, Joyce. And his kid-” Karen had to close her eyes to stop her sputtering questions - her mind was clearly running faster than she could manage- to focus on what she really needed to ask,” What is going on, and why do my children and a bunch of their friends know about it?”

“Why is my Dusty-bun…?”

“Um- It’s-” Joyce tried to figure herself out, until…

“Claudia? Karen?”

Ah, there’s Susan.

“Do they know?” Susan asked Steve.

“Do we know what?” Karen echoed the question.

Jim stood up from the couch and came to the front,“ Okay, so this is happening.”

“Chief Hopper?” Susan now questioned.

“Now that we’re all up to speed on how clueless the moms out here are, can someone please explain what the hell is going on?” Karen requested.

“Seems to me,” Jim decided,” the only option here is to go over everything. From the beginning, for everyone here, until we get to where we stand now. Sound good to everyone?”

“The NDAs?” Nancy inquired from the living room.

“I’m gonna say, executive decision, fuck the NDAs. I’m legally dead, and if the suits didn’t nab me off the plane…" he shrugged," Well, way I see it, everything I do before they realize I’m back is kinda their fault for being so bad at their jobs in the first place.”

“NDAs? Suits?” Karen asked.

“Oh, don't worry, Mrs. Wheeler. We’ll cover that,” Jim acknowledged.

“Holy shit- this is really happening,” Mike said to Nancy, trying to wrap his head around his mother, Karen Wheeler, knowing about all the stuff they’ve been up to over the last two and a half years.

“Language, Mike,” she called over.

“Okay, Mom, it’s kind of crazy to think that we’re going to be inviting you into hell, but-”

“Language, Nancy!”

Steve pulled the door open further and motioned for the moms to join the rest of them in the living room,“ Why doesn’t everybody just come on in?”

“Yeah, bring ‘em all in, Steve. Let’s just tell everyone’s mothers about the goddamn Upside Down.”

“Language, Dustin!” Claudia had to say to her own. To Karen, she huffed,” Geez, you’d think we raised our kids in a barn…”

“And what was that? The ‘Upside Down’ that you’re going to be telling us about?” Karen pointed out as they all got seated in Steve's living room.

Joyce thought,“ Well… um, where do we start?”

“With me?” El raised her hand.

“Yeah, we’ll start there.” Jim agreed.

The next hour or so was filled with the coverage of everything. Everything that started way back in November ‘83, and they moved forward as chronologically as they could. The kids told their sides, adults answered most of the questions, had to excuse how they couldn't stop the kids from being involved, explained away every coverup story, filled in context for every mystery scar… It was a wild ride. There were a lot of interruptions and even more disbelief. El had to change the tv channel five times and lift it off the entertainment center before any of them started to believe they were telling truth. But when they did… oh, when they did.

“And that’s about everything that happened up until two weeks ago.” Joyce concluded,” Clearly, more has just gone on, but we haven’t even had time to discuss that amongst ourselves yet, so I guess you’ll be here while we try to figure that out, well, now.”

“You’re trying to tell me that my children could’ve died countless times over the last three years, just because… why?” Karen was at a loss for words.

Joyce swore to her,“ We always tried to keep the kids out of it. We told them over and over again to stay home, or at the middle school, and, just, not put themselves on the front line while we tried to deal with it. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but our kids don’t listen very well.”

“You’re telling me…” Karen muttered, shooting a glance at her own.

“And they saved my Will. Back when he went missing, so many people didn’t believe that something was going on. And El, she never chose to be a part of this. She got stuck with it. And this town is stuck with it. The Lab... the problem is here, it started here. And, at the end of the day, this is the crew trying to solve that problem.”

"We're the doomsday team," Erica added, using Murray's name for their group.

“And Max? She just… happened to have made friends with the kids involved and wanted to know everything herself? The reason she’s in a hospital bed right now is because last year we happened to move to the town with monsters, and she happened to find the only boys who knew about it?”

They were all struck a little silent by the question. It was Lucas who eventually answered her,“ Yeah. That's pretty much how it...”

Susan’s hand pressed into her chest, and it didn’t seem like she even saw anyone else in the room,“ If I hadn’t said that we needed a change of pace… to get away from California and the fighting… She’d be fine?”

“It’s not your fault, Susan.” Claudia put a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her.

She stood up out of the other mother's reach,“ I was the one that said taking Billy to the Midwest might temper him. I thought a small town without so much to do might bring down his aggression and help us manage his behavior… If I had just let Neil take us to Vermont instead, we wouldn’t be…”

“Susan. You didn’t know. If you did, you would’ve never made that choice.” Karen assured her,” If I knew my kids were doing this, I would’ve packed them up the second...” Karen looked at Joyce when she realized what she was getting at. She would've made her kids leave after Will went missing. Leaving him behind for their family's good.

“I would’ve moved Dustin and me to my brother’s ages ago,” Claudia added.

“But I brought them here! If I hadn’t, they never would’ve-”

“Maybe they wouldn’t have.” Nancy gave her,” And maybe things would be a little bit better for a few of us if everyone had pulled us away from Hawkins when Will went missing…”

She shook her head and continued,“ But if you had, he would’ve never been found, and he would’ve died, scared and alone. And Joyce and Jonathan would’ve never known what happened to him. And El would’ve never stayed free of that lab. And maybe Barb wouldn’t have been at the wrong place at the wrong time because of me, and maybe she’d be fine. But someone else would’ve been in her place. And maybe all the people who were still here wouldn’t have stood a chance if we weren't here. But we were. And we noticed, and we fought back against an invading dimension of monsters with three successes and one pending results. There were losses. We know that. But we are what Hawkins has to fight for it. And I don’t regret being on the team.”

“You don’t?” her mother asked.

“No. I really don’t. I wish I’d done a better job in places. I wish I didn’t… make so many mistakes. But I don’t regret being on the team. We’re the team. And we have each other’s backs.” Nancy looked over and took Robin’s hand in hers before she realized she was even going to do it, simply remembering the vines and the fear,” We don’t leave each other behind. Even if we have to face down terrifying creatures or carry someone bleeding out of hell, we have each other. And now that you know what’s going on, you’re all on the team, too.”

Susan seemed a little far off in her head, but she sat back down while Claudia asked,“ And what does that mean? Being on the team?”

“It means, well, you help us not let the world end. Whatever skills you’ve got to bring to the table, we’ll use ‘em and find a way out of this mess. Because we don’t have any other choice.” Jonathan answered.

Karen continued,“ And what’s happening now? What’s all this… spring break business that happened?”

And thus, they went into another long hour of explaining. Now having to string together Henry Creel and Russia, which was a much more convoluted mess to sort out. It took a while, but they explained everything until everyone - all seventeen of them, as crazy as it was - knew where they stood currently on the apocalypse radar.

They also ended up eating a lot of the brownies Claudia had shown up with.

Comfort food to combat the reality of their horror stories. Or something like that.

By the end of the night, everyone was way more involved, and Lucas and Erica were left begging Karen not to tell Sue and Charles about everything. They were less keen on joining the club of kids whose parents were on the in. But she wasn’t having any of it. She wished she had known what was going on, and Erica is still only eleven, for goodness sake. They deserve to know when it concerns their eleven-year-old. The Sinclairs would be brought into the fold. And that was final.

But she wouldn’t be reaching out to the Buckleys and the Harringtons. She didn’t know them like she knew her neighbors, and both Steve and Robin were very insistent that their parents would only cause issues. Which is the same reason that Karen decided she would not be telling Ted what was going on.

She knew her husband. Knew how he saw giving to anyone else as tantamount to accepting theft. He audibly complains about feeding Mike’s friends when they were over. If he was aware of the situation… he would just up and move them. No discussion. He would just list the house and have them moved to another state without a second thought or consideration. And, as much as Karen would love to remove her kids from the risk entirely, she can’t not help. Not when other mothers’ children would still be in harm's way and they’d be leaving them worse off without the support.

So Ted wasn’t to know. Neither was Holly, obviously. Those Wheelers wouldn’t be a part of this.

The other three would handle it themselves.

And with that thought, Karen suddenly knew a little bit about how her daughter felt these last few years. Keeping such a big secret to spare her family pain and allow her to be there for her friends. She had a good eldest daughter. She’s always known so. But it was new to see it from this light. To know what was actually going on and how strong she's been this whole time.

She’s just been ‘trying to manage it all’.

Like she’d told her the other morning in the hospital hallway. Nancy’s been very alone in managing everything. But she’s had the other members of this team. And now she had her mother. So Karen was going to fight tooth and nail to take some of that burden off her shoulders. And keep her husband off her back. She'd be making sure he dropped his whole 'no keys until you can prove you'll be responsible' thing.

“And those other two should be joining up soon,” Jim remembered.

“Two more?” Steve asked, eyebrows climbing on his face to imagine their group growing even further.

“Yeah, we brought them over but couldn’t really seat them on a commercial flight, for obvious reasons. Dmitri and his son Mikhail.” Joyce explained.

“Mikhail? You don’t think that’ll be confusing?” Mike wondered.

“Would you prefer we left them to the Soviets where Dmitri would’ve been hunted down and executed for defecting because you and his son sort of have similar names, Michael?” Murray questioned.

Joyce dismissed,“ He doesn’t even go by Mike. So, as long as you didn’t decide to give 'Mikhail' a try, we should be fine.”

“So we actually have Russian friends now?” Robin asked.

“Just the two. Yuri was a bastard, so we didn’t invite him along. But Dmitri and his son were good. He was the only reason we knew Hop was alive and in Russia, and he’s sticking the thing out with us now that he’s fought the same monster and wants to retire to small-town America. And his kid was a little quiet, but we did snatch him up in a sudden helicopter ride, so I think he was just shy. Anyway, we got them to America, and I handed off my car to them in California with directions on a map on how to get here so we could help them get set up.”

“How were you planning to pass off heavily-accented, eastern Europeans as just simply 'the new guys in town'?” Erica pressed.

“You don’t know how strong their accents are.” Murray pointed out.

“You telling me no one’s gonna notice the voices of Mother Russia?” she asked back.

“Okay, they have pretty unmistakable accents, but whatever. We can make up some shit about them being double agents in witness protection or something.” Jim grumbled.

“Riiiiiiight, because people in Hawkins are so understanding and respectful of each other’s privacy.”

“Okay, from what I’ve heard, the town is clearing out anyhow. Whoever’s still kicking around can just deal with it.”

There was a little bit more chatter as they finished catching everyone up. Eventually, the moms decided it was time to return home, but they ended up agreeing to a real sleepover at Steve’s, now that they knew what their kids went through. It seemed like letting them spend time together, where they got to keep an eye on each other and know that no one was in danger, was something they just couldn’t say no to. So the three of them headed off into the night with the understanding that they’d be coming back to Steve’s with Erica and Lucas’s parents in the morning to explain it all to them too. And once everyone was together, they'd figure out a strategy for taking out Vecna. Once and for all.

They couldn't do it that night though. So everyone got ready to wind down.

The California crew changed into their newly delivered pajamas, and Claudia made the rounds to everyone's house before dropping off things for the locals. Meanwhile, Steve was getting room assignments figured out. The kids, again, banded together to camp out in the living room with plans to doze off to The Sound of Music. Steve was walking Hopper, Joyce, and Murray up the stairs to show them around the house. Seeing as Joyce’s house was in California, Hopper’s cabin was in shambles, and Murray’s place was in Illinois, they’d all be joining them in the now slightly packed Harrington house. He was in the process of offering the master to Joyce and Hopper since they were an item now and bringing up showers.

“Joyce mentioned you guys didn’t have time to stop and clean up, so I can grab you all some towels and leave you to the bathrooms.”

Jim looked over the moon to think about it,“ Oh, kid, you don’t even know how long I’ve been looking forward to a real, hot shower-” Then he suddenly stopped and grabbed Steve’s shoulders with wide eyes,” Wait- Steve.”

“Yes?” he asked.

“You’re rich people,” he said, asserting the fact without any further context.

Steve’s expression turned more confused,“ Yes?”

“Do your parents have- have one of those- those tubs with the- with the-”

“The jets?” Steve figured,” Yeah, they have a jacuzzi tub in the master bathroom.”

“Oh my god-” Hopper pulled Steve into a just short of crushing hug and smacked a surprising kiss to his forehead before nearly running down the hall, calling back," Joyce! We’re taking the dibs on the master! I LOVE RICH PEOPLE!”

Which was… Okay, was there something in the water? Because everyone kept hugging Steve, and he wasn't entirely opposed to it, but geez, it’s not the level of daily physical contact he’s used to.

Besides that display, Joyce followed in with their bags, and Steve showed Murray to one of the guest bedrooms to make himself at home. Steve went back downstairs to see the kids throwing around even more pillows and blankets and just about beating them into submission to get themselves settled and comfortable for the movie.

Steve took a vote for popcorn and ended up juggling four big plastic bowls of the stuff back into the living room. He passed them out and noticed Robin and Nancy looking over something together while Jonathan and Argyle whispered and glanced over at Argyle's bag. He thought nothing of it until, as he was trying to retake his seat by Robin for the movie, she and Nancy stood up. Said they were going to “be right back” before they broke for the dining room. Then the other two split off right after, presumably to get stoned.

All of this left Steve, once again, so very outnumbered by a bunch of children.

“Always the babysitter…” he groaned as he tugged on the blanket Erica was hogging.

“Then be a good babysitter and sit quietly. It’s starting,” she shot back, like the little spitfire she was, but she let them share the blanket anyway as the opening credits rolled over landscape shots of the Swiss Alps and the orchestra faded in.

The two California boys ended up sitting in the grass against the side of Steve’s house, just out of the view of the street or any neighbors. Argyle was sparking up a joint for them to pass, no longer worried about running out since his Mamá Isadora was nice enough to throw in his stash with his clothes. He thanked his lucky stars all the time that she was so into the flower power, peace and love stuff of the 70’s when he was younger. It was nice that she just understood that kind of stuff with him.

But right now, Jon was the one he needed to reach an understanding with. Because he’s been biting his cuticles down to the quick ever since they crossed the Indiana state line. So, once he got the joint started and took his own drag, he handed it over to his best friend and looked up at the stars. Letting a comfortable silence fall around them just long enough for Jonathan to take a deep inhale and get resolved to reach a blissful marijuana haze. Once he committed himself to getting it, he'd be cornered until they got there.

A winning strategy to make sure he couldn't escape.

“Alright, brochacho, what’re you doing right now?” Argyle asked, looking over at Jonathan as he let out a puff of smoke.

Jonathan looked back, confused, and handed over the joint,“ What do you mean?”

Argyle let him stew in the question for a second as he took his turn before giving it back and reiterating,“ With Nancy. What’re you doing with Nancy?”

“I-” he hesitated to take the blunt being handed back as he tried to deny it,” I’m not doing anything.”

“And that’s the problem,” Argyle proclaimed.

And he looked serious about what he was saying, which Argyle didn’t do often. So Jonathan tried to avoid his eyes. Rolled his own and looked away to ask,“ How could that be the problem?”

“We’ve been in your hometown for over 24 hours now. Right?”

“And?”

“And you haven’t talked to her. Not once, one-on-one.” he pointed out,” Which you kinda have to do to tell her you’re going to Lenora Community.”

Jonathan waved around his hand as he searched for a usable excuse,“ We’ve all been busy with the group, and always with the whole group, and there just hasn't been time to-”

Argyle cut through his fumbling with ease,“ You’re avoiding her, man.”

Jonathan took another draw and locked his eyes on the blade of grass tickling his ankle,“ That such a bad thing to do?”

“It’s only gonna get worse the longer it takes to talk to her. You need to tell her you didn’t apply to Emerson.”

He tried to explain,“ I- I was already floundering with how I was supposed to say it before. And that would’ve just been over the phone-”

“Over the phone wouldn'ta been right anyway,” Argyle threw in, not that Jonathan was really listening.

“-But how am I supposed to just spring this on her now? Right to her face, in the middle of this bullshit Upside Down stuff? And then - after it all blows up and I’ve hurt her - then we’re all just going to go back to California, and it’ll look like I’m running away from the train wreck I caused. Just leaving her behind because I’m not man enough to deal with the fact that…”

That he didn't feel like he was worth Nancy’s time to keep trying. Jonathan was all messed up right now, and he couldn’t seem to pull himself together, and he just couldn’t saddle Nancy with that job. He wouldn't. It wasn't fair to her. He cared about Nancy. Still loved her, in some way. But it wasn't… wasn't how it should be. And he was making it worse every day.

He took another hit, beating himself up in his head and seeming to forget his manners when it came to their puff, puff, pass now that Argyle was making him stop and think too much.

“Yeah, it’s gonna suck. But you can’t pretend like it’s not happening.” Argyle told him firmly,” She deserves to know that she’s headed to Boston alone, and you deserve to not look like you’re gonna blow chunks every time you’re in the same room because you're so guilty over it.”

Jonathan finally looked back over at him, lifting up his hand to admire the joint and ask,“ Can’t we just keep smoking Purple Palm Tree Delight? Eventually, make the problems actually blow away like the seed pods of a dandelion?”

Argyle took it from his fingers and assured him,“ It’s pretty incredible, dude, but not that powerful. It’ll make it feel like they have for a few hours, but you’re always gonna sober up, and the problem’s still gonna be there. Pushing it off will only make it suck even more.”

“I know you’re right. But-” Jonathan tried to argue.

But Argyle kept going,“ I already told you, back in Lenora, that you can’t keep lying about it. And now I know your crew of little dudes has a catchphrase about how ‘friends don’t lie’. Seems like you know what you gotta do. Even if you and Nance are hitting the rocks, you should be a good friend and be honest with her about it. Before she’s in the car driving up north thinking you’ve abandoned her outta nowhere.”

Jonathan rubbed his hands down his face and nodded into them,“ I know. I know, you’re right…”

“That it? Or you gonna try and squeeze another ‘but’ in there?” Argyle got the sentence out without breaking the moment by laughing, but just barely. He definitely smiled to himself at the phrase “squeeze another ‘butt’ in there”.

“That’s it,” he admitted,” You’re right. I need to break up with her. Sooner rather than later.”

Argyle clapped him on the shoulder and held back out the joint as his reward,“ Good boy, Jonny.”

“Can’t do it tonight though.”

He shrugged against him,“ Tonight’s practically over anyway. And you did good making the decision and saying it out loud. We can lose ourselves to the Purple Palm Tree Delight for now, but don’t let yourself get all swept up in things that you keep pushing it off again.”

“Yeah. I’ll do it.” Jonathan smiled a second before adding,” I know you’ll keep hounding me if I don’t anyway.”

“You know I will.” Argyle agreed with a self-satisfied smile and a ruffle to Jonathan’s hair.

They ended up staying outside together for a while. Enjoying the easy bliss that the bud draped over them. They were probably out there close to an hour before they decided it was too chilly and went back inside to watch the movie. The girls, however, were not doing something as simple as they were. Instead, Nancy and Robin collected themselves back in the dining room where Nancy unpacked her purse of the notebook, loose papers, and sticky notes into the table.

“So you said you were working on an article?” Robin asked.

Nancy nodded as she sorted through all the bits of her work so far,“ Yeah, the one I was starting before all of this happened. I figured, even if it’s not the same one I was planning to write, I could still put something together. Just, less about the murders as a mystery, and more about Eddie’s innocence of them. You know?”

Robin was following the idea well enough, but Nancy just poured a ton of disorganized chaos in front of her, so she wasn’t really sure where to look,“ Annnnd, this is what you have to work off of?”

“Well, it’s a rough idea right now.” she excused,” Over here, I have my interview notes from Wayne before we knew what was going on, and these pages have a couple of ideas on how to organize and frame the story, and - well, obviously we can’t talk about Upside Down stuff - so I’m still trying to decide how much of our story with the police I can use. Without making the whole thing just look like a story drummed up by a group of teenagers. Which is what it is, at the end of the day, so I keep trying to find a way to distinguish it. Other sources, or just something to make it seem more solid. More reliable.”

“And you want my help on it?” Robin clarified.

Suddenly it struck Nancy that maybe they weren’t friends enough for her to have asked Robin to do this for her,“ Is that weird? I’m sorry-”

“No, no. Not weird.” Robin assured her,” I just- I’m not on the school paper, so I don’t- I don’t know how helpful I’ll be with the whole journalism thing.”

Nancy went just a little rigid at the question. She didn’t meet Robin’s eyes for a bit. Instead, she fiddled with the papers in front of her as she explained,“ Freddie’s already gone. I saw Tonya on the missing person’s board at the high school. And Mary Pat was getting into her parent's car with half a dozen suitcases when I was leaving the hospital. I could try to track down Markus, Amelia, Lucy, Elijah, or Christina, I guess… But they don’t know the truth, so I’d be spending half the time brainstorming just trying to keep my mouth shut, all while having to convince them Eddie’s even a good guy in the first place-”

Then Nancy took a breath and looked at Robin again,“ But you already know those things. And I know you’re smart, so I’m sure you’d be a lot of help while we work on this and… I don’t know. I thought, if we put together something good enough and published it, we might be able to help Eddie get out from under everything. At least in the eyes of the people of Hawkins.”

And Nancy still looked like she was asking. Still unsure that Robin would be willing to help her out on this even though they’ve teamed up on both Dr. Hatch and putting together the original cover story. So Robin smiled and gave a joking,“ And we’re friends, so I’m obviously going to help you.”

Which pulled a grin onto Nancy’s face as she quipped right back,“ Yeah, I was kinda banking on that part too.”

“Alright,” Robin clapped her hands together and surveyed the papers before them,” So besides Wayne pointing the finger at the Creels, he’s also a character witness, like the boys are.”

“Yes, and I can use that, but I need more than just super biased quotes to pull from.”

“Well, the people who are most convinced that Eddie’s the devil are the ones fleeing the county. So we only need to put together enough of a story to assure the people who are still here and on the fence.” Robin hummed to herself,“ Um… what about teachers? Do we know any teachers that particularly liked Eddie? That’d be a little less personal and credible.”

“He was in band and drama. We can reach out to both directors and see if they’d be willing to say something good about him.”

“And what about Steve?” Robin suggested.

“Steve?” Nancy had no clue what Robin was doing bringing him into it.

“Well, the guy’s pretty famously not the kind of person who’d be tight in Eddie’s social circle, right?” she began to explain,” So a statement from him about what happened while we were all out there, it’d look better than one from the kids. Or from you being a Hellfire kid’s sister. Mr. Well-Known and Popular taking center stage to say even he’s sure Eddie didn’t do anything.”

“Yeah, something from Steve could help.” Nancy agreed.

“Is there anything else you might’ve not thought of yet?”

“Well,” Nancy considered,” Something that we didn’t have before, but have now… is Jim Hopper. If we re-introduce Hop back into the town soon and get a quote that he looked at the case and his gut says it’s not the Munson kid, he’d be a pretty official source.”

Robin seemed to brighten up seeing Nancy come up with something even though she seemed stuck a moment ago,“ See. Pretty damn well. Despite a few I-don’t-know’s.”

“We still don’t know if it’ll work.” Nancy tried to remind her.

But Robin’s belief in Nancy was pretty unshakeable,“ Well, by my count, that’s a few character statements, an inside peak from semi-heroic Steve Harrington, long lost chief Hopper’s opinion on the official report, and once the police department drops the charges… If I was reading something with all of that, I’d be pretty convinced. You’re a genius, Nancy, bask in it.”

“It happens to be a lot easier when I have you tackling the problem with me.” Nancy tried to share the praise.

“Oh, please,” Robin waved her off,” I’m just stoked I get to help Nancy Wheeler write the most important newspaper article to come out of this town.”

“Okay, a triple murder that preceded a natural disaster is probably the biggest thing to officially happen in Hawkins,” she had to admit,” But it’s still just the school paper. It’s not like I’m the editor at the Hawkins Post or anything.”

“Doesn’t matter. When Emerson sees you, Nancy Wheeler, reporting live with the first inside scoop, they are going to beg you to run your own class up there.”

She rolled her eyes at the other girl and teased,“ Oh really?”

“Absolutely. They’ll be almost as amazed as I am and throw a degree at you as soon as you step on campus.” Robin sat back while Nancy shook her head at her,“ What? You think I’m expecting too much of them?”

And Nancy couldn't stop the giggle rising in her chest, nor the automatic “You’re an idiot, Robin Buckley” that slipped out of her.

“You just said I was smart!” Robin tried to dispute.

“Maybe, but you can still be an idiot too.” Nancy continued to huff until her cheeks her red. She fanned them off when they’d settled down a bit and reached over,“ Here, take a pen and help me start drafting this thing. And if you can come up with a snappy, eye-catching title, that’d be helpful.”

Robin pulled out her extra gravely, spooky narrator voice and offered,“ Eddie Munson: More Man Than Monster!”

“Alliteration is not the only requirement.”

Next, she buzzed through,“ We Know You Think He’s A Serial Killer With Demon Powers, But He’s Just A Dorky Guy, And Jason’s The Crazy One!”

“I said snappy, Buckley! That's way too long! Come on, gimme something I can work with!”

“I’ll come up with something! Let me think on it a minute.”

They sat at the table working on it together all the way until Maria ran away from the von Trapps and the intermission started. At that point, all the kids ran off for bathroom breaks, and the girls took the hint it was about time to join them and wind down for the night. By then, Jonathan and Argyle had already returned, and Hopper had made himself comfy, looking like he was ready to doze off right there.

Steve stood up and took all the bowls of popcorn, empty except for the remaining un-popped kernels, into the kitchen to dump out and clean up. When he was focused on this task, Joyce must’ve wrapped up her shower and snuck up behind him. Somehow just suddenly coming up behind him with a kind of serious and gentle energy that said she had something to talk to him about.

“Hi, honey…” she already sounded like she had a specific thought on her mind she was getting to.

“Hi, are you both getting settled in fine?” he thought to ask while he scrubbed away popcorn butter with a soapy sponge.

“Oh, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hop just conks out on that couch, so yeah, I’d say so.” she gave a small laugh at the thought.

“That’s good.” was all he could come up with when he realized he didn’t have anything else to stall with until he finished the dishes.

“Um, Steve?”

“Yeah?”

She took a step closer to him,“ Is there any reason I had to wipe some dust off the bedside table?”

Shit.

He tried to excuse it,“ I should’ve cleaned that up before you guys got here-“

“Honey,” she interrupted him with a soft voice,” How long has it been since your parents have been home?”

Right. That… that makes sense to ask, given the evidence she found. Great. Great, great, great. How does he get out of this without just spewing a few obvious lies?

“It hasn’t been that long.” he tried anyway.

Joyce made a face like she wanted to wince,“ It’s dust… It takes a while to collect like that.”

It does, doesn’t it? Yeah. Of course, it does.

Steve tried to sound casual, like it wasn’t a big deal, and he was just tossing the numbers around to remember how long it’s been exactly,“ I guess… it’s been about three months.”

“Wait- you’ve been…” Joyce looked heartbroken for him,” Were they even home for Christmas?”

He shrugged and moved on to the last bowl, hoping he could finish it up quickly,“ It’s fine. You know, Robin came over every day that week, and we watched all of our favorites. We had a good time. Even ended Christmas Eve with It’s A Wonderful Life before I drove her home so-“

“Steve. I’m so sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I wish I’d known.” she insisted.

“Why?” he couldn’t help but ask. Because, really, why should she have? Joyce didn’t owe him a proper Christmas. He wasn’t her kid to take care of. And it wouldn't have done anyone any good anyway,” What would've been the point in making you sad in Lenora?”

She didn’t have an answer for him. At least not immediately. But after he put down the bowl on the drying rack and looked at her to try and pass back into the living room, then she spoke up,

“You know, we haven’t really talked it through as a family yet - the family’s changing, and there hasn't been a second to consider it - but I think we’re going to decide to move back over here. To Hawkins. Once everything resolves.”

“That’ll be nice. For all the kids to get to go to school together again, I mean-”

But Joyce continued,“ I bring it up because - I know it’s quite a ways away still - but I’d like to invite you to our house for Christmas this year. If your folks are gone again, and you don’t have family to spend it with.”

Oh.

She didn’t want to pressure him, so she added,“ You don’t have to if you’d be uncomfortable or anything. I just wanted you to know you’d be welcome at our dinner table and around our tree, even if it’s smaller than what you might be used to-”

“No. No, that sounds…” he struggled with how to describe exactly how warm and fuzzy the invitation made his chest feel, but he settled on,” That sounds really nice. I, uh, really appreciate the thought, Joyce. I don’t know what’ll happen in nine more months, but-”

“No, of course, it’s still really far away-”

“But I’d like to. Join your household for Christmas.” he decided anyway.

A soft smile came to her face,“ Then, I hope I’ll get to see you if your parents aren’t able to-”

“Would it be okay if I showed up anyway… even if they were in town?” he was a little shy to ask, but honestly, even if his mom and dad were there, he’d rather go somewhere where it'd actually feel like Christmas.

“Of course, sweetheart.” she assured him, reaching up to set a comforting hand on his shoulder,” Any reason at all, you’re always more than welcome to come by. When we aren’t already borrowing your home, that is.”

“Okay.” he nodded,” Thank you, Joyce. I-”

“Steve!” Dustin yelled from the living room,” Are you trying to miss the Baroness’s horrible attempt at parenting or something?!”

Joyce smiled wider, in that warm way that moms always seemed to in movies, and told him,“ We should probably head in to join them.”

“Yeah. Probably.” he agreed.

They ended up all together in the living room as the last hour and a half of the movie played through. By the end of it, the kids had fallen asleep, including El, who was cuddled up on top of her snoring dad. Joyce went back up to the master bedroom, and Murray went for the guest room he was set up in. Nancy headed for the other while Robin welcomed herself to Steve’s room since he was passed out in the pile.

Maybe an hour or so after the movie finished though, he blinked his eyes back open to realize he’d fallen asleep in the first place. Erica ended up using his lap as a pillow, so it took him a few minutes of very slow and careful movements to get out from under her head before he was able to break for the stairs and try to get some sleep in an actual bed. Instead of a car seat and sofa cushion, of course.

Lo and behold, he opens his door to see Robin all spread out like a starfish under his covers. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes as he crossed the room and had to shove over her limbs to try and squish himself into bed.

“Hey. Doofus. It’s rude to wake a sleeping lady,” she mumbled half-asleep to him, most of it went right into the pillow.

“It’s rude to steal a guy’s bed and spill all his secrets.” he fired back.

“You fell asleep on the couch, I didn’t want a sore back,” she rolled over a bit so she was speaking more clearly.

“I had a crazy morning…” he groaned.

With that, Robin seemed to wake up just a bit,” What do you mean 'crazy morning'? Explain.”

Steve felt the familiar urge to clam up, the warning to not be vulnerable, but he always knew he could ignore it when it was Robin he was with,“ My dad called. Got an earful. Kinda went off on some junk cars and shit after.”

She turned over enough to look at him,“ You okay?”

“Yeah.”

“You want to-?”

“Nah. I’m tired, Rob. Just wanna go to sleep.” he looked back at his ceiling and mumbled,” But we’ll find some time to run off and talk about it later. That and what we're doing about Vickie.”

"Dingus," she shoved him before snuggling herself in a little closer,“ Sorry I told so many of your secrets today.”

“It’s fine.” he sighed and looked back at her,” You spilled a few of your own too, so I guess it’s sorta even.”

She grinned at him,“ A few.”

“But not all of them.”

She closed her eyes and hummed for a moment before nodding along,“ Nope. Not all of them. I’m a girl who likes to keep an air of mystery about her, you know.”

“That why didn’t even bring up the other reason why you like ‘Dancing Queen’ so much?” he asked.

There was a pause after the question before Robin spoke in a voice rich with the sound of her smile,“ I haven't the faintest clue as to what you're referring to.”

“You’re telling me it’s not even a little bit because we spent your seventeenth birthday together?” he dared her to deny it.

Her voice hiked a pitch higher as she feigned confusion,“ We did?”

“Oh, yeah,” he squished in closer behind her and reminisced,” Little over two weeks after Starcourt burned down when you were still so freaked out about joining the end of the world club that you didn’t even want to celebrate? You were all ‘what’s the point of anything- nothing is safe- how do I live life as a normal person anymore- I can’t handle this-’ all the time. So I convinced you to come with me, and I snuck you into a club over an hour away the night before. You were stammering the whole ride over that you weren’t even eighteen yet - not even seventeen yet, technically - so there was no way they’d let you in. But I managed it anyway. And I even got the DJ to play your favorite song for you, right at midnight. So you got to be the Dancing Queen the second you became seventeen. What? That didn’t have anything to do with that at all?”

“That happened?” she tried again.

“You’re so stupid.” he playfully shoved her messy head of hair on his pillow,” You didn’t even let me sneak you a drink, so I know you remember it.”

“Maybe I do. Sue me for trying to keep a few of our secrets just our own.”

“Never.” he hummed as he shimmied to try and get comfortable. Ended up laying his arm over Robin’s waist when a thought occurred to him,“ You know this is gonna cause so many rumors, right?”

She gave a melodramatic gasp and cried,” Steve and Robin! Sharing a bed! What ever might they do?!”

He played along with her theatrics,“ It couldn’t be… they’ll… fall asleep!” and then he squeezed his arm around her tighter for effect.

“You’re such a dork,” she told him.

“No, I’m not. You’re all the dorks. Lucas, Max, and I are the cool ones.”

“Sure, sure. You keep telling yourself that.” she reached over her shoulder to pat his head.

“It’s the truth-”

Then she smeared her hand down his face,“ Sssshhhhhhhhh, Stephen, my sweet summer child, shut up and let me sleep.”

“I’m older, and I was born in winter-” he tried to correct her, but she was smooshing his lips around before he could finish.

“Ssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhh”

He had to shake his face to get her to back off,“ At least scoot over, Rob. You’re hogging all the bed space.”

“Don’t be afraid of some cuddles.”

“I’m not, but we’re already spooning, and my ass is hanging off the mattress. Now scoot.”

It took a few more minutes for them to get themselves situated, but once they did, Steve and Robin both felt safer than they had all week.

They fell asleep like that. Robin all wrapped up in Steve’s arms. They both ran warm though, so they’d most likely end up kicking each other away as the night went on, but that was just par for the course with them. It’s still a little crazy to him that he has someone he cares about enough to hold, and it’s not some romantic thing. All of the touch he got to have in the past has come from romance. But when it’s the two of them, it didn’t have to be about that. He can just love someone without all the other stuff.

It was nice. Simple. Easy.

Steve Harrington seems to be learning a lot about non-romantic love those days. The way he was with the kids, his platonic bond with Robin, all these Hawkins moms showing him what familial ties to their kids can look like, even extending some of it to him… He did wish he could get a handle on the romantic kind too, seeing as he felt like he was completely losing interest in it no matter who he was with. But at the end of the day, the non-romantic stuff was pretty nice too.

Those were the kind of thoughts that carried him off to sleep. Robin’s were of a similar vein. Appreciating her best friend’s snarky remarks and comfortable arms as she drifted off. But her mind circled who else she’d like to share a nap with someday. She had thoughts of Vickie, of course. Funny thing is, Vickie wasn’t the only one she considered…

But that was a secret she wouldn’t dare speak of.

The rest of the night was nice. Uneventful. No monsters or phone calls. And when they woke up in the morning, just as was expected, they were both nearly pushed off of the bed by the other in a tangle of limbs and sheets. What they hadn’t expected was the smell of cooking wafting up from the kitchen.

Because Hopper took it upon himself to make breakfast.

God, he was such a dad. A good dad. For a house of way too many kids with shitty dads, he was a good dad.

Robin and Steve shoved against each other as they woke up and muddled their way downstairs, and it didn’t take long for everyone to have gathered to eat. Jim wasn’t very thoughtful about being quiet. The sound of pans on the stovetop wasn't gentle, it was time for everyone to wake up already anyhow. Seeing everyone with bed heads and sleepy eyes around the table was pretty fun. They all ate the array of bacon, sausage, pancakes, waffles, and eggs as Jim whipped them up.

Wasn’t too much later that there was some knocking on Steve’s front door. The five parents were each equipped with a mug of coffee and welcomed into the living room to discuss… everything. Again. It went just about the same as it had with the moms the night before. But this time, Nancy was sure to get all their favorite songs, too.

Karen has apparently always loved Olivia Newton-John and had a particular attachment to ‘I Think I’ll Say Goodbye’. Claudia got stuck between something by The Pointer Sisters or Billy Joel. It was Dustin who said that, because she was borderline in love with Billy, something of his was the safer bet. So she decided on 'Just the Way You Are'. Susan could only think of Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Time After Time’ because of how much Max played it after the Snow Ball. Sue always used Diana Ross songs for her kids' lullabies, ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’ was her favorite. And Charles always insisted that the song they played for the first dance at their wedding was the best in the world, Stevie Wonder’s ‘My Girl’.

When everyone was settled on the situation most of the kids said they’d head home with their own parents in a bit, except for Lucas who went ahead and rode to the hospital with Steve before they all split off. The two wanted to check on the patients, of course. Susan had to work, but they promised her they’d call if anything happened or after she got off to tell her how Max looked. The boys walked fast past the cameras and got checked in to visit with Max and Eddie before they broke off into the opposite rooms with a plan to check in around lunchtime and eat together if there wasn’t any change in either’s condition.

So Lucas went into Max’s, and Steve turned into Eddie’s room and greeted him as he sat down.

“Sorry, I’m late today. Planned to show up on time, at eight, but those kids’ parents are so talkative. Honestly, you’re lucky you’re missing out on all the discussion that’s happened at my place in the last twelve hours. Turns out every parent in the midwest wants to be on the apocalypse squad. Anyway, sorry I was late. I’m here now for whatever’s on tv today.”

Steve was trying to relax and sit still. He honestly was. But it sucked. Everything sucked, and there was nothing good to watch, so he stood up practically every ten minutes to flip back through the channels on the hospital cable. He sort of wished he was the kind of guy who liked reading. Lucas seemed to enjoy reading that book to Max. They talked about it on the drive over. Lucas was apparently doing different voices for each character and everything. Making a show of it for her. It was sweet.

Steve couldn’t do something like that.

On what was probably his tenth time switching around the channels, he heard something. Something like the sound of fabric moving around a little. And it came from behind him. Where Eddie was.

He turned around, but Eddie wasn’t making any noise. Didn't look like he was stirring. But his face might’ve looked a little different. Like his expression had shifted, just a little bit.

Steve abandoned the unentertaining tv set, carefully sitting back down in the bedside chair,” Eddie?”

And there it was. A scrunch of Eddie’s nose and a sound that made the whole world seem brighter.

“Mmmm…”

That’s all it was. A low, grumbling hum. But it meant he was back. Eddie was back, and they didn’t lose him. Steve didn’t fail in getting him back soon enough.

Steve leaned forward,“ Hey, hey, you coming to?”

Eddie didn’t even open his eyes as he groaned,“ Was I dreaming, or were you kissing on me last night, Harrington?”

The comment pulled what Steve would call a stupid smile across his face, but he smiled all the same. He can’t be too messed up if he’s cracking jokes, right? He rolled his eyes at the other and said, in a purposely somewhat stuck-up tone,“ It’s called performing CPR, Munson, and it was not last night, for the record. But a nurse can tell you all about that, so I’ll go get-”

Eddie turned his head over and opened his eyes to look at Steve, quickly interrupting him with,“ Well, I can’t have been out too long. I see you’re still working on those whiskers, same as I last saw ‘em.”

He’d tried to motion towards Steve’s face, only to find he didn’t get very far with the cuffs. Not what a guy likes to wake up to. At least not in this condition.

“God forbid anyone tries anything around here.” Steve huffed, but sat up to pour some water from the plastic pitcher into the cup with the straw and wordlessly held it up for Eddie to take a sip,” It’s been a couple of days. Four days exactly. Four days since you tried to pull that stupid hero stunt.”

After a gulp to wet his whistle, Eddie let go of the straw and shook his head,“ Stupid hero stunt? Nah, that doesn’t sound like me. I thought we agreed on that.”

“Yeah, I thought we did. I said you and Dustin weren’t allowed to do hero shit, and then look at the mess I find not even an hour later.” Steve sat back and put down the cup.

“Oh, this? This wasn’t hero shit.” Eddie said.

Steve’s eyebrow quirked up,“ Really? It wasn't?”

“It absolutely was not. Because - I’ll remind you - you said, and I quote, ‘Don’t be cute or play hero.' And I agreed not to be a hero. So all this…?”

Steve let a small laugh slip out before he figured,“ This was you being cute, you mean?”

Eddie thought for a second that he’d like to pull a lock of hair in front of his face to play coy. Maybe rattle off some kind of teasing response like “You tell me” or “Did it work?” But the chains pinning his hands to the bedrail insisted he went for a different tactic.

So, instead, he settled for a wolfish grin and a more confident kind of remark,“ Hell yeah, this was me being cute, man.”

Steve shook his head in a way that vaguely reminded Eddie of when Wayne caught him trying to quietly strum his guitar past 3 am back in middle school. Wayne gently scorned him, told him it was a school night and the boy needed to get some sleep. Then he took the instrument and put it on top of the cabinets in the kitchen so he couldn’t reach it. But he hadn’t been mad. It was a kind of amused, faux-disappointment.

Anyway, it’s what Steve looked like as he said,“ It was still stupid. You tried to leave a little early there, you know.”

Eddie shrugged and shifted a little in the bed,“ Wasn’t really trying to. Just thought the light at the end of the tunnel looked pretty nice ‘n all.”

“Yeah, well maybe ignore it a little longer next time. I had kids sobbing all around me because you decided to stop breathing on the way here.”

“Sorry ‘bout that. You think they’ll forgive me for it?” he looked over at Steve with pleading eyes.

“They will when they see you talking again.” Steve started to stand up,” So, I should go get a nur-”

But then Eddie interrupted him again, and pretty sharply too,“ Where are those gremlins at anyway? Can’t believe Steve Harrington is the one bothering to come by this sick guy’s bed.”

Steve got quiet and relaxed back down in the chair.

“Max got hurt real bad, she’s in another room. Hasn’t woken up yet. The kids are with their families trying to figure stuff out. Plan the next move. Hawkins was hit with a lot, so it’s a bit of a shit show all over town. And we’re the crack team here to clean it up.”

“Jesus, what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” he asked,” When the world started shaking, and everything went red while the ground split open?”

“Okay, that rings a bell. But, to be fair, I was bleeding out, man. Shit’s still a little bit fuzzy.” Eddie explained.

Steve nodded knowingly and said,“ Which is why I keep trying to tell you that I should go get a nurse-”

“Do you have to?” Eddie cut in suddenly. And there was something behind the way he said it. Steve couldn’t exactly pin it down, but he didn’t just seem inconvenienced or disinterested.

“They kinda need to look you over. Make sure there isn’t anything else wrong with you, besides the loose screws.”

Eddie turned away a little, and got quieter,“ The second you tell them I’m up… it’s going to be a whole thing, isn’t it?”

And Steve didn’t have an answer.

“It’s going to get crazy, and everything’s going to happen so fast, and it’s… gonna be scary, man...”

That’s what it was. Eddie looked scared. Steve could see it now. It wasn’t like when Eddie was ranting and raving when he’d been freaked out before. This Eddie looked small.

“And once it starts, it’s not going to stop, so just - I don’t know - keep wasting my time and tell me what’s going on before they lock me in a cell and throw away the key,” Eddie asked him.

Steve tried to assure him,“ They aren’t going to-”

Eddie locked his eyes with Steve again,“ Please? Let me have just a little bit longer?”

And Steve just couldn’t say no. Seemed to feel that way a lot those days. Maybe he spends too much time with people whose lives suck so bad he just wants to give them whatever they want.

“A few more minutes. But then an actual, medical professional needs to make sure you won’t croak on us.”

“Deal.”

Steve leaned back in the chair and started,“ Well, the Upside Down was trying to get into this side. In Hawkins, the ground split open and both sides were connected for a bit. The gate cut this huge “X” across the city which was recorded as a huge earthquake. Like record-breaking magnitude getting reported on every news station kind of huge. I mean- City Hall’s gone, the General Hospital took damage, Library is about half rubble right now. Some of the trailers were completely destroyed, including half of yours, and a line was cut through some of the suburbs, not sure how many of those houses came apart, a few of the businesses downtown were demolished, and the others are all closed down anyway… And today’s Monday, by the way, but they’ve got the high school set up as the relief center right now, so there are no classes you’re missing or anything. Like I said, shit show. Everywhere.”

“Sounds like there are a dozen other things you could be doing if you wanted to then. Like resting up yourself. So what’re you doing here? Didn’t think my display, as incredibly cute as it was, woulda been enough to turn your head.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, it’s just a lot quieter here than at my place.” Steve found himself brushing off the fact that he, in fact, had been pretty worried about Eddie the entire time.

“What does that mean?”

Moving right along, he scratched the back of his neck and admitted,“ Uh, it’s a little packed back there right now.”

“Why would your family come to Hawkins now for a reunion?” Eddie assumed.

“Oh, no. Not my family. My folks are over in Washington right now.” And after he said it, he realized he’d just set himself up to explain a little bit more about his family life than he had originally planned to tell someone he just met officially less than two weeks before.

“Washington?” Eddie asked.

And yup, they were going to have this conversation it seemed. Hopefully, Steve can make him lose interest quickly enough,“ Work. Work for my dad, at least. Mom’s just with him to make sure he stays in line.”

And Eddie just looked at him all confused.

“Stays faithful,” Steve hinted.

“Oh. So who is in your house right now?”

“Some of the Byers. Jonathan, Will, and El. And a new guy, Argyle. They all showed up a few days ago. And then we got a shipment of homeless adults in last night too. Joyce and Hop and Murray - speaking of it, turns out Hop is way less dead than we thought. And all the kids crashed there, too. Our party loves sleepovers, it seems…” Steve was lovingly shaking his head when he noticed Eddie’s wide eyes on him,“ What? Those people help save the world all the time. I wasn’t going to just let them sleep on those stiff cots in the high school. It’s a four-bedroom house, might as well put them all to use.”

“And you’re sure the Harrington’s are fine with the fact that their son is passing out their keys like candy on Halloween?” Eddie asked doubtfully.

Steve thought to himself for a moment and admitted a truth he had been trying not to think too much about over the last few weeks,“ I don’t think they’re really planning to come back to Hawkins after all this.”

“Really? Just a couple days and you’re already so sure they’re done with this place...”

“Well, it’s been…” he hummed to himself, putting on an act like he had to actually think about it. Like his mind doesn’t tally every morning he wakes up and his mom and dad are still gone. Like he doesn’t already know he hasn’t seen them for over,” Three months? Yeah, I guess that sounds about right.”

He’d tried to make it seem like some casual thing, hoped he did a better job than he had in front of Joyce the night before, but Eddie didn’t take it as something small,” Three months?”

“Yeah, my dad’s a busy guy, and I’m not a baby anymore. Once I graduated they wasted decidedly less time in Indiana.”

“The town their kid lives in has a serial killer, faces the biggest earthquake the Midwest probably has ever seen, and they don’t come home to check in?” Eddie pushed. While his parents were out of the picture, he couldn’t even imagine Wayne letting him go even a week without seeing him, even if he’d graduated.

“You give Mr. and Mrs. Harrington too much credit.”

“Damn. So you’re fucked up just like the rest of us, huh?”

“The stars; they’re just like you and me.” he ended the line with a wink.

“Jesus. And, not to be self-centered and all about me or anything, but… how is the town with the whole…?”

“The whole… suspecting you of serial murder thing?” Steve finished for him.

“Yeah, that’s the one. How are they doing with that?”

“Well, most people probably still think you did it. But, uh, we’re working on it. Well, Nance and Robin are leading the thing mostly. It’s looking up, believe it or not. They have some strategy, and the cops seemed like they were leaning our way after we gave our statements. They’ll need to take yours, too. But I think we’ll get out of this.” he explained,” But if some guys with a camera crew try to talk to you, call a nurse and get them kicked out. They’ve been crowding the front doors and trying to get into your hospital room for the last few days, apparently.”

“Camera crew?” he wondered, interest piquing.

“A news team from Indianapolis has been trying to do a feature on the ‘Satanic killings that opened a portal to hell in the super cursed small-town’. And a few other fringe groups are looking to stake their big break on your sudden fame too.”

“So…” Eddie considered,” You’re saying this is my chance to shoot to stardom? Quick, I need you to bring my sweetheart, an amp, and a mic. Help me land my career in the big leagues, Harrington.”

Steve stood up and placed a hand on Eddie’s cuffed wrist with a tight smile,“ I absolutely will not.”

Eddie scoffed and tossed his head over at the betrayal.

He let go and started heading for the door as he continued,“ I will, however, make sure a nurse comes in to look you over. I’ll also radio the kids and let them know you’re up. You’re in for a storm of love, you know? Gonna get bruises from all the hugs, I’m telling you.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Eddie called to him as he went into the hall.

And maybe Steve did originally intend to do the responsible thing and get a nurse immediately. But then he thought about Lucas. Someone who was right there already and deserved to see Eddie as soon as possible. So he just walked into the other room instead.

“Hey Lucas, you wanna take a break?” he offered, hanging off the door frame for a second as he stepped inside.

“I don’t need a break from Max. And we said noon, it’s not even eleven o’clock yet.”

“You might not need it,” Steve agreed,” But there’s something across the hall you might want to see.”

Steve thought to himself that part of the reason he wanted Lucas to see Eddie, wasn’t even for Eddie’s sake. It was for Lucas’s. Because he needed to see someone come out of a coma before he convinced himself that Max never would. Steve needed to foster a little bit of hope wherever he could with these kids.

“What?” Lucas questioned.

And instead of dancing around the good news any longer, Steve let the smile break across his face as he told him,“ Eddie’s awake.”

And Lucas all but shot up out of his chair,“ He is?”

“Yeah, he is. I’ll radio everyone else and let ‘em know, but since you’re already here, you can stop by if you want. As long as you call a nurse over after you two have a minute to catch up.” Steve made him agree to do it.

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucas took a few steps toward him until he froze and looked back at Max,” Will you…?”

“Yeah, I’ll keep an eye on Mayfield.” Steve closed the distance between them and clapped Lucas on the shoulder,” Go ahead and try talking to someone who’ll answer for a bit.”

And so they switched places.

Steve sat down in the chair Lucas had been in and picked up the book he set on Max’s sheets. He thought about maybe picking up where the kid left off, but set it back down and decided that wasn’t his thing. His thing seemed to be waxing on emotionally to sleeping people. So he crossed his legs and set himself to try and convince Max to pull through. Even though they figured she wouldn’t until Vecna was dealt with, he still wanted to try a little pep talk.

“Come on, Maxie. You’re the last one now. Can’t believe you let Munson beat you. Would’ve bet good money you were a way faster little punk than he was. So… hurry up, alright. I’ve been told you’re supposed to go to a movie on Friday. Might be patching things up with a certain ex-boyfriend you shoulda never ended things with. I don’t know what Friday you’ll be aiming for at this point. But there’s some cool stuff out right now, if you wait too long there might only be boring stuff screening. And we can’t let you and Lucas get back together with a boring movie. I really would like to see you two happy together, you know? So you need a good one. Make this old man proud and snag him up before some other girl tries to steal him. But you gotta wake up to do that… so, I don’t know, sucker punch Vecna or something and break out of this already. I think you can take him down. Way tougher than anyone else I know. Don't keep me waiting. We need you back.”

#I'M SORRY Y'ALL #I FORGOT TO POST THE UPDATE ON TUMBLR #THIS WAS ON AO3 WEEKS AGO #THAT'S MY BAD!!!#Anyway-#WE GOT THE BOY BACK! IT ONLY TOOK 90K BUT HE'S HERE FOR REAL NOW!!!#And he's flirting right out the gate #Next chapter is going to be all about the reunions so there will be lots of F E E L I N G S #This chap was the longest one so far and a BEAST to tackle. But by the end we got a lil Jargyle Ronance and Steddie all fit in #And Erica and Murray are mortal enemies my beloveds #And Robin and El are forging the unbreakable bond of being autistic girls together #And I'm roping these parents in to everything (and there may be a few hints for down the road stuff in their songs)#AND I'M BRINGING OUR RUSSIANS OVER! I HAVEN'T FOUND THEM IN A SINGLE FIC AND I'M TIRED OF IT!#And there are even a few MORE people I'm planning to get in by the final showdown - this will be Avengers Endgame kind of massive team up #And I also have big plans to write a Modern The Sound of Music Steddie AU after this one now bc I rewatched it for the few refs I threw in #I want to get this one most of the way finished before i start it though so i don't get side tracked. But it's coming.#Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie #Steveddie #Steve x Eddie #Nancy Wheeler #Robin Buckney #Ronance #Robin x Nancy #The Fruity Four #Stranger Things #Stranger Things 4 #Stranger Things 4 spoilers #Stranger Things 4 volume 2 spoilers

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