#STEVE IS LIKE AN OLDER BROTHER FIGURE TO DUSTIN RIGHT????

[apocalyptic-byler]

thinking about dustin clinging to steve even more because he doesnt want to lose another older brother figure :(

[lunaicfantastic]

just rewatched the first two httyd movies and I can't get the idea of Steve and Eddie as stoick and valka out of my head... the dancing and the dreaming scene, them both unknowingly echoing each other while believing the other dead/incapable of change... this scene:

(taken from a meme cause I couldn't find a gif of this exchange)

just,,, steve seeing eddie for the first time in so long and how can he be mad when the love of his life is here, with him, again, something he never thought he'd see until he crossed the threshold of Valhalla?

(also steve doesn't die in this au bc fuck that noise)

[steviewashere]

Late night fic idea that I'm definitely going to try and write at some point!!

Definitely very angsty. Steve's got bad parents. A few arguments. And Steve basically restarting his adult life. But it would definitely have a happy ending! Walk with me here.

In early 1987, Steve gets into a nasty argument with his parents. About how much of a disappointment he is, how he can't hold a good enough job, that he's just not who they wanted him to be. They tell him, pretty loudly, that if he can't grow up, then he needs to get out.

He, of course, is very upset by the result of this argument. Because he's trying his damn hardest at this whole adult thing. He's trying his damn hardest to be the person everybody wants him to be; the older brother, the best friend, the boyfriend—the good guy. Yet, even though he's completely emotionally devastated, he still goes to Eddie's because they have a date.

He's not very attentive during the date. Ignoring Eddie's comments sometimes. Giving half answers. And Eddie takes it the opposite of something wrong with Steve—no, he thinks there's something wrong with him. They end up having their own nasty, explosive argument. One that ends with Eddie muttering something along the lines of, "God, I hate you so much right now." He doesn't mean it, knows he doesn't mean it because it's too easy to just say a bullshit claim than talk it all out, hash it out as it is, figure out the root of the problem. However, Steve doesn't know this. Steve thinks Eddie means it.

Thinks that Eddie's just been putting on this interested facade to save Steve's lonely, battered heart. That maybe the novelty of their relationship ran out a long time ago. Eddie's just now telling it as it is; the same way Nancy had. A bullshit relationship, one that never meant anything. (And similar to Nancy, they don't really mean it. It's all just moment of passion stuff).

Steve leaves Eddie's. Leaves with his heart dropped out of him, wet and dead on Eddie's carpet. He leaves with bile in the back of his throat, eyes that ache, a head that's too messy to sort through. And then, the only idea that becomes clear to him: he has to get out.

Get out of Hawkins.

Because if Eddie was thinking something like that all along, who else has been thinking the same thing? Dustin? Max? Robin?

He goes to work. Submits a letter of resignation. Gives the courtesy of two more weeks. And then...

He packs all that he thinks he needs in a couple bags: a backpack and a duffel bag. He sells his car, the only money he now has to his name, plus whatever his last Family Video paycheck is. Steve gets on the closest bus, one that'll take him to a shuttle, and he takes a train out of Indiana.

Goes west. Goes to a shitty neighborhood in Sacramento, as far as he can get. He got the transfer request sent over to a Family Video here, he'll start there soon. He stays in a hotel for a couple nights, a couple nights before he finds a last minute lease for a shitty apartment.

And he just stays there. Stays in Sacramento.

He calls Robin's house once on a payphone, that way he can't be tracked. Robin's not home when he calls. He gives a message to her mom: "Tell Robin that I'm sorry. And...and that I love"—he'd sigh—"Yeah. Yeah, just tell her that I'm sorry, please. I did what I had to." He hangs up, doesn't give another way for him to be contacted and he moves on.

Some years pass. He hasn't been taking care of himself all that well, it's noticeable in how he looks. Scraggly facial hair, heavy eyes, lanky and skinny body, he's mowed down most of his hair. Just looks like an imposter in his own skin. He's working a different dead-end retail job��some supermarket, one that's owned by a corporation, he's one in thousands; somebody not cared for. His social life is nothing. He's weird around other people, weird in general; trauma that's been left unsolved, nightmares that keep him awake (so his neighbors now have a vendetta against him), stares too hard, doesn't like to talk anymore. He's hollow. A man who nobody knows, no connotations, no stupid hierarchies or nicknames attached to him. He's just Steve Harrington, some guy.

Yet, in the time he's been there, he takes up a few hobbies. Ones that work well with his secluded lifestyle. He picks up painting and photography. Things he never thought he'd be interested in. But...but he gets too bored, so he tries.

Finds out that he's good. Finds out that he's good enough for his own small studio space. For a small exhibit in the local art museum. And there, on the floor of his exhibit, idling between people who want to know more about the guy that keeps showing up in his paintings: brown eyes and pink mouth and smiles that are too big for his face; and the woman: a bob with bangs, crystal blue eyes, and a kindness that shows in her soft smiles; it's there that he sees an all too familiar face.

Eddie meets his eyes. Older, grown into his body, same brown eyes, same long curly hair. And there's a sheen of tears in his stare. A recognition he never thought he'd receive.

And there's silence. People passing them by.

Until, when the exhibit is empty except for them, Steve can only muster a simple, "Hey." And a smile, something thin that doesn't feel very real. Didn't want to be found, not yet. But in the paintings, he's been dreaming; he's been searching.

From the entryway of another exhibit, one that connects to Steve's, Robin appears. She's got that '90s pixie. And cherry stained lips. Grunge eyeshadow and an ill fitting, hole-riddled t-shirt that Steve slowly realizes is one he wore; those red Converse from Scoops, faded black Sharpie, but the only text that's still dark (as if it's been written over and over) is one he put there: "Dingus was here". She doesn't even speak. Only knows. Tripping over her own feet, dashing across the waxed floor, sliding across it with clumsy limbs. Crashing straight into Steve, hefting him up in her arms, squeezing him so tight he can't breathe.

When she places him back down on the ground, standing side by side with Eddie, the two of them simply staring at him in awe and relief, Eddie finally speaks for the two of them.

He fucking speaks. His voice is dripping with relief, yearning rich and honey-sweet in the vowels. Words full of love that's been stirring slow like a stew in his heart, thick and clogging.

"There you are, sweetheart. There you are."

[stevie-petey]

episode six: the spy

Steve looks like a kicked puppy as you storm ahead of him and Dustin, putting enough distance between you guys so that you can’t hear their conversion that follows.  “Shit…” “You’re awful with women.” Dustin says, now continuing to walk. He doesn’t bother to follow after you, knowing that you need your space to cool down. “I wouldn’t follow her, by the way. Let her cool off.” Steve sighs, now walking as well, “Yeah, I know.” 

Summary: dustin and steve haggle a butcher, you throw some meat at steve and then have a weird conversation about love, you stop dustin from becoming an incel, and then you wrestle some demodogs like any real woman would. side note: steve is hot protecting the kids.

Rating: general, violence and swearing

Warnings: fem!reader, use of y/n, violence and swearing, blood mention and ptsd mention, weapons, fire, probably more

Words: 17.1k (i fear how much longer these next few chapters become)

Before you swing in: its here !!! god, this chapter was ROUGH. the conversations between bug and steve took many rewrites and editing. i wanted to get it just right, and finally i think im satisfied with where they landed. bug and steve aside, i absolutely loved writing this chapter with the kids. i sincerely hope you guys enjoy, this chapter took blood, sweat, n tears lmao

-

You’re the first to break the silence as you all stare at the hole Dart created in the wall in shock.

An obnoxiously loud yawn escapes your lips, and Dustin and Steve shoot you simultaneous weird glances. You feel your face heat up in embarrassment. “Sorry… It’s been a long day.”

Steve huffs. “Yeah, no kidding.”

Dustin clears his throat before standing up. He wipes off some dirt that got on his jeans and then offers you his hand so that he can pull you up as well. You accept it and stand, your bones a deep, weary type of heavy that only comes from pure exhaustion. 

“Okay,” Dustin begins, and you can already see a plan forming in his mind. “Steve, you’ll spend the night here so that way we can all get up bright and early to start our search for Dart.” 

Steve attempts to argue, but Dustin puts his hand up to shush him and continues with his speech. The older boy throws his hands up in the air and gives you a look of disbelief over your brother’s antics. You stifle a laugh, which he only rolls his eyes at. Steve, whether he likes it or not, will have to get used to Dustin’s… Dustin-ness.

“If he escaped through the tunnel, then we have to assume that there’s an opening somewhere above ground.” Dustin finishes. 

You nod your head slowly, still unconvinced. “Okay, but how do we find him? Better yet, what happens when we do? It took Nancy with a shotgun, my knives, Steve’s batting skills, a ton of fire, and almost dying a bunch of times to take down the Demogorgon.” 

Dustin lets out a tired sigh. “I’ll figure it all out, alright? For now, let’s just get some sleep. Maybe it’ll come to me in a dream or something.” 

“A dream? Seriously?” Steve looks at the two of you as if you guys will start laughing and tell him it’s all a giant joke. Unfortunately, it isn’t. 

Steve spent all last year and most of the summer getting to know you. He’s used to your quips and soft spoken teasing, but Dustin? He’s uncharted territory and you’re secretly relishing in seeing Steve fumble around him. You’ve never had anyone else interact with your brother before, only Jonathan, so this change is odd, but welcomed. 

Dustin pays no attention to you and Steve as he begins heading up the steps, back to your home. Once he disappears, you nudge your shoulder against Steve’s. “You know you don’t actually have to spend the night, right?”

“Ya know, I can’t quite tell if the kid will let me leave or not.”

You laugh. “He’s harmless… Mostly. I promise I won’t let him bite, but I also understand if you want to leave.”

Steve looks away, sensing the undertones of what you’re saying. You’re giving him another out, one last chance to leave and go back to pretending like everything's okay. You wouldn’t blame him, and you get a sense of deja-vu from that night at Jonathan’s. When you tried coaxing Steve to leave, to spare himself from everything he inevitably ended up suffering from. 

After a minute or so, Steve shakes his head. “I’ll stay. You need my help.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say need–”

“Shut up and let me help you, Y/N.”

You sigh. There’s no arguing with him, he’s made up his mind and your truce that you shook on ten minutes ago burns your hand. He’s staying. 

“A ‘please’ would’ve sufficed, but fine.” You link your arm around Steve’s and make your way up the cellar steps. “C’mon, Dustin is probably waiting for us with some new insane plan for where you’ll sleep.”

– 

You know that your mom is safe, off at the other side of town, searching for your dead cat, but it’s still lonely walking into your empty home. Dustin is standing in the living room waiting, but you can see that it makes him uneasy as well. 

Steve follows behind you and takes a look around. When he spots the lumpy, old, sagging couch in front of the window, he frowns. It’s barely bigger than he is, his feet would definitely hang over the edge. “This my bed for tonight?”

“It’ll have to be, unless you want to come snuggle with me in my bed.” Dustin says. 

“I wouldn’t, he kicks in his sleep,” you tell Steve, attempting to make light of the situation. 

“That doesn’t surprise me,” he snorts. Then, as if he’s done this a million times before, Steve flings himself onto your couch and his feet do indeed hang over the edge. “Oh, yeah. This will definitely be cozy.”

You wince. “I’m sorry, you’re still free to go home. I completely understand and–”

“Unless…” Dustin begins to brighten up and he wiggles his eyebrows at you. Pure horror washes over you; you know that look on his face. He’s scheming. 

“Dustin, whatever is about to come out of your mouth–”

“Y/N has this giant bean bag in her room. Practically takes up the whole space, and, luckily for you, my new friend, it’s Steve-sized.”

Steve whips his head to face you, a curious look on his face. “You don’t say, Little Henderson?”

Both boys look at you, a matching glint of evil in their eyes, and you realize you’re trapped. When did they manage to sync up to make you miserable?

You weigh your options against your morals. On one hand, it’s your room and you and Steve are still warming back up to each other. However, on the other hand, Jonathan has spent countless nights on that bean bag himself. 

Dustin’s right. Steve would fit perfectly. 

Damn him. 

You shuffle your feet, averting Steve’s eyes. “I mean, I guess you’d fit.” 

“You guess? Steve, she’s had Jonathan sleep on that thing like a bajillion times.” Dustin waves his arms out, gleeful that he’s won. “In fact, I think our mom specifically bought it just for him.”

He now steps closer to Steve and eyes him up and down. “I’d bet money that you two are about the same size, so as I stated earlier: it’s Steve-sized.”

“I’m actually taller than him, so…” Steve mumbles to no one in particular, but quickly clears his throat and changes the subject. “And I’d finally be able to see Y/N Henderson’s room? Count me in.”

You blush furiously. He’s getting a kick out of all of this and he’s such a little shit, honestly. You’re not sure why the thought of having Steve Harrington in your room, eager to be in your room, makes your stomach flutter and your cheeks burn painfully. 

Steve sees your blush and he wiggles his eyebrows at you. “C’mon, Y/N. It’ll be like a sleepover.”

“You’re far too pleased about all of this.”

“We can pretend to be back at Bookstrordinary. I’ll even stack some books that you definitely have in your room.”

Dustin stands between you and Steve, his face alight with joy and curiosity. “Can I please know when you two became best friends?”

“No, you hid Dart from me.”

“I’m not gonna live that down, am I?”

“Nope.”

Steve clears his throat, clearly amused by your banter with Dustin but still unsure about everything going on. “So… What do ya say, Y/N?”

You bite your lip and look at him. He’s pathetically too large for the couch, it wouldn’t be fair to just force him to sleep there because of the weird way he makes you feel as if you’re floating yet falling all at the same time. 

Exhaling, you give in. “Fine, but do not touch any of my books in the room.”

“Yes!” Steve high fives Dustin and you roll your eyes at them both. 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. It’s late, can we please just go to bed now?”

Dustin sends you a wink, which thankfully Steve doesn’t see. “Sure, sis. Have a good night.”

And with that, probably because he senses you’re about to throw a shoe at him, Dustin flees the living room and runs to his room. As soon as he’s gone, Steve bats his eyelashes at you and playfully teases, “Take me to bed, Y/N.”

You snort, despite how exhausted you are. “Never say those words to me again.”

He laughs and stands up, following behind you as you guide him towards your own room. A part of you feels like you should give him a house tour, but logistically it’d be useless. You can’t imagine that Steve would be over at your house again once the Dart situation is handled. 

You have to remind yourself that there are still roses for Nancy, currently wilting, in the backseat of Steve’s car. 

They’ll work things out eventually, or maybe they won’t, but Nancy Wheeler still has Steve Harrington’s heart. He is hers entirely. 

Lost in thought, you almost miss the turn to your room and have to grab the back of Steve’s jacket and yank him towards your bedroom door. 

“Hey–” 

“Sorry, my room is here.” 

“You Hendersons are just a delightful bunch, ya know that?” 

“Be thankful you don’t have to meet our mother, honestly.” You fling your bedroom door open and gently push Steve inside. 

As soon as he’s in your room, you watch as he takes it all in. His eyes scan every corner of the room, and you hold your breath as you wait for them to land on the Spider-Man poster he gave you for Christmas last year. 

When Steve sees it, he smiles shyly at you. “I see you kept the gift.”

“Duh,” you walk over to your bed and sit down. “Still one of the best gifts I’ve ever been given.”

“One of?” He asks, tone light but curious. 

Unconsciously, your fingers go to your bee necklace from Jonathan. You play with the pendant and smile softly. “Sorry, Jonathan kinda beat you to it.”

“I figured,” he shrugs, shoving his hands in his pockets, uncomfortable. “I noticed the necklace the day I gave you the poster. Didn’t want to, uh, assume. I guess. But the necklace was from him?”

“It was,” you clear your throat, talking about Jonathan with Steve has always been such a foreign feeling for you. 

Steve seems to be thinking the same thing and starts to wander around your room instead. You silently thank whatever god is up there for giving you the motivation to clean your room earlier that week. Normally you’re a neat person, but ever since Will started showing signs of post-traumatic stress, you’ve spent more time obsessively researching rather than tidying up.

Therefore, there’s still books strewn across your desk alongside some comics. Steve sees a Spidey one and holds it up with a laugh. “He’s everywhere.”

“He is.” You say proudly, now getting up to go into your closet to pull out the blankets and pillows usually reserved for Jonathan.

Steve wanders around some more as you dig through your closet. He lingers in front of your dresser, which holds photos of you, Dustin, and Jonathan. 

“Here,” you hand the bedding to Steve and motion to where the bean bag is. 

He looks up from a photo of you and Jonathan from last year. It’s your favorite of the two of you, he stands behind you in the picture with his arms wrapped around your waist and his chin on your shoulder. You’re both smiling widely at the camera, the moment captured by Will because he wanted to try out the camera Jonathan had gotten that summer. 

“You guys are really close, huh?” Steve asks.

You nod, although confused by his question. He spent half the summer with you and Jonathan at your job. You had conversations about your friendship together, but you suppose it’s different seeing the excess of love you have for the boy within your room. Jonathan is everywhere, if you look hard enough, you’ll find him. 

Steve pauses for a second, as if he wants to say something else, but shakes his head and turns towards the bean bag. He arranges the pillows so that they’re flush against the wall facing your bed, which you think is an odd choice, but say nothing. Once he’s arranged the pillows and blankets, Steve turns to you and clears his throat. 

“I hate to ask this, I really do, but I also don’t want to sleep in these jeans,” he waves his hands over his pants, which have always been a bit tighter than you thought was necessary. “Any chance I could wear something of Jonathan’s?”

You think for a moment and dig through your dresser. “I’m not sure, but if I can’t find anything of his then I think my old camp t-shirt can fit. As for pants, won’t your boxers work fine?”

Steve’s face turns red and he clears his throat once more, speaking in a slightly squeaky voice, “Y–yeah, I guess so.”

He’s stumbling over his words, which makes you pause. There’s no possible way that he’s nervous right now. He’s usually so confident and comfortable around you. Hell, last summer he offered to be your first kiss (by kissing his fingers and pressing them against your lips, but still). 

“Are you shy right now, Steve?”

“What? No!” He scrambles to the other side of the room, putting as much distance between the two of you as he can. 

You raise your eyebrows at him, but your cheeks are flushed as well. “Okay then, whatever you say.” 

It’s painfully quiet after that as you continue looking for something for Steve to wear. You swear that Jonathan has left behind some of his things, and right before you lose hope, you spot a pair of gray sweats and an old The Clash t-shirt of his. 

“Here,” you toss the clothes to Steve without even checking if he’s looking. You hear a crash and know that he, in fact, had not been looking. 

“Gee, thanks.” He says sarcastically, but you giggle. 

“No problem,” you begin to gather your own pajamas before pointing towards your door. “There’s a bathroom to the left, down the hall. You can change there.” 

“Then our sleepover can commence?”

You wave him off, but you smile anyway at his question. You missed his boyish charms. “Sure, buddy. Go change.”

Steve salutes you and then leaves the room, softly closing the door behind him. You change while he’s gone and tie your hair up. After a few minutes, you assume Steve has had enough time to change and make your way over to the bathroom so you can brush your teeth. You’re so excited to go to bed. 

However, the door is closed when you approach, meaning Steve is still changing. You knock on the door, “Are you almost done in there?”

“I’m having… problems.” 

Your hand hovers over the door, mid knock. “Problems?”

There’s only silence for a moment, almost as if Steve is contemplating elaborating. Finally, after several seconds, he says “I’m definitely taller than Byers.” 

You roll your eyes and begin knocking again, just to annoy Steve, until he finally swings the door open. Before you can even stop it, a loud laugh escapes you. The sweats are at least five inches too short on him, while Jonathan’s shirt is a size too small. He looks absolutely ridiculous. 

“It’s not funny!” Steve whines, his face once again red. “I thought you gave me Jonathan’s clothes, Y/N!” 

More laughter escapes you, making your ribs begin to hurt. Every time you try to speak, you laugh even harder, and it’s impossible for you to get any words out. Steve watches, not amused in the slightest, and crosses his arms as if to appear more dignified. 

“I’m sorry,” you manage to gasp out, more laughs threatening to spill from you. “I guess they’re clothes from when he was fourteen.”

“I’m reconsidering our truce from earlier.” 

This gets you to stop laughing, and you gasp and smack Steve’s chest. “You wouldn’t dare!”

He sighs, hanging his head low. “No, I wouldn’t.”

“Exactly,” his admission makes you giddy. “Now, either make yourself cozy in the bean bag or watch as I brush my teeth. Your choice.”

Steve shrugs and steps to the side so that there’s room for you to enter the bathroom. It’s a tight fit, but he ends up sitting on the edge of the tub and just watches as you begin the process of brushing your teeth. “I didn’t actually think you’d stay, ya know.”

“I know, but I’m bored and you’re here.”

You spit into the sink. “Fair, I guess.”

“Plus,” he picks at his nails, trying to look disinterested while wearing Jonathan’s too small clothes. “We still need to have that talk.”

You pause, toothbrush hanging from your lips as you stare at Steve, wide eyed, in the mirror. Honestly, you were hoping he would’ve forgotten about that. It’s not that you don’t want to know whatever he has to tell you, but you’re tired and still reeling over the fact that he’s spending the entire night in your room. 

“Oh, right.” Turning the faucet off, you finish brushing your teeth and awkwardly wipe your face. Steve watches quietly, and once you’re done, you motion for him to follow you back towards your room. 

As soon as you’re back in your room, Steve immediately curls himself upon the bean bag and brings the blanket all the way up to his chin. Dustin, as always, is right: the bean bag truly is Steve-sized. “Cozy.”

You laugh at him as you crawl into your own bed. “Yeah, I’d hope so. Jonathan has slept in it for years now.”

“Well, uh. Speaking of Jonathan…” Steve sits up a bit so that he can properly look at you. “I wanted to talk. Ya know… About you and him. Nancy, too.”

He pauses, furrows his brows, and then adds. “Actually, I want to talk about what really happened this summer. Everything. I want to know everything.”

“Everything is a lot,” you dodge, turning away from the boy. 

Steve sighs. “Y/N… I missed you.”

Missed.

“I want to be friends again, be how we were before, but… I don’t know. There was a lot unsaid between us. Even from the start. I mean, I understand. I do.” His eyes never leave yours, despite how much you try not to look back at him. “You’re, well–If we’re going to be friends again, I want to start from the beginning.”

“The beginning?”

Now Steve is the one who looks away. “I don’t know, it’s stupid, I guess–”

“It’s not stupid, Steve.” You reassure him. He’s trying, he’s inviting you in after everything you did to him, and it’s all you could’ve asked for. 

But you’re fucking terrified. 

You and Steve became close before, sure, but it was something more surface level. An act between the two of you. While Steve was able to read you over time, learning and asking and paying attention to you, there was still so much you never let him in on. What you haven’t let anyone in on, besides Jonathan. 

If you start from the beginning with Steve, someone you know has come to view you as this selfless and kind person, you’re scared that it’ll change the way he sees you. 

But Steve is looking at you from the bean bag, looking ridiculously cozy with the blanket wrapped around him and his usually carefully curated hair has fallen in his eyes; his gaze is open and trusting. There isn’t a pressure behind it, he would understand if you backed down, but you promised him you’d try. 

To try is to be human.

And you really, really missed Steve. 

“I moved here when I was twelve. My family and I had moved all the way from Virginia after the divorce. I remember being really mean, back then. An angry kid with all this hurt within her that she perpetually displaced upon everyone else.” 

“Angry?” Steve asks, his voice soft. 

You shift uncomfortably in bed, but you remind yourself that you agreed to this. If you’re going to begin again with Steve, then he deserves to know the true person he’s befriending. “Angry. I didn’t take the divorce well. At all. I acted out a lot, closed myself off, and was just a fucking awful person.”

Shifting again, you take a deep breath. “My anger got to the point where Dustin, who was nine, had to practically plead with me to be nicer to him. He was a kid.”

“So were you,” Steve gently chimes in, but you roll your eyes at him. 

“Being a kid didn’t give me an excuse to abandon my loved ones like I did. Like my father did. It wasn’t until Dustin called me out on my bullshit that I realized the irony of the situation. There I was, blaming everyone else for my own problems and running away, because I was so hurt by my father doing the same to me.”

Steve clenches his jaw, and you know he wants to say more, but you watch as he exhales deeply and decides against it. “Okay, so you were mean and then you became kind again after something traumatic… So what?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean,” the boy sighs. “I was a dick for like, ten consecutive years. It took losing a fight to Jonathan, embarrassing myself in front of Nancy at least five times, losing my bullshit ‘friends’ Tommy and Carol, and some blonde guy with a fucking mullet before I was even able to become a decent person.” 

You frown. “What’s your point?” 

“My point is that you came back.” Steve shrugs. “The second someone you loved asked you to, you came back to being the selfless angel that you are. Which, by the way, is an impressive feat in itself.” 

He says this as if it’s obvious and that the months you spent hurting everyone around you can be redeemed. As if you haven’t spent every waking hour tirelessly devoting every piece of yourself to those around you to make up for them. To repent for your anger. 

Steve takes your silence as more defiance, and he runs a tired hand through his hair. He’s merely a few feet from you, at the foot of your bed on the bean bag, and yet it feels as if he’s inches yet yards away. “I know I can’t change your mind, but… I think that’s what matters the most in the end, ya know? You became kind.” 

“So did you,” you finally say, not quite ready to accept what he’s saying. 

Now it’s Steve who looks away. “Still working on the whole ‘kind’ thing.”

“Isn’t that what matters in the end?” You tease, feeling yourself warm with pride when you get him to laugh. 

“Touché.” 

Silence falls over the two of you, letting the tension lazily slip away for now. Your body hums with energy; the only other person you’ve told about your father to is Jonathan. You both have long since bonded over shitty father figures. However, even when you had whispered these truths to Jonathan back when you were thirteen, you don’t remember feeling quite so raw and vulnerable as you do right now with Steve. 

“I meant it, you know,” you catch Steve’s eye. “Back when you first drove me home last year. You’re alright. Not too shabby, honestly.”

This time a full body laugh cascades through the boy, He clutches at his stomach as he doubles over, breathless with joy. “Thanks, Y/N.” 

Steve is still laughing and this is the happiest you think you’ve seen him in months. The realization makes all the warmth you’ve felt earlier, vanish. You remember the hurt on his face earlier this week on Halloween, the tears in his eyes when he confessed that Nancy didn’t love him. 

You know how plagued Steve is about never being good enough, and for the first time since you’ve truly gotten to know him: you understand him in that very moment. 

Your eye catches on Steve’s adam’s apple as he swallows. It’s a tragedy, really, how attractive he is. You suppose it’s what caused his downfall, in the end. A pretty boy, rich and popular yet easily able to be taken down; it must be a lonely life with all that vulnerability.

“Can I tell you a secret?” You whisper, voice cutting through the darkness of your room as Steve seems to remember where he is, why and how the conversation started in the first place. 

“Always,”

“I’m scared of the compulsive need I feel to take care of everyone. It’s like… I don’t know, this debt that I feel I owe for existing, for the fear I feel because of my father leaving. I overcompensate for this fear now, terrified I’ll become mean again.”

Steve stares at your ceiling. “The whole ‘debt’ thing, I understand. Believe me. Rather than being a perfect angel, however, I just try my fucking hardest not to disappoint everyone around me and make them leave.”

Nancy, as she always seems to do, lingers between you and Steve now; you both can feel her presence without him having to say her name. He told you what she did to him, you tried to reassure him that it hadn’t been his fault, but Steve isn’t an idiot. 

Nancy never loved him. He knows this, now. 

You don’t say anything, you don’t think he’d want you to. Giving him some time, you allow Steve a few minutes to collect his thoughts, sensing he has more to say. Then, softly, he whispers back to you, “Can I tell you a secret?”

“Always,” you echo. 

“I just want to be loved.” 

With just one confession, a string of six words in succession, Steve Harrington crushes you. 

The words come crashing upon your chest and you wish you could tell him how easily you see yourself falling for him. How, even if you can’t admit it just yet, you’re already falling for him. You think you have been for some time now. 

Somewhere, in between him driving you home last year and the way the summer sun kissed his face months later, you began to fall in love with him. 

While you’re thinking this, Steve is laying in the bean bag, absolutely terrified of the words that have come out of his mouth. He’s always had the fear, deep down, that he was unlovable, but to admit the fear out loud… He’s never felt so weak before.

You’re silent and Steve thinks he’s finally done it. His pathetic need to be liked and loved by everyone around him has finally scared you away. How couldn’t it scare you away? You so naturally are loved by everyone while Steve compulsively demands it because he’s still that scared ten year old boy with a father who never showed him love. 

Then, because you’re an angel, you give Steve the response he hadn’t even known he needed to hear. “It’s natural to want to be loved. We all do. It’s human.”

He exhales at your words, still staring at the ceiling as if to somehow lessen the impact of what you’re telling him. There’s something there, hanging in the air after your words have disappeared, that Steve can’t quite understand. 

It almost sounded like you were trying to reassure yourself, as well.

“What’s the deal with you and Jonathan?” Though Steve’s voice is steady, you can tell that he’s trying not to sound too interested. 

The question is a simple one, but it’s the hardest question you’ve ever had to answer. Everyone asks you, sooner or later, if you and Jonathan are together. You never blame them for asking, because ultimately the two of you are  closer than the average friends, regardless of gender. 

It doesn’t make the question any less painful to answer, though. It doesn’t make hearing Jonathan’s laugh cut any less deeper.

As for Steve, he’s asked this question before, albeit with teasing and disbelief whenever you’ve told him there’s nothing there. Despite the numerous times you’ve corrected him, he’s never quite believed you.

This time, it feels different. There’s a weight behind Steve’s question, and your silence is all the answer that he needs. “You love him.”

The words aren’t a question, and they harbor no malice. He says them as if they are a fact; you suppose that it is. You don’t say anything, but you do nod your head at him. “I do… I think I’ve always loved him, honestly.”

You’ve never, ever said those words out loud. Not to anyone.

And now, you’re confessing them to Steve, who doesn’t have to ask you why your voice now holds melancholy within it. He knows, he’s always somehow known. Jonathan doesn’t love you, a fact in which Steve has never been able to wrap his head around. He’s watched the two of you for years, how easily you love one another, and yet somehow the love never blossomed into something more. 

Everything stills between you and Steve, allowing both your confessions to surround the two of you. “I’m sorry.”

Steve’s apology only causes you to shrug. “He’s still mine, at least for now. Is that so bad?”

“I mean, I guess not, but… Doesn’t it get exhausting?”

“God,” you squeeze your eyes shut, finally able to voice all you’ve been feeling to someone who can understand. “It feels like this crushing weight upon me every time I see him smile, like it’s a burden, carrying all this love within me without being able to express it freely. I just… I never thought that love could be so exhausting. ”

As the words start to come out, you find that you’re unable to stop. “I grew up with Jonathan, I learned the way he breathes and the way his hands feel pressed against my skin, but so much has changed and…” Your breath hitches. “He’s not someone I reach out to first anymore. It almost feels like I can’t. I love him, I do, but I also miss how it used to be before I realized everything.”

The pressure of tears builds behind your eyes and forces you to stop talking. If you say anything else, you’re afraid you’ll start crying. While Steve has been so lovely tonight, it wouldn’t be fair to ask him to console you so pathetically. 

Steve seems to hear the tears lacing your voice and speaks for you, having finally pieced together everything he’s been unable to articulate since November of last year. “With Nance, it feels like I’m always somehow two steps behind her and her feelings. Constantly playing catch up while the rules keep changing on me… I get the whole ‘love is exhausting’ thing.”

Though you know Steve means well, his words fucking terrify you. If he feels the same way towards Nancy, a girl who never ended up loving him despite how much he poured his heart out for her, what does that mean for you and Jonathan?

For the first time, you question if the exhaustion you feel surrounding your love for the boy is really something else. Something different, disguised as exhaustion. 

You wonder, deep down, if you’ve started to fall out of love with Jonathan.

Who are you if you have?

The boy has become so intertwined within your life, the threads and strings and lines have tied you to him indefinitely. He’s the reason behind your everything. If you no longer love Jonathan, then who are you, really?

The realization washes over you like cold rain in the middle of winter. It spills over you and pricks at your skin and you suddenly want the conversation to end. While you’re so relieved to be talking to Steve again, the conversation has left you with more realizations than resolutions. 

“It’s late,” you fake a yawn, desperate to cut the conversation short. “We should go to bed. Knowing Dustin, he’ll have us up at the crack of dawn to start looking for Dart.”

Steve sees right through you, he knows he’s somehow crossed a line and that you’re once again retreating. You’re closing yourself off from him again, but he’ll take whatever he can get from you. You’ve told him more than he ever thought you would, so for now he’ll play along. 

“Goodnight, Y/N.” He says, watching as you reach for your lamp and turn the light off. Then, as soon as you’ve rolled over and closed your eyes, you faintly hear his final words. “Don’t we make a pathetic pair?” 

You remember, before drifting off to sleep, feeling relief wash over you that Steve once again considers the two of you a pair.

– 

You wake up the next morning to the faint sounds of Dustin getting ready. His shower can be heard from your room, and through the years it's become your morning alarm. Yawning, you roll over and rub your eyes and take a few minutes to let your brain wake up. 

Bits of yesterday’s events come back to you. 

Dustin confessing about Dart. 

Locking the Demodog in your cellar. 

Radioing everyone in the party for help and getting no response. 

Going to the Wheelers for Mike and coming back with Steve. 

Dart going missing. 

And, most importantly, your bizarre conversation with Steve last night. 

The boy in question lets out a loud snore from the bean bag, blankets haphazardly twisted around his legs, and you stifle a laugh. Even in his sleep, Steve Harrington somehow catches all the attention in the room.  

You throw your blanket off and get out of bed, tiptoeing so as to not wake up the sleeping beauty, and head outside to your kitchen. If yesterday was any indication of how long today will be, then you need all the coffee in the world to get through it. 

The coffee has just finished brewing when you hear Steve stumble into the kitchen. His eyes are bleary and his hair is the worst it’s ever looked. “I guess even Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington can’t escape bed head, huh?”

Steve acknowledges your quip only by grunting, still stumbling around through your home. So he isn’t a morning person, you think with a smile while bringing your coffee mug to your lips and taking a careful sip. 

Eventually Steve makes it to your kitchen table and plops down, letting out a loud yawn and smacking his lips. He looks pathetically endearing, really, especially given his outfit that looks even worse after sleeping in it. The shirt has ridden further up, exposing a bit of his stomach (which you divert your gaze from, feeling yourself blush), and one of his too-short pant legs has ridden up to his knee. 

“You really are a natural beauty in the morning, Steve.” 

“Ha,” he says boredly, looking around the kitchen. “Do you guys have any food? I’m starving.” 

You toss him an apple from the fruit basket on the counter, and Steve only just manages to catch it in time to avoid it hitting his face.

“Christ!” He exclaims, glaring at you when you chuckle at his reaction. Maybe it was a little mean, but you see the small smile he tries to hide. 

“Is this all I get? An apple thrown at my face?”

You walk over to the table and set your mug down. “Were you expecting a home cooked meal?” 

“You’ll have to earn a Y/N Henderson breakfast,” Dustin says as he enters the kitchen and joins the two of you. His hair is still wet from his shower and he drips onto the counter, which makes you cringe. He’s such a boy, sometimes. 

He makes his way over to the fridge and rustles around, looking for something to eat. Truthfully, the reason you threw the apple at Steve is because there’s no food in your house at the moment. Your mom normally goes to the grocery store on Saturdays, and in her frantic rush to find Mews she hadn't left any money for you to go to the store. 

“There’s no food,” you inform your brother. 

He sighs dejectedly, grabbing a banana and then plopping himself next to Steve at the table. “All right, are you two awake enough to discuss the plan?” 

You nod immediately at Dustin’s question while Steve slumps further into his seat, groaning. You run a hand through his hair to try and settle down his theatrics. Dustin sees this and raises an eyebrow at you, but you shake your head and motion for him to keep quiet. 

“So,” he takes a bite from his banana and begins speaking with his mouth full, which you make a face at. “I was thinking we lure Dart with bait to a secure area that we can catch him in.” 

“Wait,” Steve sits up a bit in his seat, careful to not knock your hand off his head. “That’s all you got? That’s the entire plan?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?” 

“Oh, I don’t know,” he begins eating as well, his mouth also full and disgusting to look at, “Do you know how we’ll lure him? Or where? Better yet, how will we even catch him?” 

Dustin narrows his eyes. “Okay, so it’s a working idea. You got anything better?”

Steve opens his mouth to speak, but nothing comes out. He pauses for a second before seemingly drawing a blank and closing his mouth; he sinks back into his seat in defeat.

“That’s what I thought.” Dustin says smugly.

You take another sip of coffee, enjoying the mug’s warmth around your fingers. “Well, we at least know what Dart likes to eat.”

“We do?” Steve questions, looking up at you.

“Oh, just wait until you hear this,” you motion over to Dustin. “Go on, tell Steve what you’ve been feeding Dart.”

Now it’s your brother’s turn to sink into his seat, embarrassed. He mumbles something that Steve can’t quite hear.

“What?”

He mumbles again, only a tiny bit louder this time.

“Little Henderson, I can’t understand you.” Steve says, smirking when he feels you laugh against him. 

“I said he eats Musketeers Bars!” Dustin shouts, now incredibly defensive. 

In sync, you and Steve share a look. While you have an exasperated fondness on your face, Steve looks like he’s questioning every choice he’s made in his life. It’s cute that he thinks this is the weirdest things will get.

“Okay…” Steve looks over at your brother. “Unless you plan on buying out an entire candy store, we need something else for bait.”

In the corner of your eye you see Mews’ cat bed laying against the window, and an idea pops into your head. “Dustin, did Dart only eat the candy bars before he killed our cat?”

“Yeah, why?” 

As you walk over to the kitchen sink to place your mug in it, you begin explaining. “Then clearly he’s outgrown his sugar needs and would probably eat just about anything with flesh on it.”

Steve wrinkles his face with displeasure, not enjoying the thought of going after this monster that craves meat. He’s already done that, and call him crazy, but he really doesn’t want to experience anything like that ever again. 

Dustin’s eyes light up, following along with what you’re saying. “Raw meat! You’re a genius, Y/N!” 

“And then we can follow the train tracks to that old junkyard, the one that El brought you guys to last year. It’s a straight shot, Dart won’t get lost, and then we catch him.”

Dustin squeals. “That’s perfect!”

He stands up to hug you, which you gladly accept. “Yeah, yeah. We Hendersons are known for our genius,” you gently push your brother away and start exiting the kitchen. “I’m going to go shower and get ready. Steve, you’ll take Dustin to the butcher and see if you can haggle some raw meat out of him.” 

“Uh… can I change first?” He asks, running a hand through his hair with displeasure. 

Only now does Dustin notice Steve’s appearance and he lets out a loud cackle. “Oh, I think you look great!”

You shoot your brother a warning look, not wanting to upset Steve too much. He’s the only one with a car, and the party still hasn’t responded to Dustin’s calls, so he’s all you have right now. Plus, after last night’s conversation, you’re sure he’s feeling just as wound up and tense as you are. 

“We can swing by your place on our way to the train tracks. Your house is right next to it, anyways, and Dustin and I can scout the parameters while you shower and get yourself all pretty. For now, just go to the butcher's shop, please.” 

“But–” 

“Please, Steve?” You pout, daring him to argue with you again. Steve is only able to stand his ground for about five seconds before he groans and nods his head.

“Fine–” You quickly hug him before running towards the bathroom to get ready. 

Once you’re gone, Steve searches for his keys while Dustin stands in the kitchen, shocked. “I so need to know when you two became such good pals.”

“Go wait by the car, Little Henderson.” Steve waves him off, though he’s secretly pleased with how the morning is turning out so far.

–

“C’mon, man. It’s just chunks of raw meat, it doesn’t even matter what, uh, body parts they are, I guess.” Steve argues with the butcher, having no idea why you’ve sent him on this journey with Dustin. Neither of them have any idea about butchers and meat, so they’ve been arguing back and forth for a solid ten minutes with the guy. 

“And I already told you, it’ll be $15. Take it or leave it, pretty boy.” Pat, the butcher, says. 

Steve scowls at the name, “That’s insane for five pounds, you realize that? It’s just a bunch of meat chunks from god knows where, it’s not like we want prime rib you dirty sack of–” 

Dustin cuts him off, snatching the boy’s wallet from his back pocket and pulling out a twenty. “Ignore him, please! Here, thank you so much for your lovely service, good sir.”

Pat narrows his eyes at the boy, and for a split second Dustin is afraid that he’s trying to figure out the best way to skin them alive, before he simply grunts and takes the money. 

Relief washes over Dustin and he scrambles to grab the bags of meat, tugging at Steve’s sleeve in urgence until he gives in and begins to help as well. Within a few seconds, they’ve gathered all they need and head towards the car. 

“Keep the change!” Dustin calls out behind him. 

As soon as they’re in the car, he yells at Steve to step on it. It’s already been twenty minutes since they left the house, and he knows from experience to never keep you waiting. 

“Okay, okay, god.” Steve complies, pushing down on the gas and speeding away from the butcher’s shop. 

The smell of raw meat immediately infiltrates the car, so Steve rolls down the windows and sighs. This is definitely not the weekend he had in mind. He thought he’d apologize to Nancy, kiss and hopefully make up, and maybe even swing by your place to tell you the good news. 

Instead, he has buckets of raw meat in his car and his head is swimming from his conversation with you from last night. While he’s happy it happened, there’s still so much Steve feels like you aren’t telling him. To top it all off, he hadn’t been able to sleep in his own bed, but rather a bean bag that Jonathan apparently has slept in a million times before. 

As Steve is moping, he realizes that there actually wasn’t even a real need to spend the night. 

“Hey, Little Henderson,” Steve gently hits Dustin’s shoulder to get his attention. “Why did I have to spend the night at your place?” 

“Oh, you didn’t.” Dustin says as if it’s no big deal.

Steve turns his head towards him, “I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, I didn’t think you’d actually spend the night if we’re being honest. I just thought it’d be funny to mess with you.” 

“I tried arguing with you, but you shushed me!” Steve exclaims, putting both hands back on the steering wheel aggressively. 

The younger boy shrugs, “What are you, seventeen? Eighteen? Why would you listen to a thirteen year old?” 

“Well, I–” As much as he wants to, Steve really can’t defend himself on this one. Shit. It’s not like he can tell Dustin that he mostly stayed because his sister is pretty and makes him feel safe.

Dustin smiles, happy to have won the conversation at hand, and decides to really rub it in as they pull up to the house. “I also thought it’d be hilarious to pair you up with my sister. Hope you two made smart choices last night.”

And with those words, Dustin springs out the car, leaving a speechless Steve behind. He turns the car off and sits there for a moment, completely at a loss for words. He’s only spent a total of sixteen hours with the kid, and already he knows he’s in for a world more of trouble. 

If you’re Hawkins’ sweetheart, then Dustin is the town’s horribly terrifying weasel. 

Meanwhile, you’ve just finished lacing up your shoes when Dustin walks in.

“Where are the rubber gloves that mom likes?” He asks in lieu of greeting you. 

“In the closet, second shelf, next to her cat figurines. Where’s Steve?”

Dustin rustles around the closet and pulls out three sets of gloves, “In the car, moping.” 

There’s a crash and then he tosses two buckets onto the carpet. You crouch down and grab the buckets, placing them on the table. “Why is he moping?”

“Why is who moping?” The man in question walks in, throwing himself on the couch and narrowly dodging the third bucket that Dustin throws out. “Why do you guys keep throwing shit at me, Jesus!” 

“Language! There’s kids around,” You snap your fingers at Steve, who quickly cowers in shame. “And if it makes any difference, the bucket wasn’t intentional. The rest were, though.” 

Just as Dustin is finishing up in the closet, you spot a can of gasoline and an idea sparks in your head. If you learned anything at Jonathan’s house last year, it’s that these Demogorgon things really hate fire. “Hey, grab the gasoline as well.”

He does as he’s told, no questions asked, and then hands it to you. You add it to the pile on the table, along with two backpacks from your brother and your beloved switchblade. 

Steve gets up from the couch to investigate your stash, nodding approvingly. “Not bad, guys. What are we going to put in the backpacks, though?” 

Dustin goes into the kitchen and begins grabbing the few items within it. The remaining fruits in the basket, a few pieces of bread, a bag of chips, and some water bottles. “One bag will have our food, the other will have our weapons.” 

And with that, you guys are all set to head out. While Dustin is distracted with grabbing his backpack, you run towards Steve’s car and throw yourself into the passenger seat. Every man for himself. 

“What– Y/N!” He calls after you, but he’s too late. You’ve already buckled yourself up by the time he and Steve get into the car themselves. 

“She beat ya, buddy.” Steve teases, flashing you a proud smile. 

Dustin grumbles in the backseat, unamused, and for a moment you think he’ll leave it at that. However, because he’s Dustin, you see from the rearview mirror as his eyes spark with revenge. “So, Steve.”

The tone in his voice terrifies you. 

You place your head in your hands and sigh, mentally preparing for whatever your brother is about to say. 

“Yes, Dustin?”

“How long have you been friendly with my sister?”

“Dustin!” You whip your head around, lunging towards the back seat to swat at the boy, but he quickly scoots over to Steve’s side and avoids your hands. 

Steve, however, surprises you by simply shrugging and taking the question in stride. There’s no embarrassment on his face, no ounce of hesitation in his voice. “About a year now.”

“A year?” Dustin exclaims, having completely not expected such a response. “Y/N, how could you keep this from me?”

“She didn’t hide anything from you, buddy.” Steve defends you, eyes focused on the road. “I convinced her to be my friend after I saved her life–”

“You saved her life?”

“And then bought you boys snacks at the hospital afterwards. Then, because I really wanted to be her friend, I basically stalked her at work every day and annoyed my way into her life. We’ve been pretty close ever since.”

Dustin’s jaw is practically on the ground after Steve’s quick explanation, left speechless for the first time in his life. As for you, you’re admiring the way the early morning sun causes Steve to glow. You’ll never be over how often his beauty distracts you; you wonder how Nancy, or really anyone, could deny him love.

If you didn’t know Steve, if you passed by him on the street one day as complete strangers, you’re sure that a part of you would fall in love with him. 

Even with pieces of his hair standing all over the place, his shirt still being too small, he was a delicate kind of handsome that made you feel a certain warmth.

“Did I forget anything, Y/N?” Steve’s voice breaks you from your thoughts, and you quickly divert your eyes away from the way his arms look while holding the steering wheel. 

“No, uh.” You clear your throat, still recovering. Steve seems to be in good spirits for once, it’s a breath of fresh air seeing him so content, and yet it also serves as a stark reminder that you made the right choice when you first distanced yourself from him. He’s just too easy to love. “I think you pretty much covered everything. Unless Dustin has any questions?”

“Give me three to five business days to process this, please.” Your brother mumbles from the backseat, which you and Steve laugh at. 

The rest of the ride is relatively peaceful after that, and a few minutes later you arrive at Steve’s house. It’s different in the daylight, only ever having seen it late one night driving the boy home from the Halloween party. 

It’s a beautiful home, the smell of chlorine fills your nose. The pool, you remember Nancy mentioning his pool when she explained what happened to Barb. You shiver, now aware that you’re in the same place that your friend took her last breaths at, just a year ago. 

“The tracks are just over on the other side of the street, and I shouldn’t be too long, so you Hendersons can start figuring out the plan in the meantime.” Steve instructs you and Dustin, getting out of the car and entering his house. 

Dustin begins getting out as well, so you unbuckle your seatbelt and follow. Thankfully you decided to wear jeans today with a simple tank top and cardigan with your knit socks; though it was late October, it’s unusually sunny outside and the walk from Steve’s to the junkyard was easily four to five miles. 

The two of you walk over to the tracks and you survey the area. You’re not sure what exactly you’re looking for, but you figure it’s best to look focused in case Dustin yells at you. 

“We’ll need to go that way,” Dustin points in front of you, and you nod as you follow along. “We can drop the meat chunks every few sleepers so we don’t waste any of it.” 

“Sleepers?”

“These.” Dustin’s shoe scrapes against the bottom wooden planks. 

“You would know what they’re called.”

“Ha ha, any more quips or can I continue?”

You put your hands up in surrender and Dustin begins to speak again.

“Then once we get to the junkyard, we can dump whatever meat is left in a pile and put the gasoline on it. Once Dart is distracted and eating, we’ll light it on fire.” His words catch a bit at the end, and you suddenly feel bad for him. He clearly still cares about Dart, but you know your brother understands the risks of letting the Demodog live. 

Without saying anything, you reach over and pull Dustin in for a hug. He fights it at first, but after a couple seconds he gives in and hugs you back. You aren’t the most affectionate pair of siblings, but you love your younger brother fiercely. Not for the first time, you wish you could’ve done more to prevent him from discovering the Upside Down. 

You know it’s irrational to blame yourself and feel guilty, but maybe if you’d been more involved last year, then maybe he wouldn’t have so many nightmares. 

“I’m sorry about Dart,” you say softly against his hat. 

Dustin breaks away, shrugging his shoulders. “Gotta protect the party, right?”

“Right.” You flick his hat. “C’mon, let’s go back to the car and start putting the meat in the buckets.” 

True to his word, Steve is ready to go after about twenty minutes. He walks out of his house, freshly clean and put together, right as you and Dustin finish preparing the bait. He approaches from behind you, and you can smell his cologne. Memories from when he’d have his arms around you and you’d smell the familiar scent now wash over you. 

Clearing your throat, you turn to hand him gloves and a bucket, but almost drop it when you see him. 

He looks good. Like, frustratingly good. His hair is back in its usual style, but he’s wearing a dark blue polo and a gray jacket that fits him criminally well. You almost feel underdressed standing next to him with your ratty old cardigan, which you know is ridiculous to be concerned about. Plus, you’ve always known that Steve was attractive, so it’s stupid to be affected by it suddenly now. 

You guys had one emotional conversation. 

“Y/N?” 

Steve’s staring at you quizzically, and you quickly snap out of your thoughts and hand him the bucket full of bait and instruct him to put the gloves on. He listens, dutifully putting them on and placing the bucket on the ground and starts searching for one of the backpacks in the trunk. He’s seemingly in a much better mood now, which you’re thankful for. 

“Dustin! This is Lucas. Do you copy? Dustin?” 

Lucas’ voice rings out from Dustin’s walkie, and you perk your head up, relieved that he’s okay. The radio silence from the party was something that unnerved you immensely. With Dart on the loose, Will’s increasing episodes, who knows what else is happening in Hawkins at the moment? 

“Well, well, well, look who it is.” Dustin responds, placing his hands on his hips like a disappointed mother. You chuckle at him and continue helping Steve unload the trunk. 

You hear Lucas sigh into the walkie. “Sorry, man. My stupid sister turned it off.” 

“Tell Erica I say hi!” You call out, knowing Lucas will hear you. He always resented the fact that his sister is so nice to you. You’re the only living person who didn’t receive Erica’s insane insults, which is something you’re very proud of.

“Y/N?”

“Hi, Lucas!” 

Dustin shoos you away and continues to speak. “Well, when you were having sister problems, which really aren’t that hard to handle–” 

“Says you,” you butt in. 

“Dart grew again, he escaped, and I’m pretty sure he’s a baby Demogorgon.” Your brother finishes. By this point, you and Steve have pretty much unpacked everything in the car. 

“Wait, what?” You’d kill to see the look on Lucas’ face right now. 

“I’ll explain later, just meet me, Y/N, and Steve at the old junkyard.” As Dustin wraps up the conversation, Steve shoves his bat into the bag and you watch him with disappointment. He’s trying really hard to make it fit, and you almost pity the boy. Bless him. 

There’s a pause before Lucas asks, “Steve?”

Dustin doesn’t elaborate, instead instructing his friend to bring his binoculars and wrist rocket. You suppose it’s a good idea to add more weapons to your arsenal. Better safe than sorry.

“Steve Harrington?” Lucas asks again, this time even more confused. 

“He’s a friend,” you say, shoving your own weapons into the bag and slinging it over your shoulder. 

Steve closes the trunk and says, “Damn straight I am. Alright, let’s go.”

You follow after him, saying goodbye to Lucas as Dustin tells him to be at the junkyard stat. 

Dustin stashes his walkie in his own bag and then the three of you are off. Your brother and Steve walk a bit ahead of you as you all throw the meat chunks onto the ground, doing as Dustin instructed. It’s slow work, but you’re happy to have some time to yourself while the boys are distracted with each other. Their friendship wasn’t something you’d expect, but you’re incredibly happy about it.

You love the party, you’d do anything for them given all that you’ve been through together. However, as they grow older, you can’t help but notice how much they’re changing. Mike hasn’t been himself since El disappeared, Dustin is now hyper focused on science, Lucas is becoming his own person, and poor Will is just trying to recover from the trauma of last year. 

It’s been hard watching them grow apart, in a way. Nothing will ever be the same after the Upside Down, you know that, but watching the party slowly drift makes you sad for your brother. You’re glad he’s seemingly found someone like Steve to bounce jokes off of and feel appreciated by. You know that someday the kids will all come together again, it’d be impossible not to with how strong of a connection they all have, so you try not to worry too much.

You shove the thoughts down, you need to keep focused on Dart and contacting the rest of the party. So, you dutifully place the bait down and follow behind the boys and feel the time pass by. After about an hour of nonsensical conversation between Steve and Dustin, you hear the older boy finally ask the question of why your brother even hid Dart in the first place. 

“It’s complicated, okay?” Dustin defects, clearly uncomfortable with the change in conversation.

You keep your distance from them, but you keep an ear out just in case you need to intervene. 

“You claim you wanted to get famous off of it or whatever,” Steve drops meat onto the tracks and kicks his foot. “Call me crazy, but you don’t hide something that supposedly makes you famous.” 

He has a point, and Dustin scrunches his face up. He casts a glance your way and you do your best to appear distracted by the job at hand. You know Dustin’s guilty face well, so whatever he’s about to tell Steve will be good. When Dustin shuffles closer to Steve and lowers his voice, you get closer as well so you can listen.

You’re his older sister. It’s your damn job to be nosy.

“It was for this girl.” 

Simultaneously you and Steve react. He hums in approval, almost proud, while you scoff. “I knew it.”

Dustin turns around, horrified. “You knew?”

“Duh, you’re awful at hiding things from me. After Max was just conveniently outside the AV room when Dart originally escaped, I pieced it together immediately. Also, side note: you’re too young to be impressing girls. I told you to just be yourself, dummy.”

Steve lets out a snort. “Pretty ironic coming from you, Y/N.”

Suddenly you feel uncomfortable with his attention on you.

“I’m sorry?” Your voice is steady, but you can feel your hands shaking as you continue throwing the bait. 

“Ya know, your massive crush on Jonathan ever since you were twelve.” He laughs, as if it’s the funniest joke in the world. 

Dustin clears his throat aggressively, pointing to your hands. Steve sees the way that they shake, the tension you now carry in your shoulders, and he’s become familiar enough with you to know your anger cues. The teasing smile that had been on his face drops. He runs towards you so he’s now by your side, and Dustin sighs in disappointment. 

“I didn’t, like, mean anything by that, you know. I–uh, I was kidding, Y/N.” Steve tries to catch your gaze, but you pointedly stare straight ahead and clench your jaw. He’s stumbling over both his words and the tracks beneath his feet, trying desperately to appease you. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“You’re an asshole, Steve Harrington.” 

“Y/N, please, I said I was sorry–”

You finally face him, grabbing his elbow to ensure he doesn’t move. “I told you that stuff about Jonathan in confidence. You don’t get to throw it back in my face, joking or not.” 

It doesn’t help that you’re already confused enough as it is about the boy and your feelings towards him. To have Steve tease you about it, especially because he knows how painful jabs about Nancy are… It really fucking hurts. 

Steve looks like a kicked puppy as you storm ahead of him and Dustin, putting enough distance between you guys so that you can’t hear their conversion that follows. 

“Shit…”

“You’re awful with women.” Dustin says, now continuing to walk. He doesn’t bother to follow after you, knowing that you need your space to cool down. “I wouldn’t follow her, by the way. Let her cool off.”

Steve sighs, now walking as well, “Yeah, I know.” 

They walk in silence for a little while, Steve hanging his head in shame and Dustin leading the way, frustrated by being stuck with two overly emotional teens. 

After a while the silence eats at Steve, so he decides to continue the conversation from earlier. “So, this girl… is she someone you’ve known a while?” 

Dustin shakes his head, “No, she’s new at our school. She’s super cool, though.”

“I remember back when I based my attraction to girls on their coolness.” Steve mumbles. 

“And look where basing it off their hotness has gotten you.” 

“Ouch,” Steve rubs at his chest, wounded.

Dustin laughs and flings some bait at him. “I thought that if I showed her Dart, she’d think I was cool, too, and like me.”

Steve sidesteps the thrown bait and tries to comprehend what the younger boy is saying. “So, you kept something that you knew was probably dangerous in order to impress a girl who… you just met?”

“Alright, that’s grossly oversimplifying things. And anyways, who are you to give me girl advice? My sister is literally three hundred feet ahead of us because you pissed her off with one singular sentence.” Then, almost as if as an afterthought, Dustin adds, “congrats, by the way. I’ve never seen someone piss her off so quickly.” 

“Look, this isn’t about me, okay? Sure, I messed up with Y/N, but it isn’t like I was hitting on her to begin with,” Dustin makes a disgusted face as Steve quickly continues, panicked. “So she doesn’t count. I just feel like you’re trying way too hard, man.” 

“Well, not everyone can have your perfect hair, alright?” Dustin grumbles. 

Steve shakes his head, slightly amused by the boy’s antics. He’s so much like you, and yet so different, and Steve is realizing it’ll take a lot to keep up with the kid. “It’s not about the hair, dude. Chicks dig more than just a good hairstyle.” 

“You’re literally known as Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington.”

“Hey, ‘King Steve’ is also there.” 

Dustin flings even more bait at Steve, now annoyed with him. “Whatever man, it’s not like you’d be any help anyways.” 

“Oh really? Well, Little Henderson, I’m about to blow your mind: the key to girls is just acting like you don’t care.”

“Even if you do?”

“Yeah, exactly.” Steve now brightens up, happy to finally be getting through to the boy. For Steve, he’s long since learned that the best way to avoid getting hurt is to pretend that he doesn’t care. “It drives them nuts.”

“Then what?” 

“You just wait,” Steve looks ahead, watching you and feeling like a complete dick. He really hadn’t meant to hurt you, hell the two of you were finally starting to get somewhere and yet… Steve fucked it up. As always. 

He can see that your shoulders are still tensed up, you’re walking faster than you need to be. He feels a heavy weight in his stomach, one that he’s never felt before; he doesn’t like it. “You wait… until you feel it.”

Dustin furrows his brows. “Feel what?”

Steve tears his gaze away from you and turns back to Dustin, beginning to explain the electricity between someone you’re interested in. Being the geek that he is, Dustin turns it into a scientific discussion and Steve does his best to steer the conversation back. 

“No, like sexual electricity.” He explains.

As soon as the words leave Steve’s lips, you whip around and shout, “Are you seriously talking to my little brother about sexual electricity?”

Both Dustin and Steve freeze in place, dumbfounded. You let out a loud groan and continue stomping away, now even more aggressively throwing the chunks at the train tracks. 

“How did she even hear me?” Steve whispers, terrified. 

“I don’t know,” Your brother whispers back, also equally frightened. “Sometimes I think she has powers like El.”

Once you’re a safe enough distance away from them, Dustin hesitantly brings the girl conversation back up. “Hypothetically, what do girls like?”

Steve takes a second to answer, carefully rolling the question around in his mind. “It depends on the girl. Some girls want you to be aggressive, ya know? Go in for the kiss, make them feel protected. Strong, hot and heavy. Like a lion.” 

Dustin hums to indicate he’s following along, but ‘like a lion’ has him a little worried about the reliability of the conversation. He knows that Steve is a lady’s man, but he’s also never seen him with any girl besides Nancy, and the one time he saw him with you, he had immediately pissed you off. 

So for all Dustin knows, it could be lies. 

Steve continues his confusing explanation. “But others? You gotta be slow, you gotta be stealthy… like a ninja!”

“Okay, what type is Nancy?” Dustin asks, hoping to get the teen to stop making stupid analogies. Lions, ninjas… maybe it was all lies. 

The question catches Steve off guard and he stumbles a bit, feeling the familiar sense of protectiveness, insecurity, over the girl as well as a new sense of loss. What type is Nancy? If he had been asked this a week ago, Steve would’ve told Dustin that she’s a nice girl, a girl he could happily bring home to his parents and proudly wrap around his arms. Now? He’s not so sure. 

Not when he can still see the anger and disgust in Nancy’s eyes that night at the party. 

“Nancy’s different,” he recalls his conversation with you from last night, how he’d confessed to always feeling two steps behind the girl and how exhausting it all is. “She’s just different. Let’s move on to the next question.” 

Dustin notices Steve’s change in demeanor but doesn’t say anything. He supposes that you and him have a lot in common, then. “Okay, what type would you say Y/N is?”

Once again Steve isn’t expecting the question Dustin asks. “What–” he trips over a twig and just barely manages to catch himself. “Why would you ask me that? She’s your sister, and I don’t even like her–”

“Relax, Romeo. She’s just similar to Nancy and the girl I like, and I figured you’d know Y/N well enough by now considering you guys slept together–”

“I slept on her bean bag–”

“And have been friends for like, a year. Plus, she’s in love with Jonathan, you’re in love with Nancy, and coincidentally they’re in love with each other. Figures that there’s some type intermingling between the four of you.”

How the hell does everyone know about Nancy and Jonathan? Steve thinks bitterly. 

He’s silent for multiple seconds, absolutely at a loss for what to say. He doesn’t know where to begin or what to even deny. Technically the boy is right, as much as it hurts Steve to admit. He’s all but lost Nancy to Jonathan, and you’ve lost Jonathan to Nancy. 

In an extremely messed up way, you and Nancy do have the same type. On top of that, both you and Nancy are close to Jonathan, so it’s safe to assume there’s similarities to the both of you that Steve doesn’t even want to touch on right now.

Even more importantly, Steve has yet to really decipher why your presence alone can make or break his entire day. Why, after months of not talking, it now feels like he’s finally come home again with you back in his life. 

He looks at you again, still angrily throwing your bait, and he supposes that you’re a lot like Nancy in certain aspects, and yet completely different from her. “Y/N is also different, I guess. She’s incredibly intelligent both emotionally and academically. Isn’t she like the top of her class?”

Dustin nods, proud of the Henderson intelligence, and Steve continues. 

“Right. I’d say she’s like Nancy, except she’s softer?” Steve cringes at his own words, suddenly uncomfortable with comparing the two of you. In his mind, you’re both your own separate entities that infatuate him in different ways. 

You both burn Steve; Nancy is like a shot of whiskey, the thrill that follows the burn. But you? You’re a fireplace after hours of being out in the cold, the burn of it warming his bones.

“Y/N is just… she’s special, but everyone knows that. Your sister is the most caring person I’ve ever met, and I know I’m a lucky son of a bitch to be someone she trusts.” 

Dustin snorts. “Yeah you are.”

Up ahead, you finally slow down and face the boys, now waiting for them to catch up and call out, “C’mon, ladies! The sun sets soon, I don’t want Lucas waiting in the cold all alone.” 

“Looks like I’ve been forgiven.” Steve says, relief evident in his voice, something that your brother doesn’t miss.

Dustin lets out another loud snort, patting him on the chest, “Oh, my sister may be forgiving, but she never forgets.” With that, he walks away to catch up with you. 

“Well, isn’t that ominous.” 

You greet the boys with a tired smile, knowing there’s no use holding resentment towards Steve. He couldn’t have known about your mixed feelings towards Jonathan, you know he had only been trying to get along with Dustin. 

Things are still weird between you two, despite the conversation from last night, but it’s hard to stay mad at Steve and honestly, you don’t really want to be mad at him. It’s been so lovely having him around again, and your own confusing feelings can wait. 

Steve leans in close to you, gently grabbing at your hand so that you don’t walk away. “Hey, we okay?”

His eyes are full of concern and his voice is sickly sweet like honey. With the honey, the remaining bits of anger vanishes. “Of course we’re okay.”

Steve exhales deeply and you giggle at him before remembering that Dustin is quite literally a few feet away from you two. Coughing, you hold up your bucket to point out how it’s almost empty. “I guess in my rage, I flung more than I intended. How are your buckets holding up?” 

The two boys hold their buckets up, giving you a mock solute to indicate that all is good. You laugh, impressed by how synched they’ve become in such a short time. 

“Alright, then. Let’s get going.” As you all begin to walk in line again, you ask, “What were you guys even talking about, anyways?” 

The boys glance at each other in a conspiring way, which causes you to roll your eyes. They’re acting like you asked for their deepest and darkest secrets. They seem to have a silent conversation for a couple seconds before Steve finally speaks up. 

“I was just giving Little Henderson some girl advice. Nothing serious.” 

You raise your eyebrows, your heart swelling a bit at the idea of Steve giving your brother advice. It’s sweet, really. “Girl advice, huh?”

“Yeah, why do you sound so skeptical?” 

“Because you’re terrible with girls.” 

Dustin now butts in, “He told me to be aggressive.” 

“I did not!”

“He also said that you’re softer than Nancy.”

You make a face. “Thank you? I think?”

Steve tugs at his hair in frustration. “You two are the worst people I’ve ever met. You know that, right?” 

In unison, you and Dustin reply, “We get that a lot.” 

Steve stares at the two of you with slight horror in his eyes. “Yeah, alright. I’m out.” 

You grab at his sleeve, gently stopping him from storming away. You give him an apologetic look and pull him close so that your chest bumps against his. “You’ve gotta get used to the Henderson humor, Steve.”

He looks surprised by your tugging at his sleeve before he lets a smile cross his face. He doesn’t do anything else, but he also doesn’t back away, either, and you find yourself blushing a bit under his gaze. 

You clear your throat and let go of his sleeve, stepping back a bit. “Anyways, why don’t you tell me what wise advice you have for my brother.” 

The smile that was just on Steve’s face vanishes as he looks away from you. “I was just telling the kid to not fall in love with his little crush. He’s too young for heartbreak and all that other shit.” 

“I’m not in love with her!” Dustin exclaims in disgust, but you’re too distracted by Steve’s words to assure your brother that you believe him. 

“Well, I believe that love is something beautiful.” You say, your words only meeting Steve’s turned back. He doesn’t acknowledge you, but you know his indifference holds no malice. He’s still hurting, still in love with Nancy Wheeler. “Dustin, you may be too young to be in love, but don’t listen to Steve. To love and be loved is the luckiest thing we can ever do, regardless of how it ends.” 

Dustin blanches at your words, grossed out now. “Okay, okay, stop! Love is gross. I get it.” 

You softly mumble sorry to him, now suddenly remembering that he’s only thirteen. When you were his age, the idea of love also grossed you out. Now, love is a concept that you’ve found a comforting warmth in, even if it's burned you a few times and has left you more exhausted than exhilarated. One day he’ll understand (in the far off future, hopefully). 

For now, you flick your brother’s hat and follow after Steve, finishing the rest of the bait journey in silence. 

– 

By the time the three of you get to the junkyard, it’s already about midday. 

It’s different from how you imagined it, filled with old cars and a giant school bus. It’s more open, too, not as “junkyard” as you assumed. 

You, Steve, and Dustin stand at the top of the hill, surveying the area. Your feet ache from the walk and the sun is hurting your eyes. Seeing you squinting, Steve wordlessly hands you his signature Raybans and motions for you to put them on. 

“Oh, yeah. Yeah, this will do. It’ll do just fine,” He says, satisfied as he begins to walk down the hill. Then, as an afterthought, he says to Dustin, “Good call, dude.”

Dustin beams with pride and you fill with so much happiness, seeing the boy getting along so well with Steve, that you almost regret not having them meet sooner. However, there’s no time to wallow in what-if’s and you put Steve’s sunglasses on to follow after the boys. 

Immediately you and Steve get to work, working seamlessly together side by side, months of him joining you in Bookstrordinary finally being put to use. While you and Steve silently scatter more meat and grab supplies, Dustin surveys the area.

Just as you’ve dumped the remaining meat in the middle of the field, you hear Lucas’ voice call from a few yards away, “I said medium well!”

The boy is with Max, who looks slightly displeased, yet curious, to be here. Despite her still obvious hesitation, you still feel excited seeing the girl. You’ve been meaning to talk more to her, she seems like such a lovely girl. 

“Who’s that?” Steve asks you.

“Max! She’s great, and–” You start gushing about the girl, eager to go and say hi, before you see the crestfallen look on Dustin’s face when he realizes why she’s with Lucas. You remember, then, the weird tug-of-war between the boys over her. Shit. 

You grab at Steve’s hand and pull him aside. “Actually, Steve, why don’t we start finding some panels to cover the bus?”

Steve gives you a questioning look, but when you silently motion towards Dustin and he sees his despair as well, he catches on and just nods, following along. Without having to tell him, he understands that you want to leave Dustin alone so he can talk to Lucas. 

As always, you’re forever thankful that he can read you so well. 

After guiding Steve away, you and him begin to prep the junkyard alongside Max. While the boys are talking, you take this as an opportunity to get to know the girl better. 

“So,” you begin, helping Max carry a large piece of wood over to the bus. “I see you’re back again.”

“Looks like it,” she shrugs, not really feeling like talking. Seems like she’s still mad at you for yesterday, taking Lucas’ side over hers. 

You sigh. “Well, I’m glad you’re here.”

“That’s a first.” Again she deflects, but you know she’s doing it out of hurt rather than maliciousness. 

“I know you don’t really like me right now, which I totally understand, I just wanted to let you know that while I don’t like that you’ve been dragged into this mess, I’m happy you’re here.”

Max frowns at you. “You guys act like I’m going to like, die or something.”

A scrap of metal that you’d been carrying slips from your hands. Steve hears this and comes rushing over to help, but you gently wave him away and focus on Max. “I don’t know what Lucas told you, but it’s all true. It’s dangerous, being here, and I just… If you ever get hurt, any of you kids, then it’d be on me and I’d never forgive myself.”

“Way to be a buzzkill, Y/N.” Steve nudges you, trying to get you to smile before your ever-present guilt bears down upon you. 

Max bites her lip, still disbelieving, but she recognizes the pained look of protectiveness on your face. It’s not something that someone can easily fake, and from what she’s heard about you, your kindness is one of the few genuine things in Hawkins. 

Before she can say anything else, Steve lets out a huff and grabs a chair to bang on the car that Lucas and Dustin are talking behind. “Hey! Dickheads! How come it’s only Y/N and some random girl helping me?”

“Language!” You chastise. 

Steve sends you a thumbs up, not really listening. “We lose light in forty minutes. Let’s go!”

Dustin and Lucas reluctantly start helping, both calling Steve an asshole and throwing him dirty looks, which you can’t help but laugh at. 

Lucas sees you laughing and points at you. “Are you the reason Harrington is here?”

“Mhm,” you respond, nailing another piece of wood to the bus. “He’s done more to help than you have, so either pick up some metal and help or go sit in a corner and sulk. Up to you.”

Steve high fives you. “Yeah! What she said!”

Lucas’ shoulders sag, completely at a loss as to how any of this has happened. “This is so weird.”

“Dude, I’ve spent all day with them. Imagine how I feel,” Dustin groans. “I think I died a little when I found out they’ve been friends for like, a year.”

“A year?” Lucas gasps. 

“Guys!” You throw pebbles at the two boys to break up their little gossip session. “One, I’m incredibly hurt you two didn’t think I had any friends besides Jonathan. Two, start helping before I throw more rocks.”

“Yes ma’am,” both boys grumble in unison, which Max finds pretty impressive. 

After that, the five of you get to work. You guys use every item available in the junkyard to secure the bus, hoping that with enough stacked against it, you’ll be safe from Dart once he’s lured. Barrels are rolled, more sheets of metal are placed against the bus, and within the next hour or so you’ve successfully managed to build a decent base. 

All that’s left is to pour the gasoline trail, which you help Steve with as the kids watch from inside the bus. 

“I’m getting major deja-vu right now,” you mumble as Steve pours. 

“Gasoline at Jonathan’s?” 

“Mhm. God, he wouldn’t believe what we’re doing right now.” You know he would’ve loved this bizarre interaction. You, Steve, and the kids all in a junkyard trying to lure a baby Demogorgon. 

You’ve definitely had better babysitting days, and Jonathan would have a field day with this one. 

Once you’re done with the gasoline, you and Steve return to the bus. He waits behind you, making sure you’re securely in the car, before he heaves the old bus door closed. As soon as the door is closed, you and Steve exhale together.

You share a look, both in silent agreement to keep the kids safe no matter what. It’s your guys’ job to keep them safe, to fight for and protect them. 

Deja-vu again. You’re back in Jonathan’s house, holding a switchblade while Steve wields his bat. 

“Ready?” He asks you, extending his hand out for you to grab. 

You interlock your fingers through his. “When am I ever?”

Steve laughs, dispelling away any remaining uncertainty and fear. You know, that no matter what, that he’ll be by your side to help. With this in mind, you join the kids further into the bus. 

Lucas climbs the ladder up to the top, something you’re not fully okay with, but he’s the one with the binoculars and you the switchblade, so it makes the most sense. As the boy climbs, you sit down next to Steve as he flicks his lighter on and off. You’re pressed shoulder to shoulder, his presence grounding you.

Dustin paces, and all you can do is watch him as you try to settle your own nerves. Max has seated herself at the other end of the bus, her arms crossed as usual. 

After a few moments of silence, she finally speaks. “So, you really fought one of these things before?”

Steve nods and you hum in agreement. “Unfortunately.”

“And you’re, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn’t a bear?”

“I mean, to be fair I also had that same thought last year–”

Dustin cuts you off. “Shit, don’t be an idiot, okay? It wasn’t a bear.”

You roughly grab at your brother, yanking him towards you to shut him up. “Dustin–”

“Why are you even here if you don’t believe us?” He sneers at Max, something you’ve never, ever seen your sweet brother do. “Just go home.”

Max clenches her jaw and you send her an apologetic look, but she rolls her eyes at you. “Geesh, someone’s cranky. Past your bedtime?” 

“Max, wait–” She ignores you and climbs up the ladder to join Lucas. You groan once she’s gone, now more than ever wanting to strangle your brother. “Dustin, what the hell was that?”

“That was good, Y/N!” Steve says, a proud smirk on his face. “He showed her he didn’t care, just like I told him to.”

“Oh, so it’s your fault my sweet, innocent baby brother is now some woman hating misogynistic piece of–”

“I don’t hate women, Y/N.” Dustin tiredly says, before directing his next words to Steve. “And I don’t care.”

Steve winks at the boy, but immediately flinches back when you raise your hand to smack him. “Yeah, cower away, you idiotic and moronic–”

“Y/N, stop overreacting and Steve, stop winking at me.”

You raise your eyebrows at Dustin’s tone and he quickly clears his throat and steps away from you. Steve puts some distance between you two as well, scooting away a bit so that he’s out of hitting range. 

It’s quiet again, both boys now scared of your anger, and you anxiously wait for Dart to show up. 

Steve goes back to flicking the lighter, Dustin paces again, and you tap your foot nervously. The silence is killing you, it’s always been your least favorite part of the Upside Down. The waiting, hoping you’re prepared for when all hell inevitably breaks loose. 

You flick your own blades out, admiring the way the blades catch in the moonlight, when you hear a loud growl come from outside. Instinctively you raise your blades to your face while Steve and Dustin scramble to peek through the metal sheets to look out the window. 

“You guys see him?” Dustin asks as he crouches next to you. 

You shake your head. “No,”

There’s nothing outside, only a thick haze of fog that has settled over the junkyard. 

“Lucas, what’s going on?” Your brother calls up to his friend.

“Hold on!” The boy responds. 

Your heart begins to beat faster, your blades never straying away from your face, poised for a fight. Steve sees the way your knuckles whiten over your weapon and he grabs your spare hand, gently coaxing you to calm down. 

Your fingers tighten around Steve’s and you remember his words from last night, promising you that he’ll be there, and you believe him. 

From the bus’ roof, you hear Lucas call down, “I’ve got eyes! Ten o’clock–ten o’clock!”

There, in the haze of fog, you see a hunched figure stalk its way towards the bus. Seeing Dart, you’re filled with complete dread. He’s grown again, much bigger than you’ve ever seen him.

He’s practically the size of the Demogorgon from last year, the same one that almost killed you and Steve. 

“What’s he doing?” Dustin asks, as if anyone else would have any more information than he does. 

“I don’t know,” Steve sighs, his eyes never leaving Dart. 

You squeeze his hand again and hold your breath as you watch the Demodog. He slowly approaches the bait, inspects the area, but he doesn’t seem to be interested in it. You send a silent prayer to whatever god is above that your plan will work. 

It has to work. 

However, Dart starts to back away from the bait and Steve leans even closer to the window. “He’s not taking the bait. Why isn’t he taking the bait?”

“I don’t know,” you want to cry from exhaustion and fear and defeat. 

Dustin looks over at you. “Maybe he’s not hungry?”

Something seems to click, then, for Steve. His eyes light up with an idea, and before he can even get his words out, you grasp at Steve’s arm and try to talk him out of it. “No, absolutely not. You’re not going out there.”

“Maybe he’s sick of cow.” Steve tries to make you let go of him, but you quickly tighten your hold on him and fight back. “Y/N, let me go, I can run fast and–”

“You can’t just use yourself as bait!” You plead, but Steve has always been stronger than you and he drags you behind him as he makes his way towards the bus door. “Steve, listen to me!”

“Steve? Steve!” Dustin finally catches on to what’s happening and he grabs at the teen as well. “What are you doing?”

Steve ignores you both and with a quick jerk of his arm, he frees himself from you. As soon as you’ve let go, he runs towards the door and snatches his bat from the ground. You curse, knowing there’s no way in hell he’s going out there alone, so you follow after him. 

Dustin sees this and panics. “Y/N, please don’t tell me you’re going–”

“Stay put!” You command, scrambling after Steve, who has now begun to open the door. He tosses you the lighter, which you toss to your brother. “Just get ready, Dustin!”

“Y/N!”

“I love you!”

Dustin continues to shout, his pleas laced with more fear than you’ve ever heard from him, but you force yourself to leave. Just as you’ve stepped outside and re-closed the bus door, Dustin pounds against the glass that you’ve locked, tears in his eyes.

You look away, despite how fucking hard it is, and it takes everythin within you to leave. 

Steve saved your life last year. 

Now it’s your turn. 

It’s tense outside as you and Steve walk back to back, weapons out. He twirls his bat a few times, a move that you find yourself smiling at due to its familiarity. With your back against his, you whisper to Steve, “You look for Dart, I keep an eye for anything else?”

He nods, and together the two of you slowly follow the sound of Dart’s chittering. 

“C’mon buddy,” Steve taunts, beginning to whistle. 

“I know we named it a Demodog, but I don’t think whistling will help.”

“We could be about to die, and you’re seriously questioning what I’m doing?”

You shrug, eyes now on the skyline as the fog slowly thickens. “Habit.”

Steve chuckles, which brings some comfort to the fucking awful situation at hand. He whistles some more, continuing to taunt Dart. “C’mon. Dinner time.”

“Again with offering Dart meals while we’re near him,” you shake your head, not at all liking where any of this is going.

“What? At least human tastes better than cat.” Steve responds, now at the pile of raw meat.

You both stop here, Steve facing the bait and you facing the bus, still scanning for literally anything else that could possibly go wrong. Because you’re Y/N Henderson and nothing can ever, ever go right for you. 

Dart lets out another growl, now having spotted Steve, and the teen swings his bat around. You spare a quick glance behind you and see Dart, who has placed all his focus on you and Steve. 

Well, at least the live bait plan is working. 

You turn away again, and as soon as you do, you see the other Demodogs now suddenly appear. Your blood runs cold when you see the two up ahead, one directly in front of you and one on top of the cars. 

For a moment, your words seem to fail you and no sound comes out when you try to speak. All you can do is stare at them, overcome with fear. You’re back in Jonathan’s once more, the fear strangling you as the memories paralyze you. 

From the top of the bus, Lucas yells, “Steve! Y/N! Watch out!”

“We’re a little busy here!” Steve yells back, eyes still on Dart. 

The Demodog in front of you starts to approach, which finally seems to break you from your spell. Shakily, you tell Steve, “There’s more.”

“What?” He tries to turn around, but you shove at him to not lose sight of Dart. You can’t distract him now. Another Demodog has joined.

“Three o’clock! Right in front of Y/N!” Lucas screams, his voice cracking with fear. 

“Y/N?” Steve fully turns around now when he realizes that you’re also in danger, and when he sees the three other Demodogs, he lets out a curse. “Shit.”

Suddenly, you and Steve are surrounded by Demodogs, more than you ever could’ve imagined. More than the two of you can even fight on your own. 

Back at Jonathan’s, it had taken guns, fire, knives, and bats to kill a grown Demogorgon. 

You don’t think your knives and Steve’s bat will be enough for Demodogs. 

“Steve! Y/N! Abort!” Dustin has flung the bus door open, screeching for the two of you to get out of there. 

It’s too late. Dart has opened his mouth and is running towards you two, his friends joining as well. 

“I go left, you go right!” Steve has just enough time to direct you before Dart lunges. 

You dodge, going right as instructed while Steve flings himself on top of a car to avoid the monsters. As Steve hits Dart with his bat, crouched against the car, you narrowly avoid the other Demodog and drop to the ground as it jumps over your head. “Shit!”

Steve swings his bat again and tries to make his way over to you, but you’re off the ground in a heartbeat and run to him instead. Two of the Demodogs are on him now, and there’s only so much damage his bat can do. Breathless, you run over and stab at their backs, doing everything you can to give Steve an opening to run. 

Faintly, you hear the kids in the background cheering you guys on, urging you two to come home.

One of the Demodogs lets out a harsh screech as your blade pierces its skin. It crumbles to the ground, giving Steve just enough of an opening to begin running towards the bus. When he goes to run, you notice one of the Demodogs eying him, and before you can even process what’s happening, you’re throwing yourself in front of him and you feel nails tear at your ribs.

You scream, clutching at your side in agony, feeling blood quickly beginning to spill from your wound. “Fuck!”

“Y/N!” Steve starts to run toward you, pale with fear. 

“No!” You shove him back towards the bus; you can’t let him get hurt because of you. “Go, I’ll be fine!” 

He tries to argue, but you take a deep breath and grip his jacket tightly, practically flinging him inside the bus just before Dart lunges again. Together, the two of you stumble up the steps and barricade the door. 

As soon as it’s closed, Dart begins slamming against it with his entire body. 

Steve uses his legs to hold the door closed while you lay sprawled on the ground, trying to steady your breathing as more blood spills from you. The room is spinning and you’re pretty sure you can taste blood in your mouth. 

Awesome. Cool. 

The kids are screaming and Dart’s body causes the entire bus to rock as his friends now join, throwing their own bodies against the bus as well.

“Are they rabid or something?” Max screams, but everyone ignores her. 

Steve, quick as ever, finds a spare piece of metal and wedges it against the door and uses his legs again to hold it in place. He looks over at you on the ground and feels his heart jump to his throat. You’re pale, a sheen of sweat now dotted across your forehead, and there’s now a concerningly large pool of blood where you lay. “Dustin, go help your sister!”

Dustin looks up and finally notices your injury and almost faints at the sight. In a daze, he runs over to you and kneels down, terrified of how much blood there is. “Oh my god.”

“I’m fine,” you wince, trying to clench your teeth and bear through the pain. “Honestly, this is like a paper cut.”

“Y/N–” The sound of glass shattering cuts Dustin off as a Demodog breaks through the window. Everyone screams, and your brother grabs your arms and drags you further towards the back of the bus to avoid any glass getting on you. 

Wearily, you watch as Steve does whatever he can with his bat, and a part of you wants to laugh. He looks like he’s playing the hardest game of wack-a-mole ever. 

Meanwhile, Lucas and Max have joined you and Dustin. When they see you, Lucas lets out a choked scream while Max covers her eyes. 

“Are you okay?” Lucas kneels over you as well, and you find his sincerity endearing. He’s always been the sweetest in the group, the most comforting. 

“Never been better,” you wheeze out. 

Dustin instructs Lucas to stay with you while he tries to radio for help. “Is anyone there? Mike? Will? God? Anyone!”

“God would be pretty nice to have.” You remark, pain making you even more delirious than usual. 

Max looks at Lucas. “She’s losing it.”

“I think I’m doing great, all things considered.”

Dustin continues to scream into his walkie for help while Lucas tries to stop your bleeding. Max is running around, looking for anything to help, and Steve is still stuck at the front of the bus playing wack-a-mole with Demodogs. 

The situation is so fucking grim, and you’ve never wanted to laugh more. 

Then, to make matters even worse, the ceiling of the bus starts to creak. You see the faint outlines of what suspiciously looks like Demodog footprints on the roof. In slow, agonizing footsteps, Dart makes his way over to the emergency exit on top.

He leers over, and Max, who is at the bottom of the ladder, screams. 

Steve shoves the kids back and you try to get up, but Lucas pushes you down and shakes his head at you. 

“You want some? Come get this!” Steve places himself between Dart and you and the kids, screaming at the thing and waving his bat around, and you’ve never been more attracted to him.

Dart lets out a blood curdling screech, his mouth full of rows of razor sharp teeth that killed your cat just the other day, and you cling onto Lucas’ hand. Another screech, and just before Dart strikes at Steve, it jumps off the bus and runs away. 

Everyone freezes, unsure what to do, as more distant growls and howls can be heard from outside. Steve and the rest stand up, and you notice Lucas holding Max’s hand, and at least something good came out of this hellhole of a day. 

“Any help here?” You finally ask after a minute or so, still lying helplessly on the ground as you bleed.

“Shit!” Steve drops his bat. “Where did it get you, where’s the bleeding? Dustin, did we pack any bandages, or–or an EMT stretcher or–”

“Steve,” you grab his hand, urging him to calm down. “It scratched the fuck out of my ribcage, but I’m not dying. I promise.”

“You’re not?” Dustin asks, tears in his eyes. 

“I’m not. I just…” you shift, wincing at the pain. “I just really need a bandage and I’ll be good as new.”

Steve swallows, a frenzied look in his eyes, and nods. Without thinking, he tears a piece of your bloodied cardigan off and gently lifts your body up so that he can wrap the shred of cloth around you. He weaves it tight, his movements slow and delicate, his eyes never leave yours. 

You can feel his hands shaking as he tends to your wound and ties the cloth with a knot. When he’s done, even though you’re aware of the kids’ eyes on you two, you bring his hands to your lips and kiss them. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” He whispers, brushing a strand of hair out of your face. Dustin coughs, which seems to make Steve remember where he is, and he clears his throat. “Right, well. Try not to lose any more blood, yeah?”

“I’ll try,” 

Steve nods and stands back up, knowing Dustin and Lucas will want a moment with you, and makes his way back outside. He knows that they’re all still in danger, even if for some reason the Demdogs seem to have left. 

Once Steve is gone, Dustin and Lucas help you stand, and as soon as you’re up, both boys try their best to give you a hug without hurting you. 

“Don’t do that ever again,” Dustin sniffs, squeezing your uninjured side tightly.

“What he said,” Lucas sniffs as well, though he tries to hide his tears from you. 

You laugh, your own tears evident as you hold the boys tight. “I promise.” 

“You saved Steve,” Max notes, though her tone is neutral, you can see she’s impressed.

“I had to even out a debt.” 

“Guys,” Steve calls from outside. “The coast is clear.”

Slowly, you and the kids make your way out of the bus. It takes some help from both Dustin and Lucas, but eventually you’re able to walk on your own, holding your side, and walk down the steps. 

“You okay?” Steve is by your side as soon as you’ve stepped down, holding you so that he’s not touching your cut. You’re thankful for his support, the pain still making you feel woozy. 

“We’ll talk later,” you motion towards the kids, not wanting to worry them any further. 

He nods, although he hates that you feel like you can’t focus on your own safety. 

“What happened?” Lucas asks the group. 

“I don’t know.” Max looks around, and you think she’s finally starting to understand what she’s gotten herself into. 

Dustin points to you and Steve. “Maybe they scared ‘em off?”

“No,” Steve shakes his head. It couldn’t have been that easy. “No way.”

“They’re going somewhere.” You finish for him, confirming your worst fears. Suddenly, more pain shoots through you and you wince again, squeezing your eyes shut. 

Steve bends his head down, guiding you a bit away from the kids so that they won’t hear. “Hey, we don’t have to follow them. We can go home, you know.”

“We can’t.” You clench your jaw as pain rings throughout your body. The goddamn Demodog got you good. “We have to follow. It’s all connected, Will and his episodes, Nancy and Jonathan with the detective, and I’ll be damned if I back down now.”

“So we follow?” Steve asks, trusting whatever call you make.

You nod, knowing you have to do this. While you guys are safe for now, you know that everyone else has to be in danger; you have to protect them. “Unfortunately.” 

-

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[formosusiniquis]

inspired by this post by @ruelogy

ao3

Eddie knows he got to Hawkins a little later than everyone else. He wasn't born and raised in the six miles of town with the same eight people his whole life. There was a whole social services kerfuffle that meant he didn't land in this small town hell hole until he was the ancient age of thirteen. He knows he's destined to forever be the freaky new kid with the shaved head and the group home eyes who joined in the eighth grade. But even without all that he is fucking positive that there was no Henderson in any of his three graduating classes.

Yet here Henderson the supposed younger sits painting him a mystery week after week. Steve said this, Steve did that, Steve may very well be a delusion if the way the others giggle and sigh every time he gets brought up is any indication. Cause it goes like this: Henderson comma Dustin is a fellow Hawkins transplant. Son of a single mother -- divorced or widowed, Eddie knows enough now to be sure that fueled the Hawkins gossip mill for weeks -- who brought her young son with her. Son, singular. Dustin joined the first grade class of Michael Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair, and William Byers and that is as they say history. If there had been sons, plural, this mysterious older brother should have by all of Eddie's figurings joined Hawkins junior high right around the same time as a miserable Eddie. There should have been whispers about two new kids, there should have been someone for him to commiserate with, befriend.

Yet week after week young Dustin sits at Hellfire spinning yarns of a brother who was, what, homeschooled? Sent to a private military academy? Boarding school? Stayed at home with the mysterious father that Dustin doesn't mention -- and Eddie knows enough about fathers that go unmentioned not to break the silence -- but suddenly decided after he graduated to come join his mother and brother in Hawkins? Cause the thing is, Hawkins isn't that big. If pressed he's pretty sure he could name at least 90% of both of the classes he was supposed to graduate with and at least 75% of the group he's stuck with this year. He'd at the very least recognize them on sight, and not just cause he's dealt to the greater portion of the high school. Eddie pays attention, there are only like 400 students at the high school at any time, he should by all accounts be able to say, "Oh yeah that scrawny, bespectacled loser is Steve Henderson."

Except maybe there is no Steve Henderson, he's already faintly sure there's no Suzie so what's one more fictional friend from Dustin Henderson. Maybe this Steve is just the product of a fractured mind brought on by too much hands on parenting. Eddie knows people think all of his bad behavior is the product of underparenting, but if the opposite causes imaginary siblings he'll take the hand he got thank you very much.

Cause, sure he's doing his best to be third time lucky with this whole high school thing. He does know that compared to the should be starry eyed, but actually unsettlingly wary freshmen he is an ancient being of chaos. Yes, he feels every ounce of the five year gap between 19 and 14 when he speaks to them. But beyond all of that, he is still young. Still capable of swooning now and then; and the now is when Dustin describes his big brother and the then was all the other times Henderson the older has been detailed.

"Well that's cause I'm not really sorry, Mike," Henderson is on a tear already when he makes it to Hellfire, "I told you I have plans already."

"It's not that big a deal," Lucas placates, "we can do it another day."

"My parents won't be out of town another day," Mike sneers, "Will, you wouldn't ditch out on an all night Nintendo marathon for a date with Steve would you?" He says it like Will is the voice of the populace or something.

Maybe he is, and going by the way Will flushes a bright pink up to his bowlcut the voice of the people would in fact rather go out with Steve Henderson than hang out in a basement playing video games.

"It's not a date, he's my brother, and yeah dude I'm gonna skip out on watching you scream at Mario to go to an all night Stephen King movie marathon." Dustin says.

And swoon. That sounds like a dream.

"Like Steve would ever do something that cool, you can just say your mom won't let you come over cause my parents aren't gonna be home." Mike is surlier than usual, a trait he has noticed happens a lot when Henderson the elder gets broached. Eddie's theories range from misplaced sibling jealousy to repressed queer crush on Steve.

"C'mon kiddies save the tantrums for your mommies," he doesn't have a taste for it regardless of the answer, puberty is a bitch he's glad to be seeing the back of and Wheeler can go from being an angel to the kind of brat you do want to narc on just a little. "The rest of us have hoards to slay, maidens to save, things that don't involve listening to your play date fall apart."

He desperately wants to ask Henderson where they're movie night is taking place, because it sounds amazing and not at all because he wants to finally see this mysterious brother.

“It wasn’t even mine!” Henderson is moaning by the time Eddie makes it from O’Donnells to the cafeteria. He wasn’t that late, five minutes to plead his case for his grade at most, but Henderson could monologue with the best of them and it took about as much to get the kid going as it did Eddie, which was saying something.

“And you and Erica made fun of what was under my bed.” Lucas says with a smirk and a roll of his eyes.

“What was under your bed?” Will asks.

“We are not going to let Dustin get out of the fact that his Mom found his Star Trek porn that easily,” Mike shrieks, he sounds like he’s trying to mind his volume but it’s still too loud for a public venue, “You gave me shit for weeks about that Penthouse you found under my bed.”

“We gave you shit because you stole it from your dad,” Lucas corrects, not that anyone but Eddie hears it.

Cause as Lucas speaks Dustin is shouting, “It wasn’t fucking mine! It has to be Steve’s but try telling my mom anything about her favorite son.”

Three sets of disbeliving eyes look over at Dustin, but it’s Mike who says, “There’s no fucking way anyone is gonna believe it was Steve’s dude, just give it up.”

“I don’t even like Star Trek that much!”

Eddie has been having dreams of a mystery boy with a gorgeous head of hair and Dustin’s sweet smile. He likes horror but will pretend to get scared so he has a reason to hide his face in Eddie’s neck, and when he gets there he’s a biter. “Now, now Henderson, what kind of self-respecting nerd doesn’t enjoy the dulcet tones of Mr. Spock.”

Henderson wrinkles his little nose, what a twerp or maybe he’s thinking of his brother’s zine again, “It’s okay, but who goes to sci-fi for philosophy when you could watch space battles and deathstars.”

Eddie spares a prayer for Dustin’s English grade. “Well at least one Henderson has taste.”

He’s never had a younger sibling in Hellfire before, Gareth and Joey are only children and Jeff is way older than his miracle baby sister, so it is a treat to watch the way Henderson goes red, white, and then green as he cycles through a series of emotions surrounding his brother so fast it gives Eddie a headache.

“Dude, he probably bought it for you not knowing what it was,” Mike says, “it’s not like Steve is watching Star Trek.”

"You didn't see it."

"Maybe it was a prank?"

Eddie tunes them out, returning to the Steve in his imagination. They're slipping out of the movie they just finished, the one they bought tickets for, Steve giggles -- Eddie thinks he'd have a nice laugh, thinks he makes his brother laugh a lot -- and tugs him into The Voyage Home. "You gonna think of your favorite captain while we hide in the back row, Stevie?"

"Kirk is an Admiral now, he has been for three movies. Some fan you are."

He wonders if it’s creepy, this mental file he’s compiling on Henderson’s brother. It’s not like he knows the guy, truly a backwards fucking miracle in this two stoplight nothing of a town, but Eddies’ always liked something that he can sink his teeth into and pull apart. That’s what Steve Henderson feels like to him, like if a rubix cube was also a steak. He’s lost track of the metaphor in his own head, it’s whatever.

Cause Steve Henderson loves horror movies, but watches sappy romance flicks with his mom when they both have the same day off. Steve Henderson’s favorite color is yellow, but he only wears it on days that he can barely get out of bed; Dustin says that like it’s a warning sign for the others “Steve has his yellow sweater on today,” explaining away his absence at the arcade that afternoon. Steve Henderson could have any girl he wants -- this factoid Eddie takes with a salt, lime, and tequila -- but he never goes on dates anymore and only hangs out with his best friend and coworker. Steve Henderson baked a brownie so good Jeff moaned in the middle of Hellfire but can only over or undercook pasta when he tries.

Dustin loves his brother. Dustin thinks he’s the worst person to ever grace this side of the planet.

That Eddie thinks is at least typical for siblings, barring the Byers who seem to be so close knit they’d put the Bradys to shame.

“Henderson, my man, why the long face? We’re about to begin the most dangerous leg of your quest yet!” Hellfire was getting a delayed start -- the drama club was actually using their prop closet, go figure -- it was just him and Henderson lurking outside so Eddie did have to find his fun where he could get it.

“Steve and Robin went up to Indianapolis and they’re gonna be gone the whole weekend.” And yeah, he probably could have guessed it was about big brother Henderson. Dusty has the cutest case of hero worship when he wasn’t wishing big brother dead. “They say they aren’t dating, and it’s just for her birthday, but a weekend trip seriously it screams romance.”

“And you’re mad they didn’t bring you?”

“I could have been out of the way! Do you know the kind of specialty tech shops they have up there? I need some things you can't get in Hawkins to improve Cerebro and it's twice as much to get them mail order. I could make myself scarce for a couple hours so they can get it on.

He smacks the bill of Dustin’s cap, knocking it down over his eyes, but nobly refrains from giving him a noogie, “Dusty if you ever want to pop your little Mormon girl’s cherry, maybe don’t say shit like ‘get it on.’”

“Suzie is an angel, don’t be crude, man.” Dustin’s hands are quick as they smack him away, that must be another little brother trait.

“An angel, huh, another point in the ‘girlfriend isn’t real’ category. How many imaginary friends do you have, kid? A girlfriend in Utah and a brother that no one but your party has seen.”

The rest of Hellfire starts to trickle in, having used their time waiting for their table more wisely than Eddie has. Dustin’s comment is delayed only momentarily as he says hi to the rest of the freshmen that he definitely saw only a few minutes ago. “For the record, Suzie is very real. And you…” It’s the way he trails off that makes Eddie nervous, the way a light goes on in his eyes that sets the hair at the back of his neck on end. His danger instincts are finely honed and that's the same, 'I'm smarter than you look' Henderson was wearing when he managed to sniff out half the traps Eddie had laid out last session. "You should meet Steve, I bet I could get him to pick us up next week instead of Nancy."

He thinks this must be what the raccoons behind the trailer park feel like. The obvious trap of the shiny silver cage that's been baited so sweet it's hard to resist walking in anyway. "Sure, Henderson, tell the mysterious brother to stop by. Have him bring one of those zines that definitely belongs to him."

Dustin is especially vicious as dispatches with every creature that Eddie throws at him that day. It’s hard to be that upset, he’s feeling pretty fat and happy sitting in whatever animal control rodent trap Henderson thinks he’s got him in.

The next week’s session comes in a haze of vague daydreams and intense session prep. He’s had Steve Henderson on the brain for so long that he all but forgot about his little tête-à-tête with Dustin the week before. Forgot if not for the way that Baby Henderson is vibrating at the Hellfire lunch table when Eddie arrives.

“Steve is coming to get us from Hellfire today!” Eddie personally thinks this doesn’t quite deserve the level of reaction that it’s getting, but Henderson is so worked up no one even needs to prompt him to keep him going. “He had to leave right after his weekend trip to go deal with lawyers and shit.”

“Are they still..?” Lucas trails off, he’s clearly concerned but for all that Eddie hates that the kid is looking down the barrel of jock life he is extremely emotionally adept.

“Mom and Steve both said it was handled now. They won’t answer me when I ask any questions.”

Ominous, everything about Steve Henderson was so fucking weird. A kid who didn’t exist all through high school, that he’s never seen in town, who has lawyers now?

“Maybe Hop could,” the kid started to ask, hopeful.

“Mom says that it’s Steve’s business and we should all stay out of it unless he asks for our help.” Will responds by rote, something he’s clearly already tried before.

“So the infamous Steve Henderson is going to grace us with his presence today?” Eddie knows the answer already, but like most of his vices he can't resist indulging.

"He's taking us all out for ice cream after," Dustin agrees, "you could come too Eddie, I'm sure Steve wouldn't mind!"

"Steve minds everything," Mike grouses.

"Steve always buys your triple scoop sundae."

Eddie thinks Steve Henderson would have elegant fingers. He thinks about how they might toy with the straw of his milkshake while he smiles, coy and teasing, at Eddie, who he's charmed by. This Steve lets Eddie snatch the cherry from his drink, blushes when he gets his stem returned tied in a knot by Eddie's tongue.

"Well if Steve is buying, who am I to refuse an invitation?"

He does not end Hellfire early because Steve Henderson is coming. 

He does, by pure coincidence, need to piss 15 minutes before things are set to wrap up. If that gives him enough time to clean himself up a bit that's just luck. This isn't for Steve Henderson.

His bathroom break, and definitely not pre-date primp session, puts him at the back of the pack when Steve Harrington's maroon beemer pulls into the lot. It feels a little bit like sophomore year again. When his hair was in another awkward stage of growing out and curled around his ears, he didn't have his mom to help him with the curls anymore and he didn't know what to do with them now that they seemed to twist and turn in new directions post-buzz. He caught the sweetest looking boy with puppy dog eyes staring and he'd been so embarrassed about getting caught he'd touched his own locks. Hairsprayed into oblivion and locked firmly into place the touch was ripped away and a shy, 'what can you do' smile was shared between the two of them. It feels a bit like junior year when Steve Harrington broke the keg stand record as a sophomore. Rounding the corner from tipsy into drunk or maybe bypassing it altogether for blackout, he wandered over into Eddie's domain. He had that same shy little wave, but a stronger confidence. He sidled up to Eddie and wrapped a curl around a finger. He tugged, just a bit, the way kids do when they want to see if it'll bounce back. "Yknow you'd be pretty if you were a girl." The slip slide of his definitely drunk tone didn't take Eddie out at the knees any less.

The car curves up closer to the front steps and Henderson is shaking like a rocket leaving Canaveral. He actually starts to take a step toward the still moving car when four hands clamp down on him saving Steve last-name-to-be-determined from a vehicular manslaughter charge. Eddie is the last to release him when he hears that car slide into park. The engine has barely had time to rumble to a stop before Steve Harrington is out of it. A toothy smile splits his face and, hidden behind Byers and Wheeler, Eddie watches as Steve Harrington proceeds to engage in the nerdiest fucking handshake he's ever seen. Steve Harrington finishes dying by what seems to be lethal lightsaber disembowelment and waves at the other three teens. 

"Alright let's rock n roll if you twerps want ice cream before I drop you off. Joyce will kill me if you're late."

"Steve, can Eddie come with us?"

As Henderson asks Eddie now sees the exact size and shape of the trap he is in. The actually dweeby, dungeon master and drug dealer forced to watch the hot, once cool older brother bow to the obligation of Midwestern courtesy now that he's been ambushed with Eddie's existence. Or worse he'll have to stand there and pretend to be unbothered while King Steve shoots both Hendersons hopes and Eddie's dreams in the face with one curled lip.

He never could have imagined the furrow of confusion between his brows. The way lips wrap themselves around his name, tasting it. He hadn't, in his many fantasies, pictured golden brown eyes though he often thought of them snapping up to him like they were now.

A rosy blush blooms across Steve's face. He has the same shy finger wave he did as a freshman. "Depends, Dust, are you gonna give up your shotgun dibs or are you gonna make your troop leader sit in the back with the rest of the Party.” 

He watches as if in slow motion as Henderson lunges for Steve, the elder is laughing as the younger wraps his arms around his neck. There is something very intensely attractive about the lingering jock of it all. How Steve is still upright even as his teenage brother dangles from his neck. “You know it’s Dungeon Master, you get it right with Erica!”

“I have a lot of respect for Erica, the things she does with goblins and kobolds is masterful. You asked me about the lead up to a trap so obvious it felt like an eagle scout showing his little cubbies poison ivy." It's bitchy and nerdy in all the best ways, and then Steve H- Steve looks up at him and winks, "No offense, Munson."

"None taken, Stevie." That seems to catch them both by surprise, the lack of a certain last name to fall back to -- and weeks of imagining what it might be like to interact with the guy who is and isn't right in front of him -- has Eddie overly familiar. "I drove here though." His van stands like a monolith alone in the middle of an empty parking lot.

"Oh."

"But I could meet you there? Are you going to the Dairy Queen by the library or the haunted one?"

"It's not actually haunted," Byers pipes in with frightening sincerity.

"But yeah, the haunted one," Steve says with a boy next door grin.

"Then I will meet you and your charges there Sir Henderson." He bows and only immediately regrets it, now that the once Harrington lord of the school is out of his line of sight. His brain feels like it could short out, faulty wires sparking against memories and daydreams and general hormones.

A sheepie he saved from the slaughter snorts, another - probably Mike - whispers "Gross." There's a grunt that Eddie hopes is the traitor catching an elbow from one of the others. 

But it doesn't. fucking. matter because Steve Whatever laughs, practically giggles at Eddie and his antics.

And Dustin's rocket has come in for a rough landing, "I'm going to regret this, aren't I?"

Steve's hand envelopes the top of Dustin's head, he nearly palms it. It's not quite a noogie, more like he shakes his head for him. "Dusty-bun, why would you regret introducing me to your Dork Mother?"

"I'm gonna tell Ma you're being a bitch again."

"She won't believe you, I'm her favorite." He shoots another wink toward Eddie, a joke he's being allowed in on.

Level headed Dustin Henderson, who explained to him, in depth, how getting overly emotional impairs higher level critical thinking, stomps his foot. "You're so full of shit."

"I am. She chose me, she got stuck with you."

"Steve!"

He laughs at the despair he's caused, ruffling cap covered hair again until Dustin stomps out of reaching distance to climb in the Beemer with the other boys. Brown eyes are bright with mischief when he looks to Eddie, and he's struck by a thought. He was right, he hadn't ever met Steve Henderson before today. This is not the same boy who sat in the cafeteria with a closed mouth smile listening to Tommy H. and Carol. "Let me walk you to your car?" He asks.

"It's right there, Stevie, and do you really want to leave that band of miscreants alone with your car?" He's playing with fire, but the fear of getting burned has never stopped him before. He leans in close, whispers, "They might steal it."

Steve pales, a haunted look in his eye. He shakes it off, squeezing his eyes shut tight,  and that soft smile slips across his face again. "Let me watch you leave then." That smile slides into a smirk, as he looks Eddie up and down.

He was right about getting burned, his face feels like it's on fire as he flees the scene. His tail is definitely not tucked between his legs because Steve is absolutely staring at his ass right now. He doesn't remember how walking is supposed to feel, but it's probably not like this. It would be embarrassing, the fact that he probably looks like a baby deer discovering he has knees for the first time, if it weren't more important that he makes sure each foot is planted so he doesn't acquaint himself with the ground below him. Safely encased in the van, he chances a look through the windshield and confirms that Steve is watching him.

He waves, and yeah it is gratifying to see the guy who at one point had half the girls in school fawning over him duck his head like he's embarrassed at getting caught staring. Sinclair leans up from the back seat, Eddie watches him clap Steve on the shoulder and make a comment on… something, probably him. It makes the rest of the car laugh and Steve thunk his head down on the steering wheel. The horn sounds, an echoing burst of noise that cuts off just as quickly as it starts when Steve jumps in his seat. The seat belt stops his jump short, and he sends another flustered wave Eddie's way when he notices him still watching.

Maybe he'll mention this to Little Red, his new neighbor has mentioned stealing young Henderson's brother and making him a Mayfield instead. A joke that makes a little more sense now. Sinclair has been making moon eyes at her and baby Hopper at lunch for the last week. That will be a better punishment than anything Eddie could do to him at the table.

He waves back at Steve, gives him his most winning smile -- the one he practiced in the mirror for charming pretty boys if he ever got out of the armpit of Indiana. Mimes driving like he's in a bad movie. Across twenty feet and two windows, he can't hear Steve laugh, needs to get to somewhere where he can. He can see the smile though, the dorky thumbs up.

He lets the Beemer pull out in front of him, watches it for just a moment as reality sets in. Reality. He's going to meet Steve Henderson for soft serve. It's a dream come true.

Arwen shifts into gear, and he slides out behind Steve and the sheepies. A whole new world of daydreaming unlocked.

Maybe next week Steve Henderson will let Nancy pick the kids up next week. He'll slip in the back doors of the school, unnoticed by everyone. Stealth bonus obscene for a fighter class. Eddie is moving slow as he moves minis and graph paper maps into the tackle box Wayne gave him, back to the door he misses his rogue slip through the door until he's already grappled.

"Was it a good game, Munson? You win?"

"It's not like one of your sports, Henderson, the wins aren't as clear cut."

Hands start to wander, "Isn't any time you pull one over on the Party kind of a victory?"

"In which case I do stand victorious, your sweet baby brother lost his brand new axe to a mimic."

"Hmm, you know what we used to do after a victory in my 'sports?'"

A hand has migrated to an especially interesting place. "What?"

"We'd hit the showers."

Eddie shakes himself out of the daydream, easing just the smallest bit harder onto the accelerator. He needs something to cool himself off with. He also really wants to see Steve again, to make up for lost time.

[steviesummer]

Bet

written for @steddiemicrofic prompt: ‘pool’ | wc: #442 | rated: G | cw: none

“So,” Steve started as he plopped down on the floor next to Eddie, handing him a beer. “Who do you thinks is gonna win the pool?”

All the older teens stared at him, previous conversations stopping. “The pool?”

“The betting pool the Party has on when Eddie and I will get together.”

Jonathan frowned. “I thought you told them you were dating?”

“I did.”

“Alright, explain this to me.” Robin demanded, leaning forward from her sprawl on the couch.

Steve laughed. “So Eddie and I went on a date about a month ago, right? When we went stargazing.” He directed that last part towards Eddie. At everyone’s nod, he continued. “The Party asked if they could watch movies here that night. I told then no and well, you know how they get - they immediately started asking why they can’t have movie night here.”

“Oh boy.”

“So I told them, ‘I’ve got a hot date.’ But that’s not enough, they’re so nosy, they started demanding to know who I was going out with. Pretty sure Dustin was hoping I would say Robin.” He rolled his eyes.

“When is he going to give that up!” Robin grumbled.

Steve nodded his agreement. “Seriously, I have no idea why he is so convinced we are dating. Anyway, when they wouldn’t stop asking, I told them Eddie and I were going to the quarry.”

“Let me guess,” Nancy broke in, “they all groaned and made some comment about keeping your secrets.”

Steve grinned. “Got it in one. They stopped asking but then I overheard them yesterday talking about when we would actually get together. Apparently we are still pining over each other, maybe because they’ve never seen us make out?”

“Oh my god.” Nancy and Jonathan both looked particularly despairing given that their brothers were both part of this.

“Yeah, they were bringing up different things as ‘evidence.’ For not realizing we are actually dating, they were surprisingly insightful.”

“Like?”

Steve nodded, holding up his hand to count off examples. “Us watching each other, that time Eddie brought me lunch at work, letting him play his music in the Beemer, that one NPC couple he made. Also apparently we are always gazing longingly at each other when the other isn’t looking.”

Everyone laughed. “I mean, they aren’t wrong.” Eddie said. “But also, you’ve told them we went on a date. How are they not getting it?”

"Beats me.” Steve shrugged. “I swear, those kids are so smart but so little common sense.”

Robin nodded. “It’s true. But I think the real question is, are you going to tell them or let them figure it out themselves?”

[artiststarme]

Here’s a little something something prompted by @nburkhardt. I wanted to go angstier but she specifically requested a happy ending lol.

Enjoy and leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

As fall grew into winter, Steve started to feel more and more wrong-footed. Gone we’re the dinner invitations from the Wheelers and the drop-in visits from Dustin. They had better things to do, he guessed, than have over the town’s loser for company. Just like the weather, he also grew cold. With each lost invite and every day alone, the chasm in his chest grew until there was only emptiness where his hope used to be.

One day though, it all made sense. Mike and Dustin blew into Family Video with Eddie Munson in tow. They were all laughing and speaking in weird voices that only they understood. It seemed that Steve had been replaced as the “older male figure”, still creepy, and he’d been replaced by Munson. The moat between him and the kids only seemed to widen when he refused to rent them a rated R movie and Eddie rented it himself.

He’d been replaced. After everything they’d gone through, the fate he’d always imagined but hoped wouldn’t, had come. Everywhere he looked, he noticed. He saw Munson driving the kids home from school, saw them walking in town together, and even saw Eddie being invited into the Henderson home for dinner on one particular Tuesday. His worst fear had come true; the kids didn’t need him anymore. Worst yet, it seemed they didn’t even want him.

Instead of wallowing in the well-deserved self-pity, he moves on. Steve distances himself from the kids (not that they notice) and picks up a second job. He doesn’t love working at Melvald’s but Mrs. Byers’ position was open and he was desperate. He needed to save all the money he could so that he and Robin could move once she graduated. Steve couldn’t let her leave without him just because he didn’t have the funds to leave Hawkins. He didn’t know what he’d do if she left him too.

So he worked himself to exhaustion and avoided Robin’s questions at work and Mrs. Henderson’s curious glances at the grocery store. He hides in the back room of Family Video when Munson tracks him down to gloat and locks his front door to avoid the kids if they were ever to come to his house and rub it in.

He continues his melancholic loathing until he couldn’t anymore. Eventually his lack of sleep and empty diet had to catch up to him and catch up to him it did. Embarrassingly, it caught up to him right as he started yelling about Munson replacing him right to Eddie’s face and he passed out in his arms like some damsel in distress.

When he woke up in the hospital, it wasn’t a huge surprise. He’d felt it coming just as he’d felt the kids pulling away. What was a surprise was the ringed hand wrapped in his and the soft lull of someone reading Lord of the Rings to him.

The sleeping Henderson mother sitting in the chair at the end of his bed was also a surprise albeit the hissing cat in her lap was not. God, Steve hated Mews 2.

When everyone woke up, there would be screaming and crying and an outpouring of love. Steve would see that Eddie didn’t replace him but instead aimed to join him as a part of the family. He’d show him through hand-holding, kisses, and bringing Steve lunch in his free period.

Steve could finally see how loved he was as part of the Henderson family. He also saw how fun it was to be the older brother once he could gross Dustin out by flirting with his boyfriend in front of him. And the best part? Eddie liked horrifying the kid too.

[steddieas-shegoes]

Headcanon: Wayne, Claudia, Joyce & Hopper meeting Steve's parents who are neglectful & pretty cruel to their son & realize that Steve is sooo good without having parents to help raise him (maybe he gets adopted by one of them)

Okay picture this:

Steve is 14, his parents haven’t been home in a month.

Hopper finds it weird that he’s constantly catching rides with friends or walking places when his parents are loaded and could easily have someone drive him.

He drives by his house late one night and sees one light on upstairs, assumes it’s Steve’s bedroom, and decides to stop and check in when he sees an empty driveway.

Steve comes to the door, clearly home alone, and Hop asks how long he’s been alone.

Steve’s scared to tell him the truth but he’s at the age where he’s just scared enough of cops to not wanna lie to him.

Hop is pissed. Tells him to pack a bag for a few days because he’s staying with someone he trusts. An adult.

That adult is Claudia Henderson, who doesn’t even need to know everything to know that Steve needs love.

That’s how he actually meets Dustin, ends up sharing a room with him for a couple nights until his parents get back in town.

Hopper unleashes pure fury on them, says if they didn’t want the responsibility of a kid, they shouldn’t have had one. They argue back that he’s old enough to take care of himself now and he doesn’t have any right to “kidnap” him and bring him to a person’s home they don’t know.

Claudia is there for all of it, so is Steve.

Hopper tells them they’re lucky he didn’t get CPS involved and that he still might if they don’t figure out how to be parents.

Steve is cowering in the chair in the corner, watching his parents fight for their reputation, but not for him.

He finally speaks up, finally gains the courage he needs to say that he liked staying with Claudia and Dustin, that he knows his parents don’t want him.

After hours of going back and forth, his parents agree to send money to Claudia for groceries and care of him and he gets to have a family.

When Joyce finds out, she starts having Steve over for dinners a couple times a week too, and he becomes good friends with Jonathan instead of Tommy.

He becomes another older brother to Will, and they actually come out to each other at the same time.

Will is how he meets Eddie. Will looks up to Eddie as a DM and Steve doesn’t understand most of the game, but he knows that seeing Eddie’s passion turn Will’s passion into more.

Eddie and Steve start hanging out, usually alone, usually when Wayne is at work. It’s slow, the way they fall in love.

They’re two teenagers who never really saw romantic love, not the healthy kind, so they don’t even realize they’re in it until Wayne asks how long they’ve been dating one night when they’re all having dinner.

Wayne didn’t know much of Steve’s story, not until he shared it one evening shortly after graduation.

He hugged Steve to him tight.

“You’ve got a family, a family who loves ya, but I’m here too. You’re my boy, too.”

Steve grew up feeling like a burden, feeling unwanted and unloved. But ironically, when he lost the only family he had, he gained more than he could have ever expected.

[aceoflove]

Filled with Regret (Ronance)

Warning: Angst (then fluff)

Words: 2059

It was odd for Nancy. The fact that Robin chose to be her friend and for once she didn’t want to push her away. Ever since Barb, she had made sure she didn’t have time for friends, only occasionally hanging out with Freddie… But now he was gone too. So, the fact that Nancy didn’t feel guilty for wanting to be Robin’s friend made her feel weird. It made her feel oddly safe compared to the sleepless nights hearing Barbs pleas to her.

Maybe it was the fact that Robin actually listened to her, or the fact that Steve dragged her into this mess, so if anything happened, she wouldn’t feel responsible…? But she would. She would feel that guilt all over again, her heart in her throat and tears in her eyes at the thought of her lifeless body entangled in Henry’s vines. She can’t let that happen.

Her feet hit the ground, each step feeling heavier, dragging her down as she follows everyone into their headquarters of sorts, sitting on the arm of the nearest armchair, feeling restless. Her leg was bouncing up and down as everyone tried to settle in and calm down… But how could they be calm in a time like this?

Hopper and Joyce had gone out, trying to check for damage and grab a few of Hopper’s thing’s, leaving the older kids in charge. Kids… They were adults now. That didn’t sit right with Nancy. It felt like only yesterday she had met up with Barb and convinced her to ‘let loose’ and Steves house… She shakes the memories from brain, pushing them back into the darkest corner of her mind.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t hear who started speaking or what about, but she finally took herself out of her own thoughts and looked up, listening to her boyfriend speak, Jonathan’s hand firmly planted on Will’s shoulder, clearly worried for his brother.

“We should split up. I mean it’s the best way to cover ground and- “

“I’m with Robin.”

She didn’t recognise the sound of her own voice, but she knows what she has done after seeing the surprised look on Robin’s face and the almost disappointed look on Jonathan’s as she cut him off. Even Steve was giving her a shocked look, maybe because he wanted to take Robin for himself.

“We work well together,” Nancy’s focus was now fully on Robin, “You’re a fast thinker and I am- well I think I can push you to take more risks don’t you think?”

Robin nods, almost dazed as she looks up at Nancy from her spot on the floor. “Uh huh- yeah- I- I mean sure- “

Nancy noticed Robin’s slightly flushed face and wide eyes, but she brushes the thoughts from her mind.

‘I probably embarrassed her.’ She thinks.

What she doesn’t catch is the wide eyes and half smirk that Steve Harrington was sending his friend’s way. The way he looks between them and how he connects the dots before Nancy even figured it out herself…

“Are we heading the right way?”

Robin’s nervous voice almost squeaked as she follows Nancy down the dark passageway of trees.

“Positive. Dustin said that this is the way we had to go.”

It odd how after knowing Dustin for so long, she learnt not to question him. It might be because he hadn’t steered them wrong before, or maybe she knew that she had to trust Mike’s friends.

“Okay- okay cool.”

She felt Robin closer behind her than before, the whole world feeling dark and grim. On instinct, she reaches back, her hand slipping into the taller girl’s hand, holding her a little closer. Her heart was pounding in time with each step, her radio dead silent still, her signal hadn’t come. They make it to their destination and hide, just like they had planned. All the while the grip on her hand grew.

“Okay seriously, how long are they going to take? We’ve been here for like an hour and my hands are getting numb- and I really need to pee!”

She chuckles a little, smiling at Robin before shushing her. “Calm down. I’m sure they will be ready soon. But knowing Steve he had to make sure his hair was perfect for ass kicking.” Robin chimes in, finishing her sentence with her before they break into a fit of quite laughs. “I know right! That man is so obsessed with his hair! Like I’m lucky I even get time to brush it in the mornings!”

“Mine is a nightmare too sometimes, but you know.” She shrugs, “I’m pretty sure if there was a class on hair, Steve would have gotten straight A’s.”

“Ah yes, the might King Steve! Oh, how he has fallen. He went from top of the chain to being my friend.” Her sad smile didn’t go unnoticed by Nancy. She reaches her hand over to the other girl’s shoulder and gives it a slight pat.

“And what’s so wrong with that? I’m your friend and honestly, I’m glad.” “Really? Miss Nancy Wheeler is glad to be friends with me?”

“Yeah.” The silence wraps around them like a fog, suffocating, like there were words needing to be said as they just look at each other.

The light bounces off of Robin’s face, her freckles adorned her cheeks like the stars that used to be in the sky above Hawkins, her hair framing her face just right.

“You make me feel listened to and seen I guess.”

“What do you mean?” Spinning around a little from where she was sitting, Robin fully faced her, crossing her legs.

“Like that! You give me your full attention, like you hang onto every word. You don’t make me feel like I’m being ignored, you are always there when I need you. And you balance me out so well! You’re fast paced, keeping me on my feet, while somehow also grounding me in reality so I don’t get too far in my thoughts! You fill in the gaps when I lose my brain and you and I work so well together. So yeah. I am thankful you’re my friend.”

Once again, the silence embraces the night, Robin left speechless while Nancy caught her breath, both of their faces flushed. There was a bright strike of lighting, followed by a crash of thunder a moment later, right before the radio went static.

“Nancy! Robin- Are you there?”

Dustin’s voice called out, snapping both girls out of their thoughts.

“Right here Dustin.”

“It’s go time!”

The whole group had found each other once again, Nancy and Jonathan in the middle of the pack, watching their brothers walk side by side, following Steve up the front.

“Seems like the Wheelers and the Byers make pretty good couples.”

She looks over at her boyfriend, taking a deep breath. “About that… Jonathan, I love you, I really do- but we aren’t working anymore. We’ve been distant. I don’t think I can do this.”

“Yeah… I agree.”

A few more words were shared before they split, Nancy slowing her pace and heading to the back of the group with Robin, who had seen the interaction between the two.

“You guys okay? That seemed… tense?”

“Yeah. I’ll tell you later.”

Theres a beat of silence between them, where all they can hear is the trudging footsteps of the group. The silence is almost pleasant, if it weren’t for the impending doom looming over their heads.

“Did you mean what you said before? That you’re thankful I’m your friend?”

The question took Nancy a little off guard, almost surprised that Robin even needed to ask that.

“Of course I’m serious Robin.”

“Huh…”

Another beat. She glances at Robin, wondering what is going on through her mind.

“For the longest time I thought I’d only have Steve… but now I have you.”

A soft glance with a smile is exchanged between the girls, a weird fluttering feeling bubbling in both of their stomachs, a feeling Nancy hadn’t felt in a long time.

“Well, you’re stuck with me now.”

Once again, they were left together, looking out and listening out for their signal, so they can destroy Vecna-Henry-001 once and for all.

She holds the barrel of her gun steady, prepared to shoot in case any of those vines or nasty bats come near the pair, Robin holding a machete for close range. They stay close to each other, both of their anxieties high. Having faced Vecna before, they know that there is a chance that someone won’t make it out alive, keeping them on edge.

“Hey Nance?”

She turns to the taller girl, seeing the worried look on her face. Taking a deep breath, she turns to face her fully, still on alert as she gives her a comforting smile.

“What’s up Robin?”

The air grew thicker between them as Robin seems to be internally battling herself. A shaky breath passes her lips before she speaks.

“I-if this is the end- I have to tell you something.” Silently she urges Robin on, giving her a soft look.

“I- I like you- Not in a friend way- Well in a friend way- but also in more than a friend way. Y-you make me so flustered but so calm- and I really- really like you and I don’t want to lose you just because you know I like girls- cause I don’t like guys- but I really like you! You’re smart and pretty and-”

“Woah! Calm down Robin- breathe.” Her hand rests against her shoulder, stopping her from her rambling, partially so she doesn’t pass out from lack of breath, and because she need to process what she just said.

The air was tense as Robin anticipated rejection, and maybe even the loss of a friend in this moment as Nancy stayed mostly silent, her lips pursed in thought.

She hadn’t ever considered the fact that women were an option romantically since she had come from such a strait-laced family… But she shouldn’t be surprised. There were times that she felt strange around girls, like in the locker room for gym, or when she watched ‘Fast Times’ for the first time.

And then there was Robin. Charming, awkward Robin. After the whole falling apart with Jonathen, she thought she was lost with love. But Robin, she makes her feel complete, heard, respected. She can’t help but smile when she sees her, wanting to stare at her face, and count every freckle on her body, wanting to be around her all the time and- oh… OH!

Maybe she does like girls… The thought caught her off guard for a moment

A bashful smile creeps onto her face, chuckling as she looks up at Robin.

“Maybe I like you too…”

A loud bang rings in the distance. That’s their signal. The pair don’t have time to dwell on the revelation of love, but instead have to jump into action, to defeat Vecna, and save the world. The jump into action, trying not to be distracted by each other.

Running through the wreckage, families and friends reunite, releveled that this whole thing with the upside down is finally over. They had won! After briefly reuniting with her family, Nancy can’t help but look around, standing on her tip toes just to see if Robin was okay after they got split up in the heat of the battle.

In the crowd she sees her face, talking to Steve, reuniting. A chuckle escapes her before she sprints their way, bumping into a few people as she goes.

“Robin!” She watched Robin turn her head in the direction of her voice, the biggest, cheesiest grin breaking out on the taller girls face as she moves Steve out of her way.

“Nancy!”

They almost collide with the force from Nancys run, their arms wrapping around each other in an instant as Robin nuzzles her face against Nancy’s hair, her own head in the crook of her neck, and that’s where they stay for a while. Steve ran off to find his children, leaving them in peace.

Pulling apart, neither girl could contain themselves, bringing their lips together for a soft moment, all of their emotions running high, but they knew, that all they needed was each other to know the word is okay. 

[hxneyfarm]

broken

cw: canon compliant, brief mention of suicidal ideation, discussions of death and grief, and steve's weird relationship with both

something in steve might be broken.

in the years since this whole thing started, he's watched people die. he watched a boy his age be impaled by a monster, heard eddie munson's death rattle with his own two ears. he can easily picture will byers' body being dragged out of the quarry, and he wasn't even there for it. it's easy to imagine barb's final moments too, being dragged into the upside down through the pool in his backyard.

but when he thinks of these things, there's no feeling behind them.

for months, nancy grieved barb, and just when steve thought she was starting to get better, get over that grief, halloween happened and she was back to square one.

max, for months, grieved billy. she grieved to the point of self sacrifice, to the point of writing everybody a letter in the event of her own death.

and now, dustin. he's a shell of the kid he used to be.

and something in steve must be broken. because he doesn't get it.

it's not that he's never lost anybody before. steve's earliest memory is his grandfather's funeral. he was maybe four or five. his mother had an arm around him as they sat side by side in the church pew, and something wet landed on his head. when he looked up, his mother was crying.

and steve couldn't figure out why.

when steve was thirteen, his favorite aunt died. he went to the funeral that time too. everyone was crying. everyone but steve. they'd all asked him 'are you okay?' and steve didn't know what to say. he was fine.

people die. it's a fact of life. people are born, they live, and then they die. it happens to everybody. sure, sometimes it's tragic, but it happens to everybody eventually.

what's the point of carrying something as debilitating as grief when death is inevitable?

maybe it makes him a selfish, uncaring asshole. maybe he's exactly what everybody's always said he is.

steve's always figured that when it's someone really important to him, he'll finally get it. but the goalpost of important enough keeps on getting pushed back. because eddie's dead, and max isn't out of the woods yet, and steve himself is still being monitored for the bat bites because, like owens said, no one knows the long term effects of the demobat venom.

steve could die, this time around.

and still. nothin'.

well, not nothing.

there's just discomfort where grief should be. all around him, people are crying. because they couldn't save eddie, they might not be able to save max, something may still happen to steve himself.

he's swimming in this sea of mourning, and steve is so uncomfortable. he doesn't know how to comfort anyone. he doesn't have the words for dustin, who's already lost one older brother figure just to find out he could lose another. he doesn't have the right words for robin, who fell into this whole thing at steve's side, who's had to watch him throw himself into deadly situations over and over again.

she's in a kind of pre-grieving state, because she knows that even if steve does make it through this and the upside down comes calling again, he's going to continue to throw himself in harm's way. and steve has no idea how to comfort her.

it's not that he's suicidal or anything. it's just... death comes for everybody eventually. and he knows that not dying matters more to the others than it does to him.

he's all kinds of doped up on good pain meds, and maybe that's what's numbing this whole situation, but... steve doesn't think so.

he thinks something in him must be broken.

[atimeofyourlife]

Whumptober day 20

rated: t | wc: 844 | prompt: Blanket | Found Family | “You will regret touching them.” | tw: child abuse & neglect Steve doesn't have a good family. But eventually he finds one.

Steve had never really felt at home with his family. Right from when he was a child it had felt more like he was an ornament for his parents to bring out and show off whenever they wanted to impress their friends and associates. It never felt like they cared for him as their child, just what he could do for their image. When he was still young, they could talk him up all the time. He was handsome, obedient, athletic. His father would always talk about raising him in the mold to become the perfect candidate to rise through the ranks of the company and even take over one day. His mother would dress him up in tailored suits far too expensive for a child so young and drag him to her ladies lunches, where everyone would coo over how sweet and polite he was. She would jump between talking about how he would grow up to be a lady killer, a total heartbreaker, and insisting that she would raise him to be a better man, a better partner than his father was.

But of course, neither of them actually raised him. They were too busy caught up in themselves and their own lives and affairs to raise him. Instead choosing to leave Steve with his grandparents or a nanny when they weren't home and couldn't see a use for him to be around. Steve tried to convince himself that it wasn't about him, but the way he was still left in the care of a babysitter or a nanny when they were around spoke volumes.

And then there was the way he was ignored any time he tried to get the attention any kid needed from their parents. Anything he did or achieved was overlooked. Or he was told that he could have, should have done better. The most attention he got was if he did something wrong. Getting in trouble was the only way his parents seemed to make time for him, so he started to use that. Deliberately messing up in school, or committing petty crimes to get caught by the police. Anything to get his parents to pay attention to him, for them to realize he needed them around.

But it backfired. Anytime his parents got a call about his grades or behavior, their reaction was explosive. Yelling and belittling him over the phone, even over a minor infraction. If they were home, or in the area, it would be physical discipline. Spanking, first by hand then by belt. If Steve tried to fight back, the belt would be used freely across his body, even one time catching him just below the eye. They would limit the amount of food he had available, or the amount of money they left for food. Even locking him in a closet for almost a full day.

It left him in fear of his parents, but he couldn't tell what was worse. Being ignored, never hearing from them or seeing them, or having them around when all they would do was hurt him. He could see no way out of it, but he just wanted to experience the unconditional love other kids seemed to get from their parents. Something he'd never experienced.

The first time he truly experienced familial love was after the second round against the Upside Down. The bond he couldn't explain with Dustin. The little brother he never thought he would have. And with Dustin came the sometimes a little overbearing motherly love from Claudia Henderson. Both welcoming into their home, into their lives, into their hearts. Giving him the love that he'd never received from his parents.

And his found family quickly grew. Gaining a younger sister figure in Max, her trusting him to be a safe older brother figure away from Billy. Lucas asking him for advice, and also asking for help to practice for basketball, wanting to try out for the team when he started high school. The battle at Starcourt brought more in. Erica always coming to him whenever she needed something, or if she wanted to demand ice cream. Robin becoming the other half he'd never knew was missing. Becoming the close confidant, something that felt more than any other relationship. It was more than just best friends or familial, but without it being romantic. It was the closest possible bond any two people could have, and Steve knew he'd never experienced anything like it before, and never would again.

After everything with the Upside Down was over, Steve's found family was bigger than he'd ever imagined. Dustin, Max, Lucas, Erica, Mike, Will, El. Robin and Eddie and Nancy and Jonathan and Argyle. Claudia Henderson, Mr and Mrs Sinclair, Joyce and Hopper. At times he didn't know what to do with himself having such a large family that loved him, when for the first eighteen years of his life he had none. And despite the fact that it took multiple almost apocalypses to get the family he deserved, he wouldn't change it for the world.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

Max's Letter to Steve and Nancy

Dear Steve,

If you tell anyone what I said in this letter, I'll haunt you, and I'll haunt a good lawyer into suing you. . . You've always been like the brother I wish I had, the kind of brother that I wish Billy had been. Me and you, we're kind of the same. . .two cats who pretend like they don't like the affection they're given. It's because we're not used to it. But you deserve to be loved, Steve.

I know Nancy hurt you, Steve. Dustin kind of spilled the beans on that one. He means well, just like Nancy never meant to hurt you. I know what it's like, though, to blame yourself for someone's death. In a way, it's a form of self-preservation. She ran away to protect herself and you as well. So, she ran away to something that she knew wasn't permanent. The scariest thing in this world is something that lasts forever. Maybe like me, she got scared of that too. When I thought about my future, all I could see was Lucas at the end of the tunnel, and that scared the shit out of me. After Billy, I felt like a black hole, and I was afraid of sucking him in. We're different, I know, but there's something about us that's the same too. You and Lucas are different, but you have the same loving heart. . .patient and kind. Maybe I'm just being hopeful on my end. Maybe I'm misreading it. Or maybe without even knowing it, you've been waiting for Nancy to see you like Lucas has been waiting for me. The question is, who do you see at the end of the tunnel? Who do you see in your vision of the future? Life is short, especially in our line of work. Don't wait too long to figure it out.

Love,

Max.

Dear Nancy,

I know we haven't spent much time together, but if I survive this, maybe we can rectify that. Mike's lucky to have such a badass older sister. I wish I was that lucky. I don't know if I have any right to say this, but since I'm probably going to die, maybe it doesn't really matter. I honestly don't know what really happened, only what I heard from Lucas and from what Mike read in your diary. You didn't hear that from me. I did slap him for that one, so you're welcome, I guess. I don't know if anyone's ever told you, but. . .what happened to Barb wasn't your fault.

We're all responsible for the choices we make. Dr. Brenner chose to play God, and his actions caused the death of everyone involved. Barb's death, Billy's death, that's on him. Doing what you did, it was your choice, and it wasn't wrong to make a choice that makes you happy. It didn't cause Barb's death. I still feel guilty about Billy dying because when he was hurting me to the point where I would cry at night and wishing so badly that he would be a brother like Steve turned out to be, I also wished for it to stop. For anything to happen, and I suppose that's why I feel guilty because a part of me did want him to die. I felt like I made it happen in some way, and I felt like I was just vile as he was. And then I realized it wasn't my choice for him to be that way and that the only time I ever wanted to hurt him was to stop him from hurting others. . .from killing Steve. He would have. Billy chose not to be the big brother I needed, and I wish that it hadn't taken his death for him to realize it. I wish he could make it up to me now. I think a part of me will always feel guilty, but I'm also scared that it's what's going to stop me from living my life. I didn't kill Billy. You didn't kill Barb. Dr. Brenner is responsible. You're nothing like Billy or Brenner. You strive so hard to help people, actually help them. You care. It's just that trauma can shut you down, closes you off, and all you want to do is to run away.

The best thing about Steve is that a part of him knows that you didn't mean any of what you said to him. Whether he realizes it or not, I think a part of him is still waiting for you to heal and to see that he's always been there. When he looks at you, he looks at you the way that Lucas looks at me, and I know how scary it is. When I look at my future, I see Lucas, whose unwavering loyalty shines bright in this stupid darkness. Steve is loyal to you, too. Whether he realizes it, his love for you is what guided him down the path to making his own choices, and it led him to caring about us. It woke up the part of himself that he turned off when he realized his parents were never going to give a shit. It wasn't gone, just locked away. You were the key. . .okay, holy shit, this is some sappy shit. Maybe you should just ignore the ramblings of dying girl. Think about your future and who you picture at the end. What do you see? Life is short, especially in this town. Whenever I look at you and Steve, I see a story that's not finished yet, and maybe I'm projecting my own relationship with Lucas onto you two. Just give it some thought, and you can totally burn this letter. You and Steve are the most badass older siblings who I can see myself being closest to. I just want everyone to be happy. Anyway. . . I don't want to be a ghost anymore.

Love,

Max

[thefreakandthehair]

I’m back with another AU! (Yes I’m still working on the angel fic, yes I’m considering that Beauty and the Beast AU I had ideas for)

But!

I’ve been thinking about this all morning at work (because who needs to think about work) but like

We’ve seen possession on the show already, but what if it’s different this time? End of season four, Steve doesn’t bother to get himself checked out because there’s a lot more people who need more help than him, he’ll take care of himself. It happens slowly though, he thinks maybe it’s just an infection, but it’s not. And no one figures it out until everything’s coming to a head, until they’re looking at the face of someone they love but not seeing him in it with black tendrils wrapping up over his skin. It’s Steve’s face, but it’s not Steve. And they’re all trying to break through but vecna, using Steve’s voice, just starts saying these awful things.

He tells them Steve’s fears, how he worries about them all abandoning him, how they will because they’re smarter, better, and he’s nothing. He tells them about how Steve’s desperate to protect them, to put himself in the line of fire, because he thinks that’s all he’s good for. Like it’s real insecurities and fear, but it’s amplified and twisted because Steve always knows at the end of the day that he’s loved, that it’s his brain trying to jump to worst case scenarios.

But he’s never told any of them his fears because he knows it’s not going to happen, but it still hurts that they think he’s hiding from them.

They try to have Nancy save him, because true love and all that, because she and Steve have been getting close again. Except she still doesn’t love him like that, and he doesn’t love her like that either, it’s just the conclusion everyone else jumps to even if this time they’re just being friends, because they never got to be friends the first time around.

But it doesn’t work, obviously, so Eddie tries (yes he’s alive and didn’t get eaten by bats because otherwise he’d be possessed too with this shebang and that’s a whole ‘nother story) and Eddie’s been in love with Steve forever, but they’ve been getting close too and they almost kissed the one time so he goes for it but it doesn’t work either, Steve still shoves him away and swings his bat, narrowly missing him.

So Robin tries, because he’s her dingus, her platonic soulmate, the non-romantic love of her life, and there’s finally a crack, a spark of him there, just for a moment. For that second, his hand grabs her shirt, and she thinks she’s got him, but he pushes her away just as Vecna takes back over. But there’s a crack in the shield, and that’s all they need.

El is working on getting through to Steve, on pulling him back out into himself because he’s in there, he’s just stuck. But she needs help to get through all the darkness in his head, because it’s worse this time than when it had been Billy.

So Dustin is up, because for as much flack as he gives him, Steve is his brother and he loves him. And he tells him, sobbing because he can’t lose Steve, not Steve, and he’s been through so much for years now that it all just builds and builds and they see Steve start to waver again, so they don’t give vecna a chance to take hold again.

They all start chipping in, telling him how much he means to them, how they love knowing he’s always going to be on their side and protect them, how important it is for them to know they all have an older brother in him because even if it’s not said, they love him and they know he loves them.

And as much as I love the idea of Robin or Dustin dealing the final blow to get El in enough to rip vecna out, or to give Steve enough strength to push him out, there’s one other person who loves Steve who’s so important and necessary to the party.

Erica.

She’s crying, which shows how desperate the situation has become, and she’s the least affectionate of all his kids (which is saying something because he’s hot Mike to deal with) but she steps right up to him as he’s shaking and fighting with this other person in his head and she grabs his hand like maybe she should have that first year, when she was younger and braver because she didn’t know what was out there but always knew she was safe with him. She tells him in no uncertain terms that he’s not allowed to lose this fight, because he’s never lost a fight in front of her so he can’t start now, because she’s got two brothers and they’re both losers but they’re her losers and he can’t take that from her, that he still owes her ice cream and he needs to hold up his end of the deal.

And it’s all enough, it’s her, brash and cutting and full of affection if you know how to spot it.

All the love, a little romantic on Eddie’s part but mostly just familial and platonic and pure, it sinks in and in the battlefield of his mind a little girl who’s far too young and old at the same time takes his hand and promises he’s not alone.

They didn’t bond much, didn’t have the time for it, but she loves him too because he’s kept her friends safe when she couldn’t.

And they win, because it’s my story and I like happy endings, and Eddie does get to kiss Steve, but only once Robin’s already collapsed into his arms and made him promise never to leave her again, once Dustin’s sobbed into Steve’s chest because he’s just a kid and he’s never had the change to grieve the lost childhood he’s still in.

Nancy doesn’t have to grieve losing another friend though, and it feels like redemption in a way.

Erica doesn’t hug him, but she doesn’t let go of his hand either. She’s not touchy feely, even if she did just use the power of love to save him, but it’s enough to know there’s unconditional love there, on both ends.

It’s ironic, he’ll tell them later, but his song, if he ever got Vecna’d? It’s Huey Lewis, The Power of Love.

KAT YOU JUST MADE ME CRY AT 3PM ON A THURSDAY OH MY GOD . THE POWER OF LOVE. PLATONIC AND ROMANTIC.

She tells him in no uncertain terms that he’s not allowed to lose this fight, because he’s never lost a fight in front of her so he can’t start now, because she’s got two brothers and they’re both losers but they’re her losers and he can’t take that from her, that he still owes her ice cream and he needs to hold up his end of the deal.

E R I C A. this part in particular just cut me to the bone because oh my God. my dear sweet beloved little Erica who absolutely has grown up too quick, seen things she shouldn't have, heard things she shouldn't have. Steve can't die in front of her. not after escaping the Russians and beating the Mindflayer back, not after so much ice cream eaten and still to be eaten. scoops troop doesn't lose, and she's not about to start now. 😭

I'm sure I have more coherent thoughts but I'm just running in circles around this like a rabid animal, this is GOOD SHIT, my friend

[strangerficsxx]

Jennifer Henderson

Midnight Rain masterlist

(top left: 1983; top right 1984; bottom left 1985; bottom right 1986)

BASIC INFORMATION,

Status: Alive Legal Name: Jennifer Henderson Birth Name: Jennifer Marie Bennett Date of birth: May 1, 1966 Age: 16 (season one), 17 (season two), 18 (season three), 19 (season four) Gender: Female Aliases: Jen (everyone), Princess (robin buckley), Henderson's Sister (eddie munson), Stuck-Up Priss (Carol and Tommy), Jenny (claudia), goody-two-shoes (nancy formerly)

Relationship Status: taken -- dating Steve Harrington Residence: Henderson Residence, Hawkins, Indiana Family: Dustin Henderson (brother), Claudia Henderson (mother), Mr. Henderson (father), Eileen Bennett (birth mother)

Other Relations: Phoebe Byers † (best friend), Steve Harrington (boyfriend), Eddie Munson † (friend/fling), Jonathan Byers (childhood best friend), Lucas Sinclair (friend), Erica Sinclair (friend), Max Mayfield (friend/), Eleven/Jane Hopper (friend), Will Byers (friend), Jim Hopper (friend), Joyce Byers (friend), Murray Bauman (friend), Jason Carver † (enemy), Barbara Holland † (classmate/former friend), Keith (classmate/co-worker)

Affiliation: Scoops Troop, Ally to "the party" Occupation: Student at Hawkins High school (1982-1985), Member of The Hawkins High Girls Swim Team (1982-?), Scoops Ahoy employee (1985-1985) unnamed movie theater employee (1986)

Height: 5'5" Eye color: Blue/Green Hair color: Brown Face claim: Emily Rudd Portrayed by: Fallon Blake

BIOGRAPHY !

Jennifer Henderson (formerly Jennifer Bennett) is a main character in Midnight Rain: a Stranger Things story. She is the older sister of Dustin Henderson and the former girlfriend of Steve Harrington. She was apart of the graduating class of 1985, alongside Steve Harrington, Tommy H, and Carol Perkins.

Jennifer was originally from Detroit, and had a keen interest in mischief. She ended up in foster care between the ages of 10-13, where she would suffer from mental abuse before running away to Hawkins, Indiana. On one fateful day in 1979, while roaming the streets, Jennifer was taken in by Claudia and Mr. Henderson. When she began high school in 1981, she met a fellow student named Wilhelmina Byers. She was well-known around Hawkins High School, especially to the popular kids. The two hit it off and later became best friends, where Jennifer would meet Jonathan Byers. They also were best friends, until she met Steve Harrington, Carol Perkins, and Tommy Hagan.

In 1983, following a few ignorant actions, Jennifer cut off ties with Jonathan Byers and started hanging out with Steve Harrington and his friends, Carol Perkins and Tommy H. However, she didn't like Nancy Wheeler, and was basically jealous of her and Steve's relationship. On the late night of November 8, Jennifer suffered a bad injury in Steve's backyard, resulting in a large cut on her outer forearm from a broken piece of metal garden edging. Later, started feeling bad for pushing away one of the people she cared about, and sat out make things right with Jonathan. She later consequently saved the world with both him, Steve Harrington, and Nancy Wheeler. Around December, Jennifer befriended Nancy, and will surprisingly became best friends after Christmas.

In 1984, Jennifer also became an ally to the Party, especially Max Mayfield, with whom she formed an unlikely friendship and sisterly bond. She became a sort of authority figure for the party and became a major player in the battle against the Mind Flayer. Jennifer and Billy Hargrove had a fling with each other, and were on good terms until she later caught him making out with Tina, another previous student from Hawkins High School. She ended things with Billy and soon became enemies shortly after, when he found out that she was role model to Max. Jennifer and Steve began dating shortly after their encounter on October 31, after his break up with Nancy Wheeler.

In 1985, when Starcourt Mall was freshly built, she jumped on the opportunity to get a job. She started working at Scoops Ahoy, and met Robin Buckley. She finally met up with her brother after he was away for the summer. She and Steve along with Robin co-help Dustin, who had just come to them with a strange radio transmission. Jennifer, along with Robin, helped Dustin translate a secret Russian transmission. They discovered there were Russians in Hawkins, working underneath Starcourt Mall. Jennifer, her brother, Steve and Robin as well as Erica Sinclair, discovered Russians were trying to reopen a portal to the Upside Down. She also formed a friendship with Robin and later accepted her sexuality. Jennifer later learned of the Mind Flayer’s return and helped the rest of the Party battle against it until the gate was closed again. Three months later, Jennifer and Steve are going on 2 and half months dating, and have a very strong relationship plus, strong bond. The couple, including Robin, applied for new jobs at Family Video.

In the spring of 1986, Jennifer was still working at family video when she got into a nasty argument with Steve. That resulted in them breaking up as she ran away and met Eddie Munson, and began having a fling with. She and the other’s learned about the murder at the Forest Hills Trailer Park on TV in the store and at her house. Later, after finding out more information about the victim from Max and Dustin, they then trace down Eddie Munson, who was the prime suspect of Chrissy’s death. Jennifer along with Steve, Max, Robin, and Dustin went to Reefer Rick’s house (Eddie’s drug dealer) where she learned about the dark wizard of the Upside Down. Following Nancy, Steve, Robin and Eddie Munson's brief misadventure in the Upside Down, Vecna psychically revealed his identity to Jennifer, and shared his plans for the future. With these discoveries, Jennifer and her friends formulated a plan to kill Vecna and stop from opening four gates across Hawkins. However, Steve, Nancy, and Robin were only able to severely injure Vecna and could not prevent him from opening the gates. An unfortunate end came around when Jennifer witnessed Eddie cut the rope that led to the real world, and fended off the demobats himself, so Jennifer and Dustin could escape. The Henderson sibling came back to the Upside Down, but were faced with severe injuries -- him suffering a fractured leg and her a broken wrist. When they rushed to Eddie's side, he was heavily injured and dying. Jennifer had to say goodbye, not wanting to since he made her happy. Dustin pretty much drug her away.

Two days later, Jennifer slowly accepts her boyfriend’s death as she, Steve, Robin, and Dustin work to help survivors of an earthquake that was caused when the gates were open. The Henderson siblings explain to Eddie’s uncle -- Wayne Munson -- what happened, telling him how much he was a hero and she loved him for who he was. However, Jennifer witnessed particles from the Upside Down falling down over Hawkins as it bled into the real world.. 

History

Born on May 1, 1966, Jennifer was the first and only child of Eileen Bennett, and was later legally adopted by the Henderson family. she would later be joined by younger brother Dustin (born in 1971). Together, the family of four lived in their home in Hawkins, Indiana.

Growing up before being in foster care, Jennifer learned how to hotwire a car and use a gun out of safety since she lived in her birth mom's 1970 Land Rover until the year 1976, later taken into Child Protective Services. She later started living with Claudia and Mr. Henderson, and grew up with a younger brother. Sometime after that, Jennifer grew closer to his friends, Mike, Will and Lucas. As Dustin and Jennifer grew older, Jennifer became distant from Dustin and his friends. By the time Jennifer attended Hawking High School, she had become best friends with Wilhelmina Byers and soon after Jonathan Byers, although her and Wilhelmina were closer. At some point, Jennifer began to have a crush on Steve Harrington, one of the most popular boys at Hawkins High School.

November 1983

On the evening of November 6, Jennifer had just gotten to her house -- walking home from Hawkins High when she engaged in a conversation with her younger brother about him leaving for Mike Wheeler's house to play Dungeons and Dragons.

The following morning, it was revealed that jennifer was jealous of Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler's Relationship, although she didn't mention is. It was clearly obvious as Wilhemina teases her quite often about it. That night after dinner, she heard the news of the disappearance of Will Byers, beginning to fear her own safety. After witnessing Nancy finding a note in her school locker the next morning, Nancy is quick to leave as Jennifer felt defeated by the act, she quickly went to her best friend to tell her the problem and how she started to hate Nancy but wanted to be her.

The next day, at school, Jennifer was invited to a pool party at Steve's house when he was home alone and decided to Invite Nancy along. When noticing Jonathan Byers putting up missing posters for his brother, she watched as Nancy walked up to him and reassured him that Will's probably okay. At dinner, Nancy had invited Jennifer over for dinner and later lied to her mom, saying the two of them wanted to go to a "school assembly," honoring Will. Her (Nancy's) mom allowed her to go and told them to be back by ten o'clock, which Nancy promised to do so. When her mom offered for Jennifer and Nancy to take their brothers and his friends with them, both of them were bewildered by their immediate refusal and strange behavior with Nancy giving them a look of annoyance.

Jennifer, Nancy and Barb arrived at Steve's house where Barb was reluctant to come in as Steve only invited Jennifer and Nancy to his party and did not want her to be in the company of Steve's friends, Tommy H and Carol Perkins. However, she was a witness to Nancy convincing Barb to join the party so she can look after her and make sure she doesn't do anything stupid, such as getting drunk. Jennifer, Nancy and Barb showed up to the party where the three spent their time with Steve, Tommy, and Carol in the backyard by Steve's pool. While partying, Jennifer opened a beer can with a knife and successfully drank all of the beer where Steve and his friends cheered for her. She watched as Nancy urged Barb to do the same where Barb accidentally cut her hand in the process of opening a beer can. Both Jennifer and Nancy were concerned for Barb, but she was coldly brushed off by her friend and Jennifer, later rushed to the bathroom to tend to her injuries. While Barb went inside, Jennifer and Nancy continued to have fun with Steve and his friends by jumping into the pool.

Later, Nancy eventually went to Steve's room to change into some dry clothes as Jennifer was left by herself. When Nancy was confronted by Barb, who told Nancy she was not being true to herself, an exasperated Nancy bluntly told Barb to go home before joining Steve upstairs. Jennifer tried offering to stay with Barbara, but she declined, coldly telling her to leave. As Jennifer was exiting Steve's house, she was leaving the backyard, the lights flickered and heard a scream from Barbara, who was sitting alone outside by the pool, was abducted by an otherworldly monster. In the dark, Jennifer lost her footing and fell on a broken piece of metal gardening edging, bleeding profusely as the lights turned on. She rushed back to her house where she is greeted by Wilhelmina, assisting her wound also telling her to distance herself from Nancy until further notice.

Hunting the Monster

The following day, Jennifer was hoping to keep her bandaged wound to herself when Steve noticed after her sleeve slid down. He quickly made sure she was okay before ushering away. Later, she and Nancy went back to Steve's house to look for her and were startled by a creature in the forest.

Jonathan Byers was revealed to have taken pictures of Nancy Wheeler in her underwear at the party the previous night, so Steve, along with his friends, destroyed the photos and broke his camera. However, Jennifer decided to help Jonathan clean up his broken camera and ripped photographs, showing no ill will towards him. When hearing Steve call for her, Jennifer stood and left. That afternoon, Nancy drug Jennifer and shared her worry about Barb with Steve, but he was more concerned that a police investigation would lead his parents to find out he had a party. Police officers Callahan and Powell questioned Nancy as Jennifer eavesdropped from the hallway, learning that she had sex with steve the night before, and she thought Barb was taken by the creature she (and Jennifer) saw in the forest. They had already searched the forest and found that Barb's car was gone. They theorized that Barb might have run away because she was jealous of Nancy and Steve.

Jennifer was with Nancy when she questioned Jonathan about the night he had taken the photographs and told him about the creature, which he recognized from his mother's' description. They went to enlarge the photo, and Nancy was certain it was the same creature she had seen earlier.

At Will Byers' funeral, Jennifer, Nancy and Jonathan decided to return to the forest to look for the creature, and Jonathan took a gun from his father's car. She later went to practice shooting with Jonathan and confided to him and Nancy that she grew up with a mother who taught her how to use a gun and hotwire a vehicle. In the forest, Jennifer witnessed Nancy and Jonathan talking about the photo he took and Steve's reaction and ended up lashing out at each other. After dark, they found a wounded deer. They agreed to kill it out of mercy, but before they could it was suddenly dragged away. Unaware, Nancy began following a blood trail, entering a hole in a tree and in a different dimension. Following Jonathan and Jennifer's voices, Nancy made her way out of the dimension unscathed, just before the portal closed. Traumatized by the experience, she had Jonathan sleepover.

The following day, Jennifer began to theorize about the Demogorgon's nature based on her knowledge, and they bought weapons to face it again. While downtown, she found Steve and his friends tagging slurs about her. Jennifer watched as the scene had unfolded, resulting in that Steve had seen Jonathan in Nancy's room last night and tried to explain that he misunderstood. Jonathan and Steve ended up in a fistfight, which had led to Jonathan's arrest.

Reuniting with Dustin

After Chief Hopper and Jonathan's mother Joyce met Jennifer, Nancy and Jonathan at the police station, they shared everything they knew about the Demogorgon.

After finding Jennifer's brother Dustin and his friends Lucas, Mike and Eleven, the group decided to build a makeshift sensory deprivation tank, which Eleven could use to look for Will and Barbara in the Upside Down. They broke into Hawkins Middle, using the resources there and creating the bathtub in the gymnasium. Eleven floated in the bathtub, entering her deepened psychic state in which she looked for Will and Barb. Although she found Will (barely) alive, she also discovered that Barb had been killed by the Monster.

Fighting the Monster

Jennifer became more determined than ever to kill the Monster. She, Nancy and Jonathan lured the Demogorgon to the Byers household with blood; with the aid of Steve, they managed to injure the Demogorgon, which would later be killed by Eleven.

December 1983

A month later, Jennifer was over at the Wheeler residence where she waited for her brother to finish his game of Dungeons and Dragons. On another note, her feelings for Steve Harrington began to die down. While she and Dustin were getting ready to leave, she watches as the Wheeler daughter gifts Jonathan with a new camera and a kiss on the cheek before he left with his younger brother.

October 1984

Reuniting With Her Birth Mother

On the 26th of October, Jennifer found her birth mother located in hometown Detroit, Michigan. After Steve agrees to take her, they begin to bond over their interests and on a more personal level. She met her mother, but was disappointed when she met a drunken mess of a woman. Disheartened, Jennifer became an emotional after the reunion, telling Steve that she wanted to go back to Hawkins. With it being too late to drive, the two decided on stayed at a hotel for the night.

Of course they slept in different beds, but since Jennifer couldn't sleep, she was able to find comfort in Steve's presence as her feelings there were there before occurred again, but knew she couldn't be with him since he was with Nancy. The next day, Steve managed to get back to Hawkins with Jennifer, dropping her off. She went to school and acted like nothing happened. Of course, Nancy began to wonder if Jennifer had a thing for him and they went so he could cheat. However, Jennifer did in fact have proof of their little adventure, reassuring Nancy that she would never take what's not hers.

Relationship with Billy

Jennifer met Billy in Hawkins High School on the day she reunited with her birth mom. They both took a strong liking to one another since she wasn't one of the girls Billy dated. They however don't initially begin things till the next day where they were secretly hooking up in supply closet in the school as Nancy began questioning what she's been doing. Of course, Jennifer denied the claims. They continuously saw one another for a few more days, and she was beginning to believe that she may become his girlfriend.

On the evening of October 29, 1984, Jennifer joined her best friend at the Palace Arcade to spend some time together since she hasn't seen Wilhelmina in a while. She then, however, begins to engage in a conversation with Keith.

That night, Jennifer, Nancy and Steve had dinner with Mrs. and Mr. Holland. When Nancy inquired about the 'For Sale' sign in their yard, they revealed they had hired Murray Bauman, a private investigator, to investigate Barb's "disappearance". Nancy excused herself to the bathroom, where she began crying over the loss of her friend. A worried Jennifer also excused herself as well before comforting Nancy in the bathroom.

October 31st, 1984

The next day, as Jennifer along with Nancy and Steve were studying in the school library, she followed Nancy's gaze toward a female who resembled Barb. Jennifer initially left and met up with her love interest, Billy, before they hooked up once again as she left to get ready for the party.

That night at the party, Jennifer met up with Billy once again, she asked fellow student Tommy Hagan to assist her on the keg. Taking in way more than she could hold, Jennifer was held as the keg champion -- Keg Queen (since Billy was Keg King). Jennifer was heading toward another hook up, intoxicated not only by the alcohol but also by his ways of making her fall in love. Angered, Jennifer decided to leave the party since she went only because of her new love interest, but deep down she still in love with Steve, even if she didn't want to admit to her feelings. She stumbled out to Steve, who was near the entrance of Tina's house, catching her in his arms. They told each other what happened, and later confessed that they liked each other. Jennifer was later taken to Steve's home since she didn't want to have her mom and brother see her in the current condition she was in. Late that following night, she managed to recover a little bit, getting dressed and leaving. When she arrived home, Dustin was home as he was nervous as his Ghostbusters box began shaking erratically. When Dustin entered his room, Jennifer barged in and saw what he had been hiding. An odd looking slug is what he tried keeping hidden.

The next day, Jennifer was hesitant going to school considering that she was with Steve, and dealt with a bad hangover which resulted in her missing her first period class. After she arrived at the school, she found Wilhelmina and told her everything she could remember at the party the night before. When She asked Jennifer if she still was in love with Steve Harrington, she came clean, revealing that the only reason she asked him to join her was to spend time with him. At the party, she got drunk because she suppressed her feelings toward him. When Jennifer left, she came across Nancy and Steve speaking privately. Nancy asked Steve why she had not seen him that morning, only to be met by a cold response from him. She got more info about what exactly happened between them at the party, afraid he may reveal what him and Jennifer did later. When she was listening in, Steve asked what Nancy remembered from the party last night, Nancy told him all she could remember was dancing, getting drunk, and going home where she believed Steve to have taken her, only for Steve to reveal that it was actually Jonathan who took her home. Jennifer was abe to back that claim up since he was helping her to safety since she was hungover too. Jennifer watched as Nancy became confused over why Jonathan took her home, causing Steve recount the other events of the party to her where she blamed him and herself for causing Barb's death, how she felt about their relationship, and revealing she did not love Steve. Luckily for Jennifer, Steve didn't reveal too much about the kiss they shared.

Locating Dart

At the end of the school day, Jennifer caught up with her brother and his friends and new comer Max Mayfield as they searched for a slug -- the same slug Dustin had the night prior. They continued searching only to find out that the slug was nowhere in sight, and Will had another "episode" as Jennifer found it disturbing as she recounted the events of last year, feeling worried that something is coming back to haunt Hawkins again.

That afternoon, when Mews went missing, both Jennifer and Dustin tried to come up with an explanation before getting their mom to leave. Once she was gone, Jennifer knew Dustin was hiding something as the two siblings encountered a grown Dart feeding on Mews. When Dustin stated that he was getting help, Jennifer left to keep an eye on the basement and make sure Dart didn't break through the double doors that were held with a chain and lock. She waited until Wilhelmina arrived, wondering where she had been the last couple hours. She brought her best friend in, and told Wilhelmina everything that has occured that lead up to Dart and the whole search mission. When her brother arrived, Dustin had explained Dart to Steve, who initially believed that what Dustin found was some sort of lizard. Wilhelmina asked to join since she didn't want to be home by herself at the Byers Residence with everything that has happened to Will. When they entered the cellar, they discovered that not only had Dart molted again, but it had also escaped through a tunnel it had dug in the earth.

As they were walking along the train tracks, Jennifer wondered if her and Steve would make it as a couple, but she felt he had regrets. Phoebe explained that love will come eventually, and that Jennifer needed to wait. Along the way, she listened in on Dustin as he explained to Steve he had kept Dart in hopes of impressing “a girl”. Steve then gave him relationship advice, telling him to “act like he doesn't care”. He also disclosed his hair-styling secret: Farrah Fawcett hairspray but stated not to reveal it to anyone. Jennifer expressed that she hated being in love with him and wished she never laid eyes on him. The four eventually arrived at the junkyard where they were soon joined by Lucas and Max. Together, they fortified the abandoned bus and created a trap to lure in Dart. As the group was waiting in the bus, they suddenly heard a screeching sound. The sound's source was revealed to be Dart, who arrived at the junkyard but didn't take the bait. So, Steve decided to confront him while telling Jennifer to remain prepared.

However, when Steve approached Dart, it was revealed that he wasn't alone and was joined by several other Demodogs. Steve, almost overwhelmed, managed to get back in the bus with the group after defending himself from the attacking Demodogs. Jennifer witnessed Phoebe run off the bus, and would later be murdered by the Demodogs.

As the pack attacked the bus and nearly overwhelmed them, they suddenly stopped, leaving the junkyard. Following the Demodogs, they realized they were heading to Hawkins Lab. Jennifer was the first one off the bus, and searched for Phoebe, only to find her wounded and bleeding out. With a tough decision, Jennifer had to leave her there until she can come back with the right help. On the way, Jennifer managed to push past her saddened feelings and started a sisterly bond between her and Max, telling her that Jennifer will protect her. Arriving at the lab, they discovered Nancy and Jonathan, who were looking for Mike, Will, and Phoebe. Jennifer then told Jonathan the news of his sister's death, creating various emotions between them. That later made their friendship stronger. They were all forced to wait outside the lab, due to the lab's power being out. Eventually, the power came back and the group was finally able to get passed the gates. They reunited with Joyce, Hopper, Mike, and Will, and together they all escaped the lab.

Once it was determined that they’d have to interrogate Will in order to discover the Mind Flayer’s weakness, Steve assisted in remodeling the Byers’ backyard shed. Sometime after, he and Jennifer both were afraid the world might end, signalling in them getting closer to the next step in their relationship. During Will’s interrogation, he signaled in Morse code the way to stop the Mind Flayer: closing the Gate.

Protecting the Kids with Steve

Soon after, the phone in the Byers' kitchen rang, allowing the Mind Flayer to know their location and send a pack of Demodogs their way. However, Eleven arrived and eradicates them. Together, the group came up with a plan: Joyce, Jonathan, and Nancy would exorcise the Mind Flayer from Will's body while Eleven and Hopper would go to the lab and close the gate. Meanwhile, Jennifer and Steve stayed behind at the Byers’ house, along with Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max.

When Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Max decided they’d burn the tunnels as a distraction to lure the Demodogs away from the lab for Eleven and Hopper safety, both Jennifer and Steve refused to let them enact their plan since it would jeopardize the kid's safety. Just then, Billy arrived looking for Max and confronted Steve. Steve tried to conceal her location by replying that he had no idea of her whereabouts. But Billy discovered his lies and aggressively pushed him away before entering the house. Jennifer wasn't allowing him to come any closer as he tried everything in his power to manipulate Jennifer into moving, so he could enter. However, he did gain the upper hand and pushed her away as she fell. As Billy tried to forcefully bring back Max by threatening Lucas, he knocked Jennifer down, causing her to hit her head on a nearby table creating a pretty bad injury. At the end, Steve intervened and the two ended up in a fistfight.

Initially, Jennifer begged both the guys to stop but they didn't care as Steve had the upper hand and dealt some quick blows, before Billy countered and brutally beat him repeatedly. Jennifer noticed a lone syringe and motioned Max towards it, where it was used it to sedate Will, Max was able to puncture Billy's neck, making him lose consciousness. Jennifer had no time to think since she was on her own now, assisting Steve with Max's help as they quickly make way toward Billy's vehicle.

Burning the Tunnels

Using Billy's car, Jennifer drove the group to the pumpkin patch where the entrance to the tunnels was located. Steve came to his consciousness and realized that Jennifer and the kids were already entering the tunnels, despite his refusal. Even though Steve protested, Dustin and Jennifer ultimately managed to convince him to help them. Making their way to the hub, they doused the entire area in gasoline and set it ablaze. On their way out of the tunnels, the group encountered Dart. Recognizing Dustin, Dart did not attack and was easily distracted by Dustin giving it another Three Musketeers bar, allowing the group to escape.

November - December

Sometime later, Hawkins Lab was shut down as a result of Nancy and Jonathan presenting evidence to Murray Bauman on their involvement with Barbara's death through a recorded confession made by Sam Owens. After the lab was closed, Jennifer attended Phoebe's funeral with Jonathan, Joyce and Will as well as Steve to show his respects, and Jennifer was at Barbara's funeral the day before.

The Snowball

On December 15, Jennifer and Steve finally proclaimed their feelings for one another before leaving to take her younger brother to a school dance. Steve drove Dustin to the Snow Ball, giving him another pep talk on how to win the hearts of girls.

After Dustin left, Steve drove away and went back to Jennifer's home where they hit another step in their new relationship, losing her virginity to him in the process.

1984-1985

Employment at Scoops Ahoy

By the time summer arrived, Jennifer graduated high school. However, Jennifer was scheduled to leave for a college campus tour in another state, which resulted in her staying for her boyfriend, friends, and family (plus the history she had). Sometime after the inauguration of the shopping center Starcourt Mall by the mayor of Hawkins, Jennifer began working in one of its food courts, the Scoops Ahoy, alongside Steve and Robin, her and Steve's former classmate.

The Summer of 1985

Sometime in June 1985, Jennifer later got home from an out of town trip visit to her aunt, and later received a letter from UC-Berkeley. She read the letter as it states that she has been accepted into the university class of 1989.

On June 28, 1985, She and Steve helped Mike, Lucas, Will, and Max sneak into the mall's movie theater through the back exit of Scoops Ahoy as they warned them that the kids would be in big trouble if they were caught. When the power suddenly went out, Steve tried to fix the problem by flicking the light switch, much to Robin's annoyance and Jennifer's smart-ass tone. Steve kept flicking the switch until the power came back on and Steve went back to work with Robin and Jennifer, believing he fixed the problem.

The next day, as Jennifer sat in the back while Steve served ice cream to customers, he started to flirt with numerous female customers, only to fail each time. As a result, that lead to jealousy and unresolved hatred while Robin noticed, trying to comfort her the best she could. Jennifer watched as Robin would also tally up Steve's failures and mock him, much to his annoyance. Though Steve blamed his failures on his sailor hat, claiming it to be hiding his hair, Robin and Jennifer believes his failures are a result of him not having a future for himself. When Steve picks up another group of girls, he takes off his hat, saying "screw company policy," and goes to flirt with the girl. But as he's flirting miserably, Robin tallies his attempt as a failure behind his back. Jennifer was elated the girls didn't want more.

Russians in Hawkins

As Jennifer sold ice cream Scoops Ahoy the next day, she saw that Dustin had arrived, as the latter had returned from Camp Know Where the day before without Jennifer's knowledge. Steve busted out from working in the backroom, and happily greets Dustin who congratulates him for getting the job at Scoops Ahoy and introduces him to Robin who sarcastically asks how many of his friends are children when witnessing the two do a special handshake. Jennifer and Robin both were quick to judge Steve's actions.

As Dustin eats some ice cream, he recounts his time at Camp Know Where to Jennifer and Steve, while revealing that he managed to pick up a girlfriend named Suzie who in Dustin's opinion, is "hotter than Phoebe Cates." Though Jennifer and Steve is unsure of Suzie's existence, they tell Dustin how proud they are of him, not wanting to hurt Dustin's feelings. As they converse more, Jennifer and Steve became shocked to hear that Dustin's friends ditched him yesterday, but made an amazing discovery: he had intercepted a secret Russian communication through his homemade Cerebro. Steve becomes interested when Dustin proposes that they could be American heroes with Steve and agrees to help Dustin translate the message. To Jennifer, she was a huge skeptic of the whole Russian invasion in Hawkins.

However, Jennifer resigned from helping the two as Steve had a hard time translating the message due to recognizing a song that's being played in the recording of the message. When Robin stumbles upon their efforts, she reveals that she knows what they are up to, much to Jennifer's surprise. Steve stops Robin from taking the recorder, but she reveals that she wants to help them due being fluent in Spanish, French, Italian, and pig Latin while having been in band for twelve years. Steve is hesitant, but after being convinced by Jennifer by offering sex later, he finally relents, giving Robin the recorder. Much later, as Steve and Jennifer sell ice cream, she hears from Robin that they got their first sentence "The week is long." She watches as Steven then serves ice cream to Max and Eleven whom he is surprised to see and asks if she's allowed to be here, but shrugs it off after the two girls run off, laughing.

By the time the mall closes, Robin completes translating the first part of the message and Jennifer, Steve, with her and Dustin, read the communication which says "The week is long, the silver cat feeds when blue meets yellow in the west." Both Jennifer and Steve believe the translation could be wrong and is a bunch of nonsense. However, Robin assures them she translated it correctly and both she and Dustin theorize that the message could be some kind of code. As they discuss what the message could mean, Steve suddenly stops at one of the mall's toy carousel horses and activities it by inserting a quarter. He advises Jennifer, Robin and Dustin to listen the carousel's music which leads Dustin to recognize it from the recorded Russian communication as Jennifer recognized the song earlier. Though Robin believes Russia could have carousel horses like this one, Jennifer and Steve are not convinced as the carousel horse is an "Indiana Flyer" made in America and believes the message did not come from Russia, but rather in Hawkins within the mall.

Locating the Russian Base

Jennifer, Steve, Dustin and Robin approached Lucas's younger sister, Erica Sinclair and asked her if she can crawl through the mall's air duct to get into the secret room. Though Erica assures the group she can fit through the vent, Jennifer, Steve and Robin offered Erica dozens of Scoops Ahoy ice cream treats in exchange for her cooperation. While Steve went to get more fudge for Erica, Jennifer, Dustin and Robin debrief Erica on the plan to have her sneak into the mall's secret room while assuring there won't be any booby traps and the Russian guards won't be guarding the room by the time, she breaks in. Erica eventually agreed to help, in exchange for a free lifetime supply of Scoops Ahoy ice cream which Jennifer, Steve, Dustin, and Robin accepted.

The next day, as the group was still trapped in the elevator, Jennifer and Robin worked at the elevator doors button panel until they noticed some urine seeping into the inside of the elevator as Steve went back onto the roof to go the bathroom. Jennifer watched as Robin asks Steve to redirect his urine in another direction, which he does only to leave a trail of urine in his attempt, leaving both her and Robin disgusted. When Jennifer suddenly notices Erica trying to open a container of the green substance, she stops her and tells the little girl they don't know what kind of substance is in the container. Erica then states she wants to drink the substance rather than die of dehydration, despite Jennifer pointing out that the substance is not water. Their conversation was soon interrupted when she noticed Robin heard some Russians driving a kart, prompting Robin to inform Steve and Dustin before Jennifer, Robin and Erica join them in hiding from the Russians on the roof. Once the Russians leave, Steve uses the container of the green substance to hold the elevator door open so they can escape where Jennifer crawls out of the elevator behind Robin. After Steve manages to exit the elevator, the door crushed the container, revealing green substance to be radioactive material when dissolves into the floor where Robin jokingly asks Erica if she still wants to drink the contaminated substance. When Jennifer and the others see have entered an underground base, they have no choice, but to walk into the base.

Escaping the Base

After rescuing Steve and Robin, Jennifer, Dustin and Erica flee in the loading car with Steve and Robin sitting in the back. As Jennifer drove the loading car, she, Dustin and Erica heard the older teenagers complaining about the speed of the car, despite not driving so fast and how they were laughing hysterically. When crashing the car into some barrels near the elevator, Jennifer asked Steve and Robin if they were okay, but as they moaned in pain due to banging their heads, Dustin assured Erica that they were fine. Once Jennifer, Dustin and Erica got Steve and Robin out of the car, she proceeded to use the keycard to open and activate the elevator so she and her friends and boyfriend could escape from the base.

However, once in the elevator, Dustin and Erica were bewildered to see the Steve and Robin acting very high. Jennifer tried and failed, explaining to the kids what happened. When Steve fell to the ground, after pretending he was surfing on a dolly, Jennifer checked his temperature and started to examine him, despite getting into a struggle with Steve. Upon seeing Steve's eye pupils being dilated, Jennifer, Dustin and Erica realized the Russians had drugged Steve and Robin.

Dustin tried to snap Steve out of the drugs' effects, but after being shocked by Robin's decent explanation of death, he began to ask Steve where he parked his car as they needed to escape the mall so the Russians would not catch them again. Dustin even promised to give the older teens as much as food as they if Steve revealed where he parked his car, but Steve revealed the Russians had stolen his car keys while being held captive, leaving Dustin and his friends stuck at the mall. Jennifer suggests taking her car since her keys were left in her purse in the backroom of Scoops Ahoy. When the elevator reached the surface, Jennifer, Dustin, Erica, Robin, and Steve exited out of the elevator, only to find two Russians guards approaching them and armed with guns. This caused Jennifer, Dustin, Erica, Robin, and Steve to retreat into the mall and hide in the movie theater. Once getting Steve and Robin to sit in some seats, Jennifer, Dustin and Erica grabbed their seats to lay low.

Conquering the Mind Flayer

As they hide out from the Russians in the food court, the display car in the middle surprises the Russians who were about to find them when it suddenly honks. On the second floor, the Party reveal themselves where Eleven telekinetically throws the car at the Russians, saving Jennifer, Steve, Robin, Erica and Dustin. However, before they can catch their breath and share their stories, Eleven collapses in pain from a bite in her leg, which is revealing to be congealing into a small monster from within her. In her earshot, a panicked Robin, still not understanding what is going on, tries to recount a story about her soccer teammate Beth Wildfire getting injured, but Steve tells her she is not helping, which Robin apologizes for. After a failed attempt to cut it out by Jennifer, Eleven instead pulls it out psychically, which the group watches in shock and awe. The monster is then killed off by the arrival of Hopper, Murray, and Joyce.

Once everyone is reunited, it is explained to Robin how Will Byers got trapped in and got rescued from alternate dimension called the Upside Down where the former Hawkins National Laboratory was responsible due to opening a Gate to the Upside Down through Eleven, who was a former test subject at the lab. The group also explains to her that last year Will was possessed the monstrous ruler of the Upside Down, the Mind Flayer until he was freed from his possession with the help of his friends and family before the Gate to the Upside Down was closed. Now, the Mind Flayer had returned to Hawkins through the Gate the Russians are opening under the mall and built itself a body for his severed fragment to kill the Party where it had managed to injure Eleven by biting her leg.

After coming up with a plan to stop the Russian key to cut off the Mind Flayer's mind from its makeshift body, Jennifer, Steve, along with Robin, Dustin and Erica, head back to Dustin's transmitter to help Murray navigate the ducts of the Russian base, joined by Joyce and Hopper. Around the same time however, the Mind Flayer's proxy body, the Spider Monster arrives to kill the Party, Nancy, and Jonathan, leading to Jennifer, Steve and Robin returning to the mall. Steve crashes the car against the flayed Billy's car, incapacitating him (Billy) momentarily, in a move that stuns Robin. When the Mind Flayer's proxy body comes out of the mall by climbing onto to the roof, Jennifer is horrified at the sight of the abomination before she, Steve and Robin leave with Nancy, Jonathan, Lucas, and Will to escape from the creature. As they drive with the creature in pursuit, Dustin finally manages to get in contact with Suzie in order to get Planck's constant, he is just as shocked as Jennifer that she is real. Noticing the Monster has turned around, the gang follow it back to Starcourt and save Eleven using Lucas' fireworks.

Jennifer watches as Billy sacrificed himself himself to protect Eleven and the Mind Flayer’s ensuing demise. He later succumbed to his wounds and The Monster is finally killed upon Joyce closing the Gate. With the military arriving, the mall is closed down and the event is covered by a fake story of a fire that had killed the fallen people inside.

Leaving Hawkins/Joining the UC-Berkeley class of 1989

Sometime in mid October, Jennifer made her way toward California. However, she stopped by Steve's residence to spend on last intimate moment with him before she left for good. He later offered to drive her to the state and come back with her vehicle to return to Mrs. Henderson. She later shared a passionate kiss with Steve before he left for Hawkins as Jennifer finally moved into a shared dorm with another roommate.

Returning to Hawkins 1986

On March 19, Jennifer was going on spring break and decided to visit Hawkins to see everyone, since she hasn't heard from her friends and family since before she left. The next night, Jennifer flies safely in Hawkins, Indiana as she greeted her mom, who picked her up from the airport. She later arrived, and quickly got ready for the following day despite being exhausted.

Jennifer finally got in her vehicle, almost forgetting what to do as she decided to take a drive around town. Memories come back before stopping at Hawkins high school, reminiscing about her times before leaving. However, when she exited the vehicle and approached the woods, she overheard a conversation and was later greeted by a male named Eddie Munson. To her surprise, Eddie was kind and looked vaguely familiar as he questions if she is related Dustin Henderson. With an approval, Jennifer found out that Eddie was apart of Dustin's D&D club. She wanted to get to know him, but declined the campaign since her brother told her about the basketball championship.

On March 21, Jennifer was picked up by Steve since her car was heavily damaged and couldn't be fixed since it later caught on fire after running it into the side of Billy's Camaro. While driving Robin to school, Jennifer overheated Steve talked to her about his recent date, Heidi going out of state for college and did not want to commit a relationship with a girl that only involved having sex. Ahead, Robin, who was barely paying attention, told Steve his love life was getting more complex due to him getting tons of dates from female customers while working at Family Video. When Robin expressed concern about having to attend a basketball pep rally, Jennifer nor Steve did not buy she was concerned about the rally, but rather on impressing Vickie, a girl in her band class whom Robin developed a crush on. Though Robin did not know for sure what Vickie's sexuality was, both Jennifer and Steve advised Robin to pursue her, believing Vickie to be the right girl and a lesbian, due to having paused and returned the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High at fifty-three minutes and five seconds, much to Robin's disgust. After their talk, Steve dropped Robin off at Hawkins High and left to go work at his job at Family Video with Jennifer.

Witness to Murder

After the game, many of Hawkins' teenagers headed to a party, but Jennifer wanted to spend time with Eddie and get to know him better. However Chrissy was there and visited his trailer, giving her a peek into his home life. Eddie explained to both females that he lived with his uncle and began to search the trailer for the "Special K," otherwise known as ketamine. Jennifer stood with Chrissy and felt bad for suspecting her being rude, but things turned upside down. When Eddie returned to his living room, Chrissy was under Vecna's curse and failed to respond to Jennifer and him shaking her shoulders in desperation, trying to wake her. She suddenly levitated, and as she was brutally killed by Vecna, Eddie fell backward and screamed in horror. Afterward, he ran away in fear of what had just happened leaving Jennifer on the crime scene as she too ran away.

Searching for a Dark Wizard

The following day, Jennifer took the day off to process what she saw in Eddie's trailer the night before, terrorizing her and fearing for her safety. However, before Jennifer stepped out of her house for Family Video, she watched a live news coverage of a Hawkins High School student being found dead at Forest Hills Trailer Park this morning. She knew who it was -- Chrissy Cunningham.

Later that morning, Jennifer watched as Max visited her and Dustin and told them about seeing Eddie, Jennifer and Chrissy together the previous night and that Chrissy was the murder victim.

Jennifer listened to Max as she remarked on how Eddie and Chrissy stood out due to their different social statuses and revealed that Eddie's name has not yet been released to the public. Jennifer denied them doing anything and later revealed that she is currently seeing Eddie. Dustin was ecstatic, however, Max wasn't. When Max stated Eddie was likely a suspect, Jennifer and Dustin refused to believe Eddie was responsible for Chrissy's death as he treated him and Jennifer nicely and even offered Jennifer a lot since her breakup with Steve. After Max stated they could not presume whether Eddie was guilty or not, despite things not looking good for him, she and Jennifer was asked by Dustin why she did not inform the police their story and was confused when she answered she did not know why. Jennifer stated her reason was that she didn't know if she believed what she saw that night. However, after a moment of silence and hesitation, Max revealed to Dustin after seeing Jennifer, Eddie and Chrissy together at the trailer park, she saw the electricity in her home flickering rapidly for a moment before witnessing Eddie flee then later Jennifer. Max described how scared both of them had looked last night and revealed to Dustin that she may suspect something supernatural may have been responsible for Chrissy's death. Though Jennifer, Max and Dustin did not know for sure and believing it to be impossible, they realize that beside Jennifer, Eddie was the only person who knew what actually happened to Chrissy and decided to seek him and Jennifer out to ask them for answers as they left the Henderson house together.

After Nancy finished speaking with the new Police Chief Calvin Powell, Jennifer, Steve and the others took her to the trailer park where they told her about Vecna being Fred and Chrissy's killer and their theories on how he attacked his victims with curses or spells while being unsure if he was doing the Mind Flayer's bidding or not. When Nancy began to question why Fred and Chrissy were killed, Jennifer listened to her brother and Max list all of the last locations Fred and Chrissy were before their deaths, including the trailer park, something which made both Jennifer and Steve nervous. When Nancy revealed how Fred immediately began acting scared, nervous, and upset when the two of them arrived at the trailer park yesterday, Jennifer and Steve heard Dustin reveal Max said Chrissy was also was upset as she had found Chrissy crying in the girls' bathroom at school hours earlier before her death. After Robin noted how serial killers usually stalk their prey before killing them and theorized Fred and Chrissy could have seen Vecna before they died, Jennifer commented on how she would mention seeing a monstrous killer to someone. At her comment, Jennifer heard Max reveal she had also noticed Chrissy leaving the office of their school counselor, Ms. Kelley before finding her in the bathroom, making Jennifer and Steve, and Max's friends realize Ms. Kelley might had information on Chrissy encountering Vecna before her death.

Upon entering Ms. Kelley's office, Jennifer, Steve and Dustin waited for Max to look for Chrissy's medical file in a file cabinet, only to become surprised when Max also brought out a file for Fred, revealing Fred had also been seeing Ms. Kelley as well. While looking over Fred and Chrissy's files, Jennifer, Steve and Dustin noticed Max suddenly becoming unresponsive, leaving them concerned only to witness Max suddenly snap back to reality.

By the time Nancy and Robin arrived at the school, Jennifer and her friends heard Max reveal that she saw a mysterious grandfather clock in one of the hallways while she had been under a trance. After Dustin noted how Max's trance was similar to the state Chrissy was in before she died from both Jennifer and Eddie's descriptions, Jennifer and the others heard Max state that her trance was not the only thing they should be concerned about. Back inside Ms. Kelley's office, Jennifer heard Max reveal Fred and Chrissy consulted in Ms. Kelley for help as they both were suffering both extremely bad headaches, sleep deprivation, nightmares, and night sweats. In addition, Max revealed later on, both Fred and Chrissy started having terrifying visions of any dark secrets and trauma they had experienced which had gotten worse over time before they were eventually killed. Jennifer then heard when Fred and Chrissy started suffering from these symptoms before hearing Max confess she too had been having these same symptoms for five days now. This made Jennifer and the others realize Max was Vecna's next target and because of Fred and Chrissy dying twenty-four hours after their first vision, Max would likely be killed tomorrow.

The revelation was cut short when Jennifer and her friends, and her brother hear a noise outside the lobby. When Steve goes out to investigate, Jennifer and the others follow him outside the lobby, only to be startled and surprised when Lucas reveals himself. Jennifer's brother Dustin was approached by Lucas who informed him of his basketball teammates, Jason Carver, Patrick McKinney, and Andy hunting for Eddie and how they were now trying to look for him as they discovered he knew where Eddie was hiding. Not being too concerned about Jason or Eddie now, Dustin's older sister simply told Lucas they had bigger problems right now and proceeded to tell him about Vecna and how Max was now in danger of being murdered by the entity.

Escaping the Upside Down

Upon arriving at Eddie Munson's trailer, a broom was used by the teenagers to fully open the gate and the younger kids tied bed sheets together to create a rope before placing a mattress to support the fall of their older allies. Robin and Eddie successfully pass through and return to the real world, deeming the experience "fun." Nancy passed through as well. However, Jennifer became trapped in Vecna's curse before she and Steve could escape, causing the group to frantically search for music in order to free Dustin's older sister from the trance. Fortunately for them, Jennifer was spared by the creature, who gave her an ominous message to deliver to her friends.

Finding out Vecna's identity

Nancy, Steve, Lucas, and Robin were woken up by Jennifer who told them they had to go to Victor Creel's house due to Max having drawn a picture of it as she had seen it in Vecna's minds cape while being cursed by the entity. Upon arriving at the abandoned Creel house, Steve and Jennifer started removing the boarded up door with hammers they had brought. When Steve asked what they are looking for at the house, Jennifer chimed in and responded she wasn't sure, but knew the house hold some significance to Vecna, with Dustin backing up that the house could hold some clues to why Vecna killed the Creel family, why he has returned, and how to stop him before he tries to kill Max again.

Though Steve and Jennifer were able to remove the board covering the door, they found it locked until Robin suggested they use a brick to get into the house. After throwing the brick at the front doors stained glass window, shattering it, Jennifer was able to get the door open by opening it from the inside, allowing she and her friends to enter the house. When discovering the house's electricity to be dead, Jennifer was surprised to see all of his friends having brought flashlights with them, leaving Steve to be chastised by Dustin that he did not need to be told everything as he was not a child. After getting a spare flashlight from Dustin's backpack, Steve and Jennifer, along with their friends found an old grandfather clock in the hallway which Max recognized as the one she saw in her visions, leaving Steve to question why Vecna was obsessed with clocks. When the gang decided to split up in groups of two, Steve found himself partnered with Dustin and Jennifer, much to his slight annoyance as the three of them climbed upstairs to the second floor of the house. The teens eventually all gathered in the mansion's attic and detected strange activity upon noticing the lights flickering on and off. Suddenly, their flashlights exploded one by one before the bulb providing the light to the attic also exploded and plunged the whole space into darkness.

Shortly after hearing news of Patrick McKinney's murder, Jennifer joined her brother and friends in the hunt for Eddie, who was once again blamed for a murder that he did not commit. On the way to find the person she just started to know, Robin tried to get Nancy to speak with her over the increasing distance in her relationship with Steve, only for Jennifer to repeatedly insist they were just broken up. Jennifer then was informed that Robin wanted to come out to her, but was afraid she wouldn't accept her for who is. With acceptance, Jennifer was very supportive of her best friend's sexuality and rooted for her to go after Vicki, the female Robin mention a few days prior. Upon finding Eddie at Skull Rock in the woods, Jennifer was relieved when she met up with him. They shared a quick hug, unaware that Steve was beginning to get jealous of her and Eddie's relation. After, Eddie confirmed the time when Patrick was killed, which proved to be the exact same time when the flashlights in the Creel House exploded, allowing the group to realize Vecna was using the Upside Down version of the Creel mansion as his base of operations. With this information, Nancy told her friends they still cannot kill Vecna as they had no way to get into the Upside Down.

When Dustin's compass began going haywire, Jennifer heard Dustin's strange electromagnetic activity was causing his compass to malfunction, which he revealed the possibility of a new gate being opened somewhere nearby. With this news, Jennifer and the others started to venture deeper into the woods to find the gate. Upon arriving at Lover's Lake, later that night, Jennifer, Nancy, Eddie, Robin and Steve hopped onto a canoe to investigate whereas Lucas, Dustin and Max would remain on guard. Jennifer, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie watched Steve volunteer to swim down to find the gate at the bottom of the lake. When he came back up to report his findings, Jennifer, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie suddenly watch Steve get dragged back into the water, prompting her and the others to swim down after him and enter the Upside Down through the underwater gate. Finding Steve attacked by Demobats in the Upside Down, Jennifer, Nancy, Robin, and Eddie rescued him and proceeded to fight off the Demobats. After killing several Demobats, Jennifer checked Steve's wounds that he sustained from the bats and was dumbfounded when Robin asked if the bats had rabies as she was scared of them. Jennifer, Steve, Robin, Eddie and Nancy then noticed a swarm of more bats approaching after a few guarded the gate, forcing them to retreat into the Upside Down's forest.

The five older teens went to the Upside Down version of the Wheeler residence. Much to Jennifer's shock, she discovered Nancy's house and the whole Upside Down in general to be "frozen" in November 6, 1983, the exact date when Eleven opened the gate at the lab and Will went missing, which meant Nancy's guns did not yet exist. The four eventually managed to make contact with Lucas, Erica, Dustin and Max and informed them of the gate in Lover's Lake being guarded by swarms of demonic bats.

The younger teens instructed them to head to the Upside Down Munson trailer due to a gate being created in its roof following Chrissy's death. After fully opening the gate, the younger teens created a rope with some tied-up sheets and placed a mattress in the floor. After Nancy, Eddie and Robin successfully passed to the other side, Jennifer climbed up the rope, only to fall into a mysterious black void instead of the mattress. She soon found herself in an empty graveyard covered with vines from the Upside Down.

In the real world, Steve and the others realized Vecna had placed Jennifer under his curse. While exploring her surroundings, she discovered a mutilated and lifeless corpse in a corner of the pool and upon getting a closer look, she was petrified and began hyperventilating upon seeing it was Wilhelmina's lifeless body following her death at the hands of the Demodogs (which didn't happen as she ends up surviving). Though he did not appear physically, Vecna began to emotionally break Jennifer by asking her if she had forgotten the fact that she had left Wilhelmina alone to be devoured before insisting that he does not forget a single life that he had already taken. The creature continued to torment Jennifer by flooding the ground with what was presumed to be Wilhelmina's blood, forcing Jennifer to run out of the junkyard. She suddenly found herself in Vecna's mental realm, which Max had illustrated to Jennifer the previous day with her drawings, and Vecna revealed that he was aware that she, Nancy and Robin had spoken to "old, blind, dumb" Victor. After discovering Chrissy's mutilated body attached to one of the spikes of the lair, Jennifer found a door exactly like the one in the Creel family house and opened it, allowing her to enter into flashbacks of Victor Creel's life when he and his family had arrived to their home for the first time. Through these flashbacks, Jennifer realized Vecna used to be Victor's young son Henry.

She saw the young boy discovering a nest of black widows underneath a vent in the bathroom of his new house before allowing one of them to crawl into his hand. Finding these creatures "endlessly fascinating" and "deeply misunderstood" as he was, Henry spent a large amount of time in the attic of his home, analyzing and studying them. In the hall of the house, Jennifer watched in bewilderment as Henry proved to be capable of manipulating the hands of a grandfather clock of the house and forcing them to spin backwards with the power of his mind alone. Henry eventually realized he could gain access to his family's weaknesses and sins and use them to torture them. Jennifer's visions took her to the garden, where she witnessed in horror as Henry mutilated an innocent rabbit as part of his intention to explore the scope of his mysterious psychokinetic abilities. Finally, Jennifer witnessed the final dinner of the whole Creel family, in which it was revealed Henry had murdered his mother due to his belief that she hated him for his powers and wanted him to be taken away by a "specialist."

A desperate Victor tried to take his children away from the house, only to be taken once more into a memory of his time as a soldier. Eventually, he managed to escape the memory through the music of his radio, only to find his daughter Alice dead in the same way as Virginia and held an unconscious Henry in his arms, which was a result of Henry overexerting his powers in his attempt to kill his father. The authorities arrived to arrest Victor and incarcerated him in Pennhurst, just as Henry had planned. The flashbacks eventually took Jennifer to Hawkins National Laboratory, where she saw a younger Martin Brenner tattoo "001" into Henry's forearm, marking him as his very first test subject and the predecessor of numerous other subsequent subjects, including Eleven. When Brenner spoke to Jennifer, she realized it was Vecna wearing Brenner's face and fled as fast as she could. Unfortunately, she found a door barricaded with several wooden boards that was preventing her from leaving. The creature finally made its physical appearance and expressed his desire to show Jennifer where he was going with this.

Jennifer managed to remove the boards and cross to the other side, only to be strapped to a chair by several of Vecna's vines. The creature stared at Jennifer for several moments before replying that he wanted her to deliver a message to Eleven. He transmitted this "message" in the form of visions of Hawkins burning and being torn apart by four gigantic gates spreading across the town, much to Jennifer's horror. After these visions, the creature released Jennifer from the trance and Dustin's older sister collapsed in Steve's arms. With everyone safe, the group retreated to the Mayfield family trailer, where they spent the night.

Reuniting with Phoebe Byers

After Phoebe had no other place to go, she decided to crash at Eddie Munson's trailer since she was his dealer, plus she knew him very well. She came across Jennifer outside sobbing due to stress and anxiety, and decided to show herself. To Jennifer's surprise, she was in shock. She rose and rushed toward the female, bringing her in her embrace. Jennifer and Phoebe have a tearful reunion before eventually calming down, later bringing her inside.

Jennifer announced that Phoebe was alive and that was when she revealed Nancy knew, but never told Jennifer nor mention anything. That caused her to be upset at Nancy, not wanting to accept any apology that came her way. But did so, for the sake of the world ending. They sat and listened to Phoebe explain how she died and was resurrected, and hid in Hopper's cabin before finding another place to live. Jennifer then told her that something bad was happening in Hawkins, and needed her help to stop Vecna. Accepting the offer, the gang sought out a plan to fight and kill Vecna once and for all.

Fighting the Demobats

Safely united again, the group conferred and hatched a plan to defeat Vecna and save Hawkins from the fate Nancy had described. After stealing a trailer for transportation and arming themselves with a variety of weapons acquired at The War Zone. The group dropped off Max, Lucas, Phoebe and Erica at the Creel House. From there, the remaining teens drove to the Munson trailer where they entered the Upside Down via the gate Chrissy's death had created. Once inside, they split up. Before venturing to the Creel House, Jennifer brought Steve into a passionate kiss, telling him to return safely as he promised linking his pinky with hers. He, Nancy, and Robin walked to the Creel House through the woods, while Jennifer, Dustin and Eddie remained at his trailer to lure the Demobats away from the house.

Jennifer watched as Eddie succeeded in drawing the attention of the bats through playing a solo of "Master of Puppets" by Metallica on his electric guitar. However, as the Demobats came in swarms, Jennifer, Eddie and Dustin dashed into Eddie's trailer as the bats tried to break in. For a minute, they thought they were safe, but when the bats found their way in, Jennifer and the boys realized they had to leave the Upside Down through the gate if they wanted to make it out alive. Dustin successfully escaped through the gate then Jennifer, but Eddie refused to follow, knowing the barricaded door would not hold the swarm. Instead, he ran out of the trailer and lured the Demobats away from both the gate, Jennifer, and Dustin. Jennifer and her brother, who had re-entered the Upside Down in search of Eddie, found him in the middle of the swarm of Demobats. When the hive mind was injured due to both Murray Bauman torching Demogorgons with a flamethrower as well as Vecna being severely injured, the Demobats died and fell to the ground. In this moment, Jennifer and Dustin rushed to Eddie's side and cradled him, assuring him that they would get him to a hospital. Eddie, however, was too injured from the bites and was unable to rise from the ground.

Blood running from his wounds, he made Dustin promise to take care of "those little sheep" for him, referring to Hawkins High's outcasts. He told Jennifer that she was a good friend to him, and told her to tell Phoebe that he will always love her and enjoyed being with her, however Jennifer refused that and begged him to hold on, covering his wounds the best she could. Eddie remarked that with his death, he was finally graduating, and with his final breaths, he told the Henderson siblings that he loved them. Crying, Jennifer and Dustin told him they loved him, too, and with that, Eddie died in their arms.

The Beginning of the end

Two days later, Jennifer accepted Eddie's death as she, Steve, Robin, and Dustin work to help survivors of an earthquake that was caused when the gates were open. Since the earthquake left dozens of people homeless, Jennifer, Steve, Dustin and Robin arrived in Hawkins High School to see what they could do to help.

Jennifer and Dustin later found Wayne Munson putting up missing person posters in search of Eddie, following the opening of the gates which had caused what people believed to be an earthquake. Eddie's poster had been defaced by Satanic imagery, reflecting how the town still believed him to be connected to a satanic cult. She watched as Wayne Munson took down the vandalized poster and put up a new one. After watching him from a distance, Jennifer and Dustin approached Wayne and told him they had been with Eddie when the "earthquake" occurred. Jennifer then indirectly confirmed Eddie's death for him and handed Wayne Eddie's guitar pick. Between the guitar pick and the news that both Jennifer and Dustin had delivered, Wayne was left devastated. Jennifer tried to alleviate his grief through reassuring him that Eddie had died a hero, fighting valiantly for a town that hated him. The three then sat together as Wayne cried over the loss of his nephew. In the eyes of the townsfolk of Hawkins, Munson would forever remain known as a Satanist and a psychopathic murderer rather than what he truly was: a hero.

A few minutes later, the Party, their allies and the other Hawkins citizens witnessed unusual white particles falling down the sky, with the Party and their allies realizing that the Upside Down was beginning to invade the Earth through the Gates created by Vecna.

Personality

coming soon.

Abilities

Athleticism: Henderson has demonstrated to have many athletic talents as she was a cheerleader (uncredited), and co-captain of the girls swim team. These skills have aided her in going against threats in many occasions either from the Upside Down or military personnel.

Skilled Marksman: Jennifer demonstrated proficiency with firearms such as a shotgun and handgun. She landed a few good shots on the Demogorgon with revolver while trying to save Jonath the creature, although prior, growing up, she used a handgun out of protection from her mom. She can use guns ranging from pistol to shotgun.

Relationships

Non-Familial Relationships here | Part Two Here

Familial Relationships here

Appearances

Season 1

Prologue I The Vanishing of Will Byers The Weirdo on Maple Street Holly, Jolly The Body The Flea and the Acrobat The Monster The Bathtub The Upside Down

Season 2

Prologue II MADMAX Trick or Treat, Freak The Pollywog Will the Wise Dig Dug The Spy The Lost Sister The Mind Flayer The Gate

Season 3

Prologue III Suzie, Do You Copy? The Mall Rats The Case of the Missing Lightguard The Sauna Test The Flayed E Pluribus Unum The Bite The Battle of Starcourt Epilogue

Season 4

Prologue IV The Hellfire Club Vecna's Curse The Monster and the Superhero Dear Billy The Nina Project The Dive The Massacre at Hawkins Lab Papa The Piggyback

Gallery

To be added!

Trivia

it is unknown if Jennifer Henderson is bisexual, but has mentioned that she had "experimented", and had a "moment" with Phoebe in her first year of high school. However, it hasn't been confirmed.

In the original script(?), Jennifer was supposed be a teenager dealing with substance use and got in trouble with her parents, resulting in her moving to Hawkins and living with her Aunt Claudia Henderson and her cousin Dustin. But things were changed to her being adopted by the Henderson's from a previous family.

Jennifer is the only "victim" of Vecna's to be left unscathed, with the others' deaths being used to create gates.

Jennifer is Dustin's adopted older sister, making her the second character to be adopted besides Jane/Eleven Hopper.

Even though Max and Jennifer aren't related, they have a strong sisterly bond throughout season two and four even through to the point where Max is comatosed.

*spoiler* In the last episode of season four "The Piggyback", Jennifer suffers a fractured wrist and impaled with a shard of glass in the side.

The Series Midnight Rain is completed until season five gets released. However, there will more content related to Jennifer and her relationships (familial and non-familial) coming throughout the anticipated release of ST5.

In the early adaptation of Midnight Rain, Jennifer was supposed to be Steve Harrington's sister. Her original name was Brenda Harrington and would've turn out as bisexual, but was later changed since it felt better for the plot of Crazy For You (a Robin Buckley x fem!reader story).

Jennifer is the only character to have kissed/dated all the older male teens; Jonathan Byers, Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove and Eddie Munson in Midnight Rain.

[sabbathbloodysabbeth]

I’m tired but I kind of wanted to write a small snippet of concept of a wip and just post to post you know?

Steve Harrington had to grow up fast. Learn the manner of how some people acted, and decide whether or not it was smart to approach them. By people, it was mainly his parents. If his father had to much to drink his right hand would shake, his eyes would twitch and his words would come out bigger as if he wasn’t filtering himself down for Steve to understand. When these signs were shown, that was the telltale that he should avoid him at all costs. His Mother on the other hand would be stiff and staring a hole into a random object. Her nails digging into her palms while she stayed silent, though looked like she had so much to say. Like his father, Steve would avoid her at all costs. The skill of reading people started with them and slowly started to expand into his everyday life. How he talked to his teachers, to convince them to raise his grades to his Bosses who he would convince that he wouldn’t get in trouble for working later then normal.

This skill also ran into his friendships. No one made friends with Steve Harrington, it was Steve Harrington who made friends with you. That’s how he became friends with Tommy. He recognized the similar things the other would do that Steve would, instead of ignoring the other he moved in and took him under his wing. He did assume correctly with the other as Tommy’s father had been abusive as well. What he didn’t catch how ever was how Tommy would manipulate others into getting what he wanted. Steve didn’t fully catch onto this until it was to late and he laying bloodied on the ground in a Alley. After getting his ass kicked by Jonathan Byers. When the Upside Down started, it was almost as if he was in his element. He didn’t have to put a face up he could just be himself. He of course read the people surrounding him very well and decided that they were going to be his friends. Even if they didn’t have the intention of it.

Dustin had been the first, he had figured the out rather quickly and decided Dustin Henderson was going to be his little brother. Whether he knew that or not. Steve did what he did best and seen through the other, figuring the hair thing fully before the other could. It was obvious that there was no older male figure in the others life, only his Mother and there was only so long that someone could handle a Mom dressing you. So he helped the other with his hair spending over an hour styling it the way he wanted. And if the other kept doing that style over and over again, but with a hat on as well Steve wasn’t going to say anything.

Then there was Robin. He decided that they were going to be best friends in the stalls of the bathroom. He had figured that she had been hiding something, but he wasn’t sure what until she claim clean about Tammy. Like the short list of people before him Steve went to work with making sure to bring Robin into his small little bubble. Though it was mostly only him it was still comforting to the girl. Robin swears up and down that she was the reason why they became best friends but Steve knows that it was him. If he hadn’t started to open up to her to show her that he was much different from High-school then they wouldn’t be here. He had read the other during their first shift, it had been painfully obvious that she wanted to be anywhere but with him.

To summarize it all up? Steve Harrington has always been the one to bring people into his bubble. So when Eddie Munson comes flopping into the group he was a bit intimidated. Like himself, Eddie seemed to have a thing for gathering “lost sheep” if you will. It was probably the leading reason why he was so jealous of the other when he hears Dustin joined his Dnd group. What he doesn’t expect though is to go on a while goose chase with the guy nor did he think he would have the urge to pull the other into his tight knit circle.

Standing in the middle of the gym, folding clothing on the table Steve’s eyes stay fixed on Eddie Munson. Who was awkwardly standing to the side trying to figure out where to go. His “friends” were off to the right side of the gym acting like nothing ever happened. With the surrounding people in the gym it was obvious that no one had plans of inviting the guy to help them. He was alone and Steve knows he’s going to end up adopting the other into the family. Groaning he curses himself out as he moves is way through the gym. Knowing that his next recruit wasn’t going to be easy.

“Eddie- you going to just stand there or are you going to help me?” Steve comes off as casual, his hands on his hip as he has one shirt over his shoulder. Waiting for the other to join him. Eddie groans as he kicks himself off the wall. Looking like he was still in a bit of pain. Know Steve knew he was still in pain, if his side was still hurting to this day god only knows how Eddie Munson’s body was feeling.

The guy looks like a lost puppy is the first thing Steve notes. The way he walks and acts seems like he hasn’t been sleeping that great. Not much of a shock considering he himself hasn’t been sleeping well. He moves to his table and waves his hand at it to get the other to start folding. Watching with slight amusement as the others hands start to pick shirts up and nearly crumple them together in a attempt to fold them.

“Eddie, you have to do this” Steve says softly showing the other how to properly fold a shirt. Watching him copy his movements with his face scrunched up.

In that moment Steve knows. Well he already knew but this only confirms it. Eddie Munson was the next person on his list, and he was going to have to treat this like a abused puppy. Slow and very very patient. Just one wrong move, like the jerk of his movement causes him to flinch away.

Steve’s number one goal now is to be a better friend to Eddie Munson, better then all of his so called friends that stood off to the corner goofing off.

Small snippet of a concept I have that I’m writing, may change let me know if you want to be tagged when I actually post the WIP

[stranger-rants]

Hi, I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how would The Party react when they see or meet Vance because I’m curious? Also I love your headcanons of Billy and Vance

So, in my head Vance is about ten years younger than Billy. I don’t know the exact age when Billy’s mom left him, but that seems to line up with when Vance was conceived. Billy is ~25/26 when he meets Vance for the first time with Vance being ~15/16. The older teens would be in their mid-20s along with Billy by then, and the younger ones would be in their early 20s. Vance is very much The Baby. (Also, yes I know that TBP takes place in an earlier era… but this is my crossover and I make the rules!)

Anyway.

Max is less of a step-sister, and more of a cool aunt vibe wise. She will drive Vance to the arcade, but also whoop his ass at the machines and piss Vance off. Then they’ll go have burgers and milkshakes later with Lucas at a diner. When Lucas heard about Max having another ‘step-brother’ (they debated extensively about how, exactly, they should explain Vance’s relation yet lack of relation to Max), he didn’t know what to expect but he kind of should have known what to expect. In fact, when he meets Vance for the first time, he says, “I don’t know what I was expecting” and Vance stands there with a sourpuss look on his face rocking denim on denim just like Billy. But. Vance is kind of a nerd underneath everything so Lucas is able to bond with him a bit over Star Trek. (Vance will not admit to watching that shit to anyone else, though).

Eleven is Hopper’s daughter, still, of course. It kind of makes her and Vance cousins? Eleven is very happy about having more family. I mean, technically with Hopper and Joyce settling down and Steve and Billy getting together, it’s like Eleven, Will, Jonathan, Billy, and Max are all one big happy family (in her mind) with Vance linking them together so it’s fate or whatever. Vance thinks she’s a bit out-there, and Eleven thinks Vance is a sensitive boy just like Billy. Despite her strange personality, Vance likes spending time with her whenever he needs some time away from Billy and Steve. Will is away finishing up college and Jonathan travels doing photography, but they meet Vance during the holidays. Vance is relegated to the kids table during holiday meals, but that includes the party members still even though they’re young adults so that’s when the majority of them meet him.

Billy and Vance are teased non-stop about their similarities, and much to Billy’s dismay Vance is regaled with tales about Billy’s youth that could easily be used for blackmail later. Vance tries to enjoy himself but gets easily overstimulated at these ‘family gatherings.’ Steve gets that. It took a while for Billy to warm up to these things and even though being surrounded by family is what Steve always wanted, he’s not used to it either. So, they scoot out early and go home and relax. When Vance feels more comfortable with them, he’ll watch movies with Billy and Steve on the weekend. Dustin moved to be closer to his girlfriend, but sometimes comes to visit. When he does, he stays with them too which annoys the crap out of Billy so naturally Vance prepares to be annoyed by him, too, but really he’s just goofy and asks a lot of questions to get to know him. Steve has always made Dustin feel safe and Vance is starting to understand why.

Steve is not as naturally “parental” as people assume. He’s really trying to figure out this whole “raising a teenage (former) foster kid” thing. Trying to balance being someone Vance can trust but also someone who can set and enforce boundaries. Billy’s better at that part and Steve thinks that Billy is trying to compensate for the lack of good parenting he got. Be the parent he needed, and not just the one he wanted. But there’s layers of conflict there. Billy not loving Vance right away. Billy being jealous of him because his mom left him to have Vance. Billy having a better relationship with Max now, but knowing he already struggled dealing with one surprise sibling. Billy trying to figure out if he should be more like a sibling or more like a parent, and how that triggers frustrations over being parentified in the past as an older sibling and how it’s happening all over again. But this time Steve is here, and Steve’s trying his best to manage the chaos.

Those are just some thoughts I have.