#There is a scene where i am like: “ if nina and eddie wanted to make out right now i wouldn't be opposed 👀” | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

eddiernunson · 1 year ago

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Trapped | Eddie Munson | Part 10

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Pairing: Eddie Munson x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 20.1k

Also when going to add my tag list I realized I forgot during the last part to add my tag list. I am very sorry.

Warning: Cringey writing in which this version of the reader character is now written into even more of the show. Sometimes, she has nothing to add to the conversation. Sometimes she will take a line, sometimes the reader adds a line. It took literally months to write but personally only 35-40 minutes to read. But if you forgot a lot of what happens in first 9 parts then it might take longer.

There is no smut. Sorry.

Authors note: My life fell apart, guys. I had no motivation to write this. Some scenes were so daunting. I only wrote the scenes that affected the reader in any sense. There are moments where I cut dialogue because she couldn't hear it anymore but there are also moments in which she's not even present. You'll figure it out. I really tried to tie the characters and the bonds I created in my own story with what was happening in ST4.

Example. In my own story Robin and Nancy are already friends in a sense so none of that "so are we friends" but the Platonic with a capital P is still there.

And there is a lot of affection between reader and Eddie but I really tried not to take away the fact that these characters must be terrified out of their minds.

Chapter Five: The Nina Project

It’s about 7 in the morning, all of you have found a surface to lie down on, and the faint sound of Eddie calling out for someone suddenly rings loud in what falsely appeared to be a quiet morning. “Hey, Dustin, this is Eddie the Banished. You there?”

There is not a soul who even remotely stirs at the signal.

“Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin?” Dustin is peacefully sleeping propped up on the tv, but as Eddie calls out, “earth to Dustin!” Nancy bursts awake, and her brain catches up to reality.

“Hey, it’s Nancy.” She answers, her eyes still blurry from sleep.

“Wheeler! Hey.” Eddie says, relieved in an answer. “Um, I’m gonna need a food delivery, like, really soon, unless you want me going out into the world—"

“No. No, no, no. Don’t do that.” Nancy chirps out, falling into the trap he lays out for her. “Stay where you are, and we’ll be there as soon as we can.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Listen um, can you pick me up a six pack?” Nancy shakes her head at this, annoyed she perked up for it. “I know, it’s stupid as shit, drinking right now,” as he’s speaking, Nancy starts to look around the room to everyone passed out, and she notices two things. One, Dustin is sleeping. Two, Max is not. In fact, she’s nowhere to be seen. “-but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves.”

“Hey, I’m gonna have to call you back.” Nancy hurriedly answers him, turning off the walkie as she sets it down.

“No, don’t you da- Wheeler? Wheeler?” Eddie asks, and he is met with radio silence.

“Dustin!” Nancy yells at Dustin, and it takes a moment for him to get his bearings, taking a second to look around him. “Wake up.”

“What?” Dustin manages out, still groggy.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on Max watch?” She asks, frustrated and worried.

“Yep. Yep, yep, yep. Sorry.” He answers, rubbing his eyes.

“Then where is she?” She asks, gesturing to where Dustin still hadn’t noticed her gone.

“She’s right- there. A second ago. I swear I just dozed off for,” He checks his watch, and looks up at Nancy, almost afraid to tell her. “...an hour.”

Nancy and Dustin trudge upstairs, worried sick Max took off and is already levitating somewhere. Karen Wheeler notices, and as she asks if everything’s ok, Nancy sighs in relief as she spots Max crouched down, sitting at the table.

As it turns out, Max was drawing, and from the looks of it, she was going for a while. She explains what she saw, and a hypothesis is brought out by Dustin that it might’ve been in Vecna’s mind, seeing as Vecna went into Max’s. Dustin makes fun of the drawing, calling it vague but Nancy recognizes the stained-glass door immediately.

She pieces the labyrinth-like drawings together and creates a setting, Victor Creel’s house. It sets up a piece of the puzzle Nancy feels she’s been missing and she fast-walks back down the stairs to wake the rest of you.

(Not without pissing off Mr. Wheeler one last time just for funsies from Dustin.)

Nancy wakes you all up, and despite the group’s collective annoyance, its an agreement that you’re burning daylight and yesterday took much longer than any of you anticipated. As Nancy explains the Creel House, Steve asks what they’re supposed to do about it.

“The only thing we can do. Investigate.” Nancy answers.

Now here you were, pulling up to the abandoned house with everyone in tow. Everyone shuts the station wagon doors, and it feels eerie as you walk up to it. “Yeah, that’s not creepy.” Steve comments, and the group echos the thought.

As expected, the doors were nailed shut. The rest of you watch as Nancy and Steve work together on digging out the nails with hammers one at a time and it’s hard not to feel awkward even given the circumstances. “What exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?” Steve asks, border-lining on whining.

“We’re not sure. We just know this house is important to Vecna.” Nancy answers, unsure herself but just needing something to investigate.

“Because Max saw it in Vecna’s red soup mind world?”

“Basically.”

“Great.”

“Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he’s back. Why he killed the Creels. And how to stop him before he comes back for Max.” Dustin interjects- ever so perceptive.

“We don’t think he’s in there, do we?” Lucas asks, sounding hesitant.

“Guess we’ll find out.” Says Max.

“Ready?” Steve asks Nancy, all the nails now out. She confirms, and the wooden panel comes down with a creek and an overly dusty thud.

“Dustin. Dustin!” You grab his attention, “Do you have any extra walkies in case he reaches out again?” You whisper to him bending down from the step above him.

“Shit. No, I don’t.” Dustin answers, apologetic.

“Fuck. Keep that thing on you, then. Someone might find him.” You say, pointing to the walkie sticking out of his bag.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dustin responds, and you let your head fall back hopelessly. You glare at him, hoping to get the message across. “I’ll do it!” Dustin yelps, and you still don’t believe him.

Steve attempts the door. “It’s locked. Should I knock, see if anybody’s home?” He asks, not helping the situation but it was funny.

“No need.” You look to face Robin, who was no longer right next to you, but standing at the bottom of the steps. She dramatically holds up a brick, looks to it, and looks back. “I found a key.”

Robin gleefully throws the brick through the window, glass going everywhere as the window shatters. Steve reaches in to open it, struggling to find the knob. Once he does, the door opens with a comically loud creek. It’s quiet, dark, and dusty.

Your flashlights are routinely turned on, each of you scanning the house as you walked in single file. You enter second to last, moving towards the bottom of the steps inquiringly.

“Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill.” Lucas comments, and Dustin just turns on his flashlight.

“Where’d everyone get those?” Steve asks, looking around as he realizes everyone now has one.

Dustin glances back at him, and he pauses for a moment. “Do you need to be told everything? You’re not a child.”

“Thank you.” Steve deadpans.

“We grabbed them while you were in the bathroom, I think.” You comment, looking up at the impressive spider web in the corner of the room.

Dustin takes his backpack off, handing it to Steve. “Back pocket.”

This choice would come back to bite Dustin in the ass because Steve unceremoniously drops the bag onto the creaky hardwood, not knowing the promise Dustin had made you.

Nancy is peering into what looks like a living room. “They just left everything.”

“I guess a triple homicide isn’t good for resale value.” Robin jokes as you pass them, you elbow her to let her know it was genius as she thought it was.

“Hey guys?” Max calls out, and you all flock to where she’s standing. “You all see that right?”

“Yeah”

“Yeah.”

“Is this what you saw? In your visions?” Nancy asks her, noting her incredibly still stature.

Max nods silently, clearly scared.

“I mean. It’s… just a clock.” Robin comments, trying to make something terrifying mundane. “Right?” She weaves around Max, reaching up to wipe away the years of dust build up on the clock’s face. She looks back at the group. “Like a normal old clock.” She adds, and you’re not even sure she believes herself.

“Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?” Steve asks, looking off. “Maybe he’s like, a clockmaker, or something?” It’s…an interesting theory to say the least.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty.” You tell him, and he accepts the compliment, until he realizes it was not a compliment.

“Hey.” He calls out, but you’ve already moved on.

“All I know is, the answers are here. Somewhere.” Nancy says ominously. “Alright everyone stay in groups of two. Robin, upstairs.”

“Hey, hey there are seven of us.” You call out, following Nancy and Robin as they go up the stairs.

As you go up the stairs Max pairs with Lucas, walking further down the hall into the main level, and Steve and Dustin once again find themselves paired up.

Steve sighs heavily, and begrudgingly heads up the stairs.

“Was that a sigh?” Dustin asks, annoyed.

“No, I did not sigh.” Steve dismisses him outright.

“Why’d you sigh?”

“I didn’t sigh. Just come on dude.” He answers, sounding tired.

“I heard you.”

“W-we’re just always partners, okay?”

“What, you have a problem with that?”

“It’d just be nice to, I don’t know, mix it up a bit.”

You and Robin are exchanging looks that say “Oh god” as they continue yet another squabble, something that could’ve been heard through the entire house.

As they continued, the entire group misses the lights up on the roof spasming, showing signs that you weren’t exactly alone in the house.

Eddie sits across from a can, bored out of his mind for the thousandth time in two days, he’s currently playing a game his grandfather would’ve probably gotten a kick out of. Oh joy. He misses again.

Dammit.

A car drives by on the highway, and it startles Eddie out of his balance in a half crouch. He places his hands delicately onto the wooden windows, as to take a startingly quick glance outside.

Fuck. Please let it be a trick of the goddamn light. He glances back up, dammit. It was Jason and his crew all dressed in tuxes, heading for Rick’s house.

Jason had a crowbar in his hands.

“Shit. Shit.” Eddie whispers and looks out the back window to see how their investigation would go.

Oh god please let their perception check be shit.

They see the empty pot he left on the stove. They rolled a solid 17.

Shit.

“Hey, Dustin. You there? It’s Eddie. You remember me, right?” Eddie calls out, his teeth gritted as he crouches back on the floor so they wouldn’t see him. “Sweetheart?” He calls for you, hopelessly. “Hey. If anyone’s there, I really think I might be in a bit of trouble here. Okay?” And someone would’ve answered it, had Dustin not taken his bag off. “Wheeler?” He waits, and it still takes too long for anyone to answer. He gives the walkie a tap out of frustration. “ANYBODY?”

Eddie decided it was a lost cause, and he has to do something. He’s in a boat house and there’s only one way out. Shit.

As you and Robin make your way through the rooms and unhelpfully make comments on their choice of decor, Nancy was wondering how she ended up with the two of you as partners. She should’ve gone with Dustin, at least his commentary would add up to something. She wanders off from you two, thinking she might have to deviate from her own rules.

She turns a corner when Steve comes running backwards out of the bathroom, sounding panicked as he moves his hands up and down his torso to get a spider that fell off a meter ago. “Whoa, whoa.” Nancy ushers out as she realizes he was about to back right into her. She settles him as he catches his breath. “What’s wrong?”

“There was a spider.” Steve manages out, still out of breath.

Robin, eavesdropping after hearing the collision in the hallway, perks up her ears and starts walking towards the two of them, you follow her when she wasn’t answering to where she was going. You start to realize she was intentionally going towards Nancy and Steve.

“What?”

“A black widow.” Steve puffs out. You hear a slamming of a door. “Don’t go in there.”

“Oh. Oh.” Nancy comments, and you had to admit your interest was also piqued at this very underwhelming field trip. “Wait just…”

“What?” Steve asks, his voice sounding panicked. “Something? Shit. Okay.”

“Wait. Stop moving.” Nancy chides him. “Stop. I just… I got it. I got it.”

“Thank you.”

You and Robin come around the corner in time to see Nancy picking a stray web out of Steve’s hair. “If there’s a spider, you’re never gonna find it till it lays eggs and the babies spill out.” Robin taunts him, you struggling to keep in laughter right behind her.

“What’s wrong with you?” Steve asks her, and it was rhetorical, but it seriously freaked him out.

Robin snorts, not taking anything too seriously as she wanders off. “Robin, seriously.” He calls out for her, and the two of you had already forgotten the conversation.

“She’s got problems” Steve explains to Nancy, checking out his hair for any loose web.

Nancy sighs, staring at a freckle on his neck she forgot about. “Tell me about it.”

“It’s cool you two are friends now. All of you. Maybe after we find Vecna, kill him, save the world and stuff, maybe we can all go out or something.” Steve says, trying to sound casual. “Me, you, Robin, Y/N, Jonathan, when he’s back.” He adds for good measure. “It’s not like we’re dating. Me and Robin. Not like we’re dating. Right? She told you? That we’re not?”

Nancy sighs at his rambling, having finally gotten any cobwebs out of his hair. “Yes. She made that very clear.”

You and Robin had made your way back into ear shot, having exchanged side-eyed glances the entire time Steve was rambling. “Platonic with a capital P.” She clarifies, giving cheeky thumbs up when Steve thanks her for making a point that is still, apparently touchy.

Huh. You thought he was over it by now. Then again, you only just found out about it yourself.

Steve lowers his voice, and suddenly you couldn’t hear his further mumblings. Something about the world being in peril always manages to convince you that Steve and Nancy weren’t exactly over. But then they barely have a conversation alone for the next eight months and all is well.

How is this the second time in a row they’re tricking you like this?

It takes a minute, but Nancy finally rejoins you both with a perplexed look on her face, and something tells you that Steve said something very like himself.

About five more minutes go by and Nancy seems like she’s about ready to give up hope, seeing as their search has only found decades old dust and spiderwebs when Lucas and Max call for everyone to come down to the main area.

Now all seven of you are staring up at the ceiling chandelier, lit up despite the lack of any electricity running through the house.

“It’s like the Christmas lights.” Nancy whispers after a moment of silence.

“The Christmas lights?” Robin asks her, wondering if she heard wrong.

“Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down the lights… came to life.” Nancy stares at them doe eyes wide.

“Vecna’s here.” Lucas whispers. “In this house.”

“Just on the other side.” You finish for him, suddenly understanding why Nancy had trouble looking away.

As you finished, the lights continue to flicker brighter and brighter with each fade in and out until they fade altogether. “I think he just left the room.” Robin states.

“Did he hear us?” Max asks, peering around for an answer.

“Can he see us?” Steve asks.

“Headphones.” Lucas states, and Max slips her headphones on in a fluid but hurried motion.

“Wait, wait.” Nancy protests. “Everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out.”

You all follow her orders, as Steve protests the act. “We won’t be able to see if we all turn off our...” he fades out as he watches everyone else follow orders. “Jesus Christ.”

Everyone wonders down the halls and into the rooms, watching for any sign of him. You’re on the other side of the house when Robin pipes out, “I got him! Got him!”

Your feet take you across the house ridiculously fast as she calls out a third time.

As you wonder into the room, the light fades out from her flashlight. “I…I had him.”

The light seems to jump right to yours, startling you as you peer at it. “Whoa. I... think he’s moving.” You chirp out as you move along the trajectory of where the light was going.

“Oh, he’s moving.” Steve confirms, trailing behind. “He’s moving.”

You follow the light, taking you back up the stairs and you feel like you’re on him when the light fades again. “Shit.” You mutter. “Lost him.”

“No, we didn’t.” Max calls out, seeing a shadow of a light into a room with an ajar door. At least, it looked like a room.

Max peers into the doorway and hesitantly but bravely follows to where the stairs go up. The crowd follows her up single file, and Robin is already over it. “It’s an attic. Of course it’s an attic.”

At the end of the line, Dustin peers around the corner and yells up the stairs, “Hold up, guys. What if he’s leading us into a trap?” No one answers. “Guys.” Dustin grits his teeth. “Guys!”

By the time he’s swearing repeatedly and following anyway, you are all already at in the attic.

Eddie was perched right by a window, peering out with wide eyes, his breath shallow and his heart racing, looking into Rick’s room as he watches Jason’s friends continue their search for him.

Eddie ducks down as he sees the realization in Jason’s eyes. As a last-minute resort, he takes out his walkie again. “Sweetheart, I really need a hand here.” He pauses, closes his eyes in frustration. “Dustin? Please. Are…are you there?” No response. “Never mind.”

Eddie finally does the thing he’s been debating on since getting trapped into this situation and gets back into the damn boat.

Jason kicks in the door of the boathouse, but all they see is water and an empty slot where a boat would be.

One thing Eddie will admit to as he is not an athlete. Nothing more of a struggle than attempting to get away in a canoe with only one person rowing wearing a two heavy, arm restricting jackets. He’s moving slowly and tentatively, as to not make too much noise to alert them but still make a getaway.

Somehow.

Any hope he has for getting away without them seeing him is lost in a second as he hears Jason yell, “Hey Freak!”

He looks back, and for the first time since getting roughed up badly in his early high school years, Eddie fears for his life.

“Where you think you’re going?” Jason yells, and as he undresses Eddie adds the equation together.

“Shit.” Eddie lurches to the back of the boat, pulling the cord at the engine with more energy than he knew he had. “Come on!” He yells at the engine spluttering, frustrated and scared. “Just,” pull, “come,” pull, “on! You piece of shit!” Eddie gives a strong pull, and he’s sure it would work until it splutters back down. “Come on.” He pats at the engine pathetically, shaking with adrenaline and nerves. “You gotta help me out here, man.” Eddie continues to beg the engine, still attempting to start it.

When he notices a figure splashing towards him in the distance, he knows he needs to start going. Somehow. “Nope? Okay. Alright. Okay.” Eddie stumbles across the boat back to the oar to start rowing away from Jason hurling towards him at a terrifying speed. Eddie tries not to look back at him, whimpering “Shit. Shit.” As each row gets him to what feels like nowhere.

Up in the attic at the Creel house, you make your way into the attic where a singular light bulb is fading in and out. As you’re looking up at it, Dustin calls out, “Flashlights.”

You look down to yours, and it’s lit up. Every one of them are. The crowd gathers around the light bulb, flashing your torches up towards it.

“Okay, what’s happening?” Asks Steve. None of you know, but you all peer up at the light, looking around the room and waiting for an answer.

Panic is now starting to really set in Eddie’s nerves as the two jocks almost catch up to him, barley escaping them. Eddie’s freaked out, panting, and far too exhausted to keep rowing at the rate he is. At a last-minute ditch effort to get rid of them, he gets up, and uses his oar to swing at them. “Hey, stay back, man! Stay back! Stay back!” He yells, his voice getting louder as his desperation grows.

He was trapped next to someone who never had a decent opinion about him to begin with now with a vendetta and armed. The only thing around him was water and with the rate Jason caught up to him he was not going to be able to swim away. None of this was pleasant.

“Come on! We almost have him.” Jason chokes out at Patrick, who is staring off into space. “Hey Patrick. Patrick! Patrick!”

Patrick suddenly is yanked into the water, and Eddie has no idea what’s going on, staring cluelessly into the water.

He had one idea, but he hoped he was wrong.

Jason continues to call out for him and its silent except for the sounds of the water in Lover’s Lake.

A splash erupts from the water’s surface as Patrick is elevated into midair.

Upon seeing the image of a body pulled into midair by nothing again Eddie steps back from it as far as he can get in bewilderment and momentarily forgets he is in a small boat, falling backwards into the water.

Your flashlights only continue to get brighter until Robin’s light pops, and it continues all in a circle causing each one of you to jerk away from it.

Eddie scrambles to swim back up to the surface, facing something he had hoped he would never have to see again. The cracks? Worse than he remembered.

Much worse.

All the lights seem to explode as Patrick’s extend limbs are cracked, finishing in sync as his eyes are, well, pulled.

Jason lands back in the water with a splash, Jason left to grab him while Eddie gets away only to find that his walkie no longer worked.

Fuck.

Episode 6: The Dive

It takes two hours of walking for Eddie to finally find the construction site he knew was happening by Lover’s Lake. They were onsite for almost a week at that point and Eddie thanked his lucky stars his uncle knew so many construction folks nearby. He spent the entire time wondering how he was going to manage a walkie out of one of their belts.

The first time a worker is in the bathroom he is beside himself in the bushes wondering how he would grab one. It was only when the door opened did the walkie sitting in the belt on the cutting table did he realize his missed opportunity. As the same worker makes his way back to the bathroom a mere 8 minutes later does Eddie sneak up behind the porta-potty. It wasn’t the smartest of ideas due to an odor assaulting Eddie’s nose but creeping to the cutting table to preen the walkie out of the tool belt was all worth the while.

The relief that Eddie felt as he ran back into hiding was unexplainable. As he walked in further back into the woods, he realized he recognized the path, and he knew that Steve should, too.

You sat in the back corner of the station wagon, your eyes popping open as Steve hits you with a licorice wand. You furrow your brows at him, he points to it mouthing, eat it.

Your eyes shift downward to your lap seeing the licorice in question. “Aren’t these for Eddie?” You ask, annoyed.

“Not the licorice.” Steve responds, words garbled thanks to a half-eaten wand in his mouth.

Your brows raise, as Steve was literally snacking on the chips you know you had picked out for Ed. Steve looks at you confused, his mouth half open and his pretty eyes peering up at you. You point to the chips. “It’s fine. That’s why we got more chips.” Steve says, gesturing to the numerous Pringle tubes at your feet.

Your eyes roll into the back of your head, the licorice hanging out of your mouth as you lay your head back down.

“Not to be a wimp, but can I sit in the car?” Robin’s voice comes out of nowhere, and you open your eyes to see you had made a lot of progress out to the Lake. “’Cause this is gonna totally and royally suck.”

“It’ll be fine.” Nancy assures her.

“I can’t stand to see those dull eyes of Eddie’s break again. I really, really can’t.” Robin mutters and you wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment.

“At least he can drink himself into feeling better.” Steve calls out, holding the case of beer he had gotten Eddie.

“That’s what my mom does.” Max says off handedly.

“Why don’t we give it a trial? ‘Hey Eddie. Uh, good news first this time. We got you some Y/N approved junk food and that six-pack you requested.”

Dustin turns to you from where he’s between Max and Lucas. “Didn’t I provide most of the suggestions?” He asks, furious.

You roll your eyes, too tired and just looking forward to seeing that he was okay. “It doesn’t matter.”

“You’re not the one whose—"

“Dustin there are bigger battles.” Steve interjects and Dustin turns around defiantly.

“Can I get back to the point? Practise?” Robin calls out, and she takes the silence as a guilty yes. “Where was I?”

“Uh, six pack.” Nancy offers.

“Right. ‘Oh yeah! We found Vecna. Bad news is that he’s in that other, darker, much scarier dimension, and the gate’s closed and so we have no way of getting to him. He’s entirely shut off to us, so basically, you’re screwed. And, no, I know you were already screwed, but now you’re liked, doubly, triply screwed.”

An audible gulp leaves your throat as the situation you have spent more time than you care to tell attempting not to think about how bad it was. Max’s concerned eyes land on you and you can barely hold back the mist that makes it into your eyes.

Not gonna cry. Not yet.

“Well. Maybe we don’t put it like that.” Lucas offers, his glance switching back to you. These looks of pity were charming yesterday. Now they’re about to get on your nerves.

“We’re one step closer to finding Vecna.” Nancy counteroffers. “That’s what we say. That’s what’s important.”

“See Robin? Positive spin can make all the difference.” Steve calls out, and you grit your teeth.

“Uh huh.” Robin calls back.

“Oh shit.” Nancy curses and you pipe up to see what she saw.

Shit.

A police cruiser, news van, and a crowd. You smile lamely at Steve as he crawls out the back area of the car and you stay, watching the mess from afar.

Despite you being unable to leave the car due to exposure Nancy leads all of them to around the van. Shit. What was going on?

Fuck it.

You got out of the back, using the police’s distraction in making civilians back up to sneak up behind the van. You round the back as Powell was describing the scene. You caught the end of his sentence, “homicide on the lake.”

“You can’t be here.” Robin whispers, you swat her off and shush her to listen to what he has to say.

“Officer Callahan here and myself arrived first on the scene. We made our way to the shore of Lover’s Lake, about ten yards from that house you see behind me. It was there that we found the victim, an 18-year-old senior from Hawkins High, Patrick McKinney.” Oh shit. That was one of Jason’s friends. Lucas played with him. “His limbs…his body, it was disfigured… There was an eyewitness on the scene. We have also identified a person of interest.”

Your heart drops into your stomach, and you pray that they’ve found another person to pin it on. Someone else. You would help prove their innocence of course but please, someone else.

You don’t realize how tense you already are, with your shoulders scrunched and teeth gritted until the chief flips up Eddie’s senior photo. The one he was so excited to take, to be a yearbook as a graduating senior.

Now used as his identifier as a suspected murderer.

All tension leaves your body in the worse way and looking back you wondered if you had the reaction because you could not have any more tension. You divert your eyes from any caring friends’ glances, you just needed to find him.

“Eddie Munson. We encourage anyone with information to please come forward.”

“Oh man.” Steve groans out. “This is not good. Really not good.”

Yeah, no shit, you shoot him an icy stare.

You barely hear what the chief finishes off his statement as the press have questions for him. What comes loud and clear, however, is the sound of Eddie’s voice on a walkie. “Sweetheart. Y-Y/N. Dustin. Can you hear me? Wheeler?”

His voice should’ve made you feel better, but a tear falls down your face as you realize he still doesn’t know the town will be on a hunt for him soon. “Answer him.” You choke out as Dustin already has the walkie in hand.

“Eddie. Holy shit. Are you okay?”

You follow closely behind the crowd around the walkie, sniffling and attempting to get yourself together.

“Nah, man. Pretty...pretty goddamn far from okay.”

At least the two of you were in the same emotional state.

“Where is he?” Robin asks.

“Where are you?” Dustin repeats.

“Skull rock. Do you know it?”

“Uh, yeah. That’s near Cornwallis and-“

“Garrett, yeah.” Steve says, interrupting him. “I know where that is.” Steve takes off into the trees and it takes a moment for your brain to catch up to the idea that he wasn’t going to the car.

“Hold tight. We’re coming. We’re coming.” You hear Dustin call out, and it felt like the end of that.

“She okay?” Eddie calls out, and its so quiet Dustin stops and asks him to repeat it. “My girlfriend. Y/N? Is she okay?”

You nod to Dustin when he looks up to you for help. Say yes. Do not be honest. You don’t need him to worry about you on top of being on the run. “Yeah. She’s ok. A little shaken up but she’s ok.”

“Good.”

You smile at Dustin in thank you when Nancy calls out. “Hurry up, we’re not waiting!”

Shit. You run to catch up.

Why did there have to be an uneven number? You wonder as you walk in front of Nancy and Robin, arms crossed as there wasn’t enough room for 3 to walk side by side.

You’re walking and absentmindedly admiring some particularly tall trees while eavesdropping on Steve and Dustin’s argument ahead of you. “Dude, I’m telling you, we’re taking us the wrong way.”

“It’s north. I’m positive. I checked the map.” Dustin answers the same way yet again.

“You do realize Skull Rock, it’s a super popular make out spot?”

“Yeah, so?”

“Yeah well it wasn’t popular until I made it popular. All right? I practically invented it. We’re heading in the wrong direction.” Steve takes off in a harsh left, and Dustin calls out for him. “Stop whining. Let’s go. Trust me.”

You get used to the different terrain, walking downhill instead of slanted. As you do, Robin and Nancy catch up to you as it seems to get larger. You smile at the company.

“Okay, so apparently we’re going this way now?” Max pipes out. “I swear to God, if they get us lost…” She pauses, and you, Robin and Nancy give each other a look. “Hey. You okay?”

Robin stops you and Nancy, extending her arms out as to prevent either one of you from walking any further. “Wha-?”

“Shh” she shushed you, quick and fluid. “C’mere.” She leads you and Nancy to the side of the path that Dustin and Steve are still walking, and she clings onto a tree to get a good vantage spot.

“Uh, yeah.” He answers distractedly. “I’m fine. Just…thinking about Patrick. You know?”

“Yeah.”

“I mean, it’s… it’s like, why him? But then, I remember this one day, he…he came to practice with a black eye. He said he fell, but clearly, he was lying. It’s like everyone Vecna targets has something in their life. Something that’s—”

“Hurting them.” Max finishes for him. “Haunting them.”

“Yeah. I…I didn’t really know Patrick, so it was easy to just look the other way, I guess. But I did know you.” This rings true, and you remember observing her pulling back but not saying much. “And I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”

“It’s not your fault.” She dismisses him, but Lucas wouldn’t have it.

“No.”

“I disappeared.”

“No, no, you didn’t. I just didn’t look hard enough. Okay? But I see you now. I see you.” Knowing how hard it is for Max to be vulnerable that felt mystifying to hear Lucas say it.

As Lucas and Max continue down the path, Robin scrambles her way out of the tree she had made her way into, subtly starting back the path up to Skull Rock.

Your heart pitter-pattered. Eddie was at Skull Rock.

Robin scoffs. “Oh my God, they’re so adorable I just wanna squeeze ‘em, you know? If I’m permitted to see a silver lining in this end-of-the-world doom and gloom, it would be the rekindling of old flames that, frankly, never should have been snuffed out.” You and Nancy share a look before both turning your heads to face her. “I-I didn’t mean that as a hint or anything.”

“Right.”

Like a burning fire you can’t look away from. You knew that on some level Steve was still pining after Nancy but also Robin outright admitting to rooting for it.

“But if I did mean it as a hint would that be so terrible? To wish happiness for my friends?” Robin asks Nancy.

Nancy scoffs, “You think I’m not happy?”

“I…I’m sure you are.” Robin responds, assuring her. “It’s just, the other day, I mentioned Jonathan, and you flinched or winced or something like—”

“I didn’t flinch or wince.” Nancy protests, her voice annoyed.

“Ok.”

“Jonathan and I are fine.”

“Got it.”

“We’re good.”

“Right.”

It almost feels like a stand-off as you stand between the two of them.

You’re sure Nancy is about to dismiss the idea altogether…until her face shifts only for a moment. With Jonathan refusing to come up for Christmas and him procrastinating his applications repeatedly, it made sense.

“It’s just…” The three of you continue walking as she gathers her thoughts. “He was supposed to be here for the break, and then he backed out at the last minute for some vague, mumbly Jonathan reason. And to be honest, I’m not that surprised because I’ve been feeling him pulling away. And I don’t know if it’s because we’re 2,000 miles away or if he met someone new or what. And now I can’t find out why because apparently, he’s blown up his family’s house phone or something. So yeah, if… if the mention of his name caused a slight muscle spasm on my face, that’s… probably why.”

“Seems like a perfectly reasonable to flinch, wince, or something.” You comment, and Nancy turns to you, smiling softly.

“Oh, boom!” Steve calls out from the other side of some plants. “Bada Bing, Bada Boom. There she is, Henderson. Skull Rock! In your face, man. In your stupid, cocky little face.”

“It doesn’t make sense” Dustin’s voice echos.

“Yeah, yeah. Even with it staring you right in the face, you can’t admit it. Can’t admit you’re wrong, you butthead.”

You hear a loud echo of someone landing on the ground, and you nearly crumble in relief when you hear his voice. “I concur.” Dork. “You, Dustin Henderson are a… total butthead.”

“Jesus, we thought you were a goner.” Dustin tells him and you attempt to not let jealousy get a hold of you as you hear the back pats of a man hug.

“Yeah, me too, man.” You can’t hold it back anymore and run into a full sprint to him, ignoring the looks you know Robin and Nance are giving the back of your head. As you collide with him, his back towards you but you didn’t mind. “Whoa—” Your arms wrap around his stomach, squeezing him tight as you inhale the scent on the back of his jacket.

He turns around to face you, having trouble as your hold on him is so tight. “Hi, sweetheart.” He chirps out, and you can hear the smile in his voice.

“Missed you.” You mutter into his chest, and the faint smell of his odor is there, and you can’t help but feel guilty as he has been on the run for two days while you got to change your clothes.

He hums. “I missed you more than you know.”

You look up at him, chin still connected, and all tension in your body seems to leave at once.

As the town rushes out of town hall while ignoring Sheriff’s calls for a mandatory curfew, your mom sits nearly stunned in silence. Jason Carver, a boy that you have complained about to her repeatedly, lead a slam campaign that led to a town wide hunt for Eddie. Her heart stutters, she has no idea where you are, how Eddie could prove himself innocent, and what she is to do now.

Her head turns to face Karen along with both Dustin and Lucas’ parents and they all give her a look of strained pity. However much pity they feel for your mom, the hopelessness that Dustin’s mom felt seemed to overshadow it.

As they gathered in an inconspicuous circle Karen hushed Lucas’ mom as she attempted to talk. “They should all be back at the house, including your daughter. C’mon.” Somehow your mom doubted you were there, but the nagging hint of hope in the back of her mind made her want it anyway.

The rubber was harsh and stark against the cement as the parents’ cars pulled into the Wheeler’s driveway. All car occupants were leaving the cars as soon as they were put into park and right into the house.

Karen Wheeler entered her house in a rush, looking around anxiously around her house for any sign of any of the kids. “Guys?” She goes to the top of the stairs, opening the door to the basement. “Are you down here? Guys?” At the bottom of the stairs Karen looks around in her dark and dingey basement, and understands they are not in the house. She runs back upstairs. “They should have been back by now. They should be back.”

“What time was the movie?” Lucas’ mom asks.

“Uh, four hours ago.”

“Hate to break it to you, Mrs. Wheeler, but they lied to you.” Erica says, confident in her statement.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire.” Holly sings, being a little sister.

“Holly.” Ted chides her.

“We don’t think they’re actually involved with this Eddie guy, do we?” Dustin’s mom asks frantically.

“Eddie did not do this.” Your mom pipes up, placing her hand out to “calm” her.

“How can you be sure?” Lucas’ mom asks her.

“Because they’ve been dating for five months and he’s been over so many times I put leftovers in my fridge for him to find.”

“That doesn’t mean he didn’t—”

“He didn’t do it. Let’s just focus on finding our kids.” Your mom finishes the discussion with finality.

Karen Wheeler passes your mom to the phone on the wall.

“You’re calling the theater?” Erica asks incredulously.

“The police.”

Now that Eddie has been located, it was imperative that you decided on a next step. The big question was to why Eddie didn’t get a hold of anyone after Patrick got Vecna’d. “When I got to the shore, I tried calling you guys but, uh,” he takes a large swig of his water and no, you weren’t staring at his throat as he did it. (You totally were.) “My walkie was busted, man. Drenched. So uh, I did the thing that I do now, apparently. I ran.” He chuckles in his self deprecation, intentionally missing the look you give him.

“Do you know what time this was? The attack?�� Nancy asks, and she has a hypothesis, you could just tell.

“Yeah, no, I…I know exactly what time it was.” Eddie moves to take off his watch. “My walkie wasn’t the only thing that got soaked.”

He tosses her the watch, nearly missing it at the lack of caution Eddie had used to throw it to her.

“9:27”

“Same time our flashlights went kablooey” Robin adds.

“Which means what, exactly?” Steve asks, still out of the loop.

“The surge of energy was Vecna attacking Patrick.” Nancy answers.

“Well, we’re one step closer. We know how Vecna attacks.” Robin adds.

“And where he attacks from.” Lucas says.

“So now we just need to sneak into his lair in the Upside Down and drive a stake through his heart.” Max concludes.

“If he has a heart.” Robin jokes.

“A stake? Is he like a vamp? Is he a vampire?” Steve asks the last part of his sentence as if he was genuinely worried about the possibility.

“It was a metaphor” Max stresses.

“A bullet should work on him, right?” Eddie offers, you shoot a look at him in surprise. What he mouths to you.

A gun? You mouth back.

He shrugs. It would work.

“I say we chop his head off” Lucas declares as you and Eddie are having your silent conversation.

“I’d say all the above, but we can’t do any of that til we find a way to the Upside Down.” Nancy points out.

You look to Dustin, realizing he hasn’t spoken much, which was unlike him. You kick down to your boyfriend’s leg right next to you to point him out when you see him pacing like a madman.

“We need El to get her powers back.” Max complains.

“We had this girl. She had superpowers.” Steve starts to explain to Eddie.

“Yeah, I met El. Hey, uh, Henderson’s not uh, cursed, is he?”

“Cursed? No, no he’s fine. Mental? Absolutely.”

“Boom!” All of you are startled by Dustin’s loud voice echoing through the forest turning to face what madness was going on his brain this time. “Bada. Bada. Boom.”

Steve’s face scrunches up in bewilderment.

“I was right. Skull Rock was north.”

“Seriously? You’re serious?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“This is Skull Rock. Okay?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“You’re totally, absolutely, 100% wrong. Right now.”

“Yes.” Dustin agrees with him. “And no.” Ok now you were lost, too.

“Oh my god.” Steve exclaims as he hides his face in his hands to rub the stress off.

Dustin holds up his compass. “This worked correctly when we left the Wheelers’. Correct when we got in the car on Kerley. But it started to slip the further east we went. Now it’s way off. When I was leading us here, I wasn’t wrong. The compass was.”

“So, you’re using faulty equipment. You’re still wrong.” Steve is still somehow arguing and missing Dustin’s point completely.

Dustin’s head tilted argumentatively, “Except it isn’t faulty. Lucas, remember what can affect a compass?”

Lucas scratches his head thoughtfully for only a fraction of a second. “An electromagnetic field.”

“Yep.”

“Electro-what?” You stutter out.

“In the presence of a stronger electromagnetic field, the needle will deflect towards that power.” You glance to your boyfriend and watch as his eyes slowly start to glaze over as he doesn’t take a single word Dustin is saying. You felt less stupid. “So, either there’s a super big magnet around here, or…”

“There’s a gate.” Lucas finishes, the only one on the same page. (The same book, for that matter.)

Dustin points to Lucas, confirming.

“But we’re nowhere near the lab.” Nancy points out.

“But what if, somehow, there’s another gate? A gate that we don’t know about. It’d have to be smaller, way less powerful.”

“Snack-size gate.” Robin quips.

“How? Why?” Steve asks.

“No idea. All I know is that something is causing this disturbance, and the last time we’ve seen anything like it, it was a gate. And I hope it is because then we’d have a way to get to Vecna. And a shot at freeing Max from this curse.” Dustin seems to miss the social ques of everyone fidgeting as they’re still unsure of what any of what he’s saying means, as he turns around the opposite direction to let the compass show him a path to the gate.

That is, if there was one to begin with.

“Where are you going? Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.” Steve calls out to him, and Dustin turns around exasperated. “Y/N’s still being sought out for questioning and Eddie’s still a wanted man. We can’t just go for a hike in the woods.”

“This little steel capsule might be the key to saving both Max and Eddie.” Dustin pauses, raising his arms out dramatically to him. “What say you, Eddie the Banished?”

All the attention is turned towards your boyfriend, who is still perched onto his toes and crouched down. “I say you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor,” dork, “which, if I’m totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea. But, uh, the Shire…the Shire is burning.”

Dustin starts hopping up and down excitedly, his smile bared from ear to ear.

Without warning Eddie lurches himself up onto his feet, and you have to move away from him to not get hit by his dramatics.

“So, Mordor it is.” He walks right passed anyone in the circle to start walking, and it takes a moment for the rest of the group to catch up.

“Ed!” You call out to him as they weave around him. He jerks himself back around to you. “Your stuff?” You point to your feet where a white grocery bag still sat.

“Get your stuff dude, let’s go.” Steve berates him, and you give him the stink eye as you pass. “What?” Steve asks you, and you decide to leave it be. There are bigger battles right now.

Much bigger.

By the time the Compass is guiding you anywhere, the sun is nearly set on another day. Something tells you that there aren’t many days left.

The crowd half pays attention to Dustin at the very front and his numerous zig-zags but the chatter remains. You find yourself walking next to Eddie, his hands brushing against yours as your strides match each other’s. “Police hadn’t gotten a hold of you, yet, eh?”

You shake your head, biting your bottom lip. “Nope. I don’t think if they had attempted to question me now, I would be any help.”

“Nah. You would save me.”

“Would I?” You counter back. “I’m so glad to be with you in person. Not knowing if you were ok, I felt sick to my stomach since the news broke out from in front of your trailer.”

“I didn’t mean to worry you like that.” Eddie states, his voice calm and soothing. “I should’ve called you—”

“No. It’s good you didn’t.” You interrupt him.

“No instead of running I should’ve come to you.” He argues back.

Your stride stops mid step, forcing him to stop, too. “You didn’t do anything wrong by reacting how you did, Eddie.” He doesn’t believe you, his eyes avoiding yours as they twitch around the light pink sky. “Hey. Look at me.” He hesitates, then they gaze back down to you. “You couldn’t have reacted any better than to get yourself away from the situation. You didn’t know what was happening. Someone was lifted into air with all 206 bones in their body broken by seemingly nothing. That was an appropriate response. I need you to know that.” You hold your hands out to frame his face, petting his cheeks and taking in the bags that were so heavy underneath his eyes from stress and lack of sleep.

Eddie goes silent, nodding. He places a hand on top of yours, grabbing it so he can gently kiss it. You grab his hand and lead him so you continue walking. You knew he still didn’t believe you but at least you got to tell him.

“C’mon, lovebirds! We don’t have all day!” Robin calls, about ten feet ahead of you.

Your eyes roll, and you know she says it out of love.

“I just hope Wayne knows.” He mutters under his breath.

“He does.” Nancy says, and you didn’t realize you had almost caught up to her, having let Robin continue walking down.

“You figure?” Eddie asks her, placing his hands in his pockets apprehensively.

“I know.”

“Wait a minute.” Eddie drops your hand and uses his long limbs to get next to Nancy. “What do you mean?”

“I went to the trailer park when news broke out to get a story for the school newspaper.” That was a very small summary of a much more nuanced story but that was beside the point. “I had went to every neighbour on your lot for a quote but they weren’t much help. I only had one possible person to go to and I had initially avoided him out of respect.”

“Wayne.”

Nancy nods. “He was on the bench, smoking. He wouldn’t even talk to me at first, he said he already talked to reporters who all had their story already. Once I convinced him, he…surprised me.” She admitted softly.

“What…what did he say?” His voice is soft, holding back.

“He doesn’t think you did it.” Nancy states outright. Eddie stumbles back in surprise. “He truly doesn’t think you did it. He said you might be rough around the edges, but he knew you weren’t capable of doing what happened to Chrissy.”

Eddie audibly gulps, his eyes blinking rapidly as he attempts to hold back his tears. “He. He. He said that?”

“There was no doubt in his mind. He knows you’re innocent.” Nancy smiles up at him, closed mouthed with a sad disposition on her face.

“Thank you.” He tells her, and she nods before walking up to meet back up with her designated walking buddy.

Eddie waits as you catch up to where he’s standing, and his eyes are glossy. “You okay? Need a minute?” He shakes his head jerkily to deny it, as he’s only staying silent so he won’t fucking cry. “Alright. Let’s go I think they’re starting to pick up.”

As it got dark, the group dissipated into several different pairings of walking buddies. You somehow found yourself sandwiched walking behind Eddie and in front of Steve.

As you get used to the group’s formation, talking softly as you continue, Dustin is hyper focused on the compass as it steadily twitches more and more. Out of nowhere he starts into a full sprint, running towards where the compass takes him.

“Dustin? Can you slow down? Dustin?” Eddie calls out for him and runs when he realizes Dustin paid no attention.

As Dustin and Eddie run out of sight everyone struggles to keep up with him. “I think we’re getting close.” Dustin calls out.

Eddie catches it before you could even call out, grabbing Dustin by the backpack before he takes another step. “Watch your step, big guy.”

“Oh man. You gotta be shitting me.” Steve exclaims as all eight of you stare out into the open water of Lover’s Lake. “Yeah. I thought these woods were familiar.”

“Lover’s Lake.” Robin names the body of water you were all staring at.

“This is confounding.” Dustin mutters, rubbing his eyeballs.

“There’s a gate in Lover’s Lake?” Max asks out loud.

“Whenever the Demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. Maybe Vecna’s the same way.” Nancy deducted.

This is how you knew you wouldn’t have survived without her. Your brain couldn’t even process it.

“Yeah, only one way to find out.” Steve stares out into the open water. “How are we supposed to find out?” He asks, pointing out the obvious problem that was already vexing Dustin.

“Well.” Eddie pipes up, a smirk on his face.

After Eddie leads the group along the edge to where he had stashed Rick’s boat, tugging the tarp off with flair. It’s small and definitely wouldn’t fit everyone, but it would do.

The boat is picked up by you, Robin, Steve, and Eddie about four footsteps back into the water into shore. Eddie and Steve takeover to put the boat into the water, Eddie being a bit rougher than necessary. You maintain that he didn’t know his own strength.

“Easy…I” The boat lands with the metal creaking against the ground loudly, “I said easy, man.”

“Sorry, dude.”

Robin lines up to get into the boat, rejecting Steve’s extended hand. “Yeah, I’m just gonna do that.” She mutters, placing her hands flatly on top of their heads. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, that works, too.” Steve mutters.

Eddie climbs in, turning around to extend a hand to help you in. You grab onto it, annoyed at the rickety balance and lack of footing a boat provides for you as you step in. “Thanks.” You mutter to him, he winks flirtatiously back.

He turns around to face Nancy, also ready to climb in. Eddie extends his hand out to her, offering the same courtesy he gave to you.

“Yeah, you got her.” Steve mutters, still holding the boat.

“Wheeler.”

“Thanks.”

Dustin gives one last goofy look to his friends before attempting to get in. Eddie reaches out to flick him back. “Hey, hey, hey, you trying to sink us? This thing holds three people tops, okay?”

Nancy bends sideways to see around Eddie. “It’s better this way, okay? You guys stay here with Max.” Eddie lets her move past him. “Keep an eye out for trouble.”

“You keep an eye out.” Dustin retorts childishly.

Nancy squints. Dustin makes an exasperated face back.

“It’s my goddamn theory. Plus, there are already four people on the boat.”

“You heard Nance.” Robin adds.

“Who put her in charge?”

“I did.”

“Compass.” Nancy states, holding her hand out for Dustin. Dustin sticks out his bottom lip, pouting as he reaches in to give Nancy the compass.

Steve pushes out the boat very slightly before saying, “Hey, there you go.”

Thwump. Dustin gets his backpack thwarted into his face. “Ow.” Steve uses the distraction to push the boat out into the water, using the momentum to get in. “You said three! That’s five!”

“Sorry.” Steve calls back, sincerely apologetic.

You and Eddie use the oars you had both grabbed and started rowing out, using Steve’s momentum to help get further.

Robin couldn’t help herself, as she was holding back her giggling with much difficulty. “Bedtime at 9, kiddos!” She calls out, to which Dustin coldly flips her off. This just egged her on. “Miss you already!” She calls out, standing up on the boat as she does.

About three minutes go by, and in all the effort rowing takes it felt like forever when Nancy finally speaks up. “Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down. Slow down guys.”

You and Eddie had taken the hint, using the oars to stop the boat from floating any further. All five of you peer into a circle with the compass centered, observing the way the arrow turned jaggedly without direction.

“Whoa.” Steve comments when he gets a good look at it.

“Guys, what’s going on?” Dustin’s voice erupts from the walkie, “Come on, talk to me. What’s going on?”

Robin picks it up. “Uh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital ‘aah!’.”

Steve starts to undress; you didn’t notice him take his shoes off, but it was far more obvious as he took of his socks. “Steve, what are you doing?” Nancy asks him.

“Somebody’s gotta go down and check this out.” He mutters. “Unless one of you four can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years then…it’s gotta be me. No complaints, all right.?”

Eddie lets out a silent chuckle. “Hey, I’m not complaining.” He looks over the side of the boat, peering into what looked to be a void of darkness. Night lake blindness was real and terrifying. “I do not wanna go down there.”

You reach out across where Robin was sat next to you, tapping his arm lightly to berate him. What? He signals to you. You just ignore it. He rolls his eyes, bringing out the white plastic bag he had in his jacket to empty all its containments on the bottom of the boat. You watched him curiously, wondering what he was doing. You watch him as he wraps the plastic bag around the flashlight, completely missing Nancy ogling Steve as he took off his shirts.

Eddie finishes the bag by tying it securely in a bow with the loops. “Hey.” He calls out to Steve, handing it to him. “Good luck.”

As Steve looks back to him, you peer up at him in awe. Something about this angle just looked so good on him. “Thanks.”

Steve prepares himself to hop in the water and Eddie pulls out one of his joints to pass the time while he’s down there. As he’s just about to light it, Robin pulls the joint out of his grasp and flings it into the water. “Gross.”

Eddie grits his teeth, shaking his head in a What the hell manner.

“Steve?” Nancy asks, and Steve peers back to her. You swear they share a moment before she says, “Be careful.”

Steve doesn’t say anything in response, just gives a subtle yet jagged nod. Without anymore notice, he dives in, the water creating a jarring splash in the quiet of the nighttime.

A few moments pass in awkwardness. It was odd, considering up until last week there really wasn’t any awkwardness to speak of. “Robin?”

“Hmm?” She replies to you.

“Now that Steve is momentarily out of the boat, can you—”

“Oh, yeah sure.” Robin moves her butt over to where Steve was sat, and you’re now able to have leg room.

“So, when was the first-time you guys dealt with… the other…world?” Eddie asks, leaning forward onto his knees with one arm and holding your hand with the other.

“1983” Nancy answers him without missing a beat.

“Is that it?” He asks again, but he already knew the answer.

“Again in 1984, and last time was in the summer.” You add, and Nancy nods along.

Eddie’s eyebrows raise in surprise.

“Remember the mall burning down?” Robin prompts him. “That was us.”

Eddie turns to look at you pointedly. “You helped burn the mall down?”

“Hey, did you want to turn into a giant flesh-eating monster?” You jab back at him. Eddie slowly nods his head to indicate no, he did not want that. “Us either. So, we got rid of it with fire. We figured out in ’84 they hate fire.”

“They?” Eddie asks, and you know he doesn’t even know what a demogorgan is. Hasn’t asked.

“Irrelevant. The point is. It was the mall, or Hawkins, so we did what was necessary.”

“So,” Eddie starts, “did the chief know about this?”

Everyone goes silent, as Hopper died a hero but not for the reasons Hawkins thought. “Yeah. He’s El’s dad. In fact, without Hopper most of us would’ve died two years ago.” Nancy comments.

“Oh.” He clears his throat awkwardly. “Sorry to—”

“It’s fine, Ed.” You tell him. I love you. You mouth to him.

I love you too.

Robin leans forward to Nancy as she looks back to her watch, having kept track of time the entire conversation. “Where we at, Nance?”

“Closing in on a minute.”

“Okay.” Robin lets out an audible huff, a way to let out pent up anxiety.

“Do you, do you hear something?” You ask, hearing a commotion come from where Lucas, Dustin, and Max were sat down.

“I see flashlights.” Robin offers. “Shit. Cops.”

“We should be good, right?” You ask anxiously.

Robin peers over the edge, watching for Steve to come back up. “As long as Steve comes back faster.”

Only two seconds pass of silence when it’s interrupted by the sound of water gushing loudly as Steve erupts out. The four of you are startled from the loud noise, Eddie letting out an involuntary, “Oh, Christ!”

Steve attempts to catch his breath his he barks out, “I found it.”

“You found it?” Nancy asks, confirming what she had heard.

“Yeah, I found it.” He pants, swimming up to the boat.

Robin grabs the walkie out. “Dustin, you are a goddamn Einstein. Steve found the gate.”

Steve maintains hold of the boat still panting. “It’s more of a snack-size gate than the mama gate, but still, it’s pretty damn big.” Abruptly Steve “falls” back into the water, his hands leaving the boat as if he had no choice. You all clamour towards him, wondering what was happening. Steve grabs back onto the boat, looking back down at the water worriedly. Just as abruptly and clearly Steve was pulled back down into the water, the four of you yelling after him.

“Steve!” Nancy yells after him, both hands on the edge of the boat with her knees almost going over the edge.

All three of you girls call his name repetitively, hoping on some sort of level it would call him back to you.

Eddie was by himself, panicking. “No! No! What the hell was that, man?” Eddie asks no one in particular.

“Nancy, really, what happened?” Robin calls out to her loudly.

“Jesus!” Eddie yelps out in a higher note than you knew he could even manage.

Your mind was panicking but you were watching her closely as to what she would do. It was obvious what was on her mind when Nancy stands up and moves to the edge. “Wait, wait, wait.” Eddie stops her. “You’re not going in there, are you?”

Nancy pauses. “Just-wait here.” She says, holding out her arms. Leaving no room to argue she dives into the water.

“No, Nancy!”

“Nancy!”

“Goddammit!” Eddie calls out, frustrated and you would be entertained by him if your cortisol levels weren’t so high.

Mere moments pass by, and you already knew it was going to happen when Steve was pulled in as Robin sits up onto the edge of the boat.

“No, no, no, no. What are you doing? She said wait.” Eddie states, his voice nearly desperate.

“Yeah. I heard her.” Robin pipes back.

“She’s in charge.” Eddie bites, pointing sharply at the water.

Robin laughs hoarsely. “Are you kidding? I made that shit up.”

Robin plugs her nose, scooting back and falls back into the water with a splash as Eddie calls out to her. He sighs, turning his head to you, and you’re already standing at the edge. “No. No. Don’t go. Please.” He asks, much gentler to you than to either of the other girls.

You sigh to him empathetically. He didn’t sign up for this. “Sorry, Ed. It’s what we do. When someone’s in trouble…” you drift off, not finishing your sentence, jumping feet first into the lake. Before water engulfs you, you hear the last of Eddie begging you to stay in the boat.

As you start to move towards the vaguely red light at the bottom of the lake, praying you don’t run out of air, Eddie is still on the surface. “Goddammit! Lying son of a—” He picks up a snack he had from his bag and throws it to the other side. He stands up of the boat, pacing as he looks into the water. “Son of a bitch! Oh, this is so stupid, this is so stupid, this is so stupid.” Before he could procrastinate the inevitable any further, he takes the leap, “Shit, shit, shit—” his last curse is engulfed by the water as he takes the leap as well.

When you emerge on the other side of the gate back into the Upside Down, you find Robin and Nancy standing there, both looking off into distances. You land on your hands and knees coughing up the water you had managed to swallow. “Shit.” You mutter. “Where’s—” you still didn’t have your breath back yet. “Where’s Steve?”

“We don’t know yet.”

Suddenly, the sounds of creatures from the blaring sky erupt and off into the distance you can see a bat- a demo-bat that is, fly down to a specific target. Steve. Nancy looks to you and Robin, all thinking the same thing.

Nancy extends her hand to help you up with Eddie bursts out from the gate as well. “Fuck!” He yells, coughing as he wipes his face. “Jesus Christ. That was—” You hand an oar to him, interrupting his train of thought.

“C’mon.”

You start to make your way over in a half jog when the clear sounds of screaming are heard and echoing. Nancy breaks into a run, leading all four of you as you run to what you had hoped was Steve.

Chapter Seven: The Massacre at Hawkins Lab

You, Robin, Nancy, and Eddie arrive to a scene of Steve lying on the ground and attempting to fight off five demo-bats all at once. While one choked him, the others attempted to make a delicious snack out of him. Nancy goes right in, locating an oar by a nearby skeleton of a boat and swings for one of the bats biting from his chest.

“Hey there.” She grunts and follows it up with another swing against the one on the other side of his chest.

Robin stomps onto the bat, meanwhile Nancy swings at it repeatedly at his face to kill it.

You look around for more bats anxiously and you get surprised by a thunk right behind you. You look over to see Eddie, and you realize there was one coming for you. “Thanks.”

“Welcome, now watch out!” His pupils dilate as he looks right behind you, and you move out of the way as Eddie hits this one with such force it breaks his oar. “Shit!”

You turn around to face one on coming directly to you, and your years of missed baseballs all seemed to come down to this. You focus on the trajectory and swing your oar at it. “Shit.” You call out when it works. The bat comes back to you, and you hit it again downward, causing the bat to splat onto the ground.

Nancy and Robin continue to fight the bat still choking Steve, as it showed no sign of letting go yet. “Come on, please!” Robin begs to no one.

“Nancy, behind you! Watch out!” You call to her, watching a bat aim specifically for her.

Nance lurches forward as the bat lands on her back. “Robin, get it off me!”

As another bat flies by, Eddie calls out that he has it, breaking the last of his oar.

Steve’s bat finally let’s go after he bites it, causing it to attempt to fly away. Steve yanks it back to him, slamming it onto the ground repeatedly.

Meanwhile Robin gets the bat finally off Nancy’s back and slams the bat down to the ground as well. She holds it as Nancy lurches her oar into the bat’s face and tells it to go to hell.

Eddie calls out to the bat coming to him, egging it on. “Come on, you flying son of a bitch!” When it flies to make a large circle Eddie calls back out, “I said come on! Let’s go!”

Before the bat even reaches him, you swing at it, breaking your own oar in the process and the bat spins like a frisbee over the boat skeleton.

You share a moment with him, both out of breath until you pay your attention to Steve who was still manhandling the bat. He gives one last swing with it into the ground, killing it for sure but just for good measure he steps on it to rip it in half. Wasn’t necessary, but to Steve, that was personal.

He spits out the blood in his mouth, panting as he glances around him. “Steve!” Nancy calls out to him.

��Jesus Christ.” Eddie exclaimed. “Jesus H. Christ!” He yelled even louder, almost a tantrum.

Hmm. Your boyfriend sure didn’t deal with stress very quietly. “Hey.” You reach out to him, grabbing his hand to pull it to you. “I know. It’s a lot.” Eddie lets his forehead rest onto yours clumsily. “We’ll get through this.”

“Are you okay?” Nancy asks, assessing the damage gasping when she saw the wounds.

“Well, they took about a pound of flesh.” Steve starts, looking down at his chest. “But other than that, yeah, never better.”

Robin was crouched on the ground, assessing one of the corpses.

Eddie had his arm around your shoulder, you tucked into his chest. It’s been so goddamn long since you were like this, it hurt.

It was four days, but it was a long ass four days.

“Uh, do you guys think these bats have, like, rabies?” Robin asks half heartedly.

“What?” Steve asks, making sure he and everyone around heard right.

“It’s just that rabies are, like, my number one greatest fear. And I think we should get you to a doctor soon because once symptoms set in, it’s too late. You’re already dead.” She rambles on and Eddie kisses and mutters into your hair, “Jesus Christ.”

None of you are given a chance to even ponder on that thought as a group of demo-bats steal the spotlight, screeching as they got louder. You all crowd together in anticipation to fight them, but they weren’t coming to fight. They flew right to where the gate was, all hissing at your direction. “All right. There’s not that many.” Steve anticipates as he preps himself and the rest up, facing the increasingly agitated bats. “We can take ‘em.” He huffs, “Right?”

In the distance, the sound that you all just collectively heard is amplified by a thousand, and a swarm of bats catch your eye, all flying around in the shape of a deadly tornado.

“You were saying?” Nancy asks, and the hand Eddie is holding tightens around yours as his others goes up to his hair in stress.

Nancy turns away, examining for any other solution. “The woods. Come on!”

She breaks out into a run, and your reaction times all flitter one by one as you follow behind her.

“Great. More running.” Robin huffs as she starts.

The five of you make a head start in the woods to take cover, no idea of where you were headed but grateful for the cover, nonetheless.

Back at the Wheeler’s house Officer Callahan and Sherriff Powell had brought Max, Lucas, and Dustin in their cruiser and the three were sitting on the couch all racking their brains on how they were going to get themselves out of this one.

While your mom was anxious that she didn’t know where you were, she was glad you weren’t found by them. Something in her gut told her that it was good. She wasn’t sure how much she trusted that feeling quite yet. Not that she shared that with any of the other parents.

“What exactly were all doing at the lake?” Officer Powell asks them, his hands on his hips in a power stance.

The kids sitting on the couch’s mouths all opened, none of them sure what to say, what their lie would be.

“Uh...its comp—” Dustin starts.

“We were… We were just going for a walk.” Max interrupts him.

“A walk?” Callahan asks, not believing it at all. “At 9:00 pm?”

“To the lake.” Dustin squeaks out, a voice crack drifting through the sentence. Callahan gives an incredulous look and Dustin avoids it. “We were gonna take a little swim.” Beside him, Max and Lucas look elsewhere, taking interest in random corners of the Wheelers’ living room. “Little night swim.”

“Dusty.” Mrs. Henderson peeps out, her voice desperate. “Someone was just murdered there.”

“Yeah, we… we didn’t realize that until we got there.” It was a dumb lie, but it was by far the only thing he could come up with that wasn’t totally over the top.

“That’s why we didn’t swim.” Lucas adds.

“And Nancy, was she with you at this night swim?” Karen asks, still confused about where her daughter was in all this.

“No.” Max denies.

“Yes.” Dustin says at the same time, choking on his words when he realized what happened, ignoring Max’s glare.

“We’re not sure.” Lucas offers.

“She was there. Then she left.” Karen huffs, having no more answers. “It’s all a little confusing.” Dustin whispers, hoping on some level, the adults were buying their bullshit.

“That’s when you guys came.” Lucas adds, tying what they were doing to when the police came.

“Right. Then they dared me to say what I said.” Max explains.

“Oh, yeah.” Lucas laughs.

“About the killer.”

Dustin and Lucas turn to one another, laughing too hard about this ‘dare’.

“You’re lucky you didn’t get shot.” Ted comments.

“Have you had any contact with Eddie?” Powell asks them, turning it back on track.

“That psycho…freak killer?” Dustin asks without any true bite in his voice. Your mom winced, and she knew Dustin was covering his tracks, but it was hard to hear. “God, no.”

“Nope. Absolutely not.” Max adds.

“No. We haven’t heard from him.” Lucas says at the same time. “Barely know him.”

“Who?” Dust asks, taking a step too far.

Erica was done at this point. “Oh, that’s a bunch of bull.” Her voice is loud and effective in getting their attention.

“Erica!” Lucas and Erica’s parents chastise her at the same time.

“I mean, you realize they’re lying. The whole couch is on fire.”

“Erica.” They warn her again.

“Just the facts.”

“Are you lying to these policemen, Dusty?” His mom asks, and your mom is astounded how little she knew.

“No!” Dustin objects, his voice screeching and high pitched.

“Lying to the cops is a crime, son.” Lucas’ dad says directly to him.

“I’m not lying.” Lucas insists.

“The fire is consuming us.” Dustin glares at Erica to cut it out.

“We also seem to be having a hard time getting a hold of Miss. L/N. Was she there with you?”

Your mom’s breath hitches as she watches them hesitate again.

“Sh-she left with Nancy.” Max stutters out, and Dustin and Lucas nod along side them. It wasn’t a lie, technically.

“Threaten them with a little jail time. Maybe that’ll loosen their lips.” Ted comments, mostly annoyed at how long it had taken just get a word that made sense out of the kids.

“Okay—” Dustin starts.

“You wanna send our kids to jail?” Lucas’ mom interrupts him.

“We need to take this seriously.” Ted maintains his stance.

“He didn’t mean it like that.” Karen says at the same time, cancelled out by what Ted says.

The crowd breaks out into arguing, everyone talking at once. No one seems to make any sense of what anyone has to say to one another.

“Shut up.” Powell attempts to call out, no one hearing him. He takes a deep breath in, preparing to project his voice. “Shut up!” It works, all voices fading down reluctantly. “We’re gonna try a more civilized approach. One at a time.” He points to Max. “You first.”

Max tenses up. “Wait, what? Why me?”

“Follow me.” He responds, ignoring her.

“I’m not even in the Hellfire club.” She argues further.

“Do I need to cuff you?” Callahan threatens, and it was completely unnecessary. Max sighs, realizing she didn’t have any other choice. “Chop-chop! Let’s go.”

Max passes Callahan on the way to the makeshift interrogation room, and Callahan gives Dustin and Lucas a signal that ‘they’re next’.

Lucas and Dustin sit silently on the couch, anxiety bubbled up in their stomachs, unable to do much more.

It wasn’t long that taking cover in the forest was deemed ineffective as demo-bats started to swarm over, seemingly seeking out the five of you. The desperation for shelter came to a head when Steve pointed out Skull Rock. As you hunched under the rock, it was hard to stop the fear from growing. Steve being yanked into the abyss was scary. Being surrounded by monsters was a terror you had forgotten existed.

For good reason.

Finally, the bats seem to thin out, Robin takes the first step out of the rock. “Oh…okay. That was close.”

“Yeah.” Steve agrees.

“Too close.” Eddie remarks.

Your arms are across your chest, as if would somehow make you more secure. Eddie leans down to you. “You… you ok?”

You nodded. “You?” He nods back, and there’s nothing else to say.

“Oh, sh… shit.” You hear, turning to face Steve falling against the one of the rocks.

“Steve?” Nancy calls, seeing him fading out.

“I’m fine. I’m fine.” Steve insists to her, despite the clear evidence he wasn’t.

“No, no, no. You’re not. You’re losing blood.” Nancy insists, as again, clear evidence he wasn’t okay. “Come on, sit. All right?”

Steve reluctantly sits down, grunting in pain as his ass lands harshly on the hard ground. He holds the wound at his pant line, realizing how much in pain he truly was. “All right.” Nancy said, assessing her options in treatment.

As Eddie, Robin, and you look on in concern as the reality seems to set in of how injured Steve was. Nancy asks fast, ripping the excess of her undershirt off to make a decent gauze.

Concerned for her best friend, Robin kneels next to Nancy.

You hang back with Eddie, watching the scene unfold.

“So, the good news is I’m pretty sure wooziness is not a symptom of rabies. But if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or you start feeling aggressive, like you wanna punch me, let me know.”

“Robin” He stops her.

“Yeah”

“I kinda wanna punch you.”

She laughs, a little relief in her voice. “Sense of humor’s still intact. That’s a good sign.”

Nancy finishes ripping off the excess of her shirt, Robin gives them the room as Nancy moves in to dress it.

Eddie turns his face away from it, watching medical ‘procedures’ tended to make him squirmy, turning you away from it as well. Robin catches up to the two of you, and as Nancy wraps him up awkward small talk ensues.

(Unfortunately, you miss one of the most erotic scenes of someone getting their wounds dressed in all of history of man kind but its ok you never found out.)

A pinch appears between Eddie’s eyebrows, and you barely have a minute to consider the expression before he’s excusing himself. “What are—” you start to ask him, but his crouched position on the broken-down tree answers for him.

He crawls on all fours up the log, timidly standing as he reaches the apex of the arch. “So, uh, this place is like Hawkins but with monsters and nasty shit?”

“Pretty much.” Nancy answers him, allowing Steve to use her as a crutch.

Eddie nods, he assumed he was right, but the confirmation made it all the bleaker. He starts to make his way back down the tree, his step staggered when Nancy interrupts him. “Wait, watch out for the vines. It’s all a hive mind.”

You didn’t even realize he was crawling onto vines as he made his way up. Was he not avoiding the vines? Fuck.

Eddie remains paused. “It’s all a what...?” he asks timidly.

“All the creepy crawlies around here. They’re, like, one or something. Step on a vine, you’re stepping on a bat, you’re stepping on Vecna.” Steve answers, and you couldn’t have put it any better than that.

“Shit.” Eddie hesitantly makes his way down the tree again, comically side stepping one foot in front of the other.

“But everything from our world is still here, right? Except people?” Robin asks.

“As far as I understand it, yeah.”

“So, theoretically, we could go to the police station and steal guns and grenades and whatever we need to blow up those bat things that are guarding the gate.”

“Does the Hawkins PD even have grenades?” You ask, and Steve shakes his head.

“Grenades, no. Probably a lot of guns, though.”

“Well, we don’t have to go all the way downtown for guns. I have guns in my bedroom.”

Eddie plops off the tree next to you. “You, Nancy Wheeler, have guns, plural, in your bedroom?” Eddie asks, his voice seeped in doubt.

Not that you blamed him. You nodded to him nonchalantly, confirming.

“Full of surprises, isn’t she?” Robin jokes.

“A Russian Makarov and a revolver.” Nancy answers.

“Yeah, you almost shot me with that one.” Steve comments.

Eddie rolls his eyes, taking his vest off.

“Well, you almost deserved it.”

As they linger too long, you nod towards them pointedly at Robin, and she shrugs.

Thwap.

“For your modesty, dude.” Eddie deadpans.

Steve clutches onto the vest Eddie threw at him, half glaring at Eddie for hitting him so hard with it.

Steve isn’t given long to think about it, the ground shaking beneath your feet as effective as an earthquake.

The ground stumbles you off your feet, your hip hitting the ground harshly as the other two are effectively grouped into two. You crawl to the nearest two, your arms buckling as you barely make the embrace of whoever’s nearest.

Turned out to be Robin, awkwardly lying against Eddie.

It’s over as quickly as it started.

None of you are given a chance to catch your breath, a looming sound coming off from the distance reminding you that you needed to get out as fast as you could.

“So, guns seem like a pretty good idea to me.” Eddie concludes.

“Yeah, me too.” Robin nods.

Robin crawls to her feet, working her way around you and you find your back against Eddie as you fall back into him. Eddie allows it, using a hand to rub his leg as it hit one of the vines when he fell.

“So, what are we waiting for?” Steve asks and starts back down the trees. As he passes you scramble to your feet to follow behind them.

One disadvantage of navigating the Upside Down that even though it is the very same town you were born and raised in, it still felt labyrinthian at times. Not as many landmarks are present, resulting on far too many rerouting.

You walk hand in hand with him, your brain attempting to trick itself into thinking that things might be normal again.

“I think we deserve an extra spring break.” You mutter under your breath, the memory of your mutual plans now a hazy memory. It was supposed to be the final break where you could just be 18, lying in your boyfriend’s bed for days at a time, ignoring responsibility.

“It’s not all bad.” He tells you.

You stop walking, the scrunch in your forehead signalling your doubt.

“Ok its pretty bad.” He admits, his thumb caressing your own. “Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I just went to the police.”

“And?”

He chuckles humourlessly. “If I was in custody when what’s-his-name—”

“Fred”

“Fred got…Vecna’d. I would’ve had an alibi for them both. But with D&D being a-a target like it has been, I don’t think I would’ve been let go regardless.”

You gulp, your heart beating in your throat. “You think they would’ve found a way to pin it on you?”

“Yeah. I do. I just have this feeling.” His other hand finds its way to his stomach, his fingers fanned out. “I joke about it, but 60 Minutes had a documentary about it, and since then it’s just gotten worse.” He stumbles over a vine, his lanky limbs too long for himself. “I used to get a glare on the occasion but now my mere presence at the arcade is just a spectacle.”

“You think you would’ve been the scapegoat.”

He nods, confirming with enough conviction to worry you.

“I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“Wait, what?” He asks you, his eyebrows raised.

“If they had the nerve to attempt to blame you when I knew you were innocent, I would’ve fought it tooth and nail until they let you go.”

“And if that didn’t work?” He asks, a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Prison break.”

He stops, framing your face into a kiss in which his tongue evades your mouth, and you forget where the hell are for half a second.

“Lovebirds!” Robin calls to you.

You separate, as if both electrocuted by her interruption.

“Not the place!”

Eddie steps back into place with you, your hands brushing delicately, sending shivers down your spine.

Not the place.

“It just means a lot to me that you answered that so damn fast.”

Your cheeks heat up, and he staggers across a mess of vines. You take the off chance to catch up to the murmuring of Nancy and Robin, ignoring the smug looks they’re both giving you.

“Couldn’t we have tried a road, or something just slightly less creepy?” Robin asks, peering up at the silhouettes of the creepy trees.

“I think we’re getting close. We’re almost out of here. Don’t worry.” Nancy comforts her, and you find yourself comforted by it as well.

Having ran ahead, Steve takes the opening he waited for. “Eddie.” Eddie turns to him expectantly. “Eddie. Hey, man. Uh… Listen, I just, uh… I just want to say thanks. For saving my ass back there.”

Eddie doesn’t even hesitate. “Shit. You saved your own ass, man. I mean, that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there.”

“Ozzy?” Steve asks, unfamiliar with the world of heavy metal.

“When you took a bite out of that bat.” Steve doesn’t answer. “Ozzy Osborne? Black Sabbath?”

Crickets.

“He bit a bat’s head off onstage.”

“I don’t—”

“It’s very metal, what you did. That’s all I’m saying.”

“Thanks.”

“Henderson told me you were a badass. Insisted on the matter in fact.”

So did you, and there was only one night where he genuinely believed you. Granted he was too drunk to remember.

“Henderson said that?” Steve asks, flattered.

“Oh yeah. Shit. Kid worships you, dude. Like, you have no idea. It’s kinda annoying, to be honest. I don’t even know why I care what that little shrimp thinks, but, uh, guess I got a little jealous, Steve.”

For the first time Eddie makes eye contact with Steve as he considered what the metalhead was telling him. Dustin Henderson was worshipping him behind closed doors. Huh.

“I guess I couldn’t accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually” he inhales, swallowing his pride, “a good dude. Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche?” Eddie chuckles. “No way, man. No way. That, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe and my own personal Munson doctrine.”

There’s a pause, Eddie comes slightly too close to Steve’s face, breathing in his face. “Still super jealous as hell, by the way.” A laugh erupts out of Steve. “Which is why I would have never jumped in that lake to save your ass. Not under any, uh… normal circumstances.”

A branch snaps.

Eerie howling can be heard in the distance.

The two of them stop in their tracks, staring off on edge of their surroundings.

“Nope. Outside of D&D, I am no hero. I see danger and I just turn heel and run. Or at least that’s what I’ve learned about myself this week.”

“Give yourself a break, man.” Steve interrupts, patting his chest with the back of his hand.

“See? The only reason I came here was ‘cause those ladies came in straight after you.” Eddie tells him, pointing at your back side as you, Nancy, and Robin continue trudging your way through the freaky forest. “Now, I was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. My girlfriend jumping in as if there were no other options just rattled me.” Eddie pauses, pointing specifically to Nance. “But Wheeler right there she didn’t waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in. Now, I don’t know what happened between you two, but if I were you, I would get her back. ‘Cause that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen.”

Steve considers what Eddie had to say, pausing. Steve’s eyes assess Eddie, glancing at Eddie’s two-day old stubble. He ignores the pull to Eddie’s lips, lingering far too long at them.

Wasn’t…Eddie…just steering him to Nancy?

He switches his glance back to her.

The ground doesn’t give Steve any chances to lull on any of what just happened, a rumble erupting. The ground becomes shaky again, feeling yourself unable to walk in a straight line.

“Here we go again.” Eddie bites out, his teeth gritted.

“Second on my list of favourite things, earthquakes.” Robin yells out, and you’re left wondering how she’s able to talk. “Seriously, I’m unsteady enough as it is.”

Nancy leans up against a tree, staring dead ahead, determined. She doesn’t hesitate.

She runs.

“Nancy, wha--!”

“Where are you going?” Robin calls after her. “Nancy!”

“Robin, come on!” You tell her, tugging her hand.

Before you knew it, you had all caught up to where she was standing, staring ominously at her house standing tall in a field of debris.

The five of you stare off at it, the sound of five of you catching your breath overwhelmingly loud, yet your ears remind you of the echo of thunder. Oh, God why so much sound?

“Come on.” Nancy urges, charging forward into the skeleton of her own home. You follow her, and the closer to the house you got, the louder the thunder seemed to get.

As you trekked forward, Dustin sat in the toilet of the Wheeler’s house attempting to use the left behind walkie to get a hold of the five of you. “Steve, do you copy? Nancy, Robin? This is Dustin. Where are you? We’ve been collared by the law, I repeat, we’ve been collared by the law. Do you copy?” At the radio silence, Dustin realizes how fucking hopeless it was. “Shit!”

He flushes the toilet, bursting out of the bathroom, past the parents crowded around Powell requesting if they needed lawyers. Karen is stood beside your mom, comforting her as she has started to worry about you. If Karen knew your mom hadn’t seen you in a few days she would’ve sent you home.

He nearly bumps into Holly holding onto her Lite Brite, walking it away from the commotion in the living room. He shelves the walkie, looking to Lucas’ expectant face.

“Anything?” He asks him.

“Nothing.”

They pause, a thought occurring to them at the same moment.

“You don’t think they went through…”

“Through Watergate?” Dustin asks, incredulous. “Without us? Without a plan? Without weapons?” He scoffs. “They wouldn’t be that stupid.”

“Yeah.”

“They must just be laying low ‘cause the law got us.”

“’The law?’” Erica repeats, walking into the kitchen with a juice box in hand. “What is this, Gunsmoke? The Stupid and the Ugly? Should I round up the posse? Saddle the horses?”

Lucas glares at her, not in the mood for what shenanigans Erica usually has to offer. “Erica. Please, just go away.”

“Here’s the deal. Either you tell me what’s happening, or I tell Dustin what I found under your bed.”

Lucas perks up, slightly terrified. Dustin turns to him, intrigued.

“Please, no.”

“Spill your guts, cowpuncher.”

“What’d she find?” Dustin asks, leaning onto his elbow.

“Nothing.” He claims, switching his glance between the two of them.

“Is it gross?” Dustin asks her. Erica nods. “Scale of one to ten.”

“A hundred.” Erica answers, not skipping a beat.

“A hundred?” Dustin asks, turning back to face Lucas.

Lucas gives up. “The serial killer is a dark wizard from the Upside Down. And we’ve been looking for him, but he’s in the Upside Down, which we can’t reach. At least we thought we couldn’t, until we found a gate at Lover’s Lake. That was reason we were there, but those stupid cops grabbed us.” He’s starting to get loud, as Dustin mentions for him to lower his voice. “And if you tell anyone about this, that’s including Mom, and Dad, and Tina…”

Erica continues slurping her juice, unbothered.

Lucas shakes his head, getting Erica to understand the seriousness of it. “…Especially Tina, I…will smother you…in your sleep. Do you understand?”

“Hmm…” Erica leans on one hand, pretending to think about it.

“Erica?” He leans forward on his elbows to her. “Do. You. Copy?”

Erica pushes off her elbows. “The smothering in my sleep part, but not much else. Why would they open a gate at Lover’s Lake?” She asks mostly to Dustin.

“What?” Lucas asks.

“The commies.”

“The commies didn’t do it—”

“Then who did?”

“Nobody.”

“So, it just opened up for fun?”

“Erica, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“No, she doesn’t, yet she raises an essential question.” Dustin interjects, noting Erica’s surprisingly good point. “How did Watergate open up? Only two gates have opened, so as far as we know. One by El, one by the commies. But it’s not the commies or El this time, so it…” He drifts off, something clicking. “Holy shit. Wait, wait, wait, wait.”

“’Wait, wait, wait,’ what?” Lucas asks him, wondering what the hell was going on in his brain.

“There’s one thing we’ve never understood.” Dustin starts pacing around the kitchen. “Which is why Vecna’s killing people. What’s his motive? Killing teens? It always just seemed too random. Too prosaic. On top of that, how does the Mind Flayer figure into all this? Maybe this is it. This is the answer.”

“What is the answer?” Lucas asks, completely missing the point.

“Are you sure you just want water?” Karen asks one of the police officers, making her way to the fridge. “We have Coke, Sprite, Dr. Pepper.”

They signal one another they need to get out of the kitchen to avoid eavesdropping, following Dustin into the hall by the dinging room. “Okay, just hear me out. How did El open the Mothergate?”

“She contacted the Demogorgon.”

“With psychic contact. Just like…”

“Vecna when he casts his spells.”

“Exactly.”

“So, what if, with each kill, he’s not simply killing them, he’s making a powerful psychic connection with his victims? A connection powerful enough to rip a hole in the fabric of time and space.”

“He’s opening up more gates.”

“Bingo.”

A few steps come from the living room. “Copy. We’re still at the Wheeler House.”

Damn cops. They turn the corner to where the basement goes down.

“Why would he be opening gates?” Dustin asks, voicing his thoughts out loud.

“To take over the world.” Lucas answers.

“Who do we know that wants to take over the world?” Dustin leads him.

“The Mind Flayer.”

“So if the Demogorgon was just his foot soldier, Vecna’s his five-star general. A five-star general with the power to open gates.”

“Holy shit.” Lucas curses, his mind blown.

“Holy shit!” Dustin answers in agreement.

“Holy shit.” Erica speaks up for the first time in a minute. “That was incomprehensible. You lost me at ‘Mothergate’. Please be kind. Rewind.”

“Ok, so remember the gate?” Dustin starts to explain to her, patient as his newfound breakthrough would allow him to be.

“Oh, no. I blocked that out.” Erica quips.

As Dustin answers, you’re catching your breath as you finally reach the door to the Wheelers.

The lights flare up as you pass by, a detail missed by Dustin, Lucas, and Erica.

Nancy bursts through the door, looking around a version of her own home she barely recognizes. You look around the house, the vines decorating the walls. “Might be time to get a maid, Wheeler.” Robin deadpans.

Nancy dampens whatever emotional reaction she was feeling, gritting her teeth. “Come on. I don’t want to stay here longer than we have to.” She starts her way up the stairs, Robin, you, and Eddie following closely behind.

Nancy goes straight to her closet, bursting through for the shoebox in the top left-hand side.

As she brings the box to open it up, you glance around, and something felt off to you about the room.

She opens the box to find tissue paper and a pair of heels.

“Those aren’t guns.” Eddie comments.

“These heels are pointy, but I was hoping for something along the lines of a deadly projectile.” Robin adds, and Nancy ignores them, trying to figure out where the hell her guns were.

“I don’t understand.”

“Maybe you left them somewhere else.” Eddie offers a solution, granted a weak one.

“There’s a six-year-old in the house. I know where I keep my guns.” She answers, defensive. “Also, I threw these away years ago.”

Nancy ends up doing a double take to some homework she doesn’t remember placing on her dresser.

“Uh Nancy?” You ask her, glancing her around the room. “Didn’t you get this wallpaper replaced a while ago?”

“Y-yeah, I did, actually.” She says, scanning the notes.

“I get that grades are important, but perhaps studying can wait till we get out?”

“She’s right.” Nancy says softly. She looks up to her wall. “I got this wallpaper replaced years ago.” She holds her flashcards up. “These notes are from sophomore chemistry. As Nancy gets more of a look around her room, she finds herself in a personal time warp. “This mirror was sold in a yard sale years ago. And you.” She rushes forward to where a stuffed bunny sits perched. “you’re not supposed to be here. No, I gave you to Cousin Joanna two years ago.”

Nancy pauses, and Eddie glances to you, nodding at Nancy in concern. You gesture toward her. When Nancy acted off or manic it usually ended in results.

She sits there, staring blankly at her diary. “What is it?” Eddie asks, and you can hear the vague annoyance in his voice.

“Nancy? You’re freaking me out.” Robin asks her.

“I think the reason that my guns aren’t here is because they don’t exist yet.”

“They don’t… exist?”

“Nancy, what’s going on—” you ask, walking up behind her. “Uh Nancy, why are you reading that specific date, also didn’t you al--”

“I did.” She interrupts you, walking back to Robin and Eddie. “This diary should be filled with entries. It’s not. The last entry is November 6—”

“1983.” You finish with her. “The day Will went missing.”

“The day the gate opened. We’re in the past.”

The four of you glance at one another, the looming idea odd.

“Dustin! Dustin!” Steve’s voice erupts from the downstairs.

Robin jumps into action, running down to see what the commotion was about as Steve repeats it, turning his flashlight around.

“Dust- Hello! Hello!” He calls, turning in circles with his voice a register higher than normal.

As you all watch in concern, Robin leans in. “Maybe he really does have rabies.”

“Steve, what are you doing?” Nancy asks him, a bit of a bite in her voice.

“Hello!” Steve calls out one last time, flashing the light right into your eyes. You hold a hand to shield them, a collective choice.

“He’s here. Henderson.” Steve claims, out of breath with a smile plastered on his face. “That little shit, he’s here. He’s like… He’s in the walls or something. Just listen. Dustin.” Steve starts screaming again, despite the bewildered looks he’s receiving from four people. “Dustin! Dustin!”

Just when Steve seems to be going legitimately crazy, Dustin’s voice comes from seemingly nowhere, loud and clear. “That brings us to the question you first raised.”

Shit.

“Dustin!” The four of you join him, looking around the area you could hear him most, the dining room.

Eddie flips up one of the curtains, “Dustin?”

“Good spot, there, Ed.” You comment.

“Shut up.”

“Dustin?”

“All right, either this kid can’t hear us or he’s being a total douchebag.” Steve concludes, finally giving up after searching for an unfortunately long time.

“Will found a way.” Nancy mutters.

“What?”

“Will. He found a way to speak to Joyce through the lights.” Nancy scurries to the lamp on an accent table by the stairs.

“Lights?”

“Yeah.” Nancy attempts to turn on one of the lights manually, but to no avail.

“The switch, try the switch.” Steve says, pointing to it.

“Okay.” Nancy moves it do it, still unsuccessful. “It’s not working.”

“Hey. Guys? You seeing this?” Steve asks, his flashlight aimed at the large overhead light, a particular ambiance eroding from it.

As you peer around the corner next to Robin and Eddie, you catch a glimpse of Nancy with her hand raised by the lights, the mere proximity causing it to flare.

“Whoa.” Eddie murmurs a smile reaching his lips as you gather around the light.

As you reach the light Steve’s hand is raised in the light, rotating, his fingers experimenting with the feel. You follow as Robin and Eddie reach out, hesitant yourself into the feeling it would provide. As you reached out standing between Nancy and Ed, your fingertip reaches the light and it’s nothing like you expected.

You feel a sense of energy in your hand, it’s almost as if you sat on it for too long, but it tickles rather than hurt. The heat wasn’t too much to bear, just like touching a light bulb that was on.

It was cool, you played with it, watching as your hand moved the light particles around.

“It…tickles.” Steve comments.

A laugh is stifled in your throat, in agreement.

“It kinda feels good.” Robin says, Eddie chuckling at it.

Somehow, tickles and good both felt like understatements.

“Does anyone know Morse code?” Nancy asks.

“No.” You all answer her.

“Wait, does SOS count?” Eddie asks, his voice giving no hint of humour. You, Robin, and Nancy all deadpan to him. “Is that good?” He asks, unsure what the looks he was receiving were about.

“What?” He asks you, giving you a smile that you don’t think you’ve seen on his face since before this shitshow.

“You’re lucky you’re so pretty.” You smile up at him, grinning when he looks at you confused. “Yes, Ed. SOS works.”

“Shit, say that, then.”

He’s lucky he’s so pretty.

Eddie puts his fingers in, using his four fingers rapidly, against the light in three motions. S. O. S.

On the otherside Dustin continues to pace the dining room, asking some big questions, Erica barely paying any attention since the lights started noticeably flaring. “You said you followed Vecna through lights, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I think he’s here.” Erica is on edge, of course, thinking she’s only a dimension away from being in the same room as a mass murderer.

Dustin and Lucas make their way next to Erica, watching the lights flicker.

Finally, the voices on the other side fade out, signalling they were paying attention. “It’s working.” Robin comments, a hint of rare conviction in her voice.

Dustin creeps up to the light, finally witnessing the pattern. Dot dot dot. “S.” Dash dash dah. “O.” Dot dot dot. “S. Hey, uh, remember when I said they wouldn’t be stupid enough to through Watergate?”

“Yeah?” Lucas asks, apprehensive about what he was about to say.

“I overestimated them.”

Holly Wheeler lies down on her dining room floor, ignoring the sounds of the parents in the other room discussing what they must think is quietly, but she could hear every word.

She didn’t quite understand what it all meant, she just knew her sister and her brother’s friends were in deep shit. As suggested by her mom, she grabbed her Lite Brite to keep her company, but she wasn’t even allowed to go up to her room. She had to stay downstairs. That was dumb but her dad didn’t give her much of an option to argue against it either way.

In the middle of a bunny, footsteps passed her which she didn’t pay any attention to until her Lite Brite lost power. “Hey!” She protested.

Behind her Dustin runs to collect the brite lite, rushing out a sorry to Holly’s confused little face. Lucas repeats it, collecting the multicolored beads sitting in the Tupperware containers, dashing right behind Lucas.

Before Holly has any chance to even process what just happened Erica quickly kneels before her, giving her a pack of Skittles, saying, “For your understanding.” Well, a bribe is a bribe.

What, they couldn’t find something bigger?

Dustin bursts through the door of Nancy’s room, maneuvering the many wires cascading over such a small toy.

All gathered around Nancy’s bed seemingly three years ago in an alternate dimension you’re waiting around the Lite Brite as Dustin, Erica and Lucas all scramble to place the tiny little beads onto the board, camouflaging the bunny Holly had been working so hard on. It was a slow and painful process to wait for, Eddie gritting his teeth impatiently while Steve hurried them. “Come on, come on.”

As the final colored bead was placed, Dustin urging “Okay that’s it. Go, go, go.”

Lucas confirms, snatching the socket and lurching on the floor to where the wall socket lived, lighting up the brite lite.

“Okay you guys—”

“..seeing this?”

The space on the bed suddenly lights up with the same orange particles that had surrounded the overhead lights earlier. Nancy reaches in, creating the familiar shimmer affect as before. As she does a cackle of laughter echoing from Dustin as confirmation that it worked.

As Nancy’s hand floats around, you find yourself hypnotized by the dazzling shimmers around her fingers, your eyes glazing over. You catch a glimpse of Eddie and Steve sharing a look of holy shit behind Nance, you stick your tongue out at Steve when Eddie leans back forward.

Dustin’s voice echo’s, “We’re not moving it, but we’re gonna unplug it. Stand by.” The orange sparkles disappear as soon as the light is unplugged. “Okay, try it now.”

The five of you wait on edge as Nancy hesitates to reach out again. Eddie’s grip on your shoulder tightened, his other hand landing on his head, his fingers fidgeting.

If this didn’t work, you weren’t sure what other options you had.

Nancy reaches in, spelling out Hi as a test run. It feels eerily silent, waiting for the confirmation.

“That worked!”

The celebration is unanimous, the relief overwhelming to a tee.

Eddie is particularly satisfied, yelling out ‘yeses’ in his joy in between gritted teeth. “Hi!” He shouts in excitement to, no one in particular.

Robin lets out a full giggle.

Your nails end up digging into the heel of your hand, the hint of pain signalling just how tense you were in your own excitement.

Nancy thinks fast, leaning back into writing once again. STU…CK

“Oh ok, they’re stuck.”

“Yes.”

“We are.”

You nod rapidly.

“They’re stuck in the Upside Down.”

“Uh, you can’t get back through Watergate?”

“What the hell’s Watergate?” Steve asks.

“Oh, cause it’s in water, and it’s a gate.” Robin concludes.

“Oh, right.”

“That’s cute.” Eddie comments.

“Precious even.” You add.

“Um, no. It’s…�� Nancy leans in again. GUAR…DED

It was humouring, to say the least to hear Dustin sound out the first syllable of it without realizing the rest.

“Okay. Uh, Watergate’s guarded.”

“Perfect. Yes. Yes. Yes.” Steve chants.

You hop on your two knees, a mini dance party in-between Eddie and Robin, celebrating with you.

“We think we have a theory that can help with that.” Dustin starts.

“Yes.”

“Genius child.” Robin whispers, and you had to admit, without his genius you wouldn’t be nearly as lucky as you have been.

“We think Watergate isn’t the only gate. That there’s a gate at every murder site.”

Confusion, all around. Wind through your ears. “Does anybody understand what he’s talking about?” Nancy asks, making sure you were all on the same page.

“No”

“No idea.”

“You heard words?” You ask, clueless.

Nancy leans in, drawing a large question mark.

“Okay. Seriously? How many times do I have to be right on the money before you guys just trust me?” Dustin’s voice barks back.

You blink, Dustin temporarily stunning you.

“Jesus Christ, this kid’s got to get his ego in check.” Steve remarks, his face scrunched up.

“It’s his tone. Right?” Eddie perks up, peering around Nancy to agree with him.

“I know.”

“I keep telling him.” You mutter. Eddie wraps his arm around you, his thumb caressing your shoulder.

“Okay. So…So how far is your trailer?” Nancy asks to Eddie.

“Seven miles.” Eddie answers.

“You just know that?” You whisper, Eddie shrugs casually.

“Nancy?” Robin asks, peering around you and Eddie. “Uh, I know your house here is like, weirdly, creepily, frozen in time and shit, but haven’t you always had bikes?”

Eddie turns back for her reply, a question he genuinely didn’t know the answer to.

You did, and so did Steve. “Robin, you genius.”

Nancy takes a few tries to communicate the idea formed in her head, it takes the words ED…DIE, TRA…ILER, Dustin immediately understands from the sound of it.

“H-how are we going to get there?”

Nancy was already writing BIK…ES by the end of his sentence. “Oh… that’s-that’s not bad.”

The sound of thumps down the stairs invades the deafening silence of the Wheeler’s house, Steve holding the door as he ushers you all outside.

The garage is opened abruptly, Steve resting one hand on the elevated garage door as his flashlight cascades over the bikes. “Hey, we uh, we only got 4 bikes.” He observes, looking over his shoulder.

“Well then, two are going to have to partner up. We don’t have time for this.” Nancy huffs, already marching towards one.

“Come on, sweetheart.” Eddie says, grabbing your hand to one of them.

“Use Mike’s, El used to ride on the pegs.” Nancy passes you, already walking a bike to the beginning of her driveway.

He does, you half jog to the end as Robin and Steve get themselves situated.

On the other side, Max is let go from the makeshift interrogation room, immediately ushered away by Dustin as Powell mistakenly distracts the parents.

“Don’t worry, we’ll find those girls.” Powell explains, emphasizing with the worried bunch.

“One of these little brats is gonna squeal. I just know it.” Callahan claims, assuring the parents with much less sympathy. “Where are they?”

“Upstairs.” The officer ‘observing’ them said. “Moping.”

Callahan sighs and turns to run up the stairs. “Oh, little pigs.” He calls out mockingly when he reaches the top. “Oh, little pigs.” He taps the door rapidly to tease them. “Let Officer Callahan in.” When he pushes his way through the door in attempt to scare them, the sight of an empty room with an open window greets him.

By the time Callahan peers through, he sees the kids on their bikes already starting to ride. “Hey! Excuse me! No, get back here!”

“I guess it’s just a minor misdemeanor.” Erica mutters, stabbing one of the wheels to the cop car.

Callahan continues to call out, it grabs the attention of parents as they start to understand what was happening. They run out to the front lawn but most of them are panting through each stride.

You sit yourself onto the back of the bike, ignoring your boyfriend’s smirk over his shoulder as he starts riding.

The wind hits your face as Eddie gets his momentum, your hand clutching onto his shoulder.

The parents stare after their kids making their getaway, worry stricken in their faces as they all wonder what they were up to at the lake, and why they had to get away.

Your mom had a feeling you had something to do with it, and any little hint of doubt you did had disappeared.

Dustin, Lucas, Erica, and Max rode on the street to get to the trailer park as fast as they could, matching in tandem with you, Eddie, Robin, Steve, and Robin.

Headlights on, wind in your ears, bats in the distance.

Nothing was gonna stop you now.

This was probably the most daunting bike ride of your entire life.

The idea of riding with Eddie lost its novelty at the fourth mile, your back sore from hunching over his back. At one point his hair, flowing wildly in the wind, made its way into your mouth. Normally, it wouldn’t be all that terrible, but it took an unreasonably long time to able spit it back out.

The red lightning didn’t seem as bad, and you almost catch yourself getting used to the distant screeches of the demo-bats.

That was until the haunting image of the Creel House, the place you knew Vecna attacked and resided, came into your peripherals.

Right. Vecna was a real… and was actively killing people.

No. Correction you thought. It was the most daunting bike ride of your entire life.

Nancy and Steve sped up and you squeezed Eddie’s shoulder to indicate to do the same.

Finally, Eddie turned the corner into the trailer park, and you felt a sigh of relief as Eddie’s trailer came into sight. “Right here.” Eddie said, gesturing to his little lot on the side.

Eddie stopped, letting you get off before unceremoniously letting his bike drop.

“That’s gotta be a Guinness World Record. Most miles traveled interdimentionally.” Robin exclaims.

You wonder for a moment how you would get someone to record it.

“Just inhaled a bunch of that crap.” Steve coughs, clearing this throat. “It’s stuck in my throat.”

Eddie led the way up the stairs into his trailer, the place unrecognizable. His eyes shoot straight up onto the ceiling, knowing exactly where to look. “Goddamn.” He breathes out. Not that he needed to inform you, the red glowing doing the work for him. It was downright terrifying. “This is where Chrissy died.” Eddie gulps out. “Like, right where she died.”

That is also downright terrifying.

“I think there’s something in there.” Robin observes, and by the shadowy figure exuding squirmy noises she might be right.

You peered in, watching an object slowly move out from the snack sized gate. “What the hell is that?” Steve asks, the exact appropriate amount of bafflement in his voice.

A beat in silence passes before something seems to ‘pop’, startling the five of you to back the fuck off from it.

The object repeatedly smacks its way, a few drips of whatever was on the ceiling falling onto the floor. You glance around you, wondering what the hell anyone was supposed to do.

Steve volunteers, creeping up slowly, to peer up to it. You follow his example, the portal slowly coming into view. “No way.” Steve breathes out, the sight breathtaking.

It comes into view, and it’s somehow the weirdest thing you have ever experienced.

Dustin’s laughter is loud and clear as you see Lucas, Max, him, and Erica all looking up, appearing to be upside down in the way bats are in a cave.

“Hi there.” Dustin waves, glee radiating from him.

“Hi” You all wave back, smiles of relief on your faces as the escape is finally right in front of you.

“Holy shit this is trippy.” Robin comments.

“Holy fuck.” Eddie whispers, his hands resting on his knees. You bump into him endearingly, causing him to hike up and wrap his arms around you tightly. “We’re finally getting the fuck out of here.”

You look back up, watching Dustin’s overzealous jumps. “Bada-bada-boom!”

It took about seven minutes of struggle watching the four of them struggle around and ask Eddie where to find random things in his trailer until the mattress was plopped onto the floor. “Those stains are, uh…” he pauses, looking at his audience and second guessing himself at Robin’s side-eye. “I dunno what those stains are.”

“Mmm.” Robin grunts back to him, thrown off.

You sit next to him, wondering if you had noticed any of the stains before. He leans over to you, “Pretty sure those are from you.” He whispers to you under his breath.

Your face heats up, oh yeah, that was a good one.

“I heard that.” Robin clears her throat, her face now scrunched up half in between disgusted and amused. Well, she knew your stories weren’t exaggerated at least.

Dustin comes into view clutching the tied-up sheets. “Not quite sure how these physics work.” He admitted, winding the makeshift rope to toss it, “but uh, here goes nothing.” The rope is launched out of his hand and lands roughly on the floor in front of you. You glance back up to Dustin, clutching the rope anxiously. “There we go. And if my theory is correct…” He lets go of the rope, and somehow, miraculously, it stays in place.

Seemingly it just, floats in suspension, nothing to yank onto, but working either way.

“Huh. Abracadabra.”

“Holy shit.” Lucas swears.

“All right, pull on it! See if it holds!” Dustin calls.

Robin steps up to it, placing each hand high on the rope and attempts to pull as hard as she can. When it stays in place the tension in the room seems to dissipate all at once. You have a way home.

“This is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen in my life. And I’ve seen some crazy shit.” Erica comments, sounding joyful, almost.

“Guess I’m the guinea pig.” Robin jokes, her hands already in place on the rope. She starts climbing, grunting slowly as she makes her way up.

Nancy holds her hand out for a safety net while they clear the landing pad on the other side. Robin reaches the hole in the ceiling, and once her head crosses the threshold she is yanked by gravity onto the other side, letting out a yelp of surprise.

She sits up the relief on her face clear as daylight. “Oh, thank God. That was fun.” she says, grabbing the closest hand offered to sit up from Eddie’s mattress.

You look back down to face your boyfriend already looking at you. “What?” You ask, startled.

He puts his hand lightly on the small of your back. “Go.” He says, giving you no options.

“But—”

His brows raise, daring you to protest him.

“Ok, then.” This might’ve been the only moment your gym teacher could’ve told you when you would need to use a rope climbing skill in real life to your disgruntled question. You reach forward and pull up to start climbing. It’s a bit more of a struggle than Robin’s but you only needed to get your head through to the other side. As you did, you felt the pull of gravity force you onto the mattress, sucking the air out of your lungs. “Shit.”

You recollect your breath, staring back up at him, a stupid glint in his eye. You don’t have too long of a moment, ripped out of it by Dustin exasperatingly pulling you off the mattress.

“Not your first time there eh.” Robin mutters.

You hit her shoulder, gathering around the mat waiting for the next climber.

You didn’t have to wait long, Eddie’s climb took half the time yours did. You and Robin both eased yourselves into the gravity, while Eddie lurched himself, basically cannonballing himself back into the right dimension.

No one saw it coming, all startled by his rough landing. He sits up instantly, “That, was fun.” He agrees with Robin. “Shit.” He grabs the hand extended to him and is helped up, but he does most of the work.

“That was fun to you?” You ask him, the only fun thing about it is being out from the dust particles.

“Woah. Ok something’s happening. Steve?” Dustin yells out

“Nancy!” You peer into the hole, seeing Steve clutch onto Nancy’s shoulders, calling her name repeatedly. “Stay with me. Nancy! Hey!” He grabs the attention of all of you, wondering what was wrong. “Nancy!”

Max gulps. “Vecna.”

Oh for fucks sake.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! If you want to be added onto the tag list please let me know. Any feedback or reblogs are appreciated.

taglist: @emturtles @yourthebrokengirl @steeldaisies @skrzydlak @thirddeadlysin @sammararaven @bebe07011

#stranger things #stranger things fanfiction #eddie munson #eddie munson fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson smut #eddie munson fluff #i miss him #eddie munson x y/n

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saiilorstars · 5 years ago

Text

It Had To Be You

Ch.18: Fallout // Story Masterlist

Fandom: The Flash

Pairings: Barry Allen x Original Female Character

Pronunciation of OC’s name: Bell-en. The last syllable has an emphasis so it’s not pronounced like ‘Helen’ would be.

~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~ 0 ~

Chapter Summary: Belén and Barry finally get to go on their first date together and from there on, they start to realize how much they actually need each other. It especially rings true when Barry makes a discovery about the night his mother died.

The night was young and Central City was busy as ever. Everyone was busy. In a local liquor store there was a young man aiming a gun at a poor girl behind a cash register.

"Give me the money and maybe you get to live!" the man ordered the sobbing girl who scrambled to get the money out of the register.

There was a strong force of wind that knocked open the door of the liquor store...and shattered one side of the glass display.

"Sorry about that!" A woman in a white and black one-suit quickly exclaimed. Her black heeled boots clinked against the floor as she walked up, her white cape doing a small 'whoosh' noise at the same time. "Please, ignore the cape - it wasn't my idea."

"Hey I thought it was a great idea!" Cisco was quick to defend himself over the comms. "The Incredibles didn't make sense on that matter, honestly."

Behind Nina Clarke's black mask, she rolled her eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" the thief in the store demanded.

"The Tempest," Nina still couldn't get over the name Cisco branded her with, but it kind of had a killer vibe to it. She thrust a hand forwards and with her great wind knocked the thief - along with the cashier girl - down.

"You weren't supposed to knock the girl down, Nina," came Cisco's light scold.

"Sorry!" Nina flew over the counter and picked up the girl. "But you're alright," she assured the blonde.

"Get the thief, Nina!" Cisco exclaimed.

"Oh, got it!" Nina smiled at the girl and rushed to collect the thief on the floor.

After dropping the thief at the CCPD, Nina continued to be on the look out for more attention-needng situations. Peace lasted for about five minutes before Cisco warned her there was an ongoing speed chase across from her location. With a great big sigh, she soared up into the sky and made to follow. With her extraordinary wind power, she was able to force the criminals' car to stop on a swerve. She was just handing over the criminals to the policemen when Cisco announced there was a suicidal situation not too far from her point.

"You're killing me!" Nina complained but once again stormed up into the sky. "I thought I was supposed to practice in the training area. I just think you're keeping me out there so you have something to do back at STAR. Labs."

Cisco took that with mild offense as he bit off a red liquorish. "Not true," he said calmly. He was alone in the lab but couldn't be more comfortable. Caitlin was having her own dinner with her new, not-dead fiance and probably catching up. Professor Stein had been taken home yesterday and so far, everything was well. No one questioned the explosion that happened two days ago on account of the army declaring it a 'nuclear test'. Although that only meant they would soon be coming to them to really investigate.

Nina rolled her eyes and without giving the jumper on a building's roof a warning she swooped down and grabbed him by the arms. She lowered him down until they were close to Eddie who had been in charge of the scene. "Please don't let him back up there," she told him.

"Who are you?" Eddie took possition of the jumper, eyeing Nina nonetheless.

"The Tempest. I'm just here to help," Nina smiled.

"Where's the Flash?"

"...busy."

Confused, Eddie then asked, "What about the Azalea?"

"Busy too."

"With what?"

Nina swayed her head. "With dates…" With that, she soared into the sky again.

~ 0 ~

"Okay-" Belén rushed into her room where Maritza and Axel were plopped on her bed, "-how's this one?" She stopped in front of her long mirror and patted down her dark scarlet, mid-length dress. She turned back and waited for her sister's opinion.

"It's too...plain…" Maritza concluded after a long sway of head.

Belén sighed, letting her hands drop. "Really?"

"Yes, I think you can make a better impression," Maritza smirked.

Blushing, Belén went back to her closet and started looking yet again for a new outfit.

~ 0 ~

Barry sped up and down the stairs with new outfits for Joe to see. Wearing a long white, button up shirt with a gray vest and dark jeans, he awaited for Joe's opinion. Joe read off a newspaper and gave a thumb's up after one glance, but he was clearly over the situation. Not even Iris put so much thought into clothes like this. Changing his mind again, Barry shook his head and went back to his room. By the time he came back for one more opinion Joe had switched to work.

Without even looking up, he dead seriously warned, "If you change one more time, I'm gonna shoot you."

With a big breath released, Barry sped back up the stairs to hopefully find the right clothes that wouldn't require a second opinion. When he finally returned - at a normal pace - downstairs, Iris was just coming in from a day at work. Soon as she saw him, her lips stretched out into one of her signature smirks.

"There he is..." she began.

"Please don't," he decided to beg even though it was futile.

"Now you treat her nice-" she came up to him and pretended to adjust his blazer, "-and try to keep your dorky jokes at a minimum, you're not that funny."

"Iris-" he rolled his eyes.

"And make sure, for the love of God, not to talk so much about science," she gripped his blazer's lapels, face scrunched, "It's not interesting."

With a smirk, Barry pried her fingers off him and responded with, "I'll have you know she likes when I talk about science."

Iris laughed as he went around her to the door.

~ 0 ~

Belén returned to her bedroom in a new outfit, already weary of so many she had gone through. However, the moment she walked in Maritza gasped and loudly.

"That one! Oh, that's pretty!"

Belén sprinted up to her mirror and studied herself. She patted down the shiny, silver skirt and tilted her head. "You think so?"

"Definitely," Maritza gave a thumbs up. "If you want a guy's opinion let's ask Axel." At the sound of his name, Axel looked up from the tablet Maritza had given him. "Axel what do you think of Auntie Belén's clothes?"

"Pretty!" He cheered. "Are you going to a party?"

"You look really good, Belén, honest," Maritza assured as Belén had turned back to her mirror and stared at herself unsure of her decision.

"You think?" Belén eyed herself up and down, trying to find even the most minuscule flaw before she had to leave. A black laced, long sleeved blouse was tucked under her shiny, fold-over, silver skirt.

"Oh yes," Maritza got up from the bed and walked up behind her younger sister. "But if I say we do something like this with your hair," she grabbed Belén's hair and moved it up into a high pony tail, leaving some strands to frame Belén's face. "Show a little more shoulder," she laughed at Belén's blush. Because Belén's black laced blouse was indeed an off-the-shoulder type but with her hair down, it wasn't really noticeable.

"Mar, it's just a date. I..." Belén saw her sister's smirk in the mirror and laughed. "Oh my God, it's just a date - nothing else is going to happen but a date!"

"Hey, I am not judging," Maritza let go of Belén's hair to raise her hands. "But, I mean, don't be scared to show off your best features."

"Do you know how many jokes there are about my legs?" Belén turned around and gestured to her legs. "Cisco can't get over them."

"Well...you do have nice legs..." Maritza said briefly.

"Yes, thank you," Belén turned back to her mirror. She shifted from one side to the other, and Maritza nearly lost it when Belén raised her hair into a pony-tail. "Shut up!"

Maritza just couldn't help herself.

"Auntie Belén, are you going to a party?" Axel looked up after his mother had returned to the bed.

"No, sweetheart, I'm...I'm just going to have dinner with Barry," Belén gave the boy a smile through the mirror as she picked up her hair. Maritza still giggled here and there.

"Why can't you have dinner here?" Axel asked. "We could watch a movie too! Oh! Can we watch Toy Story!?"

"Maybe another time, Axel," Maritza patted her son's shoulder. "Your auntie just wants to spend some time alone with Barry." Belén couldn't help her blush as she did her hair. She was going to spend some time alone with Barry. Sure she'd spent time with him but as friends and they were usually training. This would be so different. They were going to have dinner together, probably somewhere romantic. They were going to possibly hold hands...maybe kiss.

Belén's eyes widened at that idea. Kiss? Kiss. She might be kissing Barry tonight. That...that might be fun. Might? the voice in her head scoffed at her. It will be fun. A deep warmth filled Belén's cheeks the more she thought about it.

However, she was pulled out of those thoughts when the doorbell rang. Axel looked up from his tablet, excited suddenly. "Ding-dong!"

Maritza laughed as her sister scrambled to get her purse and small-heeled black shoes from under the bed. "Have a nice time!" Maritza was able to call out before Belén slammed the door of the room and ran to answer downstairs.

Taking a deep breath and collecting herself, Belén stepped outside to the front porch where Barry awaited her. He nervously stood there, in a white buttoned-up shirt and black tie, matching with a black blazer and dark pants.

"You're on time," Belén said to him, still mildly surprised.

"Yes I am," Barry proudly agreed. "I had a purpose this time!"

"Aw, and was I that purpose?"

"Yes!" Barry awkwardly fumbled with a single Azalea in his hand.

Belén gasped and reached for it. "Please tell me this was for me because it's really, really, cute!"

"Y-yes," Barry nodded, quickly allowing her to take it. "Is it dumb? I thought about getting a full bouquet, but then I thought that was weird-"

"They sell bouquets now?" Belén raised her eyebrows. "I grow mine in the backyard because it's so difficult to find them in the stores."

"You haven't seen them yet?"

"Seen…?"

"Flower stores are selling them for the Azalea now. Fresh every day!"

"No way! Seriously!?"

"Yeah, I can take you tomorrow if you'd like…?"

"Yes, please!" Belén neatly tucked the flower behind her ear and smiled. "Ta-da!"

"You look wonderful," Barry said, looking her over.

"Thanks, and you look handsome yourself," Belén said as she took his offered arm and began walking towards the sidewalk. She then clearly looked him over, admiring his casualness yet dressed-up appearance. "I don't think I've seen you all dressed up," she laughed.

"Christmas?" Barry tried to be casual and not act like he was beginning to match the color of his Flash suit.

"Right," Belén said thoughtfully. "It's kind of fuzzy to be honest, considering all that happened. Please tell me I didn't wear a Christmas sweater…"

"No, no, you looked hot," Barry said without thinking. He nearly had a heart attack and began stuttering for a plausible excuse. "I-I meant, you know...s-scientifically...speaking…"

It was a bit difficult trying to swallow down her laugh as she stopped walking to face him. "Scientifically speaking?"

"Ah...aha," Barry nodded. He looked at her knowing fully well he was now definitely matching the redness of his Flash suit.

Rather slyly, Belén stepped closer to him and looked up at him. "And what does 'scientifically speaking' mean exactly?"

"U-uh...well, you know, there's a basis in science for, um...for every emotion," Barry began, thinking of something smart to say, hopefully to impress her at the least, "Impression, and, um, and awe…and like…"

"But as a scientist, don't you guys like...not believe in anything that involves attraction?" Belén raised one eyebrow.

"Well, I-I…" Barry slowly answered. He was transfixed with her perfume scent he suddenly got a whiff due to their closeness. She smelled like sweet jasmine flowers.

"So then what happens when you actually like someone?" Belén asked, actually curious of the matter. "Is it just chemicals for you? How do you explain it?"

"It cannot be science," Barry released a breath after a moment. He upheld her look and realized how crazy beautiful her eyes were when they were filled with curiosity. "At all."

"Ooh, nice answer," Belén laughed but nonetheless blushed.

Barry smiled down at her and mumbled something about a place to eat - nothing Chinese of course.

~ 0 ~

"Oh, spicy!" Belén nearly dropped the portion of food she had eaten off her fork. But even as she chewed it was harder not to spit it all out.

From across the table, Barry tried not to laugh at her. "Bells, just spit it out." She shook her head. "Here-" he reached for a napkin and held it out for her.

Defeated, Belén took it and returned the mighty spicy chicken into it. "Well that's unlady-like," she said with heavy embarrassment. "I'm so sorry." Here they were in a lovely restaurant with good food and she begins to ruin it by spitting out food.

"It's fine, don't worry about it," Barry assured her, amused as she took a long sip of her drink. "Not a fan of spicy food, then?"

"Mmm, not exactly," Belén said afterwards, the redness on her face fading as she calmed. "I can handle Azalea poison, apparently, but I lose it at spices."

"I didn't know that…"

"Now you do, I guess."

Barry agreed, and then suddenly realized, "I don't think we know much about each other, actually."

In the beginning it was easy to tell Belén thought he was crazy but the more she considered it the more she realized he was sort of right. "I guess we've been busy that...we never actually stopped to get to know each other. Although we do have lots of history now. Question for a question?"

"Ladies first," Barry motioned for her to go ahead.

"Okay, um..." Belén got to thinking for a second, "Have you traveled anywhere before?"

"Besides Star City?" Barry asked, already smiling of embarrassment because that was answer was going to be a big fat 'nowhere'. He was that lame. "And the occasional speed ins for food?"

"Yes," she chuckled. "I mean a proper vacation outside of your boundaries."

"Nowhere - I have never gone anywhere."

"Not even with your family?"

"No," Barry got to thinking about his time with his parents and couldn't remember a vacation outside of Central City. Joe had always been pretty busy after it was him living with Joe and Iris. "What about you? Traveled anywhere interesting?"

"Well, I have family in Italy - from my Dad's side - so I've been there a couple times."

"You've been to Italy?"

"Yeah..."

"Like...Italian Italy?"

Belén laughed. "I don't think there's any other Italian place, Barry."

Barry cleared his throat, embarrassed once more. "Right."

"What's your question?"

"I already asked you mine..."

"No, you just turned my question back to me. C'mon, ask me something," Belén reached for her drink and took a small sip from it.

"Will I ever be able to see those videos you promised of your aerial dancing days?"

"Um..."

"You have to answer," Barry warned once he saw her attempt to eat up some more to avoid answering. "You once said you would-"

"Well, that was before you asked me out!"

"What!? What's that gotta do now!?"

Belén put her fork down and playfully huffed. "You were a friend, I could mess around like I do with Cisco. Now...I'm a little more self-conscious. What if you think I'm bad but you don't want to say it?"

Barry leaned over the table, fairly amused. "I don't think so. I bet you were crazy talented at it. Won't you show me one little ten-second video?"

Belén shrugged slowly, "I...guess we can, sometime." Barry smirked and went back to eating. "My turn! Is it true you tried to take up boxing when you were little?"

Barry almost dropped his fork, making her giggle. "I'm gonna need you to stop talking about me with Iris."

"So it is true!"

"Joe was teaching us and-"

"-Iris kicked your ass-"

"Stop talking about me with her!"

Belén laughed. "How old were you?"

"I don't know, eleven? I don't know," the speedster gave a shrug of his shoulders, eyes looking down at his plate.

"I bet you were cute trying to hold up the gloves," she mimicked with balled fists, managing to elicit a little smile back. "I'm asking for pictures-"

"No you are not," Barry pointed his fork at her. She had to laugh again and it only faded when she got some looks from a nearby table. "My turn," Barry reminded, although slightly more serious now. "And you don't have to answer if you really don't want to, but..."

Belén's eyes slightly widened as she realized the topic of the conversation. "You want to know about my change…"

"Look, I know it's a delicate matter for you, but I want to be there for you and to do that I need to know about it. I promised you I wouldn't say anything and I've kept it."

"This isn't a matter of whether or not I trust you," Belén clarified, "It's just...it's embarrassing."

"But see that's what I disagree with most, Bells. You have these extraordinary powers and there's a side you don't want to use because it's not aesthetically pleasing to you?"

"It's hard, alright? There you go-" she gestured to him, "-clad in leather with a handsome face, being a hero. Now imagine me, going out there in a form that's all green and...scaly…"

"And being a hero," Barry finished for her. "Green or not, you are pretty, you are fantastic."

"That's very sweet for a first date," Belén smiled softly.

"This isn't because we're on a date. It's me, Barry, trying to make my friend, Belén, see how unfair she's being to herself," he didn't know if it was too early or awkward but he reached across the table and took her free hand. "Because I don't like it when you are upset."

The words left an odd feeling in Belén's stomach, but she knew it was a good one. He looked so sincere that all she wanted to do was get up and hug him. But, was that too forwards on the first date? She wasn't sure. She settled for words. "You are so sweet," she whispered. And at that moment she was so sure this is the place she wanted to be at, with Barry. Looking down a moment, she took an ounce of courage and began to speak slowly, quietly too. "It was...weird, at first. I mean, things were really weird for me in the beginning because I didn't have help. There were moments where I felt like I wasn't going to be able to hold in the change so I had to...run...make any excuse to be on my own."

"The change came with no pattern?" asked Barry, intending on being the utmost analytical in order to be able to help her.

"Well, I think it has to do with my emotions," Belén bit her lip. "I started noticing that whenever I felt unusually stressed my hand…" she started flexing her left hand like it was going to happen to her right then, "...it would start changing green. It was all sorts of emotions. Sometimes I was just stressed from classes, or from work. Other times one of my friends would piss me off. Then, there were other times where...I felt scared." She paused, looking distant in memories. "Usually I was scared. There were so many things changing and I couldn't understand anything."

"Why didn't you tell anyone at STAR Labs?" Barry had to ask again.

"Many reasons," Belén sheepishly smiled. "At first, things were focused on you, being in your coma. I didn't want to take away any time that could help you. Then, when things got a little...less stressed, I started to get to know them - Cisco, Cait, and Dr. Wells. I was embarrassed." She certainly wasn't going to include the fact going on a date with Cisco made it even more difficult to come clean about herself. That wasn't first date topics.

"And what about me? You didn't feel comfortable with me?" Barry tried his best not to look nor sound judgmental. He was determined to hear her out and provide comfort and hopefully solutions for her.

"Well…" Belén made a face that Barry just had to laugh at a little. "You were complex, alright?" She said and began to pick at her plate with her fork. "In the beginning you were just Iris' adoptive brother, a guy I happened to meet."

"And afterwards?" Now slightly more curious of the answer, Barry leaned on the table.

Belén smiled, her face warming as she explained. "You became a goddamn mess in my life."

"Oh-" Barry faked an offended face, "-thanks. That's just...great. Yeah."

Belén giggled and picked up her glass to take a drink. "Your fault for embedding yourself into my life. You decided to help me as the Flash, remember? You started this."

"Not true," Barry crossed his arms. "You started it when you helped Iris look after me in my coma."

"Well, you started it when you told Iris you'd help me with my article so ha! I win!" Belén exclaimed, and rather loudly that she got several looks from other tables. "Oops," she said after a moment, looking at her plate with a red face.

Barry leaned back on his chair and with a very wide smile stared at Belén, and a part of him struggled not to laugh. "So…" he began again, and still mildly embarrassed she looked up, "...what if, you let me help you now?"

"Barry, I don't want anyone to know," she said quietly.

"Between us," clarified Barry. "Just us. No one else."

That seem to make Belén relax a little, but, not entirely understanding, she questioned it. "How's that?"

"I think it would be good to see what sort of abilities this 'change' allows you to do. Maybe it could even help with the abilities you already have. And, Bells, it's always good to make sure your emotions don't run your powers. You run them, not the other way around."

"I don't know…"

Barry reached for one of her hands on the table and looked her in the eyes. "It's okay to be scared, but this time you wouldn't try to handle them alone. I will be there, and I will help you if you need it."

The weight of his words settled on her and the only thing she thought at the moment was of relief. She didn't even question it, she loved it. "O-okay…" she shakily nodded, "Small steps?"

"Absolutely," Barry nodded. "Trust me?"

A smile spread across Belén's lips as she considered those words. "Trust you, Barry Allen? Story of my life."

~ 0 ~

Strolling down the city park, Belén listened to Barry tell a fascinating (or at least that's what she made it look like) story about one of his failed science experiments from when he was in middle school. The truth was, she had never seen someone talk so passionately about a middle school science project like Barry was. It was endearing.

"And I actually thought making sun prints would be easier but I ended up using the wrong sort of paper - well, Joe got me the wrong ones." Barry rambled on and on, hands in his pockets. "See, cos you need a special kind of sheet so that the print can be made. Although, you do have to dunk the object you were using into water so you can…" He glanced at Belén who was looking up at him with a wide smile, and suddenly he flushed. Iris' words about not talking about science came back to him. "This is...not the sort of talk for a first date, huh?" A light chuckle escaped Belén's mouth as she looked away. "Yeah, total dork." Barry released a large sigh and a mild blush of red.

"No, it's adorable!" Belén laughed and, with his help, got up on the park's fountain. She slowly walked along the ledge while holding onto Barry's arm just in case she slipped.

"But it's boring, and boring is not what I'm aiming for tonight."

"Aw, don't get upset," Belén stopped walking and turned to face him. "It's adorable, okay? How have you not been snatched up already?" she chuckled while Barry awkwardly fumbled with his words. "I mean, you're incredibly intelligent, you're cute, you're so sweet. What's the problem?"

Barry rubbed the back of his head, feeling more embarrassed than earlier. "I...I don't know? It just hasn't happened yet."

"Really? So what about that Clara girl I heard about?" Belén crossed her arms, pretending to be serious.

"I hate Iris," Barry flatly said. He shook his head and shed a little bit of light for her to understand. "Sometimes, it's just been me not going for it. But...you know, for a lot of my childhood and teen years it's been difficult getting through when everyone recognizes you as the kid who's dad murdered your mom."

Belén's eyebrows rose in surprise, no longer playful of the subject. "Oh Barry, I'm so sorry. I...I didn't think…"

"It's fine, you wouldn't have thought about it, I get it." Barry quickly said, definitely not wanting this date to turn gloomy, and yet the more he spoke the harder it became to shrug it off. "It's not so much the issue right now, because it's been a long time since the case, but back then everyone knew who I was. No one except Iris would want to be around me."

"That must have been terrible…" Belén whispered. She noticed Barry purposely trying to avoid her gaze, despite being close. She wanted to make him feel better, but...what words of comfort could she say to someone who experienced all that he had? It was plain awful. Do what you do best, be weird. She put on a smile and spoke, "When I was little, I used to hide inside refrigerators as a game."

The reaction was almost instant. Belén laughed as Barry tried to process what he'd heard, his eyes widening then squinting with confusion was just too funny. "What!? You did what!?"

"I used to hide inside refrigerators when I played hide and seek with my brother," Belén repeated, her laughter turning into a series of giggles. "Rayan could never find me."

"Well - yeah, I would think he couldn't! Who hides inside fridges!?" Barry exclaimed.

Belén's hand shot high in the air. "Right here!"

"Belén - what?" Barry couldn't help laughing too. "You're...you're just..." Belén lowered her hand and cheerfully smiled. Barry stared at her, his own smile softening. He reached to touch her cheek and felt her warm blush under his fingers. His mind flashed back to the night they had returned from their unplanned karaoke night with Caitlin. Belén had looked just as pretty then as she did now...and he wanted to kiss her now just as much as he had before.

He leaned forwards only a bit, stopping to see how Belén reacted, maybe she would stop him? It appeared not. She seemed entranced; her eyes flickered between his eyes and lips. A good part of her was impatiently waiting for Barry to just kiss her already, but since he was slow - the irony - she did it herself.

She kissed him and felt that sense of desire finally quenched. Barry felt the same; he savored it. His fingers once again came to rest over her cheeks, stroking her skin in circles even when they broke apart. They shared one look and smiled at each other. At the same time, their eyes lowered once again to each other's lips and made it clear - without actually saying a word - it was not over. This time Barry kissed her first. Belén was all too happy for a second one and let Barry feel it when she smiled through their kiss. Barry wrapped his arms around Belén's waist and slowly pulled her off the fountain's ledge to hold her closer to him.

Belén was bright pink on the face when she pulled away, but no one could take her smile away. Barry cleared his throat, fumbling to come up with something good to say after that but as luck would have it...he had nothing but stutters.

"The girls missed their chance because now I'm snatching you up," Belén beat him to it again. She leaned on him, grinning from ear to ear. "Is that alright with you?"

The same grin covered Barry's face. "Definitely."

~ 0 ~

The next day, Belén reported for work in her most cheery mood ever. She walked over to her desk and put down her purse. Just as she was about to start on her work, she Noah and Mason stopped by. "I'd say good morning but I think it's about to change," she said directly towards Mason. "Morning, Noah," she purposely greeted the younger colleague with a smile.

"Don't be mad," Noah chuckled, coming closer to her. "But Mason had a really good idea for a next story."

Belén once again suspiciously looked at Mason. "You're not our mentor."

"It's an interesting one you definitely want to look into," Mason said, quite sure of himself as he put down a blueprint on her desk.

Belén's eyes flickered between the blueprint and Mason. "Um, why is there a blueprint of the STAR Labs Particle Accelerator on my desk?"

"To help the story," Mason said like it were obvious and that she should have seen it before.

"Do you actually know anything about physics?"

"Not a thing. Might as well be in Dothraki."

"So then what the he'll are you doing?" Belén dreaded to ask the two men.

"Belén, he's just doing his job," Noah replied. "Maybe there's a little more we don't know about yet."

"I can guarantee you we do," she picked up the plans and rolled it up as if it were a scroll then held it for Mason to take it back.

"What's your reasoning?" Mason challenged.

Belén knew it was best if he didn't know about her good knowledge of STAR Labs or she would never get rid of him. "Dr. Wells said he was warned of disasters. The story finished there and then."

"Yeah. Why do you think he did that?"

"Because he's a good person?"

"Is he?"

"I happened to know of a person - specifically Iris' - friend that was saved because of this lab. So, excuse me, but we're done here." With her hands, Belén shooed him away. Afterwards, she sharply looked to Noah. "That is the last time I want to hear about this."

Noah smiled a fake smile and left. But as he turned away he showed his true feelings- anger. He, like Mason, knew there was something very differently going on in that building. It was why he offered himself for the story, despite having a different mentor. Perhaps if Belén realized how twisted STAR Labs was she would learn where her true place was.

"Hey," Iris greeted Belén just as she plopped down on her desk chair. She cast a suspicious look at Mason with his rolled up blueprints. "What was that about?"

Belén shook her head and hands to signal she didn't even want to go into that subject again. "Useless stuff. I'm sorry that guy is your mentor."

"He's not that bad," Iris shrugged, by now used to Mason's behavior.

"Oh no, he's bad," Belén shook her head again then leaned back on the chair. "My first day he said to me, and I quote, 'You are a talentless twat'."

"More or less what he said to me," Iris mused, taking a seat on the edge of Belén's desk. "I guess that's just his way of greeting newbies."

"I could have done without that type of greeting," Belén shook her head but then took a moment to remember she was not going to let anyone, including Mason, bring her down. Things were just too good right now.

Iris couldn't read minds, but with the big grin on Belén's face, she could almost pass as one. "Soo...I fell asleep before Barry came home..." Belén cleared her throat and tried to focus on turning on her computer. "What happened?" Iris didn't hesitate to sit herself on Belén's desk and wait for the story to be told. "Was it fun? Did he talk a lot about science because I told him not to-"

"He-" Belén cut her off with a small chuckle, "-talked about science-"

"Oh, Barry-" Iris gave a shake of her head.

"-and he was lovely," Belén finished, once again returning to her ever-lasting smiles. "He was so lovely, I...I really did have a good time with him."

"I can tell," Iris waved a finger at Belén's face, making the ombre-haired woman laugh. "In all seriousness it does make me happy to know it worked out. It just had to."

"Well, thanks to you and Caitlin - little matchmakers," Belén pretended to huff with annoyance.

"Yeah, you'll thank us on your wedding day, you'll see!" and Iris laughed to the point of almost falling off Belén's desk after seeing Belén go incredibly red on the face.

"Go to work, Iris!"

When Iris finally left her, Belén intended on working and working. There were plenty of articles to write based on the latest meta attacks. It was exceptionally a busy day since the Tempest had made her debut. Nina was on almost every blog - including Iris' - on the internet. So far, the people were fascinated with a flying metahuman helping keep the city safe. It was definitely a treat getting to write about such a close friend that Belén never noticed the time flying by. It was Barry who managed to pull her out of her working mode.

"Barry, hi!" Belén got up from her desk just as the speedster came up to her. At first she wondered how to greet him - a hug? A kiss? Oh my God she was just making this more difficult. Why was it difficult? She didn't remember being like this with her previous boyfriends. Well none of them were like Barry, she thought and decided she was right.

"I wanted to see if you could come with me to Professor Stein's," Barry said, and with the unusual dispirited aura around Belén assumed something new had happened and that it was no good.

"So, you wanna tell me what's going on?" Belén asked as soon as they were walking in the streets.

Barry sighed and began to retell the story. This wasn't the type of conversation he wanted to have with her, especially the first one after their date. Sometimes, he didn't like this metahuman, weird life he had. "Joe reopened the investigation for my mom's murder and somehow he and Cisco got a...a machine-"

"You're dumbing it down for me," Belén flatly said, sarcastically smiling at him. "Thanks," she laughed afterwards and gestured for Barry to continue.

"Uh, well, basically, through holograms, they discovered that, somehow, I was there that night - this me," he gestured to himself.

Belén made a face, and a thoroughly confused one as she processed what that meant. "But...but if...if you were there…" she pointed at Barry, "...does that mean you...time traveled?"

Barry awkwardly shrugged because even he didn't know it at the moment. "I...don't...really know…"

"That would be so cool, though - you time travelling," she couldn't help feel so excited at the idea. "Do you realize how amazing that would be? You get to time travel, Barry!"

"Yeah, well, if I did, then I failed to save my mom," Barry couldn't help himself from saying the only thing that ran through his mind ever since he found out from Joe.

At that moment, Belén's excitement vanished, her smile fading when she realized how Barry must have felt when he learned about it. "Oh my God," she stopped and turned to him. "I'm so sorry, that's why you're upset. Because you think this is what happened?"

"It's why I wanted to see Professor Stein. He wrote a paper on it, and...who knows, maybe he has some answers," Barry shrugged, although his casualness didn't go by so well.

"Okay," Belén nodded, "But you don't have to pretend to be so quiet about it. You're upset, you have a right to be. Don't downplay it."

"Thanks Bells," Barry lightly smiled at her.

"Uh, just one more question," she raised a finger, making him smile wider, "Why exactly did you come for me? I mean, I think out of everyone I am the least qualified person you want to bring to a renowned professor's home. You should've asked Dr. Wells, honestly."

"I wanted you to be with me," Barry went straight for the truth. He was mildly pleased to see the surprise reaction on her face. "I just...I need you, Bells. And I know we've only had one date but I think I've always needed you around me when things got tough. You talk to me when I need it, make me feel better, so...would you come with me, please?"

Belén grabbed his hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Whisk me away, my singing scientist."

Barry found it possible to laugh for a moment. This was exactly what he was talking about - she had the perfect ability to make him feel good.

He took them off the streets and had them in front of the Steins' residence. The two headed up the front porch and knocked on the front door. They were greeted by Clarissa Stein, and a slightly surprised one too.

"Mrs. Stein, I'm sorry to bother you here, but is Professor Stein here right now?" Barry asked in his utmost polite tone.

Clarissa crossed her arms, momentarily showing determinism. "Well, after a year apart, I'm not letting him out of my sight." But then, she stepped slightly closer to the two and quietly asked. "STAR Labs did quite a few tests on Martin, didn't they... and they said he was fine?"

"You don't sound very convinced," Belén said afterwards. "Is something not right?"

"He just seems a little different, is all…"

"Well, just to forewarn you, anyone affected by the Particle Accelerator isn't going to be the same person they were before." Belén tried to be a little comforting yet still being factual. She believed she had some experience in that department as did Barry...Nina...

But still, Clarissa did not seem convinced. "He's been asking for pizza. Martin despises pizza. I doubt the accelerator changes childhood likes."

Just then, Professor Stein came up behind Clarrisa, looking excited. "Is that the delivery man?" It was actually rather amusing (at least for Belén) to see his face fall in such hopelessness when he saw them two. "Oh, Mr. Allen. I suppose it's too much to hope you moonlight as a pizza boy. I am famished."

Although taken aback by the request, Barry agreed and zoomed away. Belén decided to introduce herself (again) and reached a hand out to Stein. "I'm Bel-" she flinched when Barry returned, his force of wind throwing some of her hair back on her face. With a little sarcastic glare on him, she pushed her hair back. "I'm Belén. I work with them at STAR Labs."

"I remember, yes," Stein shook her hand and then took the pizza box from Barry.

"Although really when I say I work with them I really just mean I stand behind them and see what they're doing," Belén added as they were led inside.

Stein was already midway opening the pizza box when he responded. "What can I do for you both?"

Barry, still uncomfortable, stuttered as he spoke up. "I... I needed to talk to you about a paper that you wrote 25 years ago for the Oxford University Press."

Stein intended on cutting a slice of pizza there and then. "I've written many papers for that publication. Could you be more specific about the subject matter?"

As he picked up the slice, Barry took an involuntary pause. He felt a little nudge on his side and looked down to see Belén nodding him to go on, encouraging him. He was incredibly happy to have brought her with him.

"Time travel," he finally answered, looking directly at Stein who has frozen just inches from biting his pizza slice.

~ 0 ~

In Stein's office, Stein had begun to explain the subject- apparently one of his favorites - to the two metas. As he uncovered one (of the dozen more) boards revealing many mathematical equations, he explained, "These are just a few of the random thoughts I've had on the subject."

Belén stood across the two men tilting her head at yet another uncovered board filled with mathematics. "A few?" She scoffed lightly. "This is...like my worst nightmare all put into one room. Algebra and Calculus…" she pretended to shiver.

It was Stein's turn to scoff. "Algebra and Calculus? My dear, this is much more complex than-"

Barry purposely cleared his throat loudly to interrupt. He made a cutting motion across his neck followed by a low mumble of 'Let her be'. Belén glanced their way completely unaware.

"What was that?"

Stein discreetly looked at Barry who was still silently asking not to correct the woman. He supposed it was some odd way to keep her content and give him points? Young people were completely unorthodox nowadays. Still, who was he to ruin it for them?

"Nothing," he smiled at the woman who disregarded it and went back to looking at other boards. He did, however, acknowledge Barry's grateful look with a nod and went right ahead to reasoning. "See, I believe that spacetime is a free-flowing highway that intersects the physical world. We live in... in the moments between the on and off ramps. Theoretically, to travel through time, one merely needs to find a way onto the highway."

"Okay, so... so you're saying that this is actually possible to... to travel into the future?" Barry was all for the impossible but shouldn't there be a limit somewhere?

"Undoubtedly."

Well, apparently not.

"What about the past?" he asked, moving to sit on the edge of the desk behind him.

"Yes. My own personal choice would be the Chicago World's Fair, 1893," Stein admitted. "I... I think Nicola Tesla and I would have some wonderful arguments. What about you? Would you be interested in taking a trip into history?"

Belén surprised them both when she quickly responded with, "Paris 1827 - Marie Taglioni débuts in the ballet La Sylphide." She sheepishly smiled after getting confused looks from them. "I like dance." She noticed Barry trying to uphold a little smile but it was evident that Stein's declarations were not easing his mind. "Say it, Barry. It's why we came."

Confused, Stein looked at the man in question who was, indeed, struggling to speak up. "Professor, I think...I think that I already have." Stein's eyes widened but let Barry continued. "Professor, um... 15 years ago, my mom was murdered and we recently discovered some evidence that... I was there that night, and not just as a kid, but as an adult."

"That must be a side effect of your incredible speed," Stein began to rationalize, even pacing a bit. "In some... future date, you actually move so fast that the resulting kinetic energy buildup smashes a hole in the space-time continuum!" By the time he finished he was beaming with excitement. Belén too seemed happy but when he saw Barry's grim face he stopped. "You seem disappointed by the prospect."

"I mean, if I do somehow make it back there to that night, then…" Barry paused, looking even worse, "...it means that I didn't save her. My destiny is to fail."

Neither person in the room with him had anything to say for a moment. Then, Belén cleared her throat and asked for a minute alone with Barry. Once Stein graciously agreed and walked out, she walked up to Barry.

"Okay, look-"

But Barry was done thinking of any other thoughts. "Amazing, I play out to be a hero but I can't save my own mother."

"You don't know what happened-"

"-No I do know! I failed!" he accidentally snapped at her, causing her to mildly flinch of surprise. He sighed and stood away from the desk, speaking much gentler this time. "I'm sorry."

Belén didn't look remotely upset as she put her hand on his arm. "What I meant to say was that...you don't know what happened from your future adult point of view. I mean, you say that one moment you were in your living room but then the next you were suddenly on a random street. Well, after that it was only you and the Reverse Flash in the room…" she paused, quietly adding, "And your mother. Only they know what truly happened. You can't say you failed when you don't know what happened right?"

Barry looked at her a long moment, thinking of every word she said. Her eyes pleaded him to at least consider her point. He had to admit that perhaps there was a certain amount of truth in them. No one had been in that room after he, as a child, had been taken away. Now, even if it was true, why in the hell would he let his mother be killed? Why couldn't he save her? Was it because he wasn't fast enough? Not clever enough?

Somewhere outside the room glass shattered. The two metahumans sprung in alarm and rushed out the room to see what had caused the sound. They found Stein using the kitchen counter for support while Clarissa worriedly tried helping.

"Martin? What's wrong?"

Stein shook his head, a hand going over his chest. "I don't know, I... I feel terrified. My... my heart is racing. I think... I think Ronald is in trouble."

"How could you know that?" Belén inquired, rather confused.

Stein discarded the question and urgently told them. "Jitters. He needs help. Go!"

Belén looked up to Barry. "You should go, I won't get there in time." Agreeing, Barry left them to go seek Ronnie.

As the Flash, he found Ronnie just where Stein had said - Jitters. Ronnie was outnumbered by General Eiling and his men. It was very easy using speed to knock Eiling's men out. However, as soon he moved to Eiling he was surprise-attacked with a small black device thrown into the air that turned into dozens of sharp metal pins. Before Barry knew it, they had gone directly towards him and knocked him down by diving into his suit and skin.

Eiling smugly looked at Barry on the ground as he writhed in pain. "Stings, doesn't it? Had that one developed especially for you. Micro fragments attracted to kinetic energy. Firestorm was tonight's main objective, but getting you... that's just gravy."

Suddenly, a white van frantically drove towards them from the other side of the alley and with the distraction Ronnie punched Eiling across the face. The van swerved and Caitlin opened up the doors.

"Get in!"

Ronnie helped Barry get up, although still being covered in pins, and quickly got into the van.

~ 0 ~

Barry thought about every moment of physical pain he ever felt and decided that this precise one was definitely one of the worst. Caitlin had to remove each fragment one by one, by just plucking it from his skin.

From across Wells overlooked the procedure along with Ronnie. "You need to hurry, Barry's wounds are starting to heal with the fragments still under his skin."

Cisco, standing on the other side of the bed holding a metal bowl for Caitlin to dump in the fragments, flinched each time Caitlin pulled one fragment from Barry's skin. "This is just like that time I stepped on a sea urchin. Only much worse "

"Just don't pee on me," Barry tried to be humorous despite barely being able to talk from his pain.

"Uh, you know that's a myth, right?"

Barry yelped as Caitlin took one pin from his neck. Caitlin apologetically looked at him before shaking her head and filling up with guilt. "I'm so stupid. Jason Rush, the grad student who was helping Professor Stein with his Firestorm research, he said that the army took all of Professor Stein's material when he disappeared. I should have known it was General Eiling."

"Not your fault," Wells said and glanced at Ronnie. "He still thinks you hold the keys to the ultimate human weapon... both of you."

"Okay, let's just finish this," Barry tried to gesture with a hand but that proved to be impossible when it was still covered in pins. "I gotta get to Stein's house. Eiling's gonna be after him too and Bells is still there."

"Stein's fine," Ronnie calmly said.

Cisco looked at him oddly. "How do you know?"

"He's right there," Ronnie gestured to Stein who stood beside Belén by the cortex entrance.

"I didn't think it was prudent for him to stay alone right now," Belén briefly explained before rushing over to Barry and the others. "What in the hell happened to you!?" her hands moved back and forth as she decided what way to help.

"Eiling is back," Cisco was the one to answer, relieving Barry the requirement of talking with the most of the pins still stuck on him.

At this Belén shot up a look to Wells. "What does he want now?"

"Firestorm," Ronnie replied while looking at Stein. "And we doubt he's going to stop."

"We have to run some tests on you both again," Caitlin warned them. "And fast."

"Then do it right now, I can do this," Belén said to her and gestured to be handed the basic tweezers. "I don't think I need to be a doctor for this, right?"

Caitlin agreed and handed the tool over. She ushered Ronnie and Stein for one of the exam rooms with the aid of Cisco. Wells soon followed to oversee that it went correctly. Belén set to work on the shards and cursed under her breath thinking that she wouldn't be heard.

"Why the hell are you laughing? Does this look like something you should be laughing at?" She sent Barry a sarcastic glare for his small chortles.

"I didn't know...you cursed," he managed to say without many paused.

"Well stick around and you'll learn more," she crookedly smiled back and promptly pulled out one particular pin near his collarbone that made him yelp. "Sorry!" She paused her work and glanced to see if anyone was still around, thinking perhaps she wasn't adequate for the job after all.

"It's fine," Barry assured her, able to see her mild fear in her eyes. "My fast healing is proving to be a nuisance for once."

"There has got to be an easier way to do this…" she bit her lip and suddenly looked at her free hand.

"What?" Barry saw the thinking wheels in her head.

"Well...I do create multiple...vines…" she was mumbling, her voice coming in and out. "...maybe...work…"

"Bells? These things hurt-" Barry called her again, "- a lot."

"Sorry," she sheepishly looked at him. "I was just thinking that maybe instead of pulling these things off one by one I could use my vines to grab each one and pull them off at the same time. Though, maybe it could hurt more than now."

"Nothing hurts more than now. Do it," he said, nodding for her to go on.

Belén still didn't look completely sure of her own idea. "Barry, I'm telling you it might hurt a lot."

"For a moment. But right now my skin is healing and it's taking these things with it. Just do it Bells."

Belén murmured a soft 'Okay' and put down the tweezer. She hovered her hands over his chest and created the vines that branched into many more which then curled around the fragments. Barry intently watched her scrunch her face as she prepared to pull them off.

"I'm so sorry," she said in advance. She used her force and yanked all fragments from his body.

Indeed Barry did scream at the top of his lungs from the unbearable pain. Belén dropped the pins on the floor and gasped in horror thinking it had been too much. Cisco came running back to see what happened and Belén weakly explained, while Barry panted from the pain, what she did.

"Sick," Cisco concluded with a very impressed smile.

Belén was debating whether or not to touch Barry but she still looked for any outstanding physical injury. "Barry, I told you it would hurt more. Next time I'll just stay where I belong behind the computer chairs where I can hurt no one-"

"It's okay," Barry grasped her wrist that neared him. "It's fading…" he made up. She looked incredibly alarmed like it was her fault.

"That's gonna sting later dude," Cisco remarked. "Like...everywhere…"

"Go away Cisco," Barry ordered sharply. Cisco raised his hands and turned for the exam room where the others were.

"I'm so sorry, he's so right," Belén was still rambling an apology to him. "I should've just stuck with what the actual Doctor was doing."

"Belén it's really okay," Barry finally had the energy to chuckle. He dragged his hand from her wrist to her hand and lowered it to it over his heart. "It's beating isn't it?"

"Yes, but that's not what I meant and you-" she sighed and forgone it. She pulled her hand from his and put both her hands on either side of his face, leaning closer. "You quit giving me heart attacks. Just because yours beats faster now doesn't mean mine can too. That's not fair!"

Barry tried not to look as smug as he really felt, but he failed miserably at it. "I guess you really do care about me, huh?"

Unamused, Belén just looked at him. "If you weren't cute I'd smack you for that. But, yes, I do."

"You wanna know something?"

"What?"

"My heart's beating faster now," Barry said with the widest of smiles.

Belén laughed, shaking her head. "You're so cheesy - that was lame."

"But it was the truth!" Barry exclaimed, feigning offense. "You don't appreciate my honesty?"

Belén looked at him a moment and rolled her eyes, unable to contain another laugh. "Oh alright."

She helped him up afterwards, still highly sorry for giving him sore pains from her gimmick. They met with the others to discuss what was really going on with Ronnie and Stein. Unfortunately, it appeared the two were still perfectly in sync with each other and with Eiling still out there, they would not be taking any chances. They split the two up to keep them safe.

The next day, Caitlin and Ronnie were to stay with Barry and Joe while Stein remained at S.T.A.R Labs. Belén reported to work like nothing, but discreetly kept an eye out for anything related to the Jitters attack. The last thing they needed was more exposure. However, people were more clever this time and approached a different cub reporter for the story.

Iris was walked by with a folder in hand when Mason scurried on after her. "Oh, hey... hey. You said you knew some of the leftover scientists at the STAR Labs. What about a Caitlin Snow, M.D." He pulled up a black and white security picture of Caitlin having dinner with Ronnie at Jitters. "You know her?"

Iris raised an eyebrow, completely startled."Yeah, I know her, why?"

"There was an incident at a local coffee shop. She was there."

"So?" Iris looked at the picture much closely and realized the place. "That's Jitters. I used to work there."

"Look, I tried being nice with your little colleague over there-" Mason jerked a thumb in the direction of Belén's desk where the latter currently worked on, "-and she flat out turned me down."

"Well," Iris took the picture from him, studying it a little closer, "it would have to do with you intending on writing a hater story on her friends."

"Well her friends are in a weird situation. Get this: Witnesses swear they saw soldiers shooting the place up, so I contacted the Army's media relations division and asked, "Are soldiers permitted to operate like that on U.S. soil?" You know what they told me? Hooah?"

Iris had recognized Caitlin's 'Cousin Sam' in the picture. She had met them this morning when they came over to her dad's. "That's weird, Caitlin didn't mention anything the last time I saw her."

Mason raised an eyebrow, almost delighted to hear that Iris also knew the STAR Labs "Really? When and where was that?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm sure there's an explanation for all of this," Iris decided to keep the picture in her folder and promptly walked away. She had eyes trained on Belén next and that was who she walked for. She wondered if Belén knew anything about this, although given her new closeness with Barry she doubted Barry would be stupid enough not to tell her.

She casually stopped by Belén's desk and greeted her with a simple 'Hey'. Belén looked up from her computer and smiled.

"Hey Iris," she said back, lowering a pen.

Be casual, Iris told herself before speaking again. "Sooo, I just met Caitlin's cousin Sam today. They're staying with my dad's."

"Oh...right," Belén nodded slowly, hoping to God Iris wouldn't question a lot on it. "Cait's apartment was, um…"

"Flooded?"

"Yes! Yes, it's flooded. They told me this morning and I thought Barry was nice enough to bring them with him."

"And...that's the only reason…?"

Confused, Belén tilted her head. "What else is there?"

"No, nothing," Iris immediately backed off. She picked up her folder off the desk and smiled. "I'll see you later."

"Mhm," Belén watched her go off, still not quite understanding what had just happened.

Iris concluded that there was something going on and she was purposely not being told anything of it.

~ 0 ~

Later that day, the team had received a terrible call in from Wells telling them Eiling had forcibly came for Stein. Wells had sold the story that Stein was taken by force from the military. They dropped what they were doing and rushed to STAR Labs.

"He didn't hurt you?" Barry asked after a thorough check of the vicinity.

Wells merely shook his head, gesturing to his clean appearance. "Barry, I told you... only my pride is hurt. Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to take on armed soldiers."

"Where do you think Eiling took Professor Stein?"

"I imagine some off-the-books military research facility."

"We have to get him back," Caitlin urgently pushed for ideas .

"Easy... Eiling has already demonstrated he has the weaponry to disable The Flash, or worse."

"Well we can't just sit here and do nothing," Belén crossed her arms.

"How do we find him?" Ronnie asked and immediately gave everyone the idea. Once eyes landed on him, he stiffened. "What?"

He was soon strapped back to the brain wave detection machines to hopefully catch something of Stein. Caitlin, who was in lead conducting the exams, stepped back with a somewhat relieved look.

"No abnormal brain activity. All vitals steady."

"You really think Ronnie can somehow feel where they're keeping Stein?" Barry was looking in doubt at Ronnie.

"Ronnie got dizzy when the soldiers grabbed Stein," reminded Cisco, "and Stein developed Ronnie's obsession with pizza "

"I don't feel anything right now," Ronnie frowned. Whatever this is, it doesn't have an on and off switch."

"It's possible it's just some kind of residual connection," suggested Wells, "A temporary link to your time together."

"Wait," Rinnie suddenly froze, "I feel something. I'm... I'm cold." Two minutes later he screamed in what sounded like horrible pain, only there wasn't anything hurting him per say.

"What's going on!?" Belén asked, terrified of the sight. Caitlin and Cisco were trying to hold Ronnie to his chair but it was like the two didn't exist for Ronnie at the moment.

"Nothing's happening to him," Wells explained quick. "It's happening to Stein, and Ronnie is feeling his pain. I was wrong. The connection's not temporary. It's only getting stronger "

"Water. Water!" Ronnie frantically called out.

Cisco reached for the glass on the table beside Ronnie but after picking it up Ronnie snatched it, smashed it against the table, and took a shard of glass. As he tried to cut himself with it, Caitlin shrieked and tried stopping him.

"Ronnie, no!"

"Wait, Cait, wait!" Barry suddenly exclaimed.

"He's cutting himself!"

"I know. Let him." Barry said, and warned himself quite an indignant look back.

She looked back and saw Ronnie was beginning to write something on his arm. The word 'where' was written in blood on the arm after a minute, and thus Stein, wherever it was he was, would bear the same word across his flesh as well. Caitlin fought the monumental urge to smack Ronnie for what he did, understanding it had been for a good cause.

"Anything?" Cisco asked after a long moment.

"Nothing. Nothing, just...just cold. Like a metal surface." Ronnie paused and focused as best he could. "Pressure on and on and off. Tap, tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap."

"What the-" Belén was midway when Cisco answered her.

"Morse code. I got this!" he dashed for another table where a clipboard laid.

"Same thing again," Ronnie said. "Tap, tap. Tap. Tap, tap, tap."

Cisco, after writing down, looked up. "27. What does it mean?"

"Army bases…" Barry said at once, "they sometimes go by numbers, like Area 51."

Cisco nodded and ran to get the information through a computer. "Facility 27, about 300 miles away," he said as he typed. "It was shut down in 1961."

"Then that has to be where Professor Stein is," Belén beamed.

"Bet you that's where they're keeping aliens too," Cisco pointed at her.

"If they're good ones I'll set them free," she chuckled. She suddenly stopped and called out, "And you're not gonna leave without me this time, Barry Allen." The metahuman in question stopped midway towards the doors. He turned around, mouth opened to make his case when she interrupted. "Last time you left, you came back with pins stuck on you! I'm coming with you!"

"And so am I," Ronnie hopped off his chair and came up beside Belén.

"Outnumbered," Belén smirked.

Caitlin nowhere near agreed and grabbed Ronnie from behind. "No, you're not. You can't."

Ronnie pried her hand from his arm and sighed. "I'm connected to Stein. I have to go."

"But did you ever stop to think why your connection to him is growing stronger by the minute? Maybe you're being drawn back together. Maybe your proximity will cause you to re-merge into one."

Ronnie did consider that but something more important overrode it. "And what happens to me if he gets killed? Cait, Barry was right. The world is different now. Look, I... I thought we could get away, start a new life, a normal life, together. But there is no normal life for us. You will always risk your life to try and help people, and I will always be the guy that runs into that pipeline for you."

Wells called for them and held out a familiar little device. "The quantum splicer. It was used to separate you once. Maybe it could be of use to keep you you."

Ronnie graciously took it and followed Belén and Barry out of the room. In a dark night, the three set out to the proposed building of Area 27. It was barely lit but still enough to see several people roaming just outside it.

"Oh. This place definitely doesn't look too shady," Barry remarked sourly.

"Sorry, should we request a building with better quality to break into?" Belén sarcastically asked, crossing her arms as she tried peering closer.

"Stein's inside," Ronnie seemed focused. "I can feel our connection growing stronger, like he's pulling me."

Wells spoke through the comms. "It's as I feared... the Firestorm matrix is building toward a proximity reemergence. Like all matter, it yearns to be whole. If you do merge... we might not be able to separate you again."

The three shares a troubling look with each other. Ronnie once again stiffened as he felt another surge of emotions that didn't belong to him. "Eiling has a gun to Stein's head. He's about to pull the trigger."

Barry didn't waste a moment more and sped inside the building to retrieve Stein. Just mere seconds before Eiling pulled the gun, Barry pulled Stein off the metal chair and brought him back outside.

"Ho! Whoa... I never thought I'd be happy to see you," Stein said to Ronnie once the motion had stopped.

"Yeah, likewise. Let's get out of here," Ronnie turned to begin leaving when they heard a jeep pulling up from the other side of the gate.

"Get them away!" Barry ordered Belén who didn't argue back. She ushered Stein and Ronnie farther down the road.

Barry meant to distract the soldiers or hopefully take them all down but they surprised him with a bazooka-looking weapon. It blasted him with some sort of silver chemical that looked like dry ice billowing smoke.

"Barry, I'm picking up some serious pH numbers on your suit," Cisco called from the comm.

Barry twisted and turned but the chemical stung him everywhere. "They hit me with some kind of chemical!"

"It's a weaponized phosphorous!"

"Water or foam won't extinguish it," Wells explained but added, "But you can't burn in a vacuum, so you need to create one. Run, Barry. Run!"

With no other choices, Barry did as told and sped off the side of the road and ran in a circle. Meanwhile, Belén had taken Ronnie and Stein just down the road to hide behind some bushes.

"You should keep hidden," Belén told them both, but neither man thought it right for her to go in alone.

"There's too many out there," Ronnie said, getting a glimpse of one of the nearing jeeps.

"I just wish I could find Eiling first," Belén scowled. "If we get him, the others are bound to fall too. Just stay here." Her vines wrapped around her body until she disappeared.

She surprised one of the jeeps by reforming on the open driver's side. Before they reacted, she opened her mouth and released a decent amount of Azalea poison, enough to knock them out for a while. She let go quick and sprinted into a stop on the road, quite impressed with herself that she managed to pull that one off. It always appeared like something only a television show could pull off.

Then she heard more nearing jeeps.

She whirled around and saw three more of them coming down her way. Ignoring her fear, she disbanded and charged for them.

Ronnie was able to see her from the hiding spot, but was also able to see more coming from the opposite direction. "We need to merge again," he told Stein.

"Ronnie, no!" Caitlin quickly voiced her opposition from the comm.

"Cait, we're dead if we don't," Ronnie urgently explained as he saw the jeeps getting closer.

"Listen to me," Wells took over the comm. "The last time you two combined, you both fought it. This time, don't. Accept the change, accept the balance. Accept each other."

Stein looked resigned to their last option and openly said, "Once more unto the breach, dear friend."

Ronnie nodded, and as he pulled out the splicer he spoke to Caitlin once more. "Cait... whatever happens, just remember I'll always love you."

He placed the splicer on his chest and once it activated, he held a hand for Stein. Stein took Ronnie's hand and immediately merged into Firestorm.

"Can you hear me, Ronald?" Ronnie heard Stein from within the mind.

"Professor?" Ronnie began stepping into the roadside. He saw Belén had stopped two of the jeeps on her way but was still working on the last with more of her pink poison.

"It appears we merged properly on this attempt. Wells was right about balance and accepting. Behind you!"

Ronnie turned around and faced the other jeeps coming. He blasted them with fire, causing several to explode.

"Ronald, there's more of them," Stein warned again as a last jeep emerged from the fire.

He blasted it again with fire and saw success. However, Eiling had managed to escape from the other side and was coming for them.

"Eiling, this ends now," declared Ronnie, ready to attack again if needed.

"Yes, it does... For both of you," Eiling pulled out a glowing blue device and three it into the air. The moment it did it blasted Ronnie onto the ground. "An ion grenade. Just bombarded your cellular structure with enough ions to destabilize your matrix." He started getting out a gun from his side pocket. "Mr. Raymond, Professor Stein, you're both fine Americans. Your country thanks you for your sacrifice."

But before he clicked the trigger, Belén reappeared in front of him, wasting no time in punching him across the face. The moment he hit the ground, she covered him in vines. "Try getting out of that one," she smirked.

A second later Barry came in, most of his suit charred and dried from the chemical drying up after his long run. "I was gonna do that!"

"Beat you to it," she winked. She then turned around and bent down in front of Ronnie. "Are you, um, two, okay?"

"Yeah," Ronnie answered and got up with her help.

Belén then glanced back at Barry and chuckled. "Cisco is so gonna kill you this time," she warned, gesturing to his tarnished suit.

Barry had nothing to say on that subject because he was pretty sure that was right. "Home?" he asked them instead.

"Oh yeah," Belén nodded.

Ronnie agreed and, using his flames, flew high into the sky to get a head start. The remaining metahumans looked up, still heavily in awe.

"You want a lift?" Barry then asked Belén.

"No, not like that," Belén shook her head and gestured to his suit's condition. "You're all...eugh…"

Somewhere in there they heard someone snicker from the comm.

Barry feigned offense and tilted his head. "I'm giving you a lift."

"No…"

"I'm doing it," Barry warned, making a step towards.

"No!"

Barry made a threatening advance on her, smirking as she panicked and jumped back .

"Nooo!" she drew out in pleading manner.

Laughing, Barry told her he was only joking, something she didn't quite buy. She cautiously left on her own terms and prayed to God he was telling the truth. She was a clean freak, and at the moment he was not clean!

~ 0 ~

"I can't believe you ruined my suit again," Cisco was shooting Barry death glares from across the room as the former studied the practically destroyed suit.

"I said I was sorry," Barry frowned. "And it's not like I wanted to be shot at with phosphorus. Now please can we just - Caitlin, I told you it was really nothing," he stopped and glanced at the biochemist standing on the side of the bed he sat on, trying to get a better look at a big, purple burn on his side near his stomach.

"You said you were shot with phosphorus," she gave him a pointed look.

"It looks worse than it is," he promised and pushed down his shirt.

At that moment, Belén walked in with Ronnie and Professor Stein, now separated, and immediately Caitlin forgot about Barry's condition. She rushed across the room to encase Ronnie in a big hug.

"It looks like they can separate and join at will now," Belén announced cheerfully as she made way for the other two in the room, "At least that's what Dr. Wells was able to dumb down for me." Without such warning, she smacked Barry on the back of the head.

"OW!"

Stein winced, Cisco burst out laughing from his spot and Belén crossed her arms in front of the injured metahuman. "I don't like it when people try to dirty me," she pointed at him.

"I deserve that," Barry said in a resigned sigh as he rubbed his head. "Hug?"

"You don't get hugs," Belén declared and looked away.

"Cold," Cisco flashed them a smirk.

~ 0 ~

The next day, Iris fervently went through her old blog about metahumans. After having an odd conversation with Caitlin over her 'Cousin' she decided to see for herself whether Caitlin was telling the truth.

Because Iris swore she had seen that cousin somewhere once.

And then she saw it. The Burning Man. Iris leaned closer to the computer screen, eyes squinted as she studied the blurry picture of what people had claimed was a burning man spotted on the street.

With one glance at Belén, who didn't notice as she worked on her own assignment across the room, Iris began printing the picture.

Mason flinched at the slap of paper Iris did on his desk. He barely glanced at the photograph before asking, sarcastically, "Am I supposed to know what that means?"

Iris rolled her eyes. "It means that I'm gonna help you figure out what's going on at STAR Labs. I think our Burning Man used to work there." She said, 100% sure of her supposition, and because she was sure, the pain hurt as well.

Because if this was true, then it would mean that Caitlin knew, and if Caitlin knew, then Barry and Belén knew as well...and they didn't tell her.

~ 0 ~

"Ooooh, is that ice cream?" Belén was delighted to see Barry standing on her porch with a box of strawberry ice cream in his hand.

Chuckling, Barry nodded and gestured her to take it. "And sprinkles," he jiggled the jar of sprinkles in his other hand. "I thought it could serve as a peace offering."

"So you're telling me if I pretend to be mad at you I'll get ice cream in the end?" Belén pretended to be dead serious at the moment.

"Uh…" Barry actually took a moment to think about the answer, which made Belén laugh and pull him inside.

"You should know I don't like sprinkles though," she informed him as she led them into the living room.

"Sprinkles? Really!?"

Belén nodded her head and disappeared into the kitchen for some glasses. "I'm weird okay!"

"Well you're definitely different," Barry admitted, though smiled. "You're the first person I know of who hid inside refrigerators when they were a kid."

Belén returned holding two glasses with spoons inside. "I'm completely unique. So I guess Professor Stein and Ronnie left the city already?"

"Yeah, I told them your regards though."

"Oh thank you!" she called. "I wanted to come in but Linda had this article she wanted me to look over and I couldn't tell her no. Still, I do hope they find the help they need. I think they could become a really good partner. Like Nina!"

"I think they would get along," Barry laughed at the thought and sat down beside her on the couch.

"Listen, I was thinking about something," she set the glasses on the table next to the ice cream, "And, please don't think I was being nosy, but I think I have an idea."

"Let me hear it," Barry motioned, keenly listening.

Belén bit her lip, shifting to face him. She pulled her legs to sit cross-legged and took a deep breath in before starting. "You know how when the teacher gives you back a test you thought you did really good on but you end up getting a lot of questions wrong?" She looked at Barry for his reaction but he started making a face that spelled to her 'no'. She sarcastically groaned. "Oh, that's right, I forgot I was talking to the genius Barry Allen."

"I liked studying!" the metahuman in question said defensively.

"Mhm, nerd," Belén mumbled under her breath before continuing with her main point. "Anyways, some people - like me - did get a lot of questions wrong. My teacher would mark them up and then as a class we'd go over them so we knew how to get them right on the next test, like a study guide. So I was thinking...what if it's the same thing with you and this time travelling thing?"

"I'm...not following," Barry felt sorry to say after a minute.

"You said that there was this machine of Cisco's that showed you like...holograms of the night when your mom was...murdered. What if that's your study guide? It's all the wrong questions marked for you."

Barry got to thinking of her idea and quickly realized that it made sense. If he used those holograms to see what exactly he did wrong that night, he would know what not to do when it came time for him to travel back. "Bells...that's genius!" he exclaimed, making her beam excitedly. "I didn't think of it before! I was too focused on the fact that I got it wrong, I - how did you come up with this?"

"I got bored," she admitted innocently, making a face.

Barry felt like teasing again and leaned forwards. "And you started thinking of me?"

Belén immediately blushed. "Shut up."

Barry laughed for a minute then sobered up to thank her again. He reached to touch her face and smiled at her. "You know, it goes without saying but...I really like being able to do this."

"I like it too," Belén whispered. "But you know what I like just a bit more?"

"What?"

"Ice cream without sprinkles," Belén laughed at his reaction and set out to serve full glasses of strawberry ice cream for them.

#the flash #ocappreciation #arrowverseocs #ocapp #barry allen #the flash imagines #barry allen imagines #barry allen fics #the flash fics #oc: Belén Palayta #oc: Belen Palayta #fic: it had to be you

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