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harringtonstilinski · 3 months

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Always The Babysitter - Chapter Thirty-Three: Papa

Author: @harringtonstilinski Characters: Steve Harrington x Olivia Henderson(OC) Word Count: 5,826 Warnings: squint for fluff, angst, canon violence, liv being indecisive but go with it, buggy = shopping cart in southern terms, Smut: no | yes; 18+ MINORS DNI: A/N: Hi, friends! I can't believe we're one chapter away from the end until Season 5 comes out! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊

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Everyone jumped into gear, trying to find music for Nancy so that we could bring her out of her Vecna trance. Steve and I locked eyes as he freaked out while trying to wake up Nancy. “Whatever you guys are doing up there, hurry up!”

Erica and I looked at each other then booked it to the backroom, which I guess was Eddie’s room. “Steve says you need to hurry the hell up!”

“Yeah, no shiiiiiiit!” Dustin yelled.

“We’re trying,” Max said. “We can’t find anything.”

“Seriously, what is all this shit?” Robin asked.

“I mean, wh-wh-what are you even looking for?” Eddie asked, running back in the room, a bunch of cassettes in his arms as I stood next to him.

“Madonna, Blondie, Bowie, Beatles! Music, we need music!”

Eddie held up an Iron Maiden cassette as he and I yelled, “THIS IS MUSIC!”

I grabbed the cassette from his hand before grabbing the cassette player, running back to the mattress… only, when I got there and looked up to tell Steve we got the music, what I saw brought me back to our Junior year when he started dating Nancy; Steve holding Nancy in his arms on the ground, her telling her that everything was okay and that he was there for her.

I looked down as I heard footsteps rushing towards the mattress, tears lining my waterline. I sniffled a little then looked up, seeing Dustin looking at me, puzzled. “Uhm,” I said, wiping my lower lash line. “She broke out herself. She’s fine.”

Sighing, I said, “I’ll be outside. I just need some fresh air. Ya’know, being stuck in the Upside Down all night.” I lightly chuckled with no humor behind it at all. Before I could step around him, Dustin gave me a hug, one that I returned, tightly. He pulled away before looking up, asking Steve and Nancy if they were ready to come down.

I stepped outside, sitting on the porch that was off the right of the door… or left, depending on which way you were looking. Part of me wanted to go into Eddie’s stash to look for something to calm my racing thoughts, another part wanted a cigarette, and the last part wanted to go off into town and steal something, but I resisted all urges when I heard the door open, a voice following after, “There you are.”

Looking to my left, I watched as Steve carefully made his way across the small patch of grass that sat in between the porch and the steps to the front door, careful not to step on any sticker bushes.

“Hi,” I said, quietly, turning to face him, my legs dangling over the side.

Steve stood in between them, his neck at my eyeline. Bringing my hand up, I lightly traced over them, smiling a little, more to myself than anything.

“You’re smiling at my wounds?” he asked.

Lightly shaking my head, I snickered before looking at his eyes. “You make wounds look good. I mean–” I sighed, dropping my head again. Looking back up at him, I said, “This whole look you’re sporting right now has got you looking–” I brought up the okay hand gesture while winking and clicking my tongue once before continuing, “Fucking amazing, and I would love nothing more than to sneak off somewhere, kiss you stupid and do things to you, clothing optional.”

Steve laughed, resting his hands on my outer thighs. “I love you. And I would love to do all that, too, but we can’t, unfortunately.” He was quiet for a minute before he spoke up again. “You gonna tell me why you’re really out here? Dustin said something about you needing fresh air.”

“You don’t buy it?” I asked.

He sighed. “I do, but I know there’s more to it.”

It was my turn to sigh, my hands barely skimming over the makeshift bandage we made out of Nancy’s shirt. “Just… the way you were holding her brought me back to when you two were dating. I know I shouldn’t let it affect me, but… I guess it still kind of does. I mean, she’s been gawking at you the whole time we've been in this little group together. I just–” Another sigh. “I don’t know. I’m not jealous, but I guess I’m a little annoyed that she’s gawking at you when she clearly has Jonathan, she’s put herself in charge of this group, she’s being aggressive with her words towards Eddie, and–”

My words stopped as Steve’s lips pressed to mine, and I instantly shut the hell up, wrapped my arms around his neck gently to not hurt his wounds, and closed my eyes, relishing in the way his lips felt on mine.

I always had this feeling with Steve. I always enjoyed being with him, sexually and non-sexually. Steve was my soulmate, I could feel it. Since we were kids, I’ve always enjoyed being around him. He made me laugh, cry, feel better about myself, and I’m sure I’ve done the same with him.

He knows my boundaries, he knows what I do and don’t like, he knows my favorite song from all the artists I listen to. He just… knows. And I him. I know every single thing there is to know about Steve Harrington.

When I felt his hands under my shirt, resting on my waist, I was fucking done for. “We–” I said, pulling away from him a little. “We better stop or else I’ll be screaming your name on this porch.”

He laughed lightly at that, taking a small step back. “Well, let’s go then. The sun’s about to rise.”

~~~

We’d all decided to go across the road to Max’s trailer, it being big enough to house all of us. Steve, Eddie and myself were all sitting on the couch, Erica on one of the arms, Nancy sitting on the chair across from us, Dustin standing next to the couch, Robin sitting on the floor, leaning against the entertainment center, Max on the other side of the couch near the kitchen, and Lucas standing on the other side of Nancy by the door.

She looked traumatized as she explained what Vecna showed her. “He showed me things that haven’t happened yet. The most awful things. I saw a dark cloud spreading over Hawkins. Downtown on fire. Dead soldiers. And this… this giant creature with… a gaping mouth. And this creature wasn’t alone. There were so many monsters. An army, and they were coming into Hawkins, into our neighborhoods, our homes. And then he showed me my mom.”

I looked over at Dustin after she said that about her mom, fear in both of our eyes at our mom being hurt or worse… dead. I didn’t want to find my mom’s body because of Vecna because if I did, I wouldn’t stop looking for him to kill him right on site.

“And Holly… Mike,” Nancy continued. “And they… they were all…”

It was quiet for a moment while she quietly cried before Steve sighed next to me, saying, “Okay, but… he’s just trying to scare you, Nance. Right? I mean… I mean, it’s not real.”

“Not yet,” she whispered. “But there… there was something else.”

“Care to share with the rest of the class?” I asked.

“Liv, I’m getting there.” She looked down and around at nothing as she said, “He showed me gates. Four gates. Spreading across Hawkins. And these gates, they looked like the one outside of Eddie’s trailer, but they didn’t stop growing. And this wasn’t the Upside Down Hawkins. This was our Hawkins. Our home.”

I looked over at Steve, seeing him moving from the corner of my eye. His hands were at his mouth, one covering the other, his eyes closed. Wrapping my hand around his upper arm, I leaned my head against his shoulder, feeling the weight of what Nancy had explained.

“Four chimes,” Max said. Every single pair of eyes looked over at her, her words continuing, “Vecna’s clock. It always chimes four times. Four exactly.”

“I heard them, too,” Nancy whispered.

I sighed and closed my eyes, not really wanting to deal with any of this right now, but as I opened my eyes, I saw that we were all looking back at Nancy.

Taking a deep breath, I released it while picking my head up, saying, “He’s been telling us his plan this whole time.”

“Four kills,” Lucas said.

Turning my head to look at Lucas, all I could do was press my lips together, annoyed.

“Four gates,” he added, looking at Max.

Standing, I released an annoyed breath, walking to stand between Nancy and Lucas by the door. “I’ve been saying that for a couple days now. But no one listens to Olivia! It’s basically the end of the world.”

“Liv, if that’s true…” Dustin said. “He’s only one kill away.”

“Yeah, and who the hell do you think he’s gonna come back after.” I gestured towards Max. “Our lovely little redhead.”

“Jesus Christ,” Eddie said, burying his face in his hands. “Jesus Christ.”

“Try ‘em again,” Steve said.

Oh, did I mention that once we got to Max’s we tried calling the Byers’? No? Oh, well… we did, and no answer.

“Try ‘em again.”

Max went into the kitchen to try making that phone call again to the Byers as I heard my name being whispered. I looked over at Steve, knowing he was the one to call my name. Walking back towards the couch, he reached out his hand for me to take, which I gladly did.

I sat down between him and Eddie again just as Steve sat back on the cushions. He pulled me into him, getting into our normal sleeping position, just… sitting up on a couch.

A few seconds later, Dustin asked, “Anything?” to which Max replied, “No. Rang a few times, then went to busy signal.”

“Maybe you punched it in wrong,” Steve said. “Try it again.”

“I didn’t punch it in wrong,” Max replied.

“Well, I don’t know.”

“Dude, I think she knows how to use a phone,” Dustin said.

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

Max had called again, so when I heard her hang up the phone again, I sighed. “Same shit,” she said.

“How is that possible?” Lucas asked.

“Maybe they’re actually busy, or they’re not home,” I said.

“No,” Dustin said. “I told you guys, Joyce has this telemarketer job. She’s always on the phone. Mike won’t stop whining about it.”

“Okay, yeah, but this phone’s been busy for, what, three days now?” Max said. “That’s not Joyce. No way. Something’s wrong.”

Taking a deep breath, I shifted on Steve, trying to get more comfortable. “Maybe they’re off on their own little adventure.”

“Max is right,” Nancy said. “It can’t be just coincidence. It can’t be.” She got up and walked to the front window, looking out of it as she continued, “Whatever’s happening in Lenora is connected to all of this. I’m sure of it. But Vecna can’t hurt them.”

“Doubt they know about Vecna,” I deadpan.

“Not if he’s dead.” Quickly turning back around to face the group, she said, “We have to go back in there. Back to the Upside Down.”

“Whoa, no, no, no, no, no,” Steve said as Eddie also said, “Nope.” Sighing, I stood and looked at her, all the seriousness I could muster in my eyes. “NO one is going back to the Upside Down. Not a fucking soul.”

Steve stood up and walked over to Nancy, standing in front of her. “Now, let’s think this through.”

“What is there to think through?” Nancy asked.

Moving to stand in between them, I looked at Nancy, rage in my eyes. “My boyfriend almost got murdered, Nancy! What if it was Jonathan! You wouldn’t go back in there!”

“She’s right,” Steve said. “We barely made it out of there in one piece.”

“Yeah, because we weren’t prepared,” Nancy said. “But this time, we will be. We’ll get weapons and protection. We’ll go through the gate, we’ll find his lair, and we’ll kill him.”

I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes at Nancy as Steve said, “Yeah, or he’ll kill us.”

“Are you fucking serious right now?” I asked. “The only fucking reason you survived was because he wanted you to. He’s not fucking scared of us.”

“Language,” Nancy said.

“And for good reason,” Robin said, standing. “We were wrong about Venca. Henry. One. Sorry, wh-what are we calling him now?”

About four people gave their opinion, confusing Robin, to which I said, “Robs, focus, babe.”

“Right.” Not sure who she directed that at, but I’ll take it. “We’ve learned something new about Vecna/Henry/One. He’s a number like Eleven, only a sick, evil, male, child-murdering version of her with really bad skin, but my-my-my-my point is, he’s super powerful. He could turn us inside out with the snap of his fingers. It’s not a fair fight.”

“So then why fight fair?” Dustin said. “You’re right, he’s like Eleven.”

“That gives us the upperhand,” I added. “We know her strengths, and weaknesses.”

“Weaknesses?” Erica asked.

“Yeah!” I said, a small smile appearing on my face. “When El remote travels–”

“She goes into this sort of trance-like state,” Dustin said.

“Bet it’s the same for Vecna.”

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

“Exactly!” Dustin and I said. He continued with “When he attacks his next victim, I’ll bet’cha he’s back in that attic, physical body defenseless.”

“Defenseless?” Steve said. “Yeah, what about the army of bats?” He gestured to his neck, making me a little sad.

“Right?” Dustin said. “True, we’ll have to find a way past them. Distract them somehow.”

I sighed, now seriously aggravated. “No one is going back to the Upside Down!”

“And, uh, how do we do that, exactly?” Eddie asked.

“No idea.”

“By not going,” I added.

“Dearest sister, once they’re gone, he doesn’t stand a chance!” Dustin said. “It’ll be like slaying sleeping Dracula in his coffin!”

“That all sounds good in theory,” Robin said. “But there is no pattern to Vecna’s killings. I mean, at least not one that I can decipher.”

“She’s right,” I said. “You don’t know when he’s going to attack next. Or who, for that matter.”

Without missing a beat, Max said, “Yeah, we do.”

“No.”

“I can still feel him.”

“No.”

“I’m still… marked, Liv. Cursed.”

“Don’t even think about it,” I said, pointing in her direction.

Max continued, “I ditch Kate Bush, I draw his focus back to me.”

Tears sprung to my eyes as she said this. I could see why she wanted to, but I didn’t want her to basically sacrifice herself just for Vecna to be distracted for a moment. With a couple of tears streaming down my cheeks, I whispered, “Max.”

She looked at me before Lucas added, “You can’t.”

“He’ll kill you,” Lucas and I said.

“I survived before,” she said. After a few seconds, she added, “I can survive again.”

Wanting to rip my hair out, I made a frustrated grunt, while also wanting to throw or punch something.

“Liv–”

“No!”

“I just–I need to keep him busy long enough so that you guys can get into that attic. Then you can chop his head off, stab him in the heart, blow him up with some explosives Dustin and/or Liv cooks up. I honestly–I really don’t care how you put this asshole in his grave. Just… whatever it is… whatever you do…” She looked directly at me, eyes intensely locking on mine. “Try not to miss.”

Dropping my head back, as well as dropping my arms from their crossed position, I groaned before closing my eyes. Feeling hands on my shoulders, I picked my head up and opened my eyes, meeting Steve’s somewhat worried one. “You guys stress me out.”

~~~

Eddie had grabbed a phonebook, telling us all to gather over at the dining table. I was standing between him and Steve with everyone else crowding around us as Eddie slammed the book down onto the table, pointing to a spot on the page he had opened it up to, an advertisement for The War Zone. “Check this out. The War Zone. I’ve been there once. It’s huge. They got… everything you need for, uhh… well, uh, killing things, basically.”

“Fake Rambo got enough guns there, Eddie?” I asked. “Bro, is that a grenade?”

“I mean, how is any of this legal?” Robin asked on Eddie’s left side.

“Well, lucky for us it is, so…” Eddie said, sarcastically. “This-this place is just far enough outside of Hawkins.”

“Just as long as we steer clear of the main roads, we should be able to avoid the cops and angry hicks,” I said. At the looks everyone gave, I breathed in annoyance. “For Eddie, dumbasses.”

“If we’re trying to avoid angry hicks,” Erica said. “Maybe we shouldn’t go to some store called The War Zone.”

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

“Me, too,” Lucas sighed.

Leaning onto the table with the palm of my hands, I chuckled while hanging my head forward, my chin meeting my collarbone. “You guys are still fucking nuts.”

“Language,” Nancy muttered.

“Coming from the girl who said bullshit about five times in a freaking row,” I said, picking up my head to look at Nancy. “You guys are nuts for wanting to venture back to the Upside Down, and for wanting to put Eddie’s life in danger.” Turning my eyes to my brother, I said, “Dustin, what’s your stance on this? I mean, Eddie’s your other older male best friend.”

“Is it worth the time? It’ll take all day to bike there and back,” he replied.

“Who said anything about bikes?” Eddie said.

“You got some sort of car we don’t know about?” Steve asked.

Standing up straight, Eddie looked over my head at Steve, smiling as he said, “It’s not exactly a car, Steve. And it’s not exactly mine, but, uh… it’ll do.” Turning around to face Max, Eddie said, “Hey, Red, uh, you got a ski mask or a bandana, something like that?”

Audibly taking a deep breath, I turned my head to look at her, a sly smile on my face. “You got that Halloween mask from ‘84?”

She smiled a little at me before going into her bedroom to retrieve the mask, giving it to Eddie, who went outside with all of us following him. We made it to the side of one of the trailers before he put the mask on, poking his head around the side, causing me to laugh quietly.

We ran past the trailer that was across the way from us before going around the side of an RV, Eddie jumping in first. As I jumped in with Steve’s help, I heard Eddie say, “That was suffocating,” after he discarded the Michael Myers mask.

I looked back, watching as Steve jumped in behind me, everyone else following after him as I followed Eddie to the front of the RV. Watching as Eddie reached under the steering wheel, I asked, “Whoa, hey, what’re you doing?” He cut a cord as his answer, my eyes going wide. “You’re hotwiring it?”

“Where’d you learn how to do this?” Steve asked.

“It’s simple,” I said. Silence filled the air for a moment as I looked back at Steve, who had his brows scrunched. “Oh, you weren’t asking me, okay.” Turning my head back to face Eddie, Steve said, “We’ll talk about that later.”

“Ed-Eddie? Wanna answer?” I said.

“Well, Henderson, when the other dads were teaching their kids how to fish or play ball, my old man was teaching me how to hotwire. Now, I swore to myself I wouldn’t wiiiind up like he did, but now I’m wanted for murder, and soon, grand theft auto. So, uhh, I’m really living up to that Munson name.” As he explained all this, he was cutting what he needed before brushing the wires against each other.

Robin came up behind us, saying, “Uh, Eddie, I’m not sure I love the idea of you driving.”

“Oh, I’m just starting this sucker,” Eddie said. “Harrington’s got her. Don’t ‘cha, big boy?”

I looked at Eddie, confused, as the engine started, the owners demanding us to open the door that Eddie had locked upon arrival inside the RV.

“Hey!”

“They locked the door!”

“Well, are we just gonna stand here and look pretty while they try to bust in and call the cops on Eddie, or are we actually gonna steal this fucking thing?” I asked.

“Shit, go,” Steve said, pushing Eddie out of the driver’s seat. I moved to sit in the passenger seat.

“Babe, it’s just a car,” I said, seeing the panic in his eyes.

“Everybody, hang on to something!” Steve yelled, turning to face the back for a moment.

I saw Nancy moving towards the front as I looked back to see where Dustin was sitting as Lucas said, “Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Let’s go! Let’s go!”

“Drive, Steve, driiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!” Dustin yelled.

I watched as Steve put the RV in drive before putting his foot on the gas pedal, sending the vehicle forward, Lucas’ repeating of the word “Go!”

“Shit, they look pissed,” Dustin said.

“I mean, it’s not everyday you lose your house and car in one fell swoop,” Robin said.

Even through my excited laughter, I still heard everything they said.

“Hold on, hold on, hold on!” Steve said. He swerved a little, running into the trash cans at the side of the road, before making the widest turn onto the main road, almost taking us off said road a couple times.

When my laughter eventually died down, I turned to look at Steve, chuckling, “Remind me to never let you drive an RV again.”

He chuckled while trying to get a feel for it. “Okay.”

~~~

The further we drove, the more stable the vehicle seemed to be, which told me that Steve was getting a handle on it. I couldn't help but smile at him as he got more comfortable with it. Almost reminded me of when he learned how to drive, how comfortable he got in his car after his parents gifted it to him.

I could feel Nancy’s eyes staring into me as I just looked at Steve, taking a deep breath to start a conversation. “How’s it handle, babe?”

“Not half bad,” he replied. “Considering that this is a… house.”

I chuckled. “Was that a sarcastic comment I just heard?” I watched the corner of his mouth lift up a little, a quick and quiet chuckle coming from him. The moment it was quiet, I listened to the radio, singing along to what was playing on the radio, “They let me know you were gone.”

Sighing happily, I turned my head over my shoulder to look at Steve, smiling. “Do you remember when we were in, like, 7th grade and we heard this song for the first time?”

I saw the look on his face like he was thinking about it. “What’s this song again?”

“Fire and Rain by James Taylor. I remember just sitting in your room one night and this song came on the radio, and I instantly fell in love with it.” I knew he remembered what the song was, but telling him the first time I ever heard this song will forever be my favorite. That was also the night I knew I liked him as more than a friend.

“I know you know a lot about me and my… dreams, or whatever, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you this,” he said.

“Told me what?” I asked, turning a little to face him.

“Ya’know, it’s… it’s silly, but I… I’ve actually, uhm… I always had this dream that I’d have this really… really big family,” he explained. “I’m talking like a full brood of Harringtons. Like, five, six kids.”

“Six?” I asked, incredulously with my brows raised.

“Yeah. Six little nuggets. Three girls, three boys.” He chuckled as he continued, “And-and every summer, I figured all of us Harringtons, we would pack into something like this and… just see the country.”

I looked at him, falling even more in love with him as he continued, “Ya’know, the Rockies, Grand Canyon, maybe Yellowstone.” He looked at me for a moment, that same look in his eyes that I was giving him. “End up in some beachside town in California. Spend a week parked in the sand. Learn how to surf or something.” “I could see you surfing,” I said, quietly, after a moment before adding, “But, that sounds amazing.”

He looked at me, asking, “Yeah?”

I nodded my head, smiling. “Yeah.” I wanted to lean over and kiss him stupid, but couldn’t or else we’d crash. “Uhm, except for that six kid part. I love you, but that sounds like a total nightmare with a migraine.”

He looked in the back of the RV for a quick second, saying, “If only I had some practice.”

Looking back at everyone in the back, I smirked, chuckling to myself. “Yep, that’s fair.” I stretched my hand out for him to take, to which he quickly did, lacing our fingers together.

“I would kiss your hand, but I’d drag you out of your seat,” he said, chuckling, looking at me for a moment.

“I wouldn’t mind.”

He turned his head back to look out at the road as I started to sing along to the song once more, turning my own head to look out at the road.

~~~

I guess I had dozed off or something because I was being woken up by Steve whispering my name, saying that we were at War Zone. He gave me the option of staying with Dustin or coming inside. I chose the latter. Dustin could take care of himself, but that didn’t stop me from telling him to not draw attention to the RV.

Erica, myself, Steve, Max, Robin and Nancy went inside the store after having parked out back. We stood there as we all looked around, seeing a shit ton of people inside.

“So much for avoiding angry hicks,” Robin said.

“Let’s just get what we need and leave,” I said. “And, please, don’t draw attention to yourself.”

“Let’s be… fast,” Nancy said.

“Yup,” Robin added.

“Definitely,” Erica retorted.

Steve took my hand and led me to the men’s clothing section, where he picked out a leather jacket, a camo style shirt, a random pair of socks and some combat boots. After I had found a similar outfit for me that was more my style, we found Robin putting some gas cans into the buggy.

“How many of these do you think we need?” she asked.

“Five or six,” Steve answered, putting a couple more into the buggy.

I noticed Robin standing still, looking off, so I looked in the direction she was looking in before looking back and forth between her and the girl she was looking at as I remembered who that girl was. “What’cha gonna do, Robs?”

“Just stand here and gawk at her?” Steve added.

“Shut up,” she said. She took one step forward before stopping, some guy having come up to Vickie, scaring her.

The three of us watched their interaction, my excitement dwindling as I felt Robin’s confidence start to plummet. We watched them kiss, my heart breaking for Robin. I wanted to kill that boy for interrupting the moment Robin was having.

Vickie turned to look at us - well, Robin - before her boyfriend decided to do so as well, my best friend turning and running away from us as Steve and I called her name.

Erica found us a couple of minutes later, saying that Jason and his basketball buddies were in the store. Once we found Nancy, we all hauled ass out of the store, paying of course, all of our gear in all of our hands as we booked it back to the RV.

Steve opened the door, walking in first as Lucas asked what happened. “We gotta go.”

“Your old friends are here,” Erica said, sitting next to her brother.

I walked in the RV, going to sit in the passenger seat, Nancy having beat me to it. Thank God Robin had called her name, giving her a look that made her roll her eyes before getting up. I sat down as Max climbed in, closing the door.

~~~

Steve found a big ass piece of land to hide out at, everyone getting out to set up different stations, I guess. Nancy and Max were at one station with the shotgun we had purchased, Lucas and Erica making spears with knives and big ass sticks at another, Eddie and Dustin making shields out of metal trash can lids at a third station, while Steve, Robin and myself were sitting in front of the RV making homemade molotov cocktails with gasoline.

We were sitting on various flat items as we did our task; Steve to my right, Robin to my left. It was quiet for a moment between the three of us as Robin was pouring the gasoline into the bottle that was in my hand. I was looking at Steve as he was contemplating something before he spoke.

“It just doesn’t make sense,” he said.

“What doesn’t make sense,” Robin and I asked.

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

“And you’re hung up on this why?” I asked.

“Because he’s in college, babe, which means he was visiting on Spring Break. I mean, wouldn’t you visit me if you were in college?”

I sighed. “Yes, but I’m not.”

“Anyway, Fast Times was returned, like, I don’t know, a week ago?” Steve said. “Right? Unless she’s got some horndog brother that we don’t know about. Which is possible. Or she’s just, like, really into Judge Reinhold?”

I watched Robin’s reaction as he went on about Vickie’s boyfriend. “Babe, I love you and this outfit is, like, top tier, but if you don’t stop talking, I’m gonna murder you in your sleep,” I said.

“Steve,” Robin said, eyes closed in what is clearly discomfort.

Steve looked over at her, asking, “What?”

“I don’t care,” she said. “And I don’t understand why you do either with everything that’s going on. Honestly, this feels like the perfect time for that little pull of the rug… because in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, looking down. “I mean, I get you there, but… I still have hope.”

I gave Robin the bottle that I put a cloth in before Steve handed me another one. “Not everything has a happy ending,” I said.

“Yeah, yeah, believe me, I know,” Steve said, looking in front of him before back down at my hands.

I sighed in annoyance. “She’s not talking about failed romance, babe. Besides, you have me now.”

“She’s right,” Robin said, pouring the liquid into the clear bottle. “I have this terrible, gnawing feeling that…” She stopped pouring to look Steve in the eyes as she continued, “It might not work out for us this time.”

“Robin, stop,” I whispered, setting the bottle down on the ground to stand and pace in front of them.

“You think we shouldn’t be doing this?” Steve asked.

Without missing a beat, I turned my head in their direction to say a hard and quick, “No!”

“I think we’re mad fools, the lot of us, but…” Robin said, starting to pour the gas again, but stopped after her statement to sigh and look out at everyone to add, “if we don’t stop him, who will?” She looked back at Steve, saying, “We have to try, right?”

I stopped my pacing to look at my boyfriend, seeing him nodding his head ever so slightly before looking over at Robin to say, “Yeah.” He lifted the bottle in his hand before saying, “To killing Vecna.”

She grabbed one of the bottles next to her, holding it up, replying, “Slash Henry.”

They both turned their eyes to me, an expectant look in their eyes. I sighed exasperatedly and walked over to Robin, picking up another cocktail we had prepared, holding it up in the air as I walked to stand in between them, saying, “Slash One.” We clinked our bottles, Robin and I setting ours back on the ground.

I honestly didn’t know what else to do, so I walked into the RV, running my fingers through my hair once I was inside, my pacing starting up again. I didn’t even realize I had started crying or that someone had walked into the RV with me until my face was being buried into the person's chest.

I knew that person was Steve. I felt his hand on the back of my head and his lips on the top of my head. Wrapping my arms around his middle, I let out a quiet sob that made him hold me a little tighter.

“I know,” he whispered. “I’m scared, too.”

“I’m not scared for myself,” I whispered back to him. “I’m scared for Max.” Looking up at him, I felt a tear slide down my cheek as I sniffled. “She’s just a kid.”

“I know, baby, but she’s a strong kid.”

Sighing, I looked at a spot on his shirt for a moment before closing my eyes. “I’m also scared of losing you,” I whispered. It was so soft, I wondered if he heard me or not.

I got my answer as he replied, “Hey, look at me,” while putting his finger under my chin, lifting my head up so that our eyes could meet. Shaking his head while cupping my cheeks, he said, “You’re not going to lose me, you’re never going to lose me.”

I placed my hands on his wrists, more tears streaming down my face. “Do you promise?”

He nodded, quickly. “I promise. I have to kiss you stupid for the rest of our lives.”

I chuckled through my tears, sighing. “I like it when you kiss me stupid.”

~~~

I couldn’t tell you how long Steve and I held each other in the RV before the sun started to set. Everyone pretty much sat in the same seats we were all in before. Shit was getting real and our situation was starting to set in as we drove to the Creel house to drop off Max, Lucas and Erica so that they could execute their part of the plan.

Feeling Steve’s eyes on me, I looked over at him, giving a shy smile, the words “I love you” being whispered from his lips. I whispered them back before sighing.

This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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A/N 2: hi, friends! pls be kind and reblog! it really helps us content creators out <3

Additional Note: i just wanted to say a quick thank you to my readers on this series for being incredibly patient with me these last few weeks. i've been under a lot of stress, and i think it all just came to a head when my kids were a couple days out from spending time with my dad. my anxiety and depression took a hit because of it. i'm sorry everything is coming out late. it was not my intention. thank you sticking around. it means more to me than you truly realize.

~~~

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~~~

*Please don’t post my writing anywhere else without my consent. The author of this work will always and forever be @harringtonstilinski.

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Posted on June 10, 2024 *Happy Pride Month to those who celebrate!*

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henrysglock · 1 year

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We Really Need To Talk About Henry Creel and the "Psychopath" Label.

I'm putting the word "psychopath" on a high shelf and out of reach until further notice because we as a whole clearly a) does not understand what psychopathy is, b) does not know what it actually looks like in people, and c) is more than happy feeding into the already existing stigma around the disorder by using the term to describe someone who is a villain, but who's also very much not a psychopath if you look at his actual mannerisms and beliefs.

That is to say: If we completely ignore any timeline fuckery and treat Vecna/Henry like one singular guy...The terms you all are looking for are "pathological altruism", "superiority complex", cPTSD, and/or autism.

Y'know, things that can stem from intense, prolonged childhood trauma and are characterized by a) believing oneself to have the power, authority, and duty to fix others' problems for them, b) fluctuations in sensitivity/reactivity to triggering situations, and c) reactive judgmental behavior.

"Psychopath" is not a catch-all for villains, and it does not equate to "violent man disorder".

Let's do a little psychoanalysis of what Henry actually does, working chronologically.

Little Henry (age 12)

He's described as "sensitive". This is code for many things throughout the show, some of which being artistic tendencies, quiet personality, increased vulnerability to emotional harm, queerness, neurodivergence, and connection to the supernatural.

He's shown gently collecting spiders in furnished jars. Henry identifies with the spiders, identifies that they both have been cast aside, and uses that connection to reach the conclusion that the spiders need love and care. He then handles them gently and spends time making homes for them. This alone is a display of empathy, sympathy, and compassion.

He's lonely, rejected by his mother and his peers. This rejection hurts him, and he later bitterly internalizes/recontextualizes the experience to avoid that hurt.

He's called "broken", but later realizes that he isn't broken at all. This indicates that he believed he was broken for some span of time, and his later anger surrounding the topic indicates that that experience hurt him.

He displays a variety of emotions. Henry openly displays sadness, fear, anger, enjoyment, fascination, and excitement.

He is unable to hide his social "wrongness". He couldn't hide the fact that he was different from the other children, indicating that a) he tried and failed, and b) he wanted to fit in at one point.

His father seemed to have liked him as a person. Whatever was "wrong" with Henry, whatever it was that he couldn't hide, it wasn't something that made Victor dislike him.

He recognizes cruelty in society and openly condemns it. Yes, I recognize the later irony in that. That's part of the narrative structure of his villain arc. This isn't about Vecna, it's about preteen Henry.

He hates dishonesty. Whether it be dishonesty with others or with the self, Henry has a specific and powerful hatred of lying.

Now, if anyone tries to tell you about diagnosed "child psychopaths", they're lying to you.

Psychopathy is clinically knowns as Anti-Social Personality Disorder, and it cannot be diagnosed until ages 18+, since children tend to grow out of any "psychopathy markers" they might display in childhood. Children displaying these markers might be flagged as having "conduct disorder", but not psychopathy.

However, lets look at the markers anyway:

GM: Grandiose-Manipulative, DI: Daring-Impulsive, CU: Callous-Unemotional Source

Conduct disorder: Generally characterized by aggression towards others/destruction of property, lying, theft, and limited prosocial emotions. GM: Superficial charm, glibness, suave behavior. Megalomania and narcissism. Lying. DI: Fearlessness, impulsivity, recklessness, lack of responsibility. Risk taking behaviors. CU: Lack of remorse, empathy, sympathy, or compassion. Shallow emotional affect.

Let's tally him up.

Psychopathy:

Grandiose-Manipulative: ❌ Henry does not fit in, and it's clear to everyone that he does not fit in. He can't hide this, no matter how hard he tries. He is not charming or suave. He also internalizes the "broken" label and recognizes that he's rejected for a reason, and it hurts him. It's only later in his childhood that he realizes being different=/=being broken. He has a specific hatred of lying. If we compare him to Billy, the narrative anti-hero who acts as both parallel and foil to him, we can see artificial charm in action. Billy lies and uses acting to get his way. Repeatedly (see: his interactions with Karen). Billy represents GM behaviors in action. Little Henry is, then, in direct conflict with GM traits.

Daring-Impulsive: ❌ Henry only lashes out with violence when he perceives himself as being in imminent danger. He is shown as and later described as being afraid. The only fearlessness we see is in regard to spiders, and that fearlessness can be traced back to his empathy for the spiders as disliked/socially rejected creatures. Again, Billy. Billy and his erratic driving with Max in ST2 and his attempted fling with Karen are both classic displays of DI traits. Little Henry, in contrast, does not display DI traits.

Callous-Unemotional: ❌ Henry displays a range of genuine emotions. He also displays empathy, sympathy, and compassion. He's described as a sensitive child, for heaven's sake. Billy, as a contrast, does not display empathy, sympathy, or compassion. He's unnecessarily cruel and violent for his own entertainment (the car scene) or to maintain control (Max), and he does not display remorse for it. Little Henry does not meet the criteria for CU traits.

Conduct Disorder:

Aggression/Destruction: ❌ Henry is often hiding, he's reclusive, his father describes him as "sensitive", and he's gentle with the spiders. Even his later visions aren't particularly aggressive. It's spiders crawling out of a drain, a cradle in a fireplace. Disturbing, yes, but not aggressive. Henry is shown killing a rabbit, but his reaction is distinctly unhappy and we're only conclusively shown him doing so once. Due to differences in killing style between his singular kill and the other dead animals his family finds on the property and the fact that there are animals that show up mutilated on the Creel property which Henry wouldn't reasonably have access to (see: chickens)...It's not a concrete pattern of behavior. He's not an aggressive child, especially if compared to Billy. Billy is openly violent and aggressive, and he seeks out opportunities to physically hurt others. Henry does not do this. He only lashes out when cornered, which is what happened in 1959 (if we take canon at face value).

Theft: ❌ We are not shown any instances of or inclination towards theft.

Low guilt/remorse: Inconclusive Henry is shown (supposedly) practicing his powers on a rabbit, but he looks distinctly disturbed while doing so. Henry lashes out at his mother with his powers and displays little remorse, but that was self-defense, which muddies the remorse waters. Compare him to Billy, who is clearly enjoying tormenting kids whenever he can (see: the fatshaming at the pool, Max in the car, Lucas at the Byers house). Generally, Henry doesn't meet this criterion, but it remains inconclusive.

Low Empathy: ❌ Henry visibly and verbally displays empathy for the spiders (A similar trait in autism: more empathy for creatures than humans)

Low Affiliative Behaviors: Inconclusive He has issues with regulating eye-contact (it seems like he tends to stare), and he doesn't seem to seek people out. He's reclusive and quiet. However, these are also shared traits with autism...or just being an introvert, and we do see him display warmth/happiness on multiple occasions. We also know he has interest in connection with others due to his later bitterness over the lack of connection he experienced as a child.

Deceitfulness: ❌ Henry hates lying and dishonesty. That's his whole thing.

Fearlessness: ❌ Henry visibly and verbally displays fear on many occasions.

Henry Creel, age 12, is not meeting the markers for conduct disorder/precursors for psychopathy.

Next time point.

Henry Creel, age 32: Orderly

He's good with kids. He soothes El's anxiety, calmly engages with her anger surrounding her mother, sits on the floor beside her to be on her level, takes her concerns seriously, and tries to help her succeed against her struggles in the lab.

He's relatively social. He's the only orderly who interacts with the children willingly/actively seeks out social connection with the children. He's shown wandering around the room observing them, and he seeks El out as company (this will come back later).

He's not harsh with the children. In ST1, we see El being carries around by her arms and thrown around by orderlies. We see Henry being dragged by his arms by orderlies after his electrocution scene. Henry, even when given the authority of an orderly, doesn't engage in this kind of disregard for a) personal space, b) autonomy, and c) wellbeing. The worst we see from him is his reprimand of 002 when 002 is bullying El, and even that's just a quick verbal reprimand.

He empathizes and sympathizes with the children. Henry is openly disturbed by 002's electrocution, even when no one is watching him except the audience. El isn't watching, Brenner isn't watching. Henry empathizes with 002, given that his own electrocution scene just happened in the previous episode. We're being shown genuine empathy and sympathy coming from Henry.

He's still quiet, gentle, and reclusive. He often hunches in on himself when he's not being watched by Brenner. He's consistently soft-spoken and unassuming. His likability comes from his lack of stereotypical superficial charm/suaveness. He comes off as the guy who was bullied to hell and back as a kid, not like a politician (which is what psychopathic charm is most likened to).

When he isn't being like that, it's an act...and an unconvincing one at that. Henry looks distinctly uncomfortable and out of place when he's trying to play the straight-backed, unfeeling orderly. We get tons of side-eye from him directed at Brenner. He doesn't enjoy being on display like that.

Henry tries to help El and then acknowledges that it didn't work/made things worse.

Henry tries to help El escape with no request for anything in return. Her escape was not transactional. Soteria's removal only happened when El reached out about Henry not coming with her, and even then he never asks her to remove it. He gives her information, and then he lets her make her own choices. She wants him to come with, he did not ask her to set him free. All this, despite the fact that he easily could have asked her to remove it as repayment for letting her loose without any red flags being raised on El's part.

Henry displays concern for El's wellbeing He takes her with him when the guards come running after Soteria, even though it would have been a good distraction/would have given him a head start if he'd left her. He defends her and himself from the guards who clearly want to hurt them. He hides her in the store room and tells her he's going to find them a way out.

Let's tally him up.

Grandiose-Manipulative: ❌ Henry still lacks the "classic" psychopathic charm. He's still a bit kooky, definitely not suave. A touch of narcissism might come into play with his desire to "save" El, but that's leaning into pathological altruism. He doesn't display himself as powerful, even after Soteria is removed. He's still soft-spoken and curled in on himself. Of course, we could argue that he's doing all this to manipulate El. Sure...but he never asks for anything in return even when it would be logical and understandable to do so. Getting El to remove Soteria would be like taking candy from a baby. All he'd have to do is say "If you take Soteria out, then I can help you escape. I can only help you if you take it out, though", and she'd do it. She's a lab-raised 8 year old. It would be a far safer gamble for him to flex his authority than to...what? Not mention it and hope she says something? Hope she chooses to do something? Okay. Hell, if we take the show at face value, no timelines or anything...Henry has already leveraged his authority with El before. "If you want to escape, you must do exactly as I say", he tells her in the chess scene...and then he just straight up never mentions Soteria. No matter how you slice it...that wasn't manipulation. It was altruism.

Daring-Impulsive: ❌ Henry does display risk-taking behaviors, but we need to apply context. He's been locked and abused in this lab for 20 years, El's been there for 8 years under similar conditions...there's no chance at escape for either of them unless someone takes a risk. Even so, it's not the type of risk that's associated with thrill-seeking. He's not doing it for the thrill, he's doing it to get out.

Callous-Unfeeling: ❌ It's a bit more difficult to say that it's not an act here because he's usually being watched by El, however...in the times when he's not being watched, he displays empathy, sympathy, and compassion, and those displays are paired with distinction emotional expressions. This is where the escape scene comes into play. Henry once again only attacks once he's cornered and in danger (not to mention that this time he has a dependent to worry about). His plan is to run. He's not inclined towards violence until he's left with no other choice, and when he does lash out he doesn't actually use his powers to kill until that final guard (who seemed to take great pleasure in the prospect of getting to shocked both him and El). He throws the other soldiers around, but he doesn't give them that menacing, sadistic look. That's reserved for that specific guard. It's sadism borne of a personal grudge due to prolonged mistreatment. It's revenge, not sadism for the sake of sadism.

Orderly Henry Creel, age 32, definitely has something going on up there (likely a whopping dose of cPTSD). He sure is a Guy in a Situation. However, he does not meet the criteria for psychopathy.

And now, my favorite and most controversial section:

Vecna-Henry (ages 32-38)

First and foremost: I need you all to read this with the understanding that I am explaining behaviors, not excusing them. Nothing that happened was right or justified, based on a normal person's frame of mind. However, in order to even come close to psychoanalyzing someone, you have to get inside their head. It's their thoughts and motivations that matter here, not what outsiders judge them to be. That's why it takes months of talking and testing to pin down diagnoses.

We need to be able to look at things from Henry's point of view and piece it together in his frame of mind. You feel me? Good.

I'm abandoning the checklist format for this section because it requires more nuance than just "yes" or "no", but I'm still going to list off some key traits about Vecna:

He chooses his victims carefully. Our 4 victims are not chosen willy-nilly. This isn't "I want to kill for fun", or we'd have Art the Clown instead. He personally kills exactly as many as he needs to open the Rifts, no more. He doesn't kill for killing's sake.

Each victim is chosen with a specific backstory in mind. I've spoken about this before, but if you know anything about serial killers it's that they're almost always going after victims that tie into their own trauma (i.e. killers with mommy issues going after women who look like their mothers, etc). Stranger Things, of course, is a touch more intricate. The order and specific stories of the victims tells a meta narrative. Chrissy and her horrible mother with the rotting food that's a direct link to the custom-made painting in the Creel dining room during the dinner scene. Fred and being a murderer, even though it was a negligent accident. Max and Billy, whose story is so complex and so inverse of Henry's that it fits perfectly with a song about swapping places to feel how the other feels. Again, a death outside of the victim's control, but this time tinged with the relief that an abuser had died after years of wishing for it to happen. Patrick and his abusive father, his abusive Papa, if you will. They tell us a story, just like almost every other serial killer. We know Virginia was a bad mother based on the situation Henry finds himself in at age 12, but we're never shown the extent of that conflict because we never see them interact. It wasn't physically possible for Henry to have killed Alice. How could Henry, who was near-fainting after having "killed" Virginia, find the strength to trance Victor and kill Alice? How could he do that, when we don't even see Vecna do that, when he's so much more powerful? He's not capable of multitasking. ST4 made that very clear. Thus, negligent death. Billy and Max vs the Creel murders are essentially just an inverse situation. Older abuser dies, the young victim wished for it to happen and is now Feeling Things about the situation. Lost a sibling in the process. And last but not least, Patrick, who shares a name with a lab guard in ST1 and has an abusive father. That's a Brenner link. It's a story by proxy. Vecna uses that shared trauma to connect with his victims. (That's the real deal: Shared Trauma). It's weaponized empathy.

He talks over and over again about honesty and ending suffering. Those are his two huge Things in his kills. He holds up a mirror to what the victim perceives to be the worst part of them, and then he turns around and all but tells them he'll make it end. After all...everyone is just waiting, waiting for it all to be over. He's got a fixation on making sure his victim knows that a) this was their fault, and b) he's being the Good Guy by relieving their suffering.

He has no reason left to pretend to have a Good Moral Justification for his kills, and yet he still talks to his victims like he's justifying their deaths.

That's...a lot, but let's dive right in.

Henry and his funky morality complex is endlessly fascinating to me, because what he seems to be doing is self-soothing about it all. Psychopaths, in contrast, are aware of moral compasses, of good and bad, but they aren't typically beholden to the concept. A psychopath likely wouldn't feel the need to self-soothe about their actions by telling themselves and others that they're doing what they're doing to relieve suffering...which is coincidentally exactly what Henry, as Vecna, does the whole time.

At this stage in the story, Henry would have no reason to keep up that kind of savior charade when his audience is just himself and his victim. There's no one there to manipulate by falsifying morality. The only other person listening is going to die imminently. The interesting part comes in when we understand that Henry doesn't have to play the angel at all in ST4. He's certain he's already succeeded by the time we realize what he's up to. He doesn't have anything to gain by lying about his perceived morality. Psychopaths, generally speaking, don't care enough to put the effort into lying if it isn't useful. That means that the last time he would have actually needed to play the angel was during his 1979 monologue. However, we see the same phrases about suffering and the associated release that we hear in 1979 continuing to return as far in as 1986, when Henry no longer has any reason to lie, even if he were okay with lying in the first place (which he's not)! They're all genuine lines. They're a core part of his character.

Vecna wants to be in the right, in the clear, morally. He can't accept that what he's doing is abusive; he has to frame it specifically so that he is doing what's right, that he's freeing people and solving problems.

He's doing his damndest to actualize his "predator, but for good" line from 1979.

This does not smack of psychopathy.

This smells like a savior complex.

Even as far back as 1979, Henry has been obsessed with saving things from their problems ("Tricked you? No. I saved you"). He "saves" spiders from the vents of his house and gives them new homes, he "saves" El from the lab's brainwashing, he "saves" the ST4 victims from their suffering...and dare I say it...he "saves" the lab children in 1979 from their suffering as part of Brenner's lab, the only true escape from which is death (And if it was a 2-birds-1-stone situation with absorbing abilities...well. That's just a bonus).

Granted, the morality surrounding the manifestation of Henry's savior complex has been warped by massive psychic alteration and 20 years of unimaginable abuse with no feasible escape, so yeah. It's a little fucked up. He's a little fucked up. Obviously.

However, at it's core: Everything Henry has ever done has (in his mind) been Right, Good, and Necessary, despite the fact that he's now actively doing more harm than good.

This reeks of pathological altruism.

Here's what that can look like, clinically:

Source

Well damn, doesn't that sound familiar? (I'm staring directly at Henry's spider hoarding versus the above image)

"Saving" spiders, but condemning them to death in jars after his kidnapping. "Saving" El from the lab, but traumatizing her and ultimately condemning her to his own fate: being the sole focus of Brenner's attention. "Saving" the ST4 victims from their suffering, but hurting them in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone: free himself, and eliminate their suffering as a nice morality bonus.

Pathological Altruism. Savior Complex.

Jamie himself has said that, based on what has been shown to us, Henry truly believes that what he's doing is right and beneficial (which fits with his Catholic-God coding (here) so well).

All this to say, and I cannot stress this enough: This is not psychopathy. What Henry displays is not psychopathy. This is pathological altruism. Psychopaths, particularly those who go on to commit violent crimes, largely do not have savior complexes. A psychopathic serial killer would not care, and would not hide that they don't care if there isn't anything to gain from it.

Henry also has this incredible fixation on truth and right vs wrong, and yes, he weaponizes that, but again he does so while self-soothing with padded morality phrasing. He monologues for ages about how terrible it is that everyone is lying to themselves and others, and how everyone is suffering but no one wants to admit it. His main goal is remaking the world with a "better" version of society that's less oppressive (which happens to be one where a rule-bound society is entirely done away with). Henry then swings way past "Good, Right, Necessary" into villain territory but going so far as to force his victims into facing the truth of what's going on inside their heads, forcing them to stop lying about their own mental states, only to then use the "worst" thing about themselves to judge them. He's quite literally playing God based on his use of right and wrong to maintain control/power while holding a moral high ground. (He's doing a pretty good job, too. He sounds just like the Catholic God.)

This is not psychopathic behavior.

His behavior seems more like black/white judgmental thinking:

A misguided and overwhelmingly strong sense of justice:

Source

and a killer superiority complex fueled by chronically low self-esteem:

Source

A psychopathic serial killer would have little attachment to truth or right and wrong.

A psychopathic serial killer would not care.

Source

The thing is: Henry's whole issue is that he cares entirely too much. His problem is that everything matters, everything can and should be sorted into good and evil, right and wrong (and obviously he is in the right here), save and destroy. It's judgement and warped justice and the need to believe he's special, that it all happened for a reason, that the world deserves to burn for what it did to people like him, that he can fix the world if he destroys it first.

This also happens to be why Henry cannot be considered a nihilist, which is another term I'm putting up on a shelf. Henry sees the world as inherently having value, that life has value, that there's something worth rebuilding (so long as he gets to dictate what the rules are...so long as he never gets hurt again). If he didn't care so much, he wouldn't be so damn upset about it all. He's a mess. He legitimately cares too much, the hurt is too deep.

That, in combination with the perspective warping from not only his absorptive quality but also 20 years of MKULTRA/Hawkins National Lab Fuckery, has created the mentality we see in ST4 and the actions it has manifested in (again, ignoring timelines).

Vecna is a violent, lab-made hypocrite with a touch of trauma-borne misanthropy, for sure, but he's not a psychopath.

tl; dr: Psychopathy is not synonymous with "villainous man disorder". Henry Creel is not a psychopath, though as it stands he is technically our villain.

#breaking: media fans told that psychopathy is NOT just ''evil man'' disorder #[squirts fans with a water bottle] AHT. AHT. PUT THE LABEL DOWN.#henry was a good kid. a good young man even. and i'm standing by it #henry creel analysis #henry/vecna/001 #psychoanalyzing henry creel #st character analysis #stranger things

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