#and el/jane is like. hey. do you want to hear who is mad at who at my school

[heavencasteel420]

In my planned Stonathan no-UD IU AU fic, El/Jane was never taken from Terri, and it's kind of making me sad how much easier her life is. Terri raised her solo for a while, with some help from Becky, and eventually married a man who owns a pizza parlor on the main drag. So El/Jane is a sixteen-year-old townie who works part-time at her nice stepdad's restaurant and Terri is an older student going back for her bachelor's degree.

[marypsue]

It’s been a day or two since the last time I put up a sample for Sneak Peek Sunday (all credit for the concept to @daddygrandpaandthebeaver), and today felt like as good a time as any to resurrect it! Have a scene from former heroes who quit too late (aka part three of the AU where (almost) all the kids have powers):

...

“Know what I heard from Flo at the station?”

El shakes her head no. Hop doesn’t stop giving her that look.

“Sounds like there was a big power outage at the mall last night. Every fuse in the box blew. The lights were out for nearly an hour.”

El makes her eyes as wide as they’ll go, and then turns back to her plate.

“It’s weird. They’ve got no idea what caused it. What could’ve overloaded all the circuits at once like that.”

El concentrates, hard, on cutting off a piece of her pancake.

“El.”

El looks up. Hop’s staring at her, hard. She can’t tell if he’s mad. “When you and Will were over at Mike’s yesterday. Did you go to the mall?”

El looks at him with her fork halfway to her mouth, trying to decide what to say.

Hop sighs so big it makes his shoulders drop, leaning forward against the table, clasping his hands and looking El in the eye. “Friends don’t lie, right, kid?”

El quickly stuffs her forkful of pancakes in her mouth and chews, hoping don’t talk with your mouth full takes priority.

Sara, thankfully, chooses that moment to drop into the third mismatched chair at the tiny kitchen table, with her own plate stacked high with pancakes and berries. “What’s the big deal if she did? It’s just the mall.” She starts to saw off a chunk of her pancake stack, also not looking at Hop as she says, very fast and very casual, “Heather’s taking me out there this afternoon. If Jane really wants to see the place, she could probably tag along with us. I don’t think Heather’d mind.”

Hop finally looks away from El to stare at Sara like he can’t believe what he’s hearing. “It’s just the - do we seriously have to have the ‘caution’ conversation again?”

Sara slouches down in her seat and gives her eyes a huge roll, but right at the end of it she catches El’s eye and winks. El shovels another forkful of pancake into her mouth to keep from smiling.

“And no, I don’t want you going anywhere alone with Heather,” Hop goes on, jabbing his fork in Sara’s direction. “Especially not somewhere as big and crowded and public as the mall. How do you even know this girl? How do you know you can trust her?”

“I already told you, we work together.” Sara delicately rolls a stray blueberry around her plate with her fork. “The pool put her in charge of making sure tens of screaming children don’t drown every day, is that trustworthy enough for you?”

Hop doesn’t look impressed. “The pool gave Billy Hargrove a lifeguard whistle. Try again.”

“There’s just no pleasing you, is there?” Sara grumbles, spearing the blueberry with what El thinks the TV cops mean when they say unnecessary force. “I have to get a job if I’m not going to school, but god forbid I actually make friends there?”

Hop looks like he just bit into something bitter. “I never said you couldn’t have friends,” he starts, but Sara’s already giving him a wide-eyed, fake-shocked look.

“Oh, wow. I didn’t realise I needed your permission to have friends. So glad that’s allowed.”

El has to press her knuckles hard against her mouth not to giggle at the look on Hop’s face.

“Hey, I have an idea,” Sara says, still wide-eyed and too innocent. “Maybe I should invite Heather over here instead. That’d be so much safer. Right?”

“Don’t,” Hop says, like a warning. El wonders if that’s don’t do that, or don’t say that. Maybe both.

Sara waves a hand, making all her bangles clack and jingle. “Well, Jane has her friends over all the time, so -”

“That’s different and you know why. Don’t change the subject.” Hop turns back to El just as she starts to push her chair back from the table. So much for escaping before he notices. She pulls her chair reluctantly back to the table and slouches down in it, crossing her arms as Hop points at first her, then Sara, with his fork. “I do not want either of you anywhere near Starcourt. Got it? Especially not unsupervised. It’s just too big a risk.”

“Anything fun is a risk,” Sara says, like she doesn’t even notice the hard stare Hop’s giving her. El stuffs what’s left of her pancake into her mouth at once, ready to break for freedom when she gets another chance. “You know what I used to do for fun? Rob convenience stores.”

Hop shuts his eyes, for a long second, pressing a hand against his forehead. “What part of chief of police -”

El takes this as her cue to scoop up her empty plate and slip away from the table, dropping off the plate in the sink before she makes for the door. She ignores Hop’s call of, “Hey! Hey, kid, we weren’t done talking!”

[hargrove-mayfields]

Just A Dream Away

Chapter 11/13 read here on ao3!

for @harringrovebigbang

~~~~

Their plan to rescue Billy is as follows:

Kali will take them to the place she saw in the dream circle, they’ll show up ready for a fight, though they’re hoping they don’t find one, and the kids are to stay at home with Nancy and Joyce unless they’re called upon, while they wait for the action preparing everything to do with communication and first-aid. El gets an exception from the otherwise nonnegotiable rule, in part because she refuses to let her sister go alone, perhaps too traumatized by already losing her father to leave her side, but mainly because she has the advantage of having had powers before.

Their window of opportunity to get Billy out without letting free any monsters is far too slim to chance bringing anyone else along on the mission, having such a large group sure to draw unwanted attention to themselves, and possibly get them all slaughtered without the luck and the superpowers they had before on their side.

Steve hands Robin the keys to his car, silently telling her she should be the one to drive them. He’s too on edge to do it himself, his emotions so shot with each new discovery they’ve made tonight he’s sure he’d crash it, and Kali and El are busy acting as their navigators.

Everyone in this car knows about Billy and Steve, so they don’t have to be discreet about the fact that the place they’re going, as Kali described it ‘Billy’s lovers home,’ is basically to Steve’s backyard. He wonders, the nearer they get to that overly familiar place, how long Billy has been wandering in the area, and how much sooner he could have found him if he wasn’t at work or with Robin all the time, but he tries not to think about that, focusing instead on saving him now.

They park near his house, Steve getting out first and popping the trunk to get the nail bat, which he kept in his car for emergencies and honestly just because he didn’t know what else to do with it, while the girls look for flashlights in the glove box.

Steve closes the trunk, it’s metal clang echoing off the trees more than usual in the strangely silent night, his weapon thrown casually over his shoulder, “Are we ready?”

Kali and El nod, identical looks of dedication and bravery in their features. Robin’s answer is lighter, starting with a tired sigh before her equally as worn response, “As we’ll ever be.”

Steve leads the way because he knows these woods, grew up playing in them with all the other snot-nosed brats in the area who would never have to know the truth about what lurked in the outskirts of their childhood memories. He wishes he was still that kid, who was clueless about

After a while of wandering, the directions from Kali seeming to lead them only to fallen down trees and a frozen creek, Steve wonders aloud, “You said he’s looking for a gate?”

“Yes. There’s one in these woods even. Before, there was a girl taken in your backyard, correct?”

Steve frowns, answering, unsure how Kali knows that or what the relevance is, “Uh. Yeah?”

“I believe the gate was created in the woods by the monster when it took her through. Billy must have found or been led to that old, now sealed gate, and is trying to escape through it now.”

“How do we find it though?”

“I know. I saw it.” El chimes in, with her powers gone, her other natural senses like memory stronger.

“You saw it? When was this?” Kali asks, a gentle coach for her apprehensive sister, who explains, “Before. When Will was lost.”

“So it’s been awhile. Do you still remember the way?”

El nods, and Kali smiles encouragingly, “Then take us there, Jane.”

The woods seem so much bigger when it’s dark and Steve is looking for his dying boyfriend, the tension and frustration as they pass by endless rows of trees in the freezing cold air with no signs of Billy draining away the hope he’d been building, and making him irritated with their seemingly unhurried pace.

Finally, once Steve feels like he’s going to panic, El whispers, pointing to a dead tree, a faint red glow emanating from under its bark, “There.”

Putting her arm out across Robin's chest and holding El’s hand to keep the group from moving further, Kali warns, “Stay away from it. It’s been used recently.”

But Steve ignores her warning, ignoring the threat of whatever was in there and approaching the tree, “That means Billy could be out here.”

He disturbs the quiet they were moving slowly to try to preserve, calling out, “Bills? Billy baby, where are you?”

A faint growl from an unseen monster sends shivers up the spines of the three girls, but Steve is still too distracted, his rational sense too entrapped in the throes of panic to notice the sound, and, as he is holding heir only weapon, Robin hisses at him, “Steve, I love you, but please shut up. There could be a monster out here.”

“No. Billy is out here too, and I have to help him, Rob.” He insists, turning and “Billy? Are you out here? Please!”

“Steve, just listen to me for five seconds!”

“What is it, Robin!”

She stays silent, gesturing to the empty air, and Steve is about to ask what he’s supposed to be looking at when he hears the snarls and chitters she must have been hearing, his stomach dropping at the realization that there was something close by, “Oh shit..”

“Yeah, oh shit!” Robin whisper-yells, “What the hell are we going to do now, dingus?”

Steve bites his lip, has to think hard about how to fix this mistake he’d made, “Kali, do you feel Billy?”

She nods seriously, “I do, and I can reach him and guide him from here, but I will only do it once it’s safe.”

“Then I’ll keep the monster held off. You just stay here and start looking.” He plots, and Kali nods again, doesn’t like taking orders but recognizes the urgency and danger of the situation is to blame for Steve’s bluntness with her.

Robin also knows Steve well enough to know what he means by that declaration, and she instantly insists, her town laced with desperation, “I’m coming with you.”

“We’ve only got one nail bat, Robs. Stay here with El and Kali. I want Billy to see a familiar face when he gets out anyways.”

Robin’s lip quivers slightly, and she throws her arms around Steve, despite the awkward one armed hug he has to give her because of the bat. She mumbles into his shirt, “I love you, Stevie. Please be safe.” She chuckles wetly, tears obvious in her voice, “I’ll kill you if you die out there.”

Holding her tight, but not letting his emotions through, not yet anyways, he assures her, “Love you too, Robs. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

Breaking the hug with Robin, he waves to the sisters and sets off from the group, waiting until he can’t see them anymore to call, “Hey!! Come out and get me, you big asshole!”

When there’s nothing but the distant sound of rustling, like it heard him but won’t come, he has the sense that the monster is aware of both groups, and is deciding which to go after, so Steve pricks the his finger on the end of the sharpest nail on purpose, hoping his blood will attract the monster more than Kali’s, “That’s right, come this way and fight me!”

That catches its interest, and for the first time he is able to make out the creature's figure as it moves closer to him. What he’s expecting is for it to charge at him at any second, that was his goal after all, but what Steve is very much not anticipating, is for it to rise to its back legs, a fully grown demogorgon only slightly smaller than the first one he’d faced, “Oh shit. Shit, shit, shit.”

Steve raises his bat, taking in every detail of the monster before they have to fight. It’s more frail than the one he’d fought before, he guesses because it has no leader. It seems less violent, from the way it just sort of watches him, not immediately starting its attack. He notices then, that this demogorgon is not more good natured or more weak than the other, but that it’s already been injured in a fight.

Right in the center of its chest is a bleeding hole almost as wide as the demogorgon itself, seemingly made by a shotgun blast. Because of the way this thing is, Steve knows that the wound isn’t hurting it much, but also that it’s exploitable. That, if he can just drive the end of his bat through that tender spot, it will die.

He decides he’s not going to wait for it to recuperate, and he charges first, bat clutched in both hands and raised over his head, his focus on driving through.

But as small a threat as this demogorgon seems, it still has a lot of teeth and a good bit of fight left in it, because it swipes Steve out of the way like a small annoyance, claws catching on his face just enough to leave two small, stinging scratches, and knock the bat out of his hands.

He scrambles for his weapon, dodging an attempt at a bite on his arm when he reaches for the bat, swinging it as soon as it’s back in his hands, hitting its face and tearing its flesh.

While it roars, in anger and pain and probably frustration that he’s beating it, Steve backs away, avoiding the blind, angry swings of its claws at him,

Again, he doesn’t give the demogorgon the chance to recover before he attacks, this time going for its legs, hoping to get the advantage by getting it on the ground. It easily dodges those swings, so Steve switches tactics, afraid to let the thing get too much confidence that it can beat him and tear him to shreds for making it mad, instead swinging and sticking that nails in its back repeatedly.

The combination of making it turn trying to grab for him behind it and the attack works, the creature sinking to its knees, the ultimate sign of submission and weakness.

Steve takes a deep breath, hoping this isn’t just a trap, the monster trying to look weak so it can trick him into coming close and finish him off. He raises the bat high over his head, plunging it with both hands through the already weak center of its chest.

It wasn’t a trap. The demogorgon hisses and shrieks, horrible sounds that make Steve let go of the bat and cover his ears, without the support of the bat, the monster falling to the dirt, dead if he’d ever seen one.

Steve puts his shoe on its neck, just in case, and pries the bat back out from its body, halfway down past the nails now completely coated in thick monster blood and gore. He grimaces, sticking it instead in the mud and leaning on it while he catches his breath, too terrified of what he’d been able to do, or rather, what he had to do in order to save his friends and Billy, who still might not survive all of this, to celebrate his own victory.

While it sits with him, and the adrenaline rush that carried him to killing a demogorgon gradually calms down, the radio in his pocket starts up. Through the intense static, he’s able to hear broken up bits of his name, but the words are stuck in his throat, unable yet to respond.

“Steve?” Slowly he can make out that it’s Robin’s voice calling to him, her tone getting gradually more desperate, “Steven Carson Harrington, come through right the hell now!”

He recognizes her fear, and that he should probably be dead right now, and only after he’s had enough time to sit with that thought is he ready to respond, “M’here, Rob. I’m here.”

On the other end, Robin sighs, immensely relieved by him making contact, has apparently been trying for longer than Steve had been able to hear in close range of the monster, “Jesus, Steve. I thought you were..”

“Not yet, Robs. I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

“And the demogorgon?”

“It’s dead.” Steve answers quickly, though he can’t find it in himself to give any details, anxiously moving the conversation along to, “Please tell me you have good news for me.”

He can hear the relieved smile on her voice as Robin responds, “I do. We’ve got him, Steve. We have Billy.”

[is0gild]

Ice Cream and Fire Oven Pizza - Chapter 14

Pairing: Elsa x Lea/Axel || Side Pairing: Riku x OC

Summary: Modern AU. She's an introvert ball of nerves who works at Ice Palace, a mall food court ice cream shop. He's the outgoing, sassy goofball who works at the Pizza Planet across the way. Hilarity, snark, and fluffy romcom hijinks ensue.

Word Count: 5,299

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

Credit for super friggin’ cute and super friggin’ amazing cover art goes to the super friggin’ talented ky-jane here on tumblr!

I consider myself a pacifist. A live-and-let-live sort of person. I wouldn't hurt a flea.

"Oh Anna? Precious baby sister of mine, apple of my eye, fruit of my heart… would you come over here for a moment? I want to show you something."

When it comes to Anna however…

"Yes Elsa? Dearest big sis, uh… pop-tart of my soul, chicken nugget of my… nose. Might I first ask what precisely it is that you wish to show me?"

Anna I would hurt. Especially when she royally deserves it.

"My fingers wrapping around your throat and squeezing. Hard."

"Ya know, as fun as that does sound, I think I'll pass."

"Come here, you little-" I snarled, dropping the sugary-sweet facade and making a lunge for her over the couch that she'd been keeping between me and her. She squeaked and jumped backwards out of my reach, nearly toppling over Rayne's coffee table but with a flail of her arms, barely managed to stay upright. I banged my fist against a cushion, narrowing my eyes on her and huffing through my nose. Then I bolted to the left and Anna immediately took off to the right, staying ahead of me as I chased her around the sofa a couple times. From the kitchen, Rayne, Riku, and Lea observed silently from their seats around the dining table as they munched on some popcorn.

The two of us came to a stop after a few laps, still (much to my annoyance) on opposite sides of the couch. Panting to catch her breath, Anna snapped, "I dunno why you're so frigging mad even, I was only trying to help!"

"Help?!" I scoffed, placing my hands on the backrest of the sofa, my fingers crushing the pillows. "You nearly gave Uncle Weselton a heart attack and killed him!"

She looked away, razzing her tongue. "Eh, I woulda been doing the world a favor."

"Anna!"

"What?! The old geezer was fine, wasn't he? Only blacked out for like a minute tops! Then he was back up and marching out of the place in a huff all," she lifted her nose into the air and her voice got deep and snooty in her best impersonation of the Duke as she stabbed an index finger up high, "when your father and mother hear about this, young lady, there will be a reckoning! You hear me? A reckoning! Blah, blah, blah, my nose is too big and my combover looks like hamster roadkill!"

My eyelids drooped. "...his exact words."

"Oh yeah, verbatim."

Growling, I suddenly vaulted over the furniture-turned-barricade in an attempt to catch her off guard, but she was ready for the surprise attack. In the blink of an eye, she'd turned, bounded over the coffee table and darted into the bathroom, slamming the door shut in my face just as I got to it. I jiggled the knob, but it was already locked. Banging both my hands against the wooden surface, I yelled, "Dammit, Anna, you can't hide in there forever!"

"I can and I will!" her voice came back muffled from the other side. "I got running water in here, baby! I can stay hydrated, shower… just you watch, I'll survive in here for years!"

I crossed my arms, scowling at the door. "And what, pray tell, are you going to do for food?"

There was a long pause. Then, "...Floss! That's right! I'll slurp it up like spaghetti! Shampoo will be my sauce and crushed-up toilet paper will be my meatballs!"

Pinching the bridge of my nose, I grumbled, "You can't eat toiletries, Anna."

"Try and stop me!"

I twitched. Then I reeled an arm back, zero-point-two seconds away from breaking the stupid door down through sheer force of will alone, but a hand on my elbow brought me up short. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw it was Rayne. She greeted me with a small, gentle smile, "How 'bout we have a seat and cool off for a second, huh sweetpea?"

Her soft but firm grasp on my arm pulled me towards the kitchen, my feet dragging while I glared back at the bathroom door as I was taken away from it. When we reached the dining table, she put her hands on my shoulders and pushed down, forcing me to take a seat in one of the chairs.

Right next to Lea.

Which had the unfortunate side effect of reminding me of his existence. That he'd been here this whole time, watching me spend the last ten minutes or so trying to murder my own sister.

"Oh gosh, you must think I'm a crazy person," I groaned, burying my face in my hands as Rayne took a seat on my other side.

I heard him chuckle and I peeked out between my fingers to see him flashing me a grin. "Not at all! I actually kind of like seeing this side of you, El. It's fun!"

For a guy who'd just had it sprung on him that he was my boyfriend and one true love, he was taking it with a surprising amount of ease and good humor. That is, once he'd gotten past the initial shock, of course. In fact, now that he knew what was going on, he even seemed to find the whole thing funny. I wished I could laugh so easily at this big mess Anna had put us in.

Speaking of the little brat, as soon as the Duke had stormed out of the mall, she'd made a pretty hasty retreat herself, saying she'd see me back at my apartment. I think she'd hoped Rayne would keep me from slaughtering her. Unfortunately for her, it seemed my roomie was less interested in keeping her alive and more so in just watching the live entertainment unfold in her own living room.

Lea averted his gaze now, rubbing the nape of his neck, "So… a fiancé, huh?"

Oh. Right. Then there was the fact that he was just finding out about all of that too.

Feeling a tiny blush creep up into my face, I quickly hid it by looking down at my fingers fidgeting in my lap. "Uh… no. I mean, yes. I mean, not... anymore, that is. More of an… ex-fiancé now."

"That's good." Even as the words were leaving his mouth, he stiffened and winced, tacking on hastily, "Just cuz… ya know, sounds like a relationship you, er… didn't wanna be in! So it's good you got out of it! That's all, heh!"

"Yeah, I suppose." Sighing, I shook my head, "In any case, I am so sorry Anna dragged you into all of this. I don't know what she was thinking! Only trying to help," I repeated her words with a roll of my eyes, "ha! Her help," air quotes, "was a total disaster. A trainwreck, a catastrophe! We're talking the Titanic meets the Hindenburg! We're talking-"

"Hey, hey, it's okay, really!" Lea placed a comforting hand on my arm. "I don't mind. And I'm sure it's not all that terrible."

With a grimace, I said, "You don't understand. It was already bad enough that this is how my parents found out where I disappeared to and what I've been doing. But now Anna's made things a thousand times worse! I can't put off talking to them anymore. Now I have to go see them and, on top of trying to make them understand why I ran away, I have to explain that Anna was just making things up and-"

"Or," Rayne cut me off, reaching for the bowl of popcorn in the center of the table, "you could just, ya know…" she tossed one into her mouth with a shrug, "...not."

I stared at her blankly. "...I'm sorry, what now?"

"You heard me."

"You want me to lie to them?!" I asked aghast as I tugged at my hair, still in its ponytail from work.

"Well, not so much lie as…" she paused, pursing her lips to one side for a second before her eyes lit up, "as let them believe something that is not wholly true and just not correcting them!"

I gaped at her.

Apparently, Anna's lunacy was contagious now.

"...this is insane. Riku, tell your wife the words that are coming out of her mouth are insane."

He choked on the puffed kernel he'd just popped into his mouth. Coughing and thumping his chest with a fist, he then waved his hands back and forth in front of him, "Oh-ho, no, I'm staying out of this. I'm just here for the snacks." I narrowed my eyes at him and he shrugged. "What, it's not like I'm going to disagree with the future mother of my child."

Lea sniggered and made a whip noise with the accompanying hand motion. Rayne chucked some popcorn at his face while Riku merely raised a glass in his direction, "Damn right, and happily so."

"Come on, this is serious!" I turned my frown on Rayne, "In what possible universe does letting my parents think I ran out on my wedding to be with some random mystery guy help this situation even remotely?"

She smirked, "Think about it, boo. Your uncle has probably already told them by now. The damage is done. In fact, it might do more harm than good at this point if you tried to backtrack and tell them you deceived them by-"

"That I deceived them?!" I shot up to my feet, crisscrossing my arms over my chest and swiping my hands out wide in opposite directions, "No, no, no, this was all Anna! She was the one to make it all up, I had nothing to do with it!"

"Why then didn't you tell your uncle that before he left?" she cocked her head, arching an eyebrow at me.

I blanched before glancing away, my fingers absently drifting up to tangle themselves into the tip of my ponytail once more. "Well, I… that is, he just left so... so quickly! I didn't have time to, uh... a-and he was so mad, I couldn't get a- I mean, I was still getting over the… the shock of what Anna had- and then I was just so relieved the Duke was o-okay that I just didn't even think to-"

"Mm-hm," Rayne's eyelids drooped. "Sweetie, if you can't even explain yourself to me, how do you hope to even have a snowball's chance in hell of making a case to your parents?"

I collapsed back down into the chair with a heavy thud and slumped forward, elbows on the table and fingernails raking into my scalp, "Oh gosh, I'm an accomplice. I'm complicit in Anna's harebrained scheme. This is my nightmare."

I felt Rayne's hand patting me on the head. "There, there. It's not the end of the world. And as… misguided as Anna's attempt to help was, she may have actually done you a bit of a favor."

I looked up at her incredulously. "How?"

"Alright," she propped her chin in her palm, "say you went to your parents right now and told them the truth. There is no other guy. You're just not in love with your ex and don't want to marry him, plain and simple. What would they do? Accept it and be happy for you?"

"Of course they-" my eyes widened as the words died on my tongue. Then I was slowly shaking my head, "...no. No they wouldn't. Actually, they'd probably still try to force me to marry him."

She wrinkled her nose with a frown, "Thought so. Cuz there's no obstacle right now. Nothing standing in the way except a measly thing like your feelings. And in the silver-spooned world you come from, I imagine feelings are a luxury."

A heavy sigh escaped me, "More or less."

"But thanks to Anna, you now have a big mountain of a bad-boy boyfriend-shaped obstacle that makes it a lot harder for them to argue with. Ta-da!" she swept her hands out in a flourish towards Lea, whose head rocked back as he blinked.

Scratching a spot behind his ear with a tiny laugh, he said, "Oh c'mon, Raindrop! Bad boy? I dunno about that. Maybe a year or two ago..."

"Yeah yeah," her hand batted the air dismissively, "you've turned over a new leaf or whatever, but her folks don't know that! And with that wild red mane of yours and all that guyliner, you can still easily look the part. We don't need some nice-guy goody two-shoes who looks like he'll just let Momma and Poppa Fryse walk all over him. We need someone who'll scare 'em and make them back off and let Elsa live her own life."

"Exactly!" Anna's voice suddenly rang out and we all turned in our seats to find she'd crept out of the safety of the bathroom at some point to stealthily eavesdrop from behind the couch. "That's what I was friggin' trying to explain before you so rudely- eep!" she yelped as I stood up from my chair. Then she all but blurred back into the restroom, banging the door closed behind her again.

Damn right, you better run, twerp.

But she couldn't escape my righteous fury for long. The little punk had to be brought to justice. To do that however, I'd need to lure her out of hiding first.

...and I knew just how to do it too.

A wicked smirk tugging at my lips now, I turned and stomped across the kitchen, calling out loudly, "I'm too angry to keep talking about this right now! I'm taking a walk to clear my head!"

Reaching the front door, I opened it before slamming it shut again with me still inside the apartment. I spun back around to face the others, holding an index finger up to my lips.

Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting Annas.

My eyes darted over to the bathroom door. It didn't budge. Clever girl, not being so quick to fall for the oldest trick in the book. After a few seconds of zero movement from the target, I then twirled my finger to the other three, gesturing for them to get conversation rolling again as I used my other hand to quietly slip my shoes off.

Taking the cue, Lea's gaze drifted from me over to Rayne, "So, uh… what are we thinking here? Just put on a lil show for Mom and Pop, one and done and we're out?"

"That might not be enough," she replied as I gave them all the thumbs up before swiftly sneaking past them back towards the living room, my bare feet silent against the floor. "Think about it. Sounds like Elsa's deranged grunkle hired someone to follow her for days. For all we know, her shadow might still be keeping tabs on her at the old coot's request. If you two don't look and act like a googly-eyed couple twenty-four seven, then the jig is up. He'll know Anna made up the whole thing. No, I think what we need here is a long con. To sell this, you two are gonna have to be all lovey-dovey out in public, around the mall, everywhere and at all times."

I'm sorry, we have to what now?!

I stumbled, but managed to steady myself and stay upright, thankfully all still without making a sound. I whipped around to glare at Rayne. She grinned and winked back, waggling her fingers at me in a sly little wave.

My murder list now officially had two names on it.

Rayne was just lucky Anna was more of a priority at the moment. I'd just have to deal with my evil roomie and the inane turn to this whole conversation later. Heaving a soft sigh through my nose, I turned my back on them once more and finished stealthing my way towards my bedroom. Once inside, I closed my door most of the way, leaving it open a sliver of a crack for me to peek out through.

And now the deadly hunter hides in wait for her prey to boldly but unwisely venture forth into the open once more.

"I dunno," Lea rubbed a knuckle to his chin, "would people buy that? I mean, we haven't exactly been acting all couply up until now. Wouldn't it be weird if we just started to randomly out of the blue? Especially considering the story's that she apparently ran out on the wedding to be with me."

She shrugged, "Easily explained. Clearly, Elsa was just worried about word of her torrid affair getting back to her ex. She didn't want him to feel like you two were just flaunting your love and rubbing his nose in it. She was trying to keep it on the DL for the sake of his feelings. But now that the cat's out of the bag, there's no reason to sneak around anymore. You two can now sing your love from the rooftops for all the world to see!"

My left eye ticked.

There would be so much killing before this day was done.

I'd paint the walls of this apartment red with the blood of my sister and my best friend.

I was pulled from my homicidal yet decorative thoughts as I heard a tiny, almost inaudible creak beyond my door from somewhere off to the right. I held my breath. Could it be? Had the mouse braved leaving her hidey-hole? Given my sight into the living room was very limited currently, I had no visual on her yet, so all I could do was wait and hope.

Riku chimed in now, "Honestly, I don't even think most people will be all that surprised. Sora and Kairi actually even had a bet going on between them. He thought it wouldn't be long before you two start dating."

"And Kairi didn't think so?"

"No, she thought you already were."

There! Anna slowly tiptoed into view as she made her way towards the kitchen, her back to me and head swishing to and fro with every careful step she took. Probably sensing a trap, but unable to spot me so deciding to risk it.

Little fool.

Silently pulling my own door open just enough for me to slip back out, I started creeping up behind her.

Lea snorted, "Alright, but some people know for a fact we were never dating. Take the kiddos for example. You think we're gonna be able to pull the wool over their eyes? Maybe they should be let in on the secret."

"Nope," Rayne leaned forward, folding her arms together on top of the table. "This shouldn't leave this room. If the wicked grunkle does still have a tail on Elsa, what if they start discreetly asking questions around the mall? Trust me, the less people know you two are only pretend dating, the better. Besides, you so sure that's what Xion and Rox think? Is it really so hard to believe you were keeping your blossoming romance a secret, even from them? I mean, come on, don't forget what happened on Elsa's first day of work now."

I froze mid-step a few scant inches behind Anna now, my eyes growing round.

Fudge.

Lea cleared his throat into his fist, eyes darting about. "I'm... not sure I entirely know what you're referring to."

I sure as heck did. And without a doubt, he did too. He was probably just trying to be a gentleman.

Rayne, on the other hand, had no such decorum.

"Oh really?" she smirked. Feeling the blood draining from my face, I started swiping my hand back and forth across my throat, rapidly shaking my head at her. Rayne either did not see or did not care. My guess? The latter. "Then allow me to refresh your memory." Now I started gesticulating wildly for her to cram it, my arms frantically but silently flailing about like a mime caught in a blender. Still Rayne pressed on, "You. Her. Lip-locked in the food court within ten seconds of first laying eyes on one another. Ring any-"

"They did what?!" Anna screeched out in glee.

Great. Now Anna knew about the Kissadent. Something I hadn't wanted her to find out about. Like, ever.

My fingers curled, strangling the air in Rayne's direction. Then with a muted growl, I stomped my foot against the carpet.

It wasn't loud.

But it was enough.

Anna spun on her heel with a gasp, blanching at the sight of me. Her eyes flicked towards the bathroom before trying to make a break for it, but I jumped in front of her, blocking her escape route. She then held up her hands and started backing away as I slowly stalked towards her. A nervous chuckle escaped her, "Now, now, Sis! J-just remember that-" the back of her leg bumped against the couch and she fell over backwards onto it. Recovering quickly, she scrambled up over its backrest, crash landing to the floor on the other side. Back on her feet in a flash, she continued in reverse towards the kitchen, "-that you love m-me!"

As I climbed over the sofa after her, she took the opportunity to drop down, scrabble under the dining table and pop up on the other side, putting it between me and her. I gave her a sickeningly sweet smile as I leaned forward, placing my hands on top of the table. "I also love piñatas. Love smashing them open and spilling their rainbow, candied guts across the ground."

Anna gulped. "But you… you couldn't really just, ya know… kill me… r-right?"

"Oh no, I couldn't just kill you… first I'd draw and quarter you, flay you alive, dip you in liquid nitrogen, snap every frozen limb off your body one by one, and then I'd kill you."

"Shit, El, remind me never to get on your bad side," Lea laughed.

Right? Who knew I could be so murdery? Crud, do I need to see a therapist?

Whatever, no time to think about my worryingly homicidal tendencies right now. I had a little sister to eradicate.

I charged around the table towards her. She shrieked, booking it and we circled the kitchen a few times. However, I was gaining fast. Soon, sweet sweet vengeance would be mine. Just another few seconds and-

"Alright, that's enough!" Rayne suddenly shouted, rocketing up out of her chair. Anna hid behind her and my feet skidded to a stop in front of my roommate. "Do I have to separate you two? Put you in opposite corners of the room to stare at the wall and think about what you've done?"

"She's the one who started it!" I snapped, glaring at Anna.

Her mature and oh so dignified response was to blow a raspberry at me over Rayne's shoulder.

My nostrils flared and I lunged at her. However, I was brought up short by an abrupt burst of pain in my upper ear. Took me a second to realize Rayne was pinching it with a scowl. And her other hand? Giving one of Anna's ears the same punishment. "Okay, seriously, you both need to stop. Now. Otherwise I'll… I'll send you to your rooms without dinner!"

Anna rolled her eyes, "Pfffft, you can't do that, it's not like you're my- ow, ow, ow!" I took it Rayne had squeezed her ear harder.

"Oooo, busted!" Lea snerked at us.

Rayne's death glare landed on him. "You want a piece of this, Red?!"

He paled, tossing his hands up in surrender.

Mama Bear Rayne had awoken. May whatever divine entity that watched over the universe from up on high have mercy on our poor, wretched souls.

With a huff, she forced us both to sit down, me back in my chair, Anna taking the one Rayne had just vacated. "You two are going to settle this, right here, right now." Anna pouted, crossing her arms and slouching down into her seat while I simply harrumphed and looked away. Rayne sighed, "...Anna, is there something you'd like to say to your sister?"

The silence stretched. Then finally, begrudgingly, "Sorry… for lying to Weaseltown about you and Lea or whatever."

Golly gee, so heartfelt.

Rayne cleared her throat and nudged my shoulder. "Elsa?"

My face scrunched up, but then I inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly, grumbling, "...sorry for trying to kill you or whatever."

"There! Perfect," Rayne happily chirped, bowing to wrap her arms around both our shoulders and hug us close to her. "One big happy family again! So glad that silliness is now all over and done with!"

Oh-ho, this was far from over.

Just you wait, Anna. I will be revenged.

Straightening back up with a single clap of her hands, Rayne went on, "Okay! Now that we've put that dumb lil spat behind us, we can get back to what's important!" She gestured between Lea and me, "You two going make-believe steady!"

Ugh. How quickly she flipped that switch from angry parent scolding children to utter loon spouting off crackpot ideas. I blamed the baby hormones.

"No!" I stated firmly. "Absolutely not! I am not going through with it! It's ridiculous, I refuse!"

"And give me one good reason why not," she said as she walked over to Riku who took her hand and gently pulled her down to sit in his lap, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Because it's the stupidest plan ever!"

She scoffed, "I said a good reason. That's just an opinion, and a wrong one at that."

I frowned, gnawing on my lower lip. "Because… because…"

Because I potentially had the warm fuzzies for Lea and I might just completely short circuit if he and I had to act like boyfriend and girlfriend.

But I couldn't say that.

I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye and another thought struck me. I seized it like a drowning woman clings to a life preserver in a hurricane. "Ah! Because Lea hasn't agreed to any of this either!" I declared triumphantly to her before turning to him. "Listen, thank you, it's been sweet of you to humor the nutty pregnant lady this whole time, really, but you can stop now. You don't have to do this. It's okay, we all know you'd rather not."

He tipped his head to one side. "Whatever gave you that idea?"

My gaze averted and I gave a tiny shrug. "Well, you know… you're focusing on your schoolwork at the moment and have that whole… dating embargo thing going on, girls are a distraction and whatnot... I mean, I know it'd only be pretend, but still-"

"Wait, wait, hang on," he held up a hand, blinking a couple times at me. "How do you know I'm not dating at the moment?"

"What, like it's some big secret?" Rayne snerked. "Please, it's public knowledge."

His eyes darted back and forth between us, his brow furrowing. "You two were talking about it? How'd that even come up?"

Abort! Abort! He asks about that which he must never know!

Rayne brushed off, "Don't flatter yourself, Red, it was just girl talk. We also talked about what a cute butt Ventus has!"

I stiffened and scowled at her. "I most certainly did-" I hissed out in pain as she kicked me under the table.

"See?" Rayne grinned brightly.

Not. That was the word my sentence was supposed to end in. Not. I most certainly had not been talking about Ventus's posterior or anyone else's for that matter!

"You wanna run that by me again?" Riku drawled, eyelids drooping at her.

"Shush now, don't be jelly, you know I'll always think your tush is the cutest!" she cooed, pinching his cheek.

Bleh. TMI. Gross.

Lea seemed to be of the same mind as me, if the look on his face was any clue. Shaking his head and ruffling his fingers through his hair, he glanced back towards me, "Anyway… look, if this gets you out of a tough spot, I wouldn't mind. This… wouldn't be a distraction. This is just helping out a friend. I can always make time for that!"

Both eyebrows shot up my forehead. "...you'd really do that? Go along with this absolutely bonkers plan for who knows how long... all just for my sake?"

"Well yeah," he flashed those heart-stopping dimples of his, "I'd do anything for you, El!"

Good bye, oxygen. My lungs didn't need to do a silly little thing like breathing anyway.

"Cuz you're a friend!" he blurted out quickly, scratching the back of his head as his eyes shifted. "And there isn't anything I wouldn't do for… for my friends! Heh!"

Oh. Right. Of course that's what he'd meant.

At ease, lungs. Feel free to return to your regularly scheduled respiring now.

But see? This is what I was talking about. We weren't even fake dating yet and I was already having total core meltdowns at the littlest things he did or said. How could I possibly even hope to function if we actually went through with this whole screwball plan?

"There ya go!" Rayne beamed at me. "Any other objections, sweetie?"

"I, uh…" I wanted to argue. I really did. But I had nothing. Nothing I could say aloud in Lea's presence anyway. And as totally cuckoo as this whole idea was, I had to reluctantly admit that Rayne had made some halfway decent points. Now that I could no longer delay the inevitable and had to talk to my parents, this... would actually make standing up to them a little easier. And as much as it pained me to say it, I wouldn't put it past the Duke to still have someone keeping an eye on me and reporting back to him. So if I didn't want my parents to find out it was all a sham to get them to back off, pretending to be boyfriend and girlfriend actually kind of, sort of, in a totally absurd way… made sense? Somehow?

Still, I hesitated. Worrying my bottom lip between my teeth, I glanced around the table. Rayne watched me expectantly while Riku reached past her for some more popcorn. Lea just gave me a comforting smile. As for Anna, she was texting on her phone. Tch, typical.

Taking a deep breath, I massaged one temple with a grimace and a sigh. "...okay. I guess… we're doing this."

"Yay!" Rayne cheered, throwing her hands up into the air.

Dear lord, had I really just agreed to this madness? Really just hopped on board the crazy train with Rayne and Anna? What even was my life anymore?

"Perfect timing!" Anna looked up from her phone with a toothy grin.

I frowned suspiciously back. "What do you mean?"

She flipped the mobile around to show me her screen. "Daddy Dearest just can't wait to see you and meet your new boytoy tomorrow!"

"What?!" I grabbed it out of her hands, quickly scanning her text exchange with our father.

"Yup!" Still looking pleased as punch, she planted her elbows on the table and propped her chin up in both hands. "Don't worry, I've arranged everything! Told him you wanted to stop by your old condo after work and pick up a few things, ya know, your phone, some clothes, stuff like that! Dad'll be there to unlock the door for you since you don't have your key. And Lea, being an absolute sweetheart that knows how to treat his bae right, will of course be giving you a ride. What'd I tell ya? Perfect! What better way for you two lovebirds to make your royal debut?"

Oh god. This was it. It was really happening. There was no turning back now.

What on earth had I just gotten myself into?

Author's Note: Yup, it's the ol' "hey look, circumstances have forced us to fake date" situation we all know and love! It took some doing, a lil bending over backwards and acrobatics, but finally our ice queen has been convinced to get on board with the plan as well, albeit reluctantly xD Dunno what she's so worried about, this plan is BRILLIANT and FOOLPROOF, I tell ya! I mean, it's gotta be… just look at the conniving masterminds who cooked it up xD

Next chapter, how will this lil visit with Daddy Dearest go? Will our leading lady and man make a convincing, lovey-dovey couple? Or could the plan possibly start to unravel before it's barely even begun? Just how long WOULD someone survive on a healthy, balanced diet of floss, shampoo, and toilet paper anyway? Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading, I super duper appreciate it! And an extra BIG thank you to those of you who’ve liked, reblogged, and followed so far, seeing those lil notifications always brings the biggest, goofiest smile to my face!

FIRST CHAPTER || PREVIOUS CHAPTER || NEXT CHAPTER

[toopunkforthisx]

Hey, if you're still taking requests, can we get some harrigrove where Billy kinda takes the other dad role? Like he takes care of the kinds in his own weird way? It's totally cool if that's not tour thing tho

They were in the car, on the way to the arcade. Billy was not too happy about it, but Steve had promised his brats to take them home after the arcade so Billy volunteered to drive all of them. Steve was surprised with that offer, but he went along because it seemed like a good time to have the party and Billy actually interact for more than a minute.

“So…” Steve said and turned to look at the one driving. “I kinda promised I would take the party for ice cream a-“

“Not happening.” Billy interrupted and Steve groaned softly.

“Please! I promised and they were all looking for-“

“I said no.” Billy didn’t look away from the road but he could picture Steve’s face.

“Come on, one hour tops! Just one hour and we can drive them home.” Steve was on the verge of begging because he hated the thought of disappointing the party and he truly didn’t want to hear the bitching and complaining.

Billy looked at Steve and rolled his eyes because he always gave in to this dork, with the hair and bambi eyes.

“30 minutes. Take it or leave it.”

“What is he doing here?” Mike said as he was the first one to spot them and Billy was already regretting being here. Steve gave him a reassuring smile and he knew that Steve would ‘reward’ him if he puts up with the kids.

“Billy? Oh.” Max was not hating the idea, but he knew the rest of the party was not too keen on Billy.

Jane greeted him with a small wave and Dustin completely ignored his existence as he moved over and yelled “Steveeee!” And they both did some weird ass handshake.

Billy was almost embarrassed at the scene.

About 10 minutes later, everyone had an ice cream and they were all sitting on a c shaped booth.

It was Steve’s brilliant idea to actually have them all sit together even when there were 6 kids and two teens. “We couldn’t sit over there and leave the kids alone?” Billy scoffed at Steve who was sitting on the other end of the booth.

“No, I came here to spend time with them as well.” It was all going great until 2 and a half minutes later.

“You’re touching me with your knee!” Max groaned at Mike who was next to El. “Well, it’s not my fault! I’m trying to not sit on El, you know.”

“This was not the ice cream I wanted.” The Byers kid said as he sat directly next to Billy.

“Why didn’t you say anything before?” Steve asked gently.

“I didn’t want Robin to get mad.” She had been the one to serve them, much to her joy.

“Billy, can you take Will to get a new ice cream?” He asked his ‘boyfriend’ and that just earned him a glare.

“Uh, no? He can do it himself.” Billy huffed and looked at the boy, who looked like a dear in headlights.

“Come on, its easier for you two to get out.” Steve agued back and Billy stood up to change the damn ice cream.

He barely made it back and he could hear arguments between Mike and Max and Lucas and Dustin. Billy was getting a headache.

“Everybody, get off the fucking table. Now.” Billy turned to Steve. “That includes you, asshole.”

The kids looked half confused and half angry, but the didn’t move.

“I said ... now.” Billy said with emphasis and they finally listened.

He rearranged them all to what he thought would be the best way, but he kept the Byers boy by his side, he was the least annoying and oddly quiet, just like the older Byers.

“The first person to make a fucking complain or start a dumb argument is walking home after I kick their ass. Understood?” Billy stated and the kids nodded.

“Why are you dating this asshole?” Dustin whispered to Steve and they both laughed softly, earning an eye-roll from Hargrove.

No one complained and no one argued, they just talked between each other and Billy could see how engaged Steve really was with the kids. It was very sweet in some kind of way.

Maybe he could get used to being a step dad.

[ottorocket808]

Chapter Nine: The Gate

Ahhh!!! Their reunion is so fuckin cute and sweet and here comes Hop to fuck it all up. What would give you the indication that he would be mad at El? She wanted to see him she did go see him and you threw a fucking hissy fit. YOU got in the way all he wanted was to know she was safe he would’ve done anything to know that she was alive. I’d be pissed at him too you let me believe she was dead for a year and you want me to understand?

Aww group hug!!! She noticed Dustin’s teeth! No more purring Dustin we do this in the mirror before a date or dance. Skip Max not sure if that was leftover from seeing them at school or because she doesn’t already know her. Joyce with that motherly love she’s been lacking. You already know she’ll let you see him you saved his life. We have our final puzzle piece to close the gate.

Karen... why did you answer the door like that? Billy stop flirting with married women that’s how you get shot! I always hate that line obviously older woman I didn’t know so and so had an older sister heheh lame ass line Karen you thought he was here for Nancy meaning that you can tell he’s young control your hormones. Todd only pays bills there he can’t be slangin pipe with any type of accuracy if she’s being this obvious with a child.

Now ain’t the time Dustin. STOP UNDERESTIMATING HER!! She destroyed your cabin without even trying she’s the one who opened the gate in the first place if anybody can close it it’s El. It’s interesting that it took this long to connect that dot

Fuck you mean you not leaving Mike?! You did it earlier for a day and a half and before anybody says anything about her not knowing she didn’t even ask. Steve you were never a shit boyfriend she played with your heart because she didn’t want to be alone if she couldn’t have Jonathan and she should’ve said something to that effect instead of letting you feel like it was you.

Dammit Hop can’t you let these kids be cute together for a minute without you interrupting?!

Yup that mild coronary you’re having because she hitchhiked home you deserve but you can tell that she learned and grew a lot since she left she needed to leave regardless because of what happened while she was gone. I get it Hop but if you hold too tightly you’ll kill her spirit and she’ll resent you instead of loving the safety you provide.

Bitchin’

Dammit Dustin we just wasting good food? After all this if they just set it on fire I’d be pissed. That thing is stupid slimy it sounds disgusting.

Just let him pace in peace he literally just found out she’s alive and now she’s tossing herself back into the fray with hundreds of Demodogs runnin loose anybody would be worried especially when you have to sit on your hands and hope that everything goes ok.

This is the start of a trend with Max that pisses me off El isn’t a pack mule or a work horse yes she’s strong as shit but she bleeds just like the rest of us backup and assistance ain’t ever been a bad thing when fighting a war.

It ain’t a fact until it happens. Here comes Billy!! ‘If he finds out I’m here he’ll kill me, he’ll kill us.’ Proceeds to post up in the window where he can clearly see her?! The sucker punch was a bitch move Hargrove.

I’m pretty sure that part of the reason that he doesn’t want Lucas around Max is that it’s hard to control someone with friends if I know you have nowhere to go you won’t sneak out and if she does it’d be to the arcade which is probably closed by now so she’d be on her way back if she wasn’t here. Will he actually strike her is my question he says he’ll kill her will he really? Or is she just being dramatic not wanting to get in trouble for sneaking out?

Another trend is that they don’t help each other literally one has to be being beaten half death before anybody moves to help.

It really seems like the hype of Steve got to Billy way more than Steve himself did. I’ve never heard Steve refer to himself as King Steve other people do that. Screaming that Billy’s gonna kill him is so far from helpful it’s painful. How much of that shit is lethal she could kill him. It doesn’t really work like that Max if his dad says come get you because you snuck out of the house again he has to collect. What the hell is Billy supposed to tell Neil when he finally wakes up? His dad doesn’t seem like the type to accept failure.

Ok isn’t the word I would use determined is better.

I would freak the fuck out too she’s 13 and driving a car with me in it while not actually knowing where she’s going and speeding down a dark road with a box on the gas pedal because she can’t actually reach it.

That high pitched scream was for sure Lucas.

They’re heating the woods around the house too because the windows need replacing because Hop made a El cry like a big ass bully.

Well Steve he has a point.

Mama Steve makes a good point too.

It kinda pissed me off seeing Hop out El to the Doc at the drop of a hat he could forge a birth certificate and drag her to another lab and it would be his fault for trusting the wrong person.

The inflammed Butt Hole strikes again people should really stop shining light at it. How did it get in your mouth past your mask? Where the hell did they get this equipment??

Jonathan would let The MindFlayer live in his brother indefinitely Joyce wants it out and she wants it out now. Jonathan doesn’t have a do whatever it takes mindset and he would’ve messed everything up. He was quick to turn that heater down but Joyce is currently being choked and I hear him say ‘mom!’ But see no hands entering the frame to help her.

We will never speak of this Mama Steve.

In an interesting twist Nancy saves his moms life. I wonder if Will has a scar because of that. So nobody wondered where the inter dimensional blac smoke went?

RUN BABIES AND MAMA STEVE RUNNNNNN!!!! Protect your baby Mama Steve!

It’s like they don’t even realize they’re there maybe it’s a priority thing El is the more pressing threat so even though they’re in pain gotta stop her.

She’s damn near face to face with it and even though she’s disintegrating his tentacle he’s still trying to take her over and stop her. Even though a lot of people didn’t like The Lost Sister Chapter it helped El to boost her power using her own pain and anger therefore helping her close this massive gate my baby is growing up and she’s so strong I’m so proud.

Sweet El/Hop moment I still don’t like him but he means a lot to her.

Hawkins lab is closed but vulnerable. Again if this was real Nancy would’ve destroyed her entire family. But it’s a plot line so I let it go.

Hey Hop her name is Jane Ives you didn’t actually adopt her this still really feels like kidnapping.

Aww it’s Snowball time

Will learning to dance is adorable, I don’t think Mike will ever like forced pictures, Lucas is gonna toss Erica out the window and Max looks cute Billy looks kind of lost he needs to learn proper communication gotta get that hair right Dustin.

Steve is the big brother we all wish we had. Dustin is a dork and I love him. Don’t be talking about my baby’s Steve inspired mullet. She enjoys torturing this boy. I don’t think calling someone Zombie Boy is a good way to show interest Will looked scared and he’s been to The Upside Down. I still wanna fight these girls he’s a sweet kid a bit of a dork but he is a good guy and they made him cry. This is the best thing Nancy does all season. ‘Girls this age are dumb.’ You led your 1st boyfriend on for a year still dumb.

Hardcore RIP BOB moment.

This song is so damn creepy. They are like puppies in love it’s adorable look at them go ah it’s so sweet. And now I’m pretty sure the creepy song is for The MindFlayer being gigantically creepy in The Upside Down.

[yurtletheturtlehenderson]

S.T REWRITE - S1:E6; Chapter Six, The Monster - [Pt. 3 - FINAL PART]

A Will Byers x Reader Series

With Eleven gone, Y/n struggles to keep the party together. Elsewhere, Hopper and Joyce uncover the truth about the lab’s many experiments.

Managed to pause it at the right time 

||3rd Person POV|| "She was part of some study in college." Becky, who had now properly introduced herself to the duo, was sitting at the kitchen table with Joyce and Hopper with her sister Terry still in the adjoining room. "MK Ultra?" Hopper had remembered the name popping up several times on the many newspaper clippings and articles they had at their disposal. "Yeah, that's the one." Becky said bleakly, taking a puff of her cigarette and then quickly exhaled. "Was, uh, started in the '50s. By the time Terry got involved, it was supposed to be ramping down, but the drugs just got crazier. Messed her up good." Hopper remained leaning back in his chair, a concentrated frown stuck in his features. "This was the CIA that ran this?" Becky smiled and softly chucked, motion to the man slightly. "You and Terry would've gotten along. 'The Man,' with a big capital 'M'. They'd pay... you know, a couple hundred bucks to people like my sister, give 'em drugs, psychedelics. LSD, mostly." As Becky spoke, Hopper and Joyce shared an equally concerned look. "And then they'd strip her naked and put her in these isolation tanks." Joyce frowned. "Isolation tanks?" "Yeah. These big bathtubs, basically, filled with salt water, so you can float around in there." She made subtle swaying motions with her hand as she spoke. "You lose any sense of, uh... sense and feel nothing, see nothing. They wanted to expand the boundaries of the mind. Real hippie crap." Joyce was still hanging onto every word with a genuine look of concern. "I... I mean, it's not like they were forcing her to do any of this stuff. The thing is, though, is that she didn't know she was pregnant at the time." "Jane." Joyce said in immediate understanding. Becky nodded and took another puff of her cigarette. Joyce sighed in amazement, before asking. "Do you have any pictures of her?" Becky gave the two an odd look. "I don't think you guys understand. Terry miscarried in the third trimester." +++ "She keeps all of this up. Been doing it for 12 years." Becky had just led the two into the untouched baby room at the end of the hallway. She took a seat on the arm of the chair in the corner of the room as Joyce and Hopper came in and examined the room in curiosity. "Terry, uh, pretends like Jane is real," Hopper approaches the hanging mobile and gives it a light touch sending it spinning slowly and triggering the mechanics so now it plays a haunting lullaby. "like she's gonna come home someday." The mobile continues playing the lullaby as Becky speaks, giving the atmosphere a chilling tone. "Says she special. Born with 'abilities'" 《•••》 Eleven stood to her feet and before they could close the steel door, she threw the door open along with one of the men straight into the tile wall. He fell to the floor, leaving a large hole in the tile 《•••》 "Abilities?" Joyce contorted her face in confusion and surprise. Becky looked to Joyce as she exhaled the smoke that previously resided in her lungs. 《•••》 The second man spared a second to look before turning to her to try and restrain her. Before he could even step foot in the room, he was dead on floor, his neck snapped. All with the flick of her head. 《•••》 "You read any Stephen King?" Becky quipped. 《•••》 The cat began snarling, and it quickly turned to whimpers of pain. Eleven was freely crying now as she looked between the frightened cat and Papa. She gave one final look at the cat before yanking the wires off her head in defeat. 《•••》 Hopper shifted uncomfortably and looked to Joyce who looked equally unsettled. Becky chuckles. "You guys look scared, actually." She laughed once more before shaking her head slightly. "I mean, it's all make-believe" Joyce clears her throat uncomfortably, trying to regain her composure. "What... what kind of abilities?" Becky stares off into space as she recalls the claims made by her sister and begins listing them off casually. "Telepathy, telekinesis..." 《•••》 A shrill shriek erupts from Eleven's throat and Lucas Sinclair is thrown back several feet in the air. His body slides a few feet on the ground until it crashes into a nearby piece scrap metal knocking him unconscious. 《•••》 "You know, shit you can do with your mind. That's why the big, bad Man stole Jane away." 《•••》 "Papa!" She screamed her throat raw as the men dragged her away, yet as always Papa did nothing. 《•••》 "Her baby's a weapon, off fighting the commies. You know, the doctor's all day it's a coping mechanism. You know, to deal with the guilt. Hell, she even believes that she still could have done something. Shortly before she got, you know pretty bad, she started muttering about, uh, something about how there was more she could have done." Becky frowned as she recalled the memory and seeing her sister so frantic. Hopper frowned at this, silently encouraging her to continue. Becky shrugged. "According to Terry, there was another woman like her. You know, who was pregnant during all the experiments. I don't know what happened, or if it was even true, but she seemed pretty convinced. Said this woman had her baby and even got her out somehow." Hopper perked up at this, recalling the many mentions of the "missing experiment" and wondered if there was any connection. "Are you saying there was another kid?" "According to Terry. You couldn't convince her otherwise if you had tried." A sympathetic smile crossed Becky's face as she recalled the memory. "She would go on about all the whispers she'd claimed to have heard. Apparently, the woman had her baby but got away before they could take 'em, and only the child supposedly survived. This baby by the way, who was supposed to have some sorta" Becky's face scrunched up in distaste as she told the made up stories of her sister, clearly uncomfortable with the idea and she made big gestures with her hands. "'untapped potential for the greater good'. Some real messed up pseudoscience shit and when she supposedly 'got away' the big, bad Man did not like it and killed the woman and they were comin' for Jane next. And the rest, well" she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, do you think there is any chance she could have been telling the truth?" Becky only gave her a look. "About having had Jane, at least. Or even the other woman?" Joyce stammered. "Well, as for the possibility of another woman being pregnant during all that isn't exactly impossible given it happened to Terry so I never really ruled that possibility out I guess, but as far as Jane? There is no birth certificate, nothing from the hospital. Doctors and nurses all confirm that she miscarried." Hopper who had very seriously been contemplating all this finely spoke up. "Yeah, but that could've been covered up. Right?" Becky smiled and shook her head. "Like I said, you and Terry would've gotten along." ||Reader's POV|| "El!" "Eleven!" "Eleven!" "El!" "El!" The boys and I had been wandering around the woods by Mirkwood for almost a half an hour now. My fingers were beginning to hurt from the brisk icy air. I was clutching the handles of my bike as I walked it through the woods. "El?" I called desperately. No answer, of course. I stiffen when I hear a twig snap in the distance. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one who heard it. "Hey, stop. Do you hear that?" Mike said lowering his voice. "What?" Dustin asked quietly. We were all standing still until Mike began turning around, attempting to protect his voice as far as he could. "El!" Nothing. "El?" "Shit." I began backing away on instinct when I see the all too familiar pair of bullies quickly approaching us. They looked mad. Troy, specifically. He had his hood over his head as he charged up the small hill into view. "Hey, there, Frogface. Toothless. And who could forget little miss bitch." Troy hissed, whipping out his pocket knife. "Shit! Run, guys, run!" Dustin shouted, throwing his bike to the ground. "Run! Come on!" I quickly followed suit and the three of us dashed off into the woods. I was going as fast as my legs could possibly carry me. Never stopping, I spared a glance behind me only to lock eyes with Troy. The look in his eyes terrified me. "You're dead Henderson!" I whipped my head forward and I put everything I had into going faster. "Run, [Y/N], come on!" Dustin yelled. Soon enough, I felt my legs turn to led and my lungs were bone dry. Mike was now in lead. We made it to the quarry when Dustin began slowing down and let out a gasp of pain. "Cramp!" He exclaimed, clutching his side. "Just keep going!" Mike called over his shoulder. He continued running but he let out a groan. "Keep going!" Troy was right on our heels, just when we thought we might lose him we saw his goon around the corner in front us. This is it. We're trapped. We all shared the same thought and picked up the closest thing to ourselves and held them up as weapons. Dustin grabbed a rather sharp stick and Mike grabbed a large stone. With little to no options left I decided to take a page out of Dustin's book. Only there were no more sticks so I grabbed a nearby tree branch. It was thin and relatively small for a tree branch but it would have to work none the less. Instinctively, I grab it by both hands and snap it half using my leg. Casting aside the weaker piece, left me with a now very sharp make shift spear. I grasped the "spear" with both hands and held it out in front of myself protectively, blowing a few strands of loose hair from my face. "Stay back." Troy didn't listen and stepped closer. "I SAID STAY BACK!" I roar. I saw him flinch. I smiled very slightly to myself, proud that I had intimated him for once. They began circling us like vultures. "Don't come any closer!" Mike yelled. I had an eye on Troy who was just as focused on me. I didn't trust him enough to look away. Yet, upon hearing a grunt and the clatter of the stone, I was worried Mike or Dustin got hurt and out of instinct I looked. "Nice throw, numbnuts." Mike had thrown the stone but mis- I felt a sharp pain in the back of my head and I collapsed to the ground. "[Y/N]!?" I groaned and I tried sitting up but my vision was blurry and moving seemed like an impossible feat. I groan in pained and I seemed to drift in and out of consciousness, unable to do anything. I thought I heard my name called a few times and I could have sworn that I felt a pair of hands trying to shake me awake. I only groaned and put all my energy into opening my eyes but then I saw it. The rock that hit me. It was slightly larger than my fist and it was it had a few splatters of blood. The sight weakened me and I groaned and rolled over on my side. My left arm became a pillow for my bleeding head. The next thing I heard was yelling. I could tell it was from Dustin. "YOU SON OF BITCH!" He then let out and a fierce scream and then I heard the sound of scuffling. I wanted to do something, but I was still too dizzy. "Get off! Get off me! Don't hurt her!" I gathered all the strength I could muster and look up to my brother. That bastard. He had my brother. He was holding my brother hostage with his knife to my brother. "G-Get away from-!" I began to stand up only for my knees to buckle and I tripped over my own two feet and stumbled to the ground once more. This time I could feel the sting of the gravel digging into my palms and all the blood rush to my head. It was too much for me and I couldn't stop myself from slipping into unconsciousness. +++ "Dentist's office opens in five!" 'What?' My limbs felt like they were made of less once more, even my eyelids were heavy, they felt impossible to open. I made out distorted shouts. "Four!" 'Whatever is happening I know it's bad.' "Three!" 'Come on, wake up!' "Two!" My eyes began to go flutter open. "Mike!" I made out Mike's figuring standing on a ledge. Why was he looking like he was gonna- Shit. 'What the hell? No! No, you idiot, no!' Putting everything I had I sat up, my vision slowly but surely returning as well as my strength. "Mike-" I said weakly. "One!" But it was too late. In one swift motion he stepped off the ledge and disappeared. "Mike!" I cried out. Three boys looked shocked and ran to the ledge. 'No. No! No, he- No! What the hell happened?! How did everything go so wrong so quickly?' I choked on a sob, which made my head throb. But I didn't care. Now I really felt nauseous. I placed both my hands over my mouth and silent tears fell down my cheeks. "Holy shit." Dustin said. I sniffled and looked to the boys. Why weren't they freaking out more? That's when I heard it. It was Mike. It was distant, but it was Mike. I wanted to say something but I was still in shock. I didn't know where to begin. 'Is it Mike? Is he okay? Why did he jump? Why aren't you guys freaking out?' I wanted to say all those things but nothing came out. My heart leaped when I heard him shriek and for a second I thought he might be falling again but then... "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!" I couldn't believe what happened next. But sure enough there he was. Floating upside down, up over the cliff and landed safely on the ground behind me. I stared in shock. We all did. "Am I still unconscious?" Thought out loud. Naturally, Mike was just as confused as we were, he wore the same expression as I did when he made eye contact with me. But then all my questions were answered when Mike's gaze shifting behind me. There she was in all her glory. El. She had abandoned the wig but remained in the same old dress and jacket Mike had given her. Only now they were covered in dirt, as was her face. Her head was tilted down and she stormed up the group. A huge grin found it's a way onto my face and an excited and relieved laugh left my mouth as she approached us. James and Troy began stomping towards her when suddenly, without warning James was knocked back with incredible force. I looked to El knowing it was her doing, then suddenly she flicked her head to the side and I heard a rather disgusting snap followed by Troy crying out in pain. He clutched his right arm and dropped his knife in the process. I felt an arm extend itself to me, it was Dustin, who was helping me stand up. I gladly took his arm and wobbled to my feet. "She broke my arm! My arm!" "Serves you right asshole." I spit. Quite literally in fact. I spit in his direction making sure he caught the gesture. He was too busy being afraid to retaliate and he looked to El, cowering. "Go." She stated threateningly. "Let's get out of here! Let's go!" Troy screamed. James was quick to follow. "Go!" Dustin left my side and chased after them, taking the opportunity to taunt them which I rather enjoyed seeing. "Yeah, that's right! You better run!" Me and Mike look gleefully at one another. "She's our friend and she's crazy! You come back here and she'll kill you! You hear me? She'll kill you, you sons of bitches! She'll kill you, you hear me?" I looked to El happily when I noticed she looked rather pale. Suddenly she collapsed. We all surrounded her, worriedly. "El, you alright?" I asked. "El?" She made eye contact with Mike and began sobbing. "Mike... I'm sorry." "Sorry? What are you sorry for?" She choked back another sob. I frowned and hissed in pain slightly. My hand went to the back of my head, silently inspecting the wound as I listening to El. "The gate... I opened it. I'm the monster." My hand left my wound, and I felt another wave of dizziness wash over me and I knelt down on the ground. Not wanting to interrupt her but also avoiding the possibility of falling over. "No. No, El, you're not the monster. You saved me. Do you understand? You saved me." Mike pulled her up and into a hug. I smiled at the sight and leaned in joining hug. Normally I would let them have their moment but given that Mike was almost just killed and things could have been a lot worse, I didn't care and went in for it. Dustin apparently had the same idea and I felt his arms wrap around me and Mike and El. And we stayed like that for as long as we could. At that moment we were just four friends who were lucky enough to have found each other. And thank God we did. +++ Eventually, of course, we got up and decided to grab our bikes and to the gate. Hopefully, find Lucas and convince him to help. I feel awful for letting him go alone. Once again, Dustin helped me to my feet to which I thanked him for. I gave a reassuring smile to my brother. But his face contorted in shock and worry as he looked at me. "What?" "[Y/N], your face. You've got... you're- Dude your face is covered in- veins? What the hell? [Y/N], are you sure you're okay? You got hit pretty hard and you were pretty out of it." I frowned, tracing my fingers around my cheeks in confusion. "I'll be fine. I'll have to be, finding Will and getting Lucas back is more important. Which is why we need to get moving. Come on, we better hurry if we want to get s head start. We still have to get our bikes back." I said, leading the way back from where we were chased. I didn't want to show them how uncomfortable I was. I didn't want to show weakness so I trek on. Despite the tingling sensation I felt throughout my entire body and the sense of dizziness that had made its return once more. 'I'm not and an idiot. I know that weird, unexplainable things have been happening to me but I honestly have no idea how to process all this so for now, all I can afford to worry about is Will.’ That's all that matters now. +++ We eventually found out bikes and were currently returning from the woods through one of the park fences. We were all walking our bikes across the patch of grass, save for El of course, when I the familiar sense of being watched returned for the second time today. Only this time, it put me on edge and left me paranoid. At the risk of worrying the group, I kept this to myself. Oh, what a mistake that was.

+++

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[stranger-things-trashtm-blog]

The wonderful @sneakysprinkle requested, “Hey I would love love love it if you could make a mileven fic set at the cabin with the rest of the party. (Maybe they could explore elevens powers?) please please please!! :)” Here you go, hope you like it!!

   Jim Hopper stood in the dark corner of his hunting cabin smoking a cigarette and keeping a careful eye on his adopted daughter, Jane. The young girl sat quietly on the couch her legs crossed underneath her while a small gaggle of pre-teens sat on the floor in front of her. They had decided as a group that today would be the day they would determine just how powerful Jane was. Hopper had insisted he be present for the “experiment” for the safety of everyone involved. Dustin was the first to break the silence,”I mean we know you can kill people and close interdimensional portals, so I guess we can check that one off the list.” Mike groaned, of course, Dustin had made an actual list.

   “Give me that,” Mike snapped and tore the paper from Dustin’s hands. “Time travel? Teleportation? Replication? Are you serious?” Mike crumpled the sheet of paper, he had been the only one of the party to veto this idea. “Don’t you think she’s gone through enough test already? We’re supposed to be her friends and you want to poke and pinch at her to make her do to party tricks?” Mike looked desperately to Hopper, “You’re the adult here, tell them we shouldn’t do this,” the Chief remained stoic, unmoved by Mike’s plea. “Mike,” Mike turned to look at her, “I want to do this, I need to do this,”

“Yeah but- El, just- I don’t want you to feel like you need to. You aren’t some sort of sideshow attraction.”  She smiled at him softly placing her hand gently on his shoulder, “I’ll decide when it’s time to stop, I promise I won’t be-” she looked towards Hopper,” I won’t be stupid.”

   For over an hour Dustin rattled off ideas from his list, most of them were based around things he had seen in movies or on TV. The truth of the matter was there was no way of knowing what Eleven could really do or what things were even possible, this was a totally alien concept to them. At first, things were pretty tame, making a spoon float mid-air, turning the lights on and off, but after a while, that wasn’t enough. Eleven started pushing herself more and more, she made the doors slam and caused a fire to roar to life in the fireplace. She sent chairs flying across the room and burst the lightbulbs in every lamp.  “Okay, that’s enough!” Mike said but Eleven was in a deep trance, blood pooled in her nostrils and dribbled down her lips.

   “El, stop it! You’re going to hurt yourself!” Max cried, just as she said that a large book came flying across the room hitting her square in the jaw. “Hey!” Lucas yelled throwing his body across Max as records started cutting through the air. Hopper ran to his girl, holding her head in his hands, “Jane, you have to stop this, okay.” He said this in a way that sounded calm but his eyes were full of terror. “Jane?” Nothing changed the cabin was now in full chaos. Max and Lucas ran for the door but it wouldn’t open and Dustin dove under the couch for protection. Hopper was now shaking the young girl, “Come on, kid, snap out of it!” Her brown eyes were glazed over and her mouth hung open slightly, she was completely gone, disappeared into her mind.

   “I’m so sorry for this,” Hopper said as he drew his hand back and gave Jane a hard smack across the mouth. “What did you do that for?” Mike screamed as he moved closer to Eleven. “I’m running out of ideas here, kid.”

“Look out!” Max screamed as a butcher knife flew through the air implanting itself into the wall. “I think I know something that’ll work,” Mike cried as he ran for his backpack. He dove over chairs and books making his way towards the bag. Once he had it in his hands he dug around frantically before he found what he was looking for. He double checked the cassette was still in his Walkman and then joined Hopper who was still desperately trying to pull El from her trance.

   As Mike fumbled with the headphones he could hear Hopper pleading with Eleven, “I promise you this isn’t that place. You are safe here, I would never, ever let anything bad happen to you I promise. But you need to come back, okay? Please come back. You have to come back to me, El. Come back to Dad, okay?” Finally, Mike inserted the jack correctly, he moved quickly wiping the blood from El’s ears as he slowly placed the headphones over her curly hair. Pressing play Mike waited for a sign. Mike had spent hours putting together that mixtape that was now bursting through the headphones.

   He had sat in his room for days waiting for songs to come on the radio so he could record them on a cassette. Most of them were cheesy love songs or ones he thought El might like but the first one on there was the song that had played the night they had danced together at the snowball, the night they had kissed. Mike waited a tense few moments while the cabin and what felt like the world around him shook. As the tape whirled in the player, the color slowly returned to El’s face, her eyes lost the glaze that had so deeply covered them.

   The chaos that had erupted so suddenly slowly began to calm itself like the rain receding after the climax of a storm. Suddenly Eleven blinked as if she was just waking up from a deep sleep. “Dad?” She whispered softly. Mike had never seen the Chief so overcome with emotion. He wrapped Eleven up in his arms and held her there for a very long time. Without a word he picked her up and took her into her old bedroom, the one she had used before Hopper had moved her into his home. After placing her gently down and the Chief entered the room and instructed the Party it was time for them to leave. Dustin, Lucas, and Max left without a word but Mike stood still, and Hopper understood that the Wheeler boy wasn’t leaving without saying goodbye.

   The Chief gave him a nod and Mike quietly moved into the bedroom. Eleven looked so small covered in the massive quilts Hopper had piled on her. Mike took a seat next to the bed and held her hand. Hopper emerged with a washcloth and basin and without saying a word Mike took the damp cloth and began to wipe the blood from her mouth and ears. Hopper took out a cigarette with shaking fingers but thought better of it and went to take his smoke outside. Mike sat alone in the room for a few more moments before she opened her eyes, “Mike?” Her voice was hoarse and her lips were cracked.

   Mike leaned forward giving her a small kiss on the forehead, “Hi,” he said gently as if she were a baby animal. “I’m sorry.”She said and Mike nodded his head, he wasn’t mad at her, in fact, he didn’t even feel like he was owed an apology but he knew that Eleven would never forgive herself if she didn’t attempt to make amends. “It’s okay, I know you can’t control it,” he winced, “I, I mean you can- I just mean sometimes- I- you,”

“No, you’re right,” Eleven whispered, “I can’t control it.” She looked to him and there was so much pain in her eyes Mike felt his whole body ache to see her like that. “Do you ever wish I was normal?” She asked pulling herself deeper into her cocoon of blankets. “What?” Mike asked genuinely taken aback by the question. “Do you ever wish I was like other girls? Like Max.” Mike shook his head furiously, “Why would I ever want that?” He asked as he pulled her hand closer to him, “El, you’re amazing, why would I ever want to be with anyone else?”

   She pulled away and turned her back to him, “Normal girls can’t do what I do. Normal girls don’t almost kill their boyfriends,” her voice broke at that moment and her body began to shake as tears spilled from her eyes. Mike got up and quickly moved to the other side of the bed, “Please, don’t cry, just please don’t cry,”  he said softly. Thinking quickly Mike grabbed the one-eyed teddy bear that sat on the floor. He picked it up and made it’s feet walk over to El’s face. “Hi, El!” Mike said in a high pitched voice, there was a hint of a smile on her lips, Mike pressed on, “Do you know that I think you are the most amazing, most powerful, most bitchin’ girl I know?” A smile quickly spread on Eleven’s lips but disappeared just as quickly. “And I think Mike Wheeler is the luckiest guy in the whole world. You wanna know why?” Mike asked still using the bear to do most of the talking. El remained quiet, Mike took the bear’s paw and wiped a tear that was slowly falling down her nose, “Come on, ask him why.” Mike prompted, “Why?” El asked quietly.

   “Mike is the luckiest guy because you love him and he loves you,” by this point Mike had stopped using the high pitched voice and spoke directly to her even though he still moved the bear as if it was still talking, “And there is nobody else in this universe that he would fight a demodog for, and there is no one else in this universe that he would call every night for-”

“Three hundred and fifty-three day,” Eleven said. She sat up and pulled Mike into a hug, “I would never want anyone else but you, I love you.” He whispered as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. She pulled back, resting her head against his forehead, “I know, I love you too.”

After a few more minutes the Chief reappeared smelling of smoke and Mike understood it was time for him to leave, besides he knew that El would want to go and spend the night in her new bedroom, the one with the flowers that Will had so painstakingly painted by hand over the summer. As Mike walked out the door and towards his bike Hopper called out to him, "You're a good kid, Wheeler. You got a good head on your shoulders." Mike nodded and turned to leave, "Listen," the Chief said and he slowly walked to join Mike, "I never thanked you, for what you did, back when she first escaped. If you and your buddies hadn't found her, I don't know what would have happened."

Mike nodded, "Well, I mean I couldn't just leave her out there, she needed someone." The chief took a deep a breath, "Well, if it means anything I'm glad the person she ended up needing was you." And with that, the Chief turned back to the cabin. Mike began to peddle but heard a small voice call out, "Wait!" Miike turned to see El standing on the porch she ran to meet him. Before Mike could say anything El pulled him into a kiss.  Mike's heart pounded, and his legs felt shaky, he wondered if he would ever get used to kissing her or if it would always feel like the first time every time. The feeling was so amazing Mike could have sworn he was floating, in fact it really did feel like he was floating. He didn't even realize he had been until his feet gently touched the ground.

[willelbyers]

Fractures (just a crack in the glass)

Chapter 4

Summary: She has a dream—just glimpses of shadow and pinpricks of light, someone calling her name, and she strains to hear it. Then it’s gone, and when she wakes up she doesn’t remember.

Pairings: Still not sure yet. I’m figuring it out as I go along. Lots of Will & El friendship.

Notes: It follows canon up until season 2 episode 2. Then I’m doing my own thing because I want these kids to be FRIENDS

For more of my stories, here is my Ao3 profile link and here is the link to this chapter over there. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: Eleven

November 1, 1984

It’s dark by the time she gets home—she’s disoriented, her internal compass swinging wildly, and she got lost. By the time she makes it back to the cabin, Hopper is already there, standing on the porch.

There are tears drying on her face, still, hours later, but she can’t let him know that. If she tells him about the shadow, about Will, he will be in danger, too. This is something she needs to figure out—and without Will in her head, she’ll have to do it alone.

She sighs.

He puts out his cigarette on the porch railing, and she attempts to storm past him without issue. She makes it in the door before he starts to follow her.

“‘Friends don’t lie’,” he says, clearly angry. “Isn’t that your bullshit saying?”

She keeps walking, into her room. She doesn’t want to cry—she didn’t mean to make him angry, but she knows she let him down. And she already lost Will today, already had to walk away from Mike. It’s too much.

“Hey,” he insists. “Hey! Don’t walk away from me!” He catches the door as she tries to swing it closed, and she stops. “Where’d you go on your little field trip, huh?” he asks as she takes her coat off. “Where? Did you go see Mike?”

Ah, yes, Mike. They’d argued a lot about him. Because really, El missed him, as much as she missed bikes and blanket forts and her other friends. But she would never break the rules, would never endanger herself or Hopper or Mike or anyone else to go see him. The shadow was more important.

But she can’t tell him that.

And, honestly? She had thought about going to see Mike. She went for Will, but she knows how much Mike cares about Will, and how much Will cares about Mike, so she knew. When she left, she knew that she might see Mike. And she did, but—

“He didn’t see me,” she says lowly. She can’t do this, not tonight. She’s not in the mood. She needs to think, needs to find the monster, find Will, find out what happened, because that empty pit in her chest is still there and she wonders if Will is feeling the same thing.

“Yeah, well, that mother and her daughter did and they called the cops,” Hopper tells her, and El feels a stab of guilt. Monster, Will, or Mike—all that aside, she did do that anyway. “Now, did anyone else see you? Anyone at all?”

She stares at him, dumbfounded, because she hadn’t thought about all of that when she left. Hadn’t thought about how she might have put herself and Hopper in danger. She doesn’t say anything.

“Come on, I need you to think!” he says, louder, and it’s the cold edge to his voice that snaps her out of her stupor.

“Nobody saw me!” she snarls back, because he has no idea what she’s going through to protect him, to protect everyone, and after the day she’s had she doesn’t need someone to yell at her, too.

“You put us in danger. You realize that, right?” Hopper tells her, low and frustrated, and she knows. She knows! But she didn’t do it to see her friend for no reason, that would have been stupid, and she knows she’s not. She did it to help. But she can’t articulate that, she can’t say what she wants to make him understand.

“You promised I go!” she retorts instead, because he did, because he said almost a year ago that he would get her outside as soon as he could. “And I never leave! Nothing ever happens!” And all she does is watch TV and sleep and talk to Will five times total and now he’s gone and he’s in danger and she’s going to be shut in here forever, and she can’t.

“Yeah, nothing happens and you stay safe!” he says, and that’s when El realizes that this whole thing is useless, because he won’t understand. He won’t understand because she’s been in danger this whole goddamn time but she can’t tell him that because as mad as they both are right now, she never wants anything evil to hurt him.

She shakes her head, holding back tears. There’s too much. “You promise,” she says, quietly. “And you lie.” And this is true, either way—if she could just leave, if she could just go talk to Will, then maybe he wouldn’t have been covered in darkness. She wouldn’t have to be afraid to see Mike, or Lucas, or Dustin. She could just go.

“I don’t lie,” he replies, quieting to match her. “I protect and I feed and I teach. And all I ask of you is that you follow three simple rules. Three rules. And you know what? You broke all of them today.” He sighs, rubbing a hand over his face. “You’re grounded. That means no TV for a week.”

“No,” she chokes out after a second, and her feet feel glued to the floor. Because that’s how she’s been seeing people, that’s how she can find things. That’s how she listens to Mike almost every night. And if Will isn’t in her head anymore, that might be the only way she can find him. He can’t take that from her.

“You have got to understand that there are consequences for your actions,” Hopper says, and for the first time all night El finds sympathy on his face—he must have seen the hopelessness on hers.

El doesn’t even know where her next words come from—they just spill from her mouth like her brain had made the connection and decided to hurt both her and Hopper. “That’s what Papa always said to me.”

That seems to hit a nerve, because Hopper’s face twitches. “Don’t—” He stops, taking a breath. “Don’t compare me to that psychotic son of a bitch.” He shakes his head. “If you ever want to go out into the world, you need to grow the hell up.”

She doesn’t want to be mad at him, but he makes it so hard. She doesn’t want a fight. So she points at the door. “Please.”

He does, and as soon as she’s out she flings her hand around and the door slams shut as she sinks to the floor with her head in her hands. She hears a single window shatter as her hands tremble, and she instinctively knows that she broke it. Sorry.

No TV? Fine. She’s just going to wait until tomorrow and use the radio.

She has a dream—just glimpses of shadow and pinpricks of light, someone calling her name, and she strains to hear it. Then it’s gone, and when she wakes up she doesn’t remember.

November 2, 1984

She watches Hopper board up that single broken window through her slightly-open door, but as soon as he finishes and turns she closes it.

“Hey, kid?” she hears him say from the other side of the door. He sighs. “Listen, um… about last night, I, uh…  I didn’t mean to lose my temper.”

It’s not quite an apology, but it’s something.

He coughs, and his voice toughens again. “Still no TV, though. You hear me? Honor code.”

“No TV,” she repeats, and then he’s gone.

She flicks the radio on and closes her eyes, searching for Will. She thinks of his distinct brainwaves, focuses on the memory of his eyes. She remembers those.

A splash indicates that she’s arrived, and when she opens her eyes, there he is. But something’s wrong. He’s on the ground, arms at his sides, eyes closed.

“Will,” she says as she drops to he knees beside him. His name echoes hollowly in the open space. She gingerly touches his hand and fights the urge to flinch back—he’s cold and stiff as a board. “Will?”

All at once, his eyes fly open and his hand moves, and El feels something push her back. The air is punched out of her lungs as she hits the ground.

“Eleven,” Will says absently, not looking at her.

“Will, hey,” she gasps as she trips to her feet, stumbling over to Will. When she does, she almost wishes she hadn’t, because his eyes are cloudy and black.

“You can’t stop this,” Will—no, not Will, the monster—says. “You can’t stop us.”

“Where is Will?” she demands, staring down this creature. “What did you do to him?”

Will’s face twists. “He’s here. He’s strong. But I’ll win. We won’t be defeated.”

“El!” a distant voice yells, and she turns to see the person but there’s no one else there. “El, I’m here! Help!” Will.

She whirls on the monster. “Where is he?”

It snarls. “Everywhere. Nowhere. This is the place where your minds meet, after all.”

El gapes, because it dawns on her, then, what this means. “You did this. You are why I can’t… why I can’t feel him anymore.”

It smirks at her. “He broke the barrier. I’m in his head; I can keep you out. There’s no one who can help you.”

El balls her hands into fists. “Leave. Him. Alone!” She yells the last word and the scene dissolves, Will’s body turning to black smoke. And suddenly there’s a woman, old, in a chair, eyes closed. El hopes her eyes don’t open and turn black, too. She’s saying things.

“Three to the right. Four to the left. Sunflower. Rainbow. Four-fifty. Breathe.” Then her eyes open, and there’s an audible gasp of relief El feels when she sees that the woman’s eyes are a normal, human brown. They fix on her, and then the woman says a name: “Jane.”

It’s a foreign name, one that settles uncomfortably over El’s skin like an itchy sweater, but nevertheless it sends a flash of images across her mind, memories—memories that aren’t hers.

There’s screaming, and a baby, and—and his face. Papa’s face. Three to the right. Four to the left. A safe opens, a gun comes out. The woman walks to the lab. There’s a shot. A man goes down. She’s walking through the halls. “Jane? Jane?” Whose name is that? Why doesn’t she know it? There’s a rainbow on the wall. A girl on the ground. No, two girls. They look familiar. The woman reaches out to the smaller one. Then she’s pulled away. She’s being tied down. There he is. “Four-fifty,” he says, another man looks at him, turns a knob, and the woman screams. There are sunflowers on the table. “Breathe,” another woman says. Then it repeats, over and over and over again. The girl’s face—not little El’s, little Jane’s, the other one. Again. And again. And again.

Then her brain reaches overload and she forces her eyes open, blood dripping down her face, numb. She lets herself rest for a moment, slumping against the base of Hopper’s couch.

“Jane,” she mumbles, testing the name. My name? It feels awkward and heavy on her tongue, so different from when Mike gave her El.

And the woman… is that her Mama? That feels right, but it’s so strange. El doesn’t know her. That woman doesn’t know El, doesn’t know anything anymore. She lost her mind right there on that table.

She can’t focus on that. Who is the girl? The little girl with the dark hair she saw in the memory. She feels important. Maybe she can help. And something’s not right with this whole thing, but Will’s in trouble and El can’t save him by herself. So, as terrible as the idea is, she closes her eyes again and focuses on the girl’s face. Vivid eyes—so different from Will’s, whose eyes are light and green and thoughtful. Her eyes are dark brown and stormy, serious. But they are unique, so El thinks about that.

“—so we need to try a different approach,” a voice says, and El opens her eyes.

The girl is there, grown up like El, and she’s pacing. Her hair is purple and she’s wearing black, and she’s gesturing with her hands like she’s talking to someone. Her words have an odd lilt to them—she doesn’t talk quite the same as El.

“If we keep doing what we’ve been doing they’re gonna catch us. We can’t leave Chicago yet, there’s nowhere better to go and the trail’s gone cold. But we need to find more money.”

Chicago, El notes. That sounds like either a person or a place. That’s good. That’s a start.

“Wait,” the girl says suddenly, holding a hand out. She makes a face at someone El can’t see. “Don’t ‘oh, Kali,’ me! There’s someone listening.”

And that sounds like her cue to leave. El wrenches herself back into the present, but not before she sees 008 printed on the girl’s arm. Kali. She rolls the name around in her head—she knows, somehow, that 008’s name is Kali. It suits her. And she might help.

So that’s that. El’s going to Chicago.

Reviews are, as always appreciated! Let me know what you think, and I’ll try to update soon with Will’s chapter!

~Logan

[gracieheartspedro]

Stuck With Me (Steve Harrington x Reader) PART 4

NOTE: Hey guys! I am working hard on this fic, wanting it to be just right. Thank you for your patience! I have the next chapter whipped up and woooo is it going to be good! Remember, if you want to be tagged, just private message me! I’m also accepting requests for one shots! 

Warnings: unintentional violence, reader being a savage, cussing

Word count: 2935 

PART 1 PART 2 PART 3

Hopper drops Eleven off at school that following Monday, and I decide to get out with her saying I’d walk her the rest of the way and walk to school. He smiled and nodded, telling us to both have a good day.

“You don’t have to walk with me.” She mumbles as Hop drives away. I just nod, putting my arm around her shoulder.

“Yeah, well I am. I want to meet your friends anyway,” I state, continuing to walk next to her while every kid on the courtyard stares, “I’m trying to be nice.”

I wanted to get to know her better, so that way I may understand her better. If we were family, we needed to start acting like it. So, that Sunday, while laying up in my room alone, I decided I would change my attitude towards the unfortunate situation and start again with Eleven. Or Jane. Whatever she preferred.

“Jane!” A kid yells from behind us. We turn together and a curly-headed boy with squinty eyes waves our way. But that’s his hair was not what caught my eye at first, it was who was driving him.

Steve.

I laugh out loud as the kid runs towards us, slamming Steve’s door behind him.

“This is Dustin,” Jane says, ignoring my initial reaction.

Steve gets out of his car, hanging onto the door, staring at the little group forming around me.

“You coming?” He yells towards me. I shake my head, smiling.

“Give me a minute.”

Jane introduces me to Dustin and Lucas, saying I’m her new “sister”. Dustin wouldn’t stop staring at me, his chubby face never looking away.

“El!” A voice from beside me says. Black hair, tall, and lanky. This must be Mike Wheeler. He hugs her shoulders, pulling her close. Will followed closely behind him, whispering a small “hello”. As I begin to pick up on what Mike was doing, a red-headed girl approaches Lucas, kissing his cheek. He blushes, and they quietly begin talking to each other.

I return my attention back to Mike and Jane.

“Hey!” I yell, pushing his arm away, “No hands on my little sister, Wheeler.”

This boy thought it was okay to roll his eyes at me. Instead of getting actually angry, I chuckle. He really had balls to be treating me like this, but I had to blow it off. Jane probably told him awful things about me, that’s why he was rude. Or maybe he was just a little prick.

“I’m going, El. You staying after school, or do you want me to come get you after?” I suggest.

“I can get Lucas’ mom to take me.” She says, tucking her hands into her pockets.

“That’s nonsense. I’ll swing by and get you. Hopper may give me a gold star for trying.”

She picks up on the sarcasm and giggles, “An award for not being a bitch.”

Everyone laughs, including me.

“That’s fair. I’ll see you then. Bye, little losers.”

I turn towards Steve, who was smiling at me like a goddamn fool. I jog to the passenger's side door, tugging on the locked handle.

“So?”

He was such an asshole.

“So, I want a ride and you owe me. Unlock the car, King of Hawkins.”

He rolls his eyes with a chuckle, unlocking my door. I slide in, and we take off. I wave towards Jane, and everyone waves back at me. Dustin didn’t look too happy about doing it.

“I take Dustin to school every day now, so….” Steve starts, as he turns into the senior parking lot.

“Why?”

“I was his babysitter… He’s like the little brother I always wanted but never wanted at the same time. I help him out with the ladies.” He explains, pulling into his assigned spot.

“You help him out with the ladies? You good at that? Getting the ladies?” I mock, turning myself to face him. He grins, turning off the car.

“Well, I used to be. But now I’m hooked on this one girl who drives me insane, but I really can’t see myself without her.”

My heart was racing. I smirk, turning to the windshield. Looking out, people were just talking on cars and joking around until the bell rang. I, on the other hand, was about to kiss this fucking boy because he really was getting to me.

“Hooked on her, huh?” I say, still not looking back at him.

“Oh, totally. She doesn’t really like me right now because I’m an idiot and mess things up, but I can’t stop thinking about her.”

I turn back to him, biting my lip.

“I don’t think she hates you, but she does agree that you’re an idiot and mess things up. But I heard she’s forgiving and is turning over a new stone.” I jested, taking his hand in mine. I pull him close, leaning in to meet his lips. When they touch, I couldn’t help but smile into it. He did the same until we began giggling together.

“Let’s get to class, Harrington. We can finish that later.” I release his hand, grabbing my bag from below my feet.

“I’ll hold you to that,” he jokes, doing the same.

I meet him at the back of the car, where he slings his arm over my shoulders. I wrap my arm around his waist, as we walk in. We have to walk by Billy and his wannabes, who stop talking and stare. And just when I think we are in the clear, Billy speaks up.

“Hey Hopper,” he begins, “What does the Chief think of your boy toy? Does he think there’s not enough man to handle you?”

Tommy H. decides to speak up, “I don’t think Harrington can handle those mini-skirts and tight tops.”

Steve was about to say something before I speak up. I nudge Steve’s arm off my shoulder, strutting over to these dumbasses, giving them a show.

Tommy H. was first. His freckled face and ugly nose made me want to vomit. I grab his face, slamming him against Billy’s car with all my might.

“Talk to me like that again, or just in general, and I will punch you so hard your freckles will fly off your fucking face.” I leave a little scratch as my hand leaves his face. I smile at all the shocked event-goers, who are staring at me in awe. Billy though was smirking, enjoying the show.

“As for Little Willy,” I look him up and down, “I know you get off at night thinking of me. You think you stand a chance with me, which is adorable.”

People anticipate what I say next, waiting for the climax.

“But, the thing is… You don’t. You smell like old people. You act like a fucking tool bag, and you generally disgust me. The only way I’d lay naked with you, would be if we were both in the same mass grave.”

That got the ball rolling.

“Steve is more of a man you’ll ever be. At least he doesn’t need to show off his six-pack to get girls. His face is the main attraction. You wish you could relate. Because every time I see your face, I am reminded that God has a great sense of humor.”

Everyone in his crew yells, laughing their asses off. I turn, looking over at Steve who is completely impressed. But before I take my final bow, I decide to look back at Billy’s defeated face.

“And one last thing,” the crowd gets silent, “If you want to mention my uncle to me again, he will gladly make a visit to your dad. I heard Neil is good at keeping things in line.”

The bell rings, and Steve grabs my hand to drag me away from the situation. We walk hand-in-hand, but adrenaline is still pumping through my veins. The late bell rings 5 minutes after the initial bell, so I drag Steve to my locker quickly. As I grab my English materials, I realize something.

“Shit…” I mumble, slamming my locker, “Nancy and Jonathan are in my first period.”

Steve looks down at me, pushing my hair behind my ear, “Just apologize. They will understand why you lashed out. They are good friends, just say something to them. If you leave it be for too long then it’ll just get worse.”

I nod, sucking on my bottom lip. “You’re right.”

“I know I am.” He chuckles, grabbing my waist to pull me in for what I’m guessing is a kiss. Before he could, the principal walks by, eyeing us both.

“Later,” I say, pecking his cheek. I pull out of his grip, and jog down the hall, pushing through crowds. I had to make it before class started.

When I make it into the room, I see Nancy and Jonathan sitting together, quietly talking. They look my way, as I travel towards them.

“Hey, guys…”

“Hey,” Jonathan says, “H-how are you?”

“I’m… good. Listen, I just wanted to apologize for Friday. You two got the brunt of my rage, and it wasn’t fair. I am truly sorry.”

They both glance at each other, shrugging their shoulders in sync.

“We weren’t really mad. You’re right,” Nancy began, “My parents don’t really give a shit and Joyce hovers over Will. But for a good reason.”

I nod, accepting that it’s none of my business. “That’s fair. I won’t press it, just know I’m sorry for even thinking it.”

I glance at Jonathan who just nods and smiles. “It’s fine, Hopper.”

With that, class began. I notice that Billy sits in the back, all alone and away from his friends. I could only imagine why. Class flew by without incident, and I traveled to my next period with Nancy at my side. We chatted about random things before I spot Steve. She takes the hint and continues to her class alone, waving me a goodbye.

The rest of the day consisted of Steve making jokes about the morning interaction with Billy, and grabbing my hand a lot. He wouldn’t even work on his classwork because he was so distracted by me. It was cute. It was easy to be around him, our conversations just flowed. When lunch rolled around, we decided to cease the nice weather and sit on his car and eat. After about 5 minutes of chatting, Jonathan and Nancy join us. We all talk around the car, munching on sandwiches. I don’t even notice Nancy’s glare behind me until I hear loud footsteps. I look back as Mike and Will are running towards us at full speed.

“Guys!” Mike yells, finally reaching the car. He was completely panicked and out of breath, “El… El she’s having a meltdown.”

I didn’t need to know more to start running behind them, following them to Jane. They must’ve had been having a recess or something because middle schoolers observed all of us running towards the soccer fields from across the street.

She stood there, staring into the woods that lined the property. I was out of breath and tired, but I knew I had to do something.

Mike started trailing behind me as I got closer to her, but I knew somehow that it wouldn’t be a good idea for him to be close. I glance over at Nancy who holds Mike back, to his dismay. I slowly get closer to her, looking back to see Steve, Jonathan, Nancy, and her friends watching me closely. I didn’t even know what I was going to do, and to be frank, I was terrified.

When I face her, her eyes are wide opened and tentative.

“El?” I ask softly, kneeling to get on her level, “Hey… It’s me.”

“Y/N… It’s coming…” She mumbles, not looking at me.

“What is?”

“The darkness. It’s coming.”

She finally looks at me, her eyes focused on my face. She looks petrified like she saw into nightmare.

“What does it want?” Is all I can think of to say.

“You.”

In that instant, my airways become constricted. I feel like someone is choking me as all the air leaves my chest. I close my eyes, clawing at my neck.

Just breathe!

I watch as blood drips down Jane’s nose. I turn, my vision becoming blurry. Everyone rushes towards me, trying to get ahold of the situation.

Once Nancy grabs Jane, pulling her out of the trance, I finally inhale. My lungs ache as I regain my breathing, so I sit on the grass. Steve pulls me into his lap, as I just inhale and exhale loudly. I watch as Mike holds Jane close to his chest, rubbing her back.

“Call my uncle,” I say hoarsely, trying to stand. I feel weak and winded like I couldn’t function my legs.

“Come on.” Jonathan extends his hand to help me up. Steve gets up along with me, steadying me by holding my waist.

“I’m going to bring her to the nurse to lay her down,” Mike says, basically holding Jane up by himself.

“No,” I begin, turning towards Steve, “Can you take us home?”

He nods, “Yeah, yeah of course.”

I look back at Mike, “Help her to Steve’s car.”

He doesn’t say anything, just continues up to the senior parking lot. Jonathan tells Dustin, Lucas, Lucas’ alleged girlfriend, and Will to head back to class.

We reach the car as quickly as we can. I regained my posture and breathing. Steve unlocks his car, helping Jane into the car.

“What did she say to you?” Nancy asks, her face painted with worry.

“That a Darkness was coming,” I mutter, rubbing my achy neck.

“Why?”

“She said…”

“Because of you!” Mike’s voice rings through the quiet air. I turn to him, dumbfounded.

“What did I even do?!” I yell back. Arguing with a middle schooler in front of your peers was embarrassing but I was sick of his attitude already.

“I don’t know but ever since you got here, her abilities have warped into something completely different. She is distant and quieter and it’s your fault!”

I step closer to the boy, grabbing his arm. I pull him close, my anger sort of getting the best of me.

“Stop talking to me like that,” I begin, my teeth clenched, “We will figure this out but I don’t need your trash mouth going every 10 seconds.”

Without another word, I storm to the passenger side of Steve’s car. Nancy pulls back on Mike’s hoodie as I demand Steve to leave. I look in the backseat and see Jane sprawled out, her eyes heavy, but still open.

“We are going to get you to Hop, okay?” I say softly, as Steve peels out of the parking lot. I reach to the back, taking Jane’s hand, “We are going to figure this out.”

She just nods, closing her eyes and resting her head on the seat. I turn to Steve who glances at me with a sad expression. I take his one hand off the steering wheel, gripping it tightly in my lap. He squeezes every so often, reassuring me.

“You want me to go to the station, right?” He questions, turning down Main Street.

I nod, even though I know he doesn’t see me, “Hopefully he’s at lunch and by himself.”

Soon enough we pull into the parking lot of the station. His truck is sat in his normal spot, and I see some officers eating on the benches outside. Thank God.

“I’ll carry her in,” Steve mutters, unbuckling himself. I get out of the car, helping Steve on the other side. Jane wraps her arms around his neck, pulling him close. For the first time, it wasn’t about him being afraid of her. It was about her feeling safe. He holds her bridal style, not saying anything. We get odd glances by the officers, but I ignore them, opening the door for Steve to take Jane inside.

I see Flo sitting at her desk, eating a salad.

“Can we go back?” I ask simply. Even if she said no, I would go back. She furrows her eyebrows at Jane and Steve, before looking back at me.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, she’s just sick. We….” Steve starts to trip up, “We are here to get her insurance card and take her to the doctors. Hopper said we could stop in.”

She takes the lie, gesturing us to head back. I jog to Hopper’s office, the door slightly cracked. I open it up, inhaling the smell of his cigarettes. He’s looking at a paper before he takes notices to us three.

“What’s wrong?” He stands up, pushing his chair farther back.

“She…” I didn’t know how to explain it.

“She had an episode. She choked Y/N. She said something is coming back.”

Hopper helps Steve set her down on the couch in the corner of the office. She comes to, holding her arms out to my uncle. He hugs her, rubbing her back. Steve stands back, reaching for my hand. We stand there in silence until Hop pulls Jane back, to look at her face.

“Hey…” He says softly, “What is coming back?”

She swallows, “I don’t know. I just saw this… fog? It was trying to wrap up Y/N. I didn’t mean to choke her, I was trying to get it off her.”

Hopper glances back at me. I just tilt my head back, pulling Steve’s hand to my lower back.

He returns his eyes to Jane’s. “We will just do what we always do.”

“Which is what?” I coax. Steve squeezes my hand.

“Fight.”

-

[evendanstevens]

prompt: Hopper thinks maybe its time he had 'the talk' with Jane, but he could use a woman's perspective. Enter Joyce. "Remember how old we were?" she teases. "Yeah that is really not helping" he responds in agony. All the cigarettes in the world couldn't calm his nerves after that door opened. Joyce has her work cut out for her. Bonus points if you throw in a flashback scene to young!Jopper.

It was Saturday and miraculously Hopper was finishing earlyfor the day. He decided to pick up lunch for El as he headed home, along with afresh box of eggos. When he reached the door of the cabin however, he couldhear the music from her boombox, gifted to her by himself for Christmas,figuring she’d grown a little tired of Hopper’s records. Figuring she wouldn’thear the sound of his knock, he fumbled around in his pocket for his keys,listening to the pop rock tones of Cyndi Lauper echo through the cabin he beganto wonder if it was really such a good gift idea.

“Hey, El, did you get my message? I got your favourite!” heyelled through the cabin but he voice was nothing compared to the blastingmusic.

Knotting his brows into a frown, he placed his shopping downon the table and headed over to El’s bedroom door to go check she was stillalive. He quickly knocked twice before opening the door.

“Hey, El, I’m ba- oh jesus!”

“Dad!” El shrieked and quickly slammed the door with hermind.

Hopper turned his back on the door and leaned up against it,wide eyed and panting. He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to processwhat he had just seen. El and the Wheeler boy had been sitting on her bed, kissing.El’s hands draped around the boy’s neck with his hands on her waist thatindicated to Hopper it was a lot more than an innocent peck.

With a sigh he stepped away from the door and paced thecabin, trying to work out his best plan of action. He tried to push down theurge to storm back into the room and yell at Mike, knowing full well that wouldonly upset El. And the last thing he wanted to do was go back into the room andactually talk to them both about it. Hopper then slumped down onto the couchand switched on the TV while he thought.

Luckily, he didn’t have to think much longer about how to goabout the situation when Mike sped out the room, practically sprinting to thefront door.

“Bye Mr. Hopper,” Mike stuttered as he rushed out of thedoor without giving Jim so much a chance to call after him or even say goodbyehimself. Hopper noted that that was the first time Mike had ever addressed himas ‘Mr. Hopper’ and suddenly Jim felt about twenty years older.

After the door closed behind him, El walked out with herhead hung low, afraid to look Hopper in the eye. She shuffled across to the couchand hovered next to it, as though she were awaiting whatever punishment sheexpected him to dish out.

“I’m not mad, kid,” Hopper assured her with a exasperatedgrumble. Her head lifted, eyes curious as she blinked at him. Hopper turned offthe TV and stood then. “But I think there are a few things we need to talkabout.”

El nodded in understanding and Hopper gestured for them tosit at the table. Once they sat down, he looked at her, trying to keep his expressionas soft as possible. He took a deep breath.

“Have you and Mike ever, uh,” he sighed. “Has Mike ever saidanything to you about sex?” he asked, mustering all the restraint he had.

Her eyes widened at him. “Sex? What, no?” she seemed confusedby the concept which made Hopper slightly hopeful.

He looked away from her and stared at his hands on the tableinstead. “And do you know what sex is?”

“Yes,” she answered straight away and any hope Hopper had beenfeeling quickly vanished.

He brought his eyes back to her face, she looked back at him,almost appearing offended that he would ask her such a dense question.

“Okay, what is it?”

She gave him a bewildered look before rolling her eyes and answering.“It’s when a man and a woman go under the covers and kiss,” she said a littletoo matter-of-factly for Hopper’s liking. “I saw it on Days of Our Lives. But me and Mike weren’t under the covers!” shequickly added, feeling the need to defend herself.

Hopper almost laughed. Almost. While he was rather thankfulthat they hadn’t engaged in any activities that were too physical, and by the soundsof it Mike didn’t seem to have any intention to commit such acts consideringshe didn’t have a full understanding of the act itself, he was now faced withthe daunting task of having to explain it to her. Deciding on the best way togo about it, he stood from his chair and went to retrieve their trustydictionary from the shelf. He brought it back and placed it front of her.

“There’s a little more to it than that,” he said, gesturingto the book in front of her. She furrowed her brows at him for a moment before flickingthrough the dictionary.

When she finally found the page, she cleared her throatbefore speaking. “Sex, s-e-x,” he tried not to cringe as she said it so determinedly.“Sexual activity, including specifically sexual intercourse.” She stutteredthrough the words but eventually got there, however it didn’t seem to help herunderstand any further. Rather than tell her, he took the dictionary from herand looked further down the page. When he found the term he pointed at it and handedit back to her.

With a determined sigh she continued to read. “G-gen-genitalcontact. Especially the insertion of the pen-is into the vag-ina vagina,followed by org-as-m, c-oitus, cop-u-la-tion,” she struggled through theunfamiliar words but managed to use her sounds the way Hopper had taught her.She looked up at him, confusion still latent in her face. “But how?”

“How what?”

“How does it insert?And what’s an org-as-m?”

Hopper groaned and his head hit the table. After a half hourof trying to give her the most concise and PG-13 description of sex, whilstalso trying to dissuade her from even trying it before she was at least 21, hegave up. He dashed over to the phone and called in the big guns.

Some time later, Joyce arrived at the cabin, a plastic bagin tow and constant mothering smile on her face. Hopper gave her a smallappreciative smile as he closed the door behind her. El was sitting on thecouch with her knees under her chin, silently watching the TV. When she lookedover to Joyce her face immediately lit up, a shy smile on her lips.

“Hey, sweetie,” Joyce grinned as she made her way over to Eland sat down next to her on the couch. “Your dad tells me there’s a couple of thingswe need to talk about.”

El nodded hesitantly, but still smiled at Joyce. Hopper tooka moment to admire the scene in front of him. Joyce and El had really bondedfrom the beginning. And while El had made it clear to him that she didn’t wantanother mama, she was happy to have a Joyce. And as glad as Hopper was to seeJoyce, he suddenly remembered the reason why she was here and he suddenlydreaded whatever was about to come out of Joyce’s mouth.

“Right, well, I think the best way to start is for you toask me any questions you have and we’ll go from there,” Joyce nodded encouraginglyto El who then shifted her eyes toward Hopper who was hovering over the couch. Joyce’seyes followed and looked up at Hopper with an amused and understanding spark inher eye.

“Would you like it to be a girls only conversation?” Joycelooked between El and Hopper. El’s eyes shifted to her hands, almost feelingbad or embarrassed for not wanting her adoptive father present.

Hopper read the expression on her face and immediately heldhis hands up. “Hey, that’s completely fine by me!” he insisted. He backed awayfrom the pair and gave Joyce another smile, silently thanking her and she gavehim a wink and assuring smirk. He retreated to the porch for a smoke and letthe girls talk it out.

It wasn’t for another hour when Joyce finally exited thecabin, coming out onto the porch to join Hopper. He didn’t say anything when hefirst saw her, instead he reached into his pocket and pulled out his cigarettes,passing one to Joyce. She smiled a thank you, taking note of the abundance offreshly stubbed cigarette butts in the ash tray next to Hopper. He had clearlybeen nervous about the outcome of their conversation.

She sat down next to him on the bench. “Relax, Hop, you’vegot nothing to worry about,” she put a hand on his knee and squeezed lightly andflashed him a kind smile. “She’s smart. And I’ve known Mike since he was a kid-“

“They still are kids,” Hopper interjected.

She laughed a little at that. “And he’s not stupid to enoughto go fooling around with the chief’s daughter before either of them are ready.”

Hopper sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Joycepulled away and inhaled on her cigarette. “I just can’t get that picture out ofmy head…”

“They were just kissing, Hop,” Joyce scoffed playfully athim. “It could’ve been a whole lot worse. I mean, remember how old we were?”she teased, eyes shining at him.

Hopper almost choked on his cigarettes and frowned at the fartoo amused expression on Joyce’s face. “That’s really not helping,” heresponded with a groan of agony. It especially didn’t help when Joyce let out adelightful giggle, reminding him of a time a long time ago. And suddenly, allthe cigarettes in the world couldn’t calm his nerves after that door opened.

It was Friday night andJoyce Horowitz was sitting on her bed, organising her records collection whenshe really should’ve been studying. The alluring sounds of Billie Holiday echoedthrough her room, Joyce humming along, content as she flipped through thecollection she had mustered over the years. It was early, only around 7, but shewas already dressed in her night gown and ready for bed. Her father had to worklate so she had decided to have a quiet night in rather than head to the drive-inwith her friends.

Her quiet nighthowever, appeared to be disturbed when she heard a strange noise coming fromher window. Furrowing her brows in confusion, she gently placed down her LittleRichard record and cautiously approached the window. The odd scraping sound wasunfamiliar to her and she figured that it was perhaps just critters outside butnevertheless she thought it best to check.

She jumped up with ashriek when the window suddenly flew upwards and Jim Hopper’s head appeared inplace of the glass.

When she calmed down,clutching her heart over her chest she looked at him. He flashed her a smuggrin.

“Hey, Horowitz,” he pumpedhis eyebrows at her, his smile only growing. He pulled himself and carefully steppedover the ledge and into her bedroom.

“James Hopper what thehell are you doing here?!” she hissed in a whisper.

He shrugged and ran ahand through his dirty blonde hair, a subtle move Joyce always found endearing.But of course she would never tell him that.

“Well, you told meyour dad was working tonight. Figured I’d keep you company,” he looked down ather and wondered to himself how someone could still look like a total knockouteven when dressed in a loose fitting white night gown. His eyes suddenly feltlike fire on her skin and Joyce blushed furiously.

Cursing herself shequickly rushed to her bedroom door, turning the lock on her handle.

“Yeah well he stillain’t left yet and-“

Joyce was cut off whenHopper grasped her wrists and pulled her to him, pressing his lips against hersin a hard kiss. Taken by surprise, Joyce let out a whimper, but kissed him backregardless. She hoisted herself up onto her tiptoes, allowing him to straightenhis back as she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing herself against him.Her lips parted as his hand went to the back of her head, tangling in her hair.

Her confidencegrowing, she walked them towards her bed, her lips not leaving his for amoment. When they reached the edge of the mattress, he sat down and pulled herinto his lap. She giggled when their lips broke and she tried to find a strategicway to straddle him without her night gown restricting her. The sound was likemusic to Hopper’s ears.

Their kissing wassuddenly interrupted by three dreaded knocks on her bedroom door.

“Joycie!” her fathercalled from the other side of the door. Joyce’s head whipped up and her hearthammered in her chest. She tried to jump off Hopper and go to the door but hishands were like steel against her hips. “Joyce I heard you scream, you okay?”her father called again.

She looked to Hopper, mischieftwinkled in his eyes as he grinned at her suggestively. Her eyes widened andshe shook her head at him and turned her head over in the direction of thedoor. She stifled a sharp gasp, however, when Hopper’s lips immediately got towork on her neck, leaving a trail of soft and hard kisses.

“Yeah I just stubbedmy toe!” Joyce called back, her voice coming out a lot more panicked than shethought it would.

“Oh, alright, well I’mjust heading to work, you sure you gonna be alright here by yourself?” he shoutedback to her.

“Yeah I’ll be,” she clampedher mouth shut when Hopper suddenly bit down on her neck with a stomachflipping growl. Her eyes squeezed shut, struggling to maintain control. “I’llbe fine!” her voice cracked, causing Hopper to smile against her neck and letout a low chuckle.

“Okay, see ya in themornin’!” her father’s naïve voice called happily as he backed from the doorand headed down the hall.

Joyce didn’t call backgoodbye, instead bringing her mouth back to Hopper’s. Her father was barely outthe door before her night gown was on the floor.

Hopper blushed at the memory, a sly smile on his lips. Thatsuddenly turned into a straight line as the colour washed from his face. Hestood then, stubbing out his cigarette.

“Come on we gotta go,” Hopper extended a hand to Joyce andpulled her up.

She looked up at him, completely baffled. “Go where?”

“Melvald’s,” he grumbled, heading back inside to grab theircoats. When he reappeared, handing Joyce her jacket, the confusion was still onher face.

“We’re getting a damn lock for her window.”

[st-str-strangerthingsfic]

Chapter 8: September 25, 1985 Girl in the shadows

Chapter Selection: [Chapter 1]–[Chapter 2]–[Chapter 3]–[Chapter 4]–[Chapter 5]–[Chapter 6]–[Chapter 7]--[Chapter 8]--[Chapter 9]

El fidgeted all throughout class that day and the rest of the week. She was constantly glancing toward the windows, watching for familiar faces in the tree line during lunch when it was nice enough to sit outside. When she’d scamper to the police cruiser after school, her eyes darted around peering out the passenger window for any sign of her. At night, in her room, she’d peer out her window across the dark lake. She’d even wandered out onto the porch in the middle of the night after being roused from a dream.

In the dream, Kali was there, reaching for her, calling her name, her eyes pleading. And El was being catapulted back farther and farther from her. But she wasn’t reaching for Kali; her arms hung limp at her side, a trickle of blood fell from her nose and she was choking back sobs erupting from deep in her chest. She could only watch as Kali drifted farther and farther from her and she couldn’t—or didn’t—try to stop it.

El gripped the wooden railing of the porch and closed her eyes breathing in the late September air. When she felt warmth around her nose, she reached her hand up and felt that warm trickle of blood there. She pulled her hand back and examined the blood seeping into the lines of her fingers confusedly. Had she been using her powers or had she visited the void in her dreams? A crackle of leaves made El’s gaze shoot to her left, a terrified gasp escaping her lips. Then a hand fell on her shoulder. She whirled around knocking her back against the railing.

“Woah, kid! It’s just me,” Hopper placated, eyes worried. “Are you okay? What are you doing out here?” El glanced around at the woods again where the sound had come from and then turned back to Hopper.

“Nothing, I—I couldn’t sleep,” she narrowly avoided his gaze trying not to pique his suspicion. She fidgeted a little in front of him but tried to keep her face calm, her tone even, like he taught her back in the cabin when they went over how to bluff your way out of a tricky situation.

“You sure?” he raised an eyebrow, noticing how she clasped her hands together and how her fingers twitched ever so slightly. Something was definitely off.

“Yes,” she smiled and nodded and moved back toward the house. El couldn’t quite place what it was she was afraid of. Surely, she wasn’t afraid of Kali—her sister. But something unsettled her. If Kali was here, why wouldn’t she just come out and find her? Why was she hiding from her? And if she wasn’t here, why was El seeing her? Hearing her? Dreaming about her? Was she in trouble?

El didn’t feel comfortable telling anyone about Kali yet, not even Mike. Again, she wasn’t entirely sure why that was. She told Mike everything. But this felt like a secret she needed to keep, even if just for a little bit longer.

She knew why she didn’t tell Hopper though: that would mean confessing that her detour to Aunt Becky’s last year also included an extended trip to Chicago. She knew he wouldn’t be happy about that. So it was probably best to keep that and Kali to herself. But the problem was, she wasn’t sure if she was going crazy or not and couldn’t confide in anyone. This feeling of uncertainty was something she hadn’t experienced since right after escaping the lab.

Back in her bed, El couldn’t sleep. Every sound was Kali. Every shadow was her reaching out and looking for her. She woke constantly to the sound of her name being whispered in the darkness, sending chills down her spine and her heart racing. Jane.

When she wandered into the kitchen on Saturday morning, she could hardly keep her eyes open. El rested her head on her arms as Hopper shoveled eggs and toast onto her plate.

“You feeling okay kid?” Hopper leaned down a little to try and look at her flushed face while still holding the hot pan of eggs.

“Yes.” El stated matter-of-factly again. Once again not making eye contact and sitting up to tuck into her eggs. Her eyes moved about the house, never resting on anything for too long. Hopper was starting to get worried, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to open up.

“Listen kid,” Hopper took a seat in front of her at the table setting the pan on an oven mitt. “I have to go into the station today and I don’t feel great about leaving you here alone.” El’s eyes shot up in alarm at Hopper. She didn’t quite like the idea of being completely alone either just yet.

“So I was thinking,” he continued, worry pulling at his face, “Maybe I could drop you off at Joyce’s and you could spend the day with Will?”

El paused, her eyes never wavering from Hopper while she considered this. It was similar to those looks he remembered when he first took her in, when she was still mostly non-verbal. There was so much going on behind her eyes, but she would never vocalize it, afraid she might say something she shouldn’t or maybe just being unable to. This regression was new though.

“Okay.” She finally said and her eyes lowered to her plate again as she continued to eat. Hopper let out a dissatisfied sigh and got up from the table to retrieve more toast.

Later, while El was packing some school books and art supplies in her backpack, Hopper phoned Joyce.

“Hey, it’s uh Hop.” He firmly gripped a cigarette in his right hand.

“Hopper, so good to finally hear from you. What’s up?” there was shuffling and laughter over the line and Hopper took a deep breath before continuing.

“Yeah, well a guys been busy so, listen. I need your help. Uh, I gotta go into the station today and El is still grounded. Can I drop her off at your place for the day? I know it’s a lot to ask I just—,”

“Hop, please. That’s nothing, of course she can come over here. Will and Jonathon are just playing on that damn Atari, so it’ll be nice to have El come over and break that up a little.”

“Okay great, and hey listen.” He paused, not quite sure if what he wants to ask is even possible. “Listen I—” he turns his back away from the hallway leading to El’s room and lowers his tone, “El’s acting kind of…skittish? I don’t know, she’s being really quiet and evasive and won’t tell me what’s going on. I don’t know maybe she’s just mad about being grounded, but I was wondering if maybe you could talk to her? See what’s going on?” there was quiet on the other side of the line for a minute and Hopper held his breath, then suddenly, a little laughter broke across the receiver.

“Of course. I’m sure it’s nothing. Teenage girls can get a little—uh,” she didn’t quite know what to say, having raised two boys so far.

Hopper let out a sigh of relief and turned around leaning back onto the countertop.  But then he jumped. El was standing there looking at him by the kitchen table, her backpack on her shoulders, while chewing on a cold eggo.

“Th-thanks Joyce, we’ll be over in a bit.” He hung up hastily. “You ready to go kid?” She nodded and turned towards the door, waiting before opening it so he could exit first—another small rule. She walked over to the cruiser, keeping her gaze turned down and trying to quell the anxious feeling building in her stomach. That knowing sensation you get when you feel like you’re being watched.

Pulling up the Byers house, El felt warmth sweep through her. It felt calmer here for some reason and she was finally able to take deep full breaths without jumping at every single sound. The knot in her stomach loosened ever so slightly as she climbed down from the cab. She turned and gave a small reassuring smile to Hopper who smiled back:

“Call me if you need anything, okay kiddo?” she nodded in response and shut the door jogging up the Byers front door. It swung open enthusiastically by a delighted Will who had been watching at the window ever since his mom let him know El was heading over. He pulled her into a quick hug and grabbed her wrist gently to lead her into the house.

El couldn’t help but smile at the scene before her. Joyce waved happily from the kitchen, scrubbing out some dishes still in her work uniform. Jonathon sat on the couch examining pieces of his camera he was attempting to clean. Will led her into his room and plopped down on the bed. El realized suddenly that in all the time she spent with Will, she never had spent time with him on her own. And that warmth swept through her again. She smiled and let her backpack slide off her shoulder and bounced onto the bed with a laugh.

“I’m glad you’re here!” Will beamed. “I just got a new set of markers…well they’re from the thrift store but most of the colors aren’t even dried out. We could draw or we could play the Atari. But Jonathon’s kicked my butt for the last hour so I don’t know if I can take another  losing streak. Something tells me you’re probably really good a games.” His eyes flickered back and forth between her eyes and the comforter. His enthusiasm never wavered and for that she was grateful.

“Yes, let’s draw!” El chirped and Will excitedly grabbed a stack of paper and they set to work with his new markers to craft their masterpiece.

An hour or so passed in comfortable silence, broken by laughter and exchanging drawings with one another. El hadn’t felt this at ease all week. Something about Will connected in her—she felt drawn to him, in a way that was different with how she was drawn to Mike or Hopper or anyone else. It’s as if Will knew exactly what she was all about without having to ask any questions. It was just comfortable being Will Byers friend. She made a point to add extra friend time with just Will to her list of things she wanted to do when she was ungrounded and allowed one special thing a week.

Joyce gently knocked on Wills door and peaked her head in. “Hey guys, I have to run to the store really quick, but Jonathon is hanging in the living room if you need anything. I’ll be back in about an hour. Any requests for lunch? Maybe Ponchos or McDonalds?” Her nose crinkled when she smiled. El tried to memorize the gesture.

“Really?! McDonalds?”

“Yep! My treat. It’s a special day with El here.” El smiled back. That warmth swept through her again.

“Awesome!” Will beamed at El. When Joyce had gone and they were quiet for a little while longer, El let her mind comfortably wander. She thought about Will and Mike and Hopper. She thought about how different her life was now compared to just six months ago. She was filled with so much happiness. Her eyes lingered across Will’s room and she stood up to examine some of his possessions. Will was still bent over his drawing as El walked slowly around his room, gently touching hand-me-down action figures, a couple of vinyl records, and the faded posters of bands she didn’t know plastered on his wall. She picked up a familiar wizard figurine resting on his windowsill. It was the same figure she had pinpointed as his when he disappeared into the upside down. It felt like forever ago, but the tiny figurine still pulsed with an inexplicable warmth that she could only attribute to Will.

Outside, a figure pushed out ever so slightly from the tree line. El’s gaze moved from the figurine to the black-haired, dark eyed girl. She dropped the wizard and rushed toward Will’s bedroom door. Her panic grew as she bolted down the hall and out the back door through the kitchen. Jonathon was tucked away in his room, listening to music through his headphones.

Will had watched as El bolted from his room, calling after her while hastily pulling on his boots and vest. He chased after her out the back door and down the steps, watching as she disappeared into the treeline.

“El! Eleven! WAIT!” a small fear filled his eyes as he watched her disappear and a small sound escaped his throat as he ran after her.

El’s feet crunched loudly and quickly as she pushed her way through the woods. Stray branches pulled at her thin sweater, her coat had been left behind in her hurry. She kept running toward where she felt Kali might be. She had seen her this time, she was sure of it. She wasn’t crazy. Kali had looked right at her and then vanished. Why was she running from her?

Crashing through the forest, no sound but the dead leaves and the heavy breaths escaping her lips, El came to a clearing. There was no sound, no movement. She tried to quiet her breathing and cast her eyes around the clearing. Nothing. Her face scrunched up in frustration as she held back tears. Then she heard a distant cry.

“El! E-e-e-e-l!” Will came into the clearing, his hot breath fogging in the later September cold. “What happened?! Are you okay?” his eyes went wide was he walked up to her and put a soft hand on her shoulder.

“I—I thought I saw something,” El’s eyes still scan the surrounding forest. She had to be here. She had to.

“What?” Will asked incredulous. “El, what are you talking about? Are you okay?” he asked a little more emphatically, his hand gripping her other shoulder and standing in front of her. “El.”

El snapped her head to stare at Will. His eyes were pleading, worried. She felt terrible for having worried him so much to chase after her. There was definite fear in his eyes. He was concerned and being in the forest made him a little uneasy after the events of last year. She couldn’t hold back the well of emotion building in her. Tears stung at the corner of her eyes and soft sob broke from her lips. Will’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Come on.” He said leading her deeper into the forest. Just a few minutes walk away from the clearing Will led her to Castle Byers. He held back the fabric that acted as a door and they both climbed inside. “What’s going on, El?” he asked so gently she whimpered a little trying to quiet her breathing.

“It’s Kali.” El finally managed after wiping away tears. Will looked at her confused.

“Kali? Who’s—,”

“My sister,” El whispered.

“Your sister?” again confused. El paused and looked around Castle Byers. It was somehow so comfortably warm in here. But then again, it was probably just Will. He carried warmth with him wherever he went. El took some deep breaths, steadied her gaze and launched into the story of last year, Chicago, and how she found Kali. The words kept tumbling out, spilling from her mouth like a runaway river. When she told him about seeing her now, dreaming about her, and not knowing if she was there or not, he reached out to rest his hand over hers reassuringly.

“You’re not crazy.” He shook his head and his face remained even and serious. El bit her lip and let a few tears escape again.

“No?”

“No. I’m not sure why you’re seeing her. Or even if she’s here. But I know a thing or two about feeling crazy. Seeing things that aren’t there. Things that shouldn’t be there. You feel like you can’t trust yourself anymore and that makes it worse. You could find her again though can’t you? In—in the void?” He asked hesitantly. “Just to see if she was actually here in Hawkins or back in Chicago. You could check.”

El hadn’t considered this. She knew she could do this, but the thought hadn’t occurred to her, mainly because she was afraid of what she might find. Would Kali still be okay? If she was in Hawkins and El found her, then what?

“I guess.” El said, her face puffy and red. She hadn’t realized but the light had faded around them outside of Castle Byers. It was starting to get difficult to see. She didn’t know how long they had been here and the darkness surrounding them started to press in on her.

“Maybe you should. Just to see. Or at least to put your mind at ease at least.” He nodded reassuringly.

El looked down at her hands for a moment. She still felt that familiar warmth and now a small bit of relief washed through her. She would find Kali. If she was here, El had to find out why. And if she wasn’t, at least she could put her mind at rest. Maybe she could still reach out to her across the void and call Kali to her, like she had to Mike on Halloween last year. Maybe.

A booming sound rang out across the woods. Will and Eleven’s eyes shot to the billowing curtain and ran out into the darkness. The sound was warbled and low, like a howl. They’re eyes widened in brief fear until the sound began to take shape:

“EL-EV-EN! WI-II-LL!” More voices joined in. Some higher, some lower and suddenly a cascade of flashlight beams could be seen coming over a crest in the hill backing Castle Byers.

“Is that? Mike?”

“And Hopper and your mom and everyone. Oh no.” El looked frantically at Will. He returned her alarmed gaze and let out a soft ‘shit’. She had never heard him curse and the sound of it made her let out a soft surprised laugh before doom set in.

“I’m so dead.” El breathed.

“Come on,” Will said and they took off up the hill to meet the barrage of voices calling out into the night. Reaching out for them across the dark.

[boxoftheskyking]

Stranger things: Steve holds a pot luck fourth of July barbeque for the gang, everyone forgets to bring something except Jonathan, and El/Jane, who brings a shit ton of eggos. Jonathan and Steve finally reconcile, the party™ man the grill and somehow only burn half the things, and pizza is ordered by the only responsible person there. Star wars: Rose and the people she tazed before Finn got to her. Or the five times Leia was impressively patient and diplomatic, and the one time she wasn't.

Thank you for the prompt! As always I am going to take a teaspoon of it and then run into an entirely different direction, with much love and affection for you.

Here’s some Stranger Things, Steve POV, OT3

—-

Steve, if pressed, would say that they are fine. Him, Nancy, and Jonathan. He’d say they’d reached an understanding, and he isn’t angry and he doesn’t get acid reflux when he sees her kiss Jonathan’s cheek at his locker before heading off the class. He’s eating and sleeping just fine.

Not that anyone would press, as he doesn’t really have, well. Friends. Anymore. Besides the two of them and their gaggle of almost-freshman disasters.

A few weeks after the Whole Thing (the Will-is-Possessed, Dustin-Has-a-Pet-Monster, Dustin-is-Surprisingly-Okay, Eleven-is-Back, Mad-Max-is-Almost-Eleven-Level-Scary, The-World-Almost-Ended Thing), Jonathan cornered him outside the bathroom and said, “Look, man, I’m sorry about how it all went down.”

Steve had blinked at him and said, “I think it all went remarkably well, considering. Miraculous, some might say. Straight up Deus Ex Madonna or whatever—”

“No, I—” Jonathan cut him off, then looked down at his feet like he regretted it. “Machina. I’m not talking about all the, the that, I mean me and Nancy.”

Steve’s stomach lurched up, sending that burning feeling up behind his ribs.

“Oh. Right.”

“We should have talked to you. Or Nancy should have and then I should have waited. It’s just with everything—You know. It was kind of a now or never thing and then—”

“I really don’t need to hear this,” Steve said quickly, and Jonathan flinched. “I mean, it’s fine. You don’t owe me anything. I’d say treat her well, but I know you will, and if you don’t she’s perfectly capable of, you know.” He mimed a shotgun, making a dumb little pew sound. It sounded more like a Star Wars blaster than a shotgun, and he felt ridiculous. 

“Okay. Yeah.” Jonathan jerked a little, almost like he was putting out his hand to shake, but didn’t complete the action.

“Yeah.” 

They stared at each other for a minute, and then Jonathan started to turn away. Possessed by God knew what, Steve said, “It’s probably for the best, anyway. I should be focusing on school. Stuff. School stuff.”

Jonathan looked confused, but he wasn’t walking away.

“I’m not doing well.” He had no idea why he was still talking. “Like, at all. So. More time to study.”

After about a hundred years of Jonathan staring wordlessly at him, Steve finally turned on his heel.

“Great, okay, bye.”

“Hey!” 

Steve stopped but didn’t turn around.

“You can study with us, if you want. Sometime.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah.”

And then Steve had fled.

It had turned into the occasional study session in the library, followed by a more regular meeting at the Byers house. After everything they’d gone through there, it was surprisingly comfortable, and he didn’t feel suffocated by their—whatever. Relationship. Love. Chemistry. Whatever. Not all the time, anyway.

Surprising himself—but not Nancy—he didn’t graduate at the very bottom of his class. He got in to Roane County Tech— “Everyone gets in, Nance.” “That is not true, Steve, and you should be proud of yourself” —which means he can still live in town and work for his dad while taking care of his generals. That’s the plan anyway.

And now the summer’s started and he’s feeling like he has to do something to memorialize the end of the most fucked up chapter of his young life. Hopefully.

So, a Fourth of July barbecue. Two years ago, it would have been the event of the summer, everyone who was everyone from Hawkins High, including alum, would have come out, and there’d be people from towns up to an hour away.

And now it’s Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, and the kids. There isn’t any spiked punch, just sodas and iced tea and a shit ton of Cheetos. 

Jonathan has brought nothing but his camera, though Steve saw him tuck a brown bag away beneath his chair. Mrs. Wheeler sent Nancy and Mike with a pan of hot dish which looks like death but mostly tastes like cheese and gravy. 

Dustin is helping Eleven cook Eggos on the grill, because that’s what normal looks like these days. Lucas tried to fight him for the role of “Grill Master” when it came to burgers and hot dogs, but Max had snatched the tongs away at the last second and proven herself to be more than competent. 

(About a month ago, Steve had a run in with Billy in the school parking lot that he thought was going to turn ugly. Before any blood was spilled, Max had zoomed up, kicked her skateboard up into her hands and glared her brother down. “Steve counts as one of my friends, asshole,” she’d growled, and Billy had spit on Steve’s shoes and taken off.

“Still scared of you, huh?”

Max looked around, then leaned in and said quietly, “Wanna know how I do it?”

“Uh, sure.”

“Every time he starts acting like too much of an asswipe, I wait til he gets really drunk and passes out, and then I sneak into his bedroom and I stand at the end of his bed with my hair all—” she shakes her head so her face is mostly hidden— “and I just point at him and stand super still. And then, Mike gave me this toy he has, this really sick raptor, and when you pull on it’s leg it screeches. So I do that so he wakes up and go all uggghhhhh.” She twists her head and bugs out her eyes, and Steve has to admit it’s creepy as hell.

“That’s fucking disturbing,” he says.

She grins. “He thinks it’s a nightmare. He’s had night terrors for ages.”

Steve wonders if the rest of the kids appreciate how lucky they are to have her on their side.)

Will and Mike are playing some variation of rock-paper-scissors that involves a weird amount of hopping around on one foot and yelling.

Every time he loses, Will gives a delighted little giggle that carries all the way into the house. It makes Steve grin every time. He doesn’t know the little guy very well, but it sure is nice to hear him sounding like a normal thirteen year old.

It’s also nice to see Jonathan’s private little smile every time he hears it.

Steve catches Nancy’s eye just then, and there’s something in her face that tells him she’s noticed him noticing Jonathan. She’s cocks her head thoughtfully, and Steve strategically retreats to the kitchen. He takes a few minutes with his head in the freezer before opening the fridge to grab a beer.

“Whatcha doing?” Dustin asks, and Steve just about throws his beer across the room.

“Jesus Christ!”

“Sorry. Whatcha doing? Can I have one?”

“No, you can’t have a beer.”

“Aw, come on, it’s not like I’m driving.”

Steve rolls his eyes. “No, dumbass.”

Dustin sighs. “Fine. I hope you’re prepared for a bunch of really sugared up and caffeinated kids, though. Because I for one have had six Diet Cokes and I’m not ready to quit.”

“If you have to puke, use the bathroom.”

Steve ruffles his hair and heads back out to the pool.

“Alcohol is a depressant, Steve! You’ll be wishing I was drunk in about an hour, mark my words.”

“Alcohol?” Jonathan is suddenly right at his elbow, and he just about has a heart attack for the second time in as many minutes. Jonathan doesn’t seem to notice, instead snapping a picture of Eleven tripping Lucas into the pool.

“Want a beer?”

Jonathan grins at him. “I can do you one better,” he says. “Think the kids will be okay for a while?”

Steve looks over the group, catching Nancy’s eye and jerking his head towards the house. 

“Hey, little shits!” he yells. “Adults are going inside. No drowning, no wandering in the woods, no setting shit on fire.”

“Okay!” Will shouts back before cannon ball-ing into the pool.

“El,” Steve says. “You’re in charge. Any nonsense, you come find us. Deal?”

She nods seriously at him, and he can’t not smile and give her a little salute.

What Jonathan has is a bottle of Vodka and one of club soda.

“It’s from that Baumann guy. The reporter who broke the story about Barbara. Well, the fake story.”

“Hey, man, I look no horses in the mouth.” Internally, he kicks himself. There’s something about Jonathan Byers that turns him into a complete idiot.

Nancy comes into the den with three glasses and sets herself down beside them, the last corner of their weirdo triangle.

They toast each other wordlessly, grinning at each other after the first burning sip.

“Damn, Wheeler. You make ‘em strong.”

Nancy blushes, but then takes a long swallow without breaking eye contact. Steve’s brain misses a step, free falls.

As Steve is pouring each of them a second drink, he notices Nancy and Jonathan having some kind of wordless conversation. The beer and vodka mix with the acid in his stomach and he doesn’t look up at them after handing back the glasses. He’s about to say something about checking on the kids when Nancy reaches out and puts a hand on his knee.

“Hey, Steve.”

“Hey, Nancy,” he says, and waves, because he is an idiot.

“We were thinking. And talking. Have been talking. For a while.”

“A long while,” Jonathan pipes up. 

Steve looks down at Nancy’s hands. He knows how long they’ve been talking, because he knows how long they’ve been dating, and he really doesn’t need to hear about it.

“Something isn’t right,” Nancy says, and that makes him look up.

“What, like with Will? Eleven? Is that fucking—” he doesn’t realize he’s halfway to his feet until he feels Jonathan’s hand wrap around his wrist and tug him back down.

“No, man, nothing like that. Sorry. That’s not what she means.”

“I mean with us. There’s something not right with me and Jonathan.”

Steve stares at her. There’s no way they’re coming to him for relationship advice. Nancy’s reckless and Jonathan’s a spaz but they’re not cruel, they’ve never been intentionally hurtful. He can’t think of a thing to say, but he must get his point across because Nancy’s face crumples.

“I’m doing it all wrong. I’m saying it wrong. Jonathan, say something.”

Steve suddenly realizes that Jonathan hasn’t let go of his wrist. He looks up, and Jonathan is staring at him, brows furrowed, like he’s trying to read his mind, or figure out some kind of code, or maybe like he’s taking a photo in his head, taking note of the light and shadow and the way Steve’s heart has started bleeding out through his eyes. 

Jonathan doesn’t say anything, but he shifts his hand down to clasp Steve’s fingers. Steve looks down at it, dumbly. Jonathan shifts again, sliding his fingers in between Steve’s, locking them together, palm to palm.

“Is this okay?” he asks, and his voice is dry and scratchy.

“I— Um, okay,” Steve says. 

Nancy moves her hand up from his knee, flattening her palm over his thigh. He looks up at her, then over at Jonathan, then down at both their hands.

“Wait. What?” He feels like he’s on the precipice of something, like he’s taking a timed exam and he knows he could figure out the answer if he just had more time, if he could just be in a quiet room by himself, not listening to twenty-five pencils scratching and the clock ticking and the teacher tapping her heel against the leg of her chair. 

Nancy takes a deep breath and slides her hand up to his hip, then up under his shirt. He stops breathing.

“Okay?” she asks.

“I— I’m not hurt.” He’s not sure why he says it. But he can’t think of a reason for her to— for them to— unless. “I’m fine. Guys, you don’t have to worry about me, I’m—”

Nancy lurches forward and kisses him.

For the first and only time in his life, he doesn’t kiss Nancy Wheeler back. She pulls away and her face is burning red. 

“Do you want—” she starts, then turns to Jonathan. 

Jonathan’s mouth is open, gaping, and his tongue darts out to wet his lower lip and Steve suddenly has something wrapped around his lungs. Maybe the monsters are back, maybe something’s behind him and has just punctured through the center of him, maybe he’s been dead for months and is only just getting the memo.

And then Jonathan is kissing him, and is still holding his hand, and he tastes like vodka and ketchup and something suddenly, finally, slots into place. Steve opens his mouth, probably to say something stupid like “Aha,” or maybe “Eureka” or “Holy goddamn shit,” but Jonathan slips his tongue into his mouth and he can’t say anything but a groan in the back of his throat.

When they break apart, Steve is pretty sure he’s having a heart attack. He can’t seem to catch his breath, and his mouth feels wet and warm and Nancy is smiling at him so widely and simply, no disappointment and no secrets and no shame at all, just happiness. 

And Steve says, broken and quiet and way too exposed, “Really?”

And Nancy tackles him to the ground, kissing his cheek and his neck and giggling into his ear, “Yes, yes, Steve, yes.” And Jonathan still has his hand, and he let’s himself be pulled down next to them, laughing, with his hair in his eyes. And somehow Steve has an armful of each of them and he shuts his eyes and breathes in, full and healthy and strong, it feels like, for the very first time.

[planetsam]

prompt: could u pls pls write a fic where the bad men actually took el again (maybe when she visited the school or was with her sister) and mike finds out as well as hopper and they try to get her back. and maybe the ‘sessions’ are like 200x worse bc the bad men are mad she left in the first place

The car door slams behind her.

Papa makes a noise of disappointment but she’s too numb to hear it. She doesn’t even need the drugs because she can’t think straight. The gate is closed, she saved them. Now it’s time to come home. She can’t look at Hopper because if she does–if she does she’ll start to cry. And then they’ll come after him too. The guns on him are already terrifying. Capable of separating them.

“Kid–Kid!” She stares ahead, “look at me kid, I’m gonna get you out of there okay? Kid–Jane!” She keeps her eyes ahead, “Jane I’m coming after you, you hear me?!”

She wants to be relieved, but all she can think about is Mama and the shocks.

Hopper in a rocking chair.

She presses her eyes together, doesn’t see the needle they slip into her arm. Halfway happy, halfway happy. She chants it to herself over and over as the world slips. Halfway happy, maybe Mike will understand. Maybe he can be all the way happy too one day. Cruelly she adds Max’s name in there. Because maybe he can smile at her for real. This hurts worse than the last goodbye, she lied this time. She broke her promise. He’ll stop talking to her and Hopper and everyone will be safe.

She really is going home.

Hopper is besides himself. He thinks he sees her slump over and he doesn’t recognize the sound he makes. Just that he drives the men back, punches the other. Dares them to shoot him, practically begs for it. But they don’t. Because the world sucks like that. He turns to Doc Owens as they carry him out. About to remind him of his promise but he’s out like a cheap drunk and all Hopper can do is yell his fury at the sky. Then he has to drive over to the Byer’s house and fucking rip the Wheeler kids heart out. Which is just exactly how he wanted to wrap this up.

“Eleven?”

God it’s even worse up close. He knows that the Wheeler kid’s been acting out and that he’s called Eleven every day for the past year, but he didn’t realize how completely miserable he looked until that looks off his face. He gives a shake of his head and the kid stops dead, staring up at him like he doesn’t understand.

“It’s not her fault, she didn’t want to go–”

“Who took her?!” He demands.

“Oh my God,” he turns at the sight of Joyce, bruises on her neck and sweat staining her shirt. Something in his chest cracks and it’s the hospital all over again. Except he’s a far more broken man. “Jim.”

He unravels as she grabs him. How she’s so strong, he doesn’t know. He’s completely devastated. He never wants to move again. She catches his weight. It feels like the vines are around his throat again. Tight and tighter, like he can’t breathe. Someone’s making horrible sounds and he wants to push her to the Wheeler kid but all he can do is cling to her.

“I tried, I just wanted to keep her safe,” he gets out, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Will watches him on the couch.

It takes him three days to notice him.

When he does he swears lethargically, like he can’t put his back into it and throws a hand over his eyes. It’s disconcerting for a man whose been his mother’s bodyguard for the past year, showing up at every appointment and enforcing everything she says. Will doesn’t feel so bad about the past year when he realizes that Hopper’s been hiding a whole person for the entirety of it. But he still feels bad and he wants to help.

“What, kid?” He questions.

“Where were you hiding her?” He asks plainly and Hopper’s arm lifts slightly, “they already found her so–”

“Cabin, out in the woods.”

“That’s not very specific,” Will says. Hopper lets out a loud sigh, “never mind.”

He gets Jonathan to take him out there later.

Jonathan still looks at him like he’s going to disappear. Will feels that way too, so Jonathan is the best person to have there. Especially for what he’s attempting to do. There’s a lot of blanks in his head, like an empty space has been opened up. He tries to go to it, gingerly. Carefully. Jonathan follows him as he lets his feet lead the way, looking for anything. He can’t explain what catches him but something does, something tugs and he follows.

“Stay back,” Jonathan says and kicks in the locked door when they get to the Cabin.

Will knows they’re in the right place.

While Jonathan takes in the whole picture, Will narrows in on the few things that stick out. Girl things. Hoppers familiar enough to be recognizable so he goes for the oddities. He’s not sure what he’s after. He feel weird about being in a girl’s room, but not as weird as when he steps through the door into darkness. Panic rushes at him but he shoves it back, it’s quiet. Not like the other place. It’s still too. Like he’s standing on a lake. He steps forward, looking around. It doesn’t take long to come upon a slight figure, curled in a ball. For a moment he thinks it’s a boy, but maybe he can ask for directions. But it’s not, it’s a girl with a shaved head. He crouches down and her eyes snap open, like she can see him. She turns a swollen wrist over and he looks at the numbers on the discolored skin.

“Eleven?” He asks hopefully, “I’m Will!”

That’s all he gets out before he snaps back into the room. Jonathan is at the door and he’s in the cabin. He might not understand a lot but he’s getting pretty tired of going in and out of places he’s got no say in. He bends down and picks up the stuffed toy at his feet, shoving it into his backpack because he’s not that stupid. Jonathan picks up a sheet and holds it up.

“I think she wanted to be a ghost for Halloween,” he says, “that could’ve been great with you guys as ghostbusters.”

“Don’t say that to Mike,” he orders, shoving the sheet into his bag anyway.

The last thing he takes is a radio.

He’s not sure why.

If Steve Harrington’s parents are curious as to why he’s got a middle schooler in his car, they don’t say it.

“You should look at colleges,” Will tells him flatly. Steve shrugs, “how come you aren’t?”

“You sound like my mom,” Steve says pulling onto the interstate as Will tells him where to go, “why am I doing this again?”

“Because Jonathan knows where he wants to go and you’re a good excuse?”

Steve raises his eyebrow at him and Will shrugs. They drive in silence. Will wasn’t really there when Steve somehow adopted everyone. He’s got vague memories but they aren’t reliable. But when he tells Dustin about his plan Dustin calls Steve like that’s a normal thing to do. And Steve shows up. Sure he complains but he shows up and Will’s had a year and a lifetime too much of people saying things are cool and being very not cool.

The radio tower is big. But if Eleven need a signal maybe this will give her one. Steve waits with him for eight hours, until it goes dark. When their stomachs growl he’s got food and when Will finally realizes this is fruitless, he claps him on the shoulder.

“It was worth a shot,” he tells him and drives them back.

“You should be a teacher,” Will says when they get to his house. Steve looks at him, “maybe the bad stuff that happened wouldn’t have gotten so far if we’d had teachers like you,” Steve seems to consider this and Will presses on, “you can write about helping me with my project for your essay. Jonathan wrote about me for his, I need a ride next week again.”

“You’re a good kid, you know that? Weird but good,” Steve says.

“Yeah that’s because I got possessed,” Will says and hops out of the car.

“I can’t use that in my essay!” Steve yells after him.

Will laughs for the first time in months.

They get caught on their fourth outing.

By Mike.

He steps in front of the car when they’re pulling out, face twisted in anger and they stare at each other. Mike walks to the back of the car with measured steps, like he’s thinking about each one and maybe he is. He rips open the door and throws his bag in, dropping into the seat and crossing his arms. He doesn’t say a word but Will gives Steve a look that says they should probably drive. Steve nods back and throws the car into gear. Mike doesn’t say a word, not until they’ve been there for an hour.

“I can’t believe you’ve been trying to contact her and didn’t tell me!” He explodes and Will looks down, “why?!”

“I wanted to find her,” he says quietly.

“No you don’t!” Mike yells back, “no-one does, not really! I’m the one who called, I’m the one who didn’t replace her. I’m the one who lost her!”

Will squares his shoulders, surprised and not at how furious Mike is. How hurt he is. Mike’s taller than him too now but Will’s faced down a lot of things taller than him recently.

“I did everything for a year and you were just gone!” He yells and Will knows that it’s not just him he’s talking to, “you came back and then you left! You promised!”

“Okay, okay that’s–” Steve steps forward and Mike rounds on him.

“You’re not going to get back with my sister so just stop trying! She’s gone! She doesn’t love you, she left and that’s it!”

“Hey!” Will begins to protest.

If they’re going to get Eleven back this isn’t helping. He watches Mike’s features twist in anguish. It’s like seeing him again for the first time, seeing the past year. Mike’s been the one closest to knowing the full story, the one sleeping in hospital chairs and pulling him back. And he’s still radioed Eleven every night. Faithfully. Mike’s dug his heels in and carried things no one should have to, standing on the fringes and desperately trying to fight his way in.

The yelling continues as the blank space in his mind opens.

Will goes for it eagerly.

She looks worse, her skin is sallow and her eyes are dark. She’s thinner too. The buzz cut is even shorter. He walks over to her and kneels down. He can hear Mike and Steve yelling at each other but it’s like it’s underwater.

“Tell them I’m sorry,” Eleven whispers, “compromise.”

“No,” Will says and she looks surprised, “no compromise. We’re coming after you. We’re not going to stop. You didn’t stop for me.”

“Hurt,” she says, “like mama.”

“They hurt your mom?” He says. She looks down, “they hurt my mom too, but she didn’t give up on me. Moms don’t give up.” He sees the doubt in her face, “Dad’s aren’t supposed to either, or friends. Mike doesn’t give up on people ever.”

“Mike,” she says like it’s hope and Will seizes the opportunity.

“Mike needs you,” he says, “you have to hold on for Mike. Mike and–and Hopper. He came to every doctors appointment I had last year, he was there. He didn’t give up on me either. He won’t give up on you.”

“I’m stuck,” she confesses finally.

“Okay,” Will says, “do you know where you’re stuck?” She thinks for a moment. Then she seems to realize something. There’s a flash in his head of numbers, a street sign and then there’s something wet and sticky under his nose and he’s standing at the radio tower, “I need a pen,” he croaks, grabbing at the numbers. He turns to the two of them, “Shut up! I need a pen!”

“Language!” Steve yells and then hands him one, “here.”

Will looks at the numbers.

“Hang on.”

Several maps later, they’re looking at a back highway, not that far from their location. They have the choice of calling their parents, getting help or going for it themselves. One look at Mike’s face tells them that car is going one place only, it’s just a question of whose driving. Steve sighs for effect and they clamber in. Will catches Mike’s eye in the mirror.

“Sorry,” Mike says quietly.

“Me too,” Will says and nudges Steve.

“I didn’t do anything!” The older boy protests, “look I’m not–just because of what happened between me and Nancy that doesn’t mean I don’t care about her. Or I don’t care about you.”

Mike looks doubtful for a moment before giving the slightest nod.

“Thanks for taking us,” Will says and Steve sighs.

“Don’t thank me yet.”

The second the van turns onto the road, he knows. He doesn’t know how, but he does. He gets that same punch feeling he did all last year. The thing that kept him going back to the radio, looking over his shoulder a bit more, reaching out. Will is down there next to him, crouched behind the side of the car. Steve is looking like he’s psyching himself up and they both not encouragingly. He puts on his best pathetic face and flings himself out to wave the car down. It tries to swerve but Steve gets in the way, forces it to stop.

“Oh thank god,” he gasps, “my car, I need a jump,” the driver says something but Steve keeps going, “please there’s no-one here for miles. I just need a jump.”

Will pulls a face but Mike’s too focused as the car comes closer.

“See this is–” Steve begins as they move to the back of the car. The van door eases open to reveal multiple slumped over bodies. But he only has eyes for one. Will takes the balled up bag of clothes as he eases the limp body from beneath the blanket. Steve’s got it stuffed so that it vaguely resembles a human shape, he swears it works. They crouch on the far side of the car, El huddled between them still unconscious. Mike can’t look, if he looks he won’t see anyone else. Won’t care about anyone else. Steve shrieks when the car starts. “Thank you! You saved me!”

The man hurries back to the van, muttering about teenagers and drives off. They scramble into the car and Steve immediately starts driving, checking the rear view mirror as they go. But the van pulls off and Steve takes the nearest exit to get them back to the highway before he floors it. Will turns towards him. He squeezes his eyes shut, not having expected any of this to happen and then forces them open again.

It takes a lot not to be sick.

She looks like she stepped out of a picture of their history textbook. There’s no color on her face. Even her lips are pale. Her hair is gone too. He remembers her clutching the wig and anger surges through him at them taking something from her. Without the blanket she’s just in a hospital gown. There’s very little of her that’s not bruised or marked. Pens, suction cups, needles–overwhelmingly its needles. Her wrists and ankles are very bruised too. His fingers touch a mark on her neck. He looks up at Will desperately who immediately scrambles for the first aide kit and starts to wrap her ankles and her wrists with ace bandages.

“She’s breathing right? Pulse?”

“Yeah,” Will confirms, “she’s just unconscious,” he grabs a wet wipe, “here,” he says. Mike looks at it, “for her face.”

The blood would be alarming if it wasn’t old. What’s new is very little, like what he’s seen before. It’s like they’ve just let her work and not bothered to let her clean up. Some of its smeared, most of its just dried there. He carefully wipes her face, leaning over her anxiously and trying to will her to wake up. He starts with her eyes, then her nose, the her ears. All the while trying not to linger on the fact that this is more the girl they found in the woods than the one who stepped into the Byer’s house. There isn’t a lot that they can do first aide wise. Can they even take her to the hospital? Doctor Owens? Mike’s head flies up as they pull up outside the Byer’s house.

“Stay here,” Steve orders all of them and runs inside. A moment later he comes out with Mrs. Byers, they floor the gas and are off.

“You did so good boys,” she says to both of them before turning to Eleven, “Sweetheart can you hear me?” She calls, but gets no response either. She smiles up at Mike but he just tightens his hold on her.

They get to a different nondescript building. He hasn’t been so relieved to see Doc Owens since Will started screaming. But something instinctual has him holding Eleven tighter, not wanting them to go. Will grabs his hand.

“They’ll help her,” he says.

“I’ll stay with her the whole time,” Mrs. Byers promises. His fingers go white knuckled as they pull her to the stretcher, “you boys stay with Steve!” She orders, running after them.

Steve grabs his other hand and pulls them inside.

He hates hospitals so much. Especially shady hospitals that aren’t really hospitals. Every move has him jumping up. Hopper shows up and blazes past them. Nancy and Jonathan do too. He won’t let go of Will or Steve. Jonathan sits on Will’s other side and Nancy kneels in front of him, putting a hand on his knee. Hopper staggers out and Mike throws them all away, jumping up, his heart pounding in his chest. Hopper comes over to the three of them.

“She’s drugged,” he rasps, “doesn’t recognize us. They think–they think they used us against her.”

Steve stares as everyone looks at him.

“Don’t look at me, I don’t even know her!”

In hindsight it’s the wrong thing to say, which is how he winds up slipping into the operating room. It’s not a pretty sight. Things are flung everywhere, tables overturned and instruments scattered. Steve tries not to think too much on the scalpels embedded in the wall. He can’t see her, but the overturned table in the corner gives him an idea of where she is, especially with the surgical drape on top of it.

“Hi, El,” he starts, “I’m Steve,” it sounds stupid even to him, “I know Nancy,” he says, “I took her to the Snowball, a few years ago, she was wearing that pink dress Mike gave you. I think Jonathan was there too, Will’s brother, I don’t think he was allowed to have his ‘I hate parties’ phase yet,” he moves towards the table, waits for a sign this is not ok, “Mike–” there’s a crack on the wall, “okay, okay, uh, I liked what you did with your hair,” he says, changing tactics, “I’m more of a high volume kind of guy but the slicked back thing worked too. How’d you like being a blonde?”

He’s made it to the table and he’s not sure if that’s good or bad. His mouth is dry as he crouches down, coming to the side that might be the front. He expects not to open the curtain but he lifts it without trouble. Looking inside at the girl who is the smallest thing he’s ever seen even though she can trash an entire hospital room by herself. And close inter dimensional gates. She’s in a ball, her head hidden in her folded arms, knees drawn up tight. He knows what he has to do and climbs into the fort with her, even though it feels like it’s a death sentence. He mirrors her posture. When she lifts her head there’s a lot of blood and her eyes look horrifying. Pupils wide and struggling to focus. She’s high out of her mind and he can’t believe someone would dope a kid like that.

“They took my hair,” she whispers tugging at her scalp, “no hair,” her face screws up, “no clothes, no Mike, no Snowball–”

“Hey, hey, okay,” he says, before the table can tremble more, “we’ve all had bad haircuts, is your hair curly?” She nods, “that’s gonna be rough but we can deal,” he fumbles in his pockets, “here,” he says handing her his sunglasses, “and, uh, here,” he rips off his jacket and holds it out to her, “clothes taken care of. You didn’t miss the Snowball,” he says and her head flies up, “but you can’t go if we’re in here. And Mike–he’s waiting out there,” he says. Hope flies into her eyes and he swears if he gets another chance he’s going at those guys with his bat, “but you gotta let the doctors look at you. So you can put the jacket on like this,” he says draping it over her shoulders, “and the doctors can still look at you.”

“Compromise,” she says.

“Compromise on the jacket,” he agrees, putting the glasses on her, “keep those on, the light’ll hurt otherwise.”

He stands up and she nudges the table out. His eyes widen as blood leaks out of her nose.

“Woah whoa stop,” he says quickly, “here, come on.”

Before he can overthink it he’s lifting her up and carrying her over the edge of the table. It’s hard to say whose more stunned at the action but he looks around for somewhere to set her down. One of the doctors opens the door. They both look and then look at each other.

“You’ve lost enough blood just hold on, there’s glass down here,” he says and carries her out. The hallway is empty, thankfully, except for the lone doctor. He sets her down gingerly, a hand lingering on her back. She winces at the cold floor and takes an unsteady step forward, “be–”

Mike’s there.

He catches her before she topples, steadying her carefully. She cringes like she’s worried for a moment, like he’s an illusion or angry at her. For all the anger he’s shown, he doesn’t pull back. He keeps his hand on her and makes sure she’s not about to fall. There’s a kind of selflessness in that you can’t fake. Not well anyway. Her lips tremble and her head dips. Even with the sunglasses he can tell she’s about to cry.

“Mike, sorry,” she chokes out, her fingers fumbling on his sweater, “sorry–”

Mike pulls her to him and she finally seems to break apart, wailing into his chest. Mike holds her closer, his hands finding the places that will hurt the least but somehow knowing what to do. She latches onto him like he’s the only real thing in the world, sobbing like her heart is breaking. He and the doctor look at each other before she slips around the corner to signal the other people to wait. The two of them wind up on the floor, Eleven still holding him. Still weeping. And Mike, Mike just lets her. Puts all his own stuff aside and puts her first. Eventually her sobs quiet and she’s just leaning against him, tremors racing along her body as she hiccups.

“Come on,” Mike says quietly and gets to his feet with her, “the doctors are gonna help you.”

She gives a little nod and they make their way to the exam room. Steve stays with them as the doctor does a few checks. Eleven closes her eyes when they start the IV and buries her face in Mike’s shoulder. They let her leave the jacket and sunglasses as they settle her into the bed. Mike sits in the chair next to it and the hold each other’s hands in a practiced gesture.

“Snowball?”

Mike looks at her and his face cracks into a wide grin, even with tears in his eyes.

“Yeah, we can go to the Snowball,” he promises, “it’s in a few weeks, do you think you’ll be ready?” She gives the slightest nod, “I didn’t go last year,” he blurts out, “I said I was sick.”

“You told me,” she whispers.

“Yeah,” Mike says. One of his hands comes free and hesitates only a second before it combs over the back of her head. Eleven burrows into the pillow, tension draining from her, “still pretty,” Mike whispers.

“Bitchin,” Eleven says hoarsely.

“Bitchin,” Mike agrees.

[words-are-my-medium]

Post-S2 ST Headcanons

This started out as headcanons I was writing down and then it just got so out of hand it turned into a semi-fic? It’s long and probably not great writing I’m sorry but I wanted to keep track of it here for myself at least so here (please don’t take this as an example of my actual writing quality because I would format this so much better if it wasn’t just a heacanon dump)

El-centric, pre-Byler/Byeler, Byers-Hopper family feels and headcanons galore, (probably overuse of commas galore too), kind-of a fic?

-So El is like… super not into studying. I mean she had a dictionary in her house for almost a year and she didn’t know the word “compromise”; girl’s been watching TV all day and learning words slowly and not entirely accurately through context. After the Snow Ball Hopper starts cracking down–she needs to start school (high school no less) in the fall of ‘85 and she’s got a lot of catching up to do.

-She HATES it, and the Party quickly realizes this, so they try to study with her and help whenever possible. Unfortunately they don’t succeed much: whenever Mike’s over El never wants to study; Lucas gets too impatient with her; Dustin makes a valiant effort to introduce her to the joy of curiosity voyages but it doesn’t work. Max, after being unfairly given the cold shoulder for quite a while, finally becomes friends with El and then becomes a HUGE distraction; El’s only friend who’s a girl (even if she’s not into pretty things like playing with makeup), why study when you can have special girls only friend time?

-So the Party’s pretty stuck, when surprisingly Will steps up and like magic, El tries super hard to be attentive and they start making progress! Mike is pretty sure there is some kind of guilt on El’s part regarding Will that’s contributing, but hey, whatever works. Will is actually a pretty good tutor it turns out, he’s really patient and intuitive, observant to what seems to work and what doesn’t, if not particularly gifted at teaching, and while El will probably never be an amazing student, she starts getting the hang of the basic subjects. (Except math, which she is shockingly good at–Max is convinced that her brain is actually a calculator, but El explains that math was easy because it was so exact: no complicated answers, just right or wrong, not a lot of words to get in the way. She’d quietly admitted to Mike once with a wry smile that numbers just made sense to her.)

-Hopper takes Will out for his birthday because Lonnie sucks and the kid loves his mother obviously and hey, Hopper doesn’t care if he’s sensitive or different or something else, he’s Joyce’s boy and a good kid, but it wouldn’t hurt to spend some time with a positive male figure again after Bob. In early May Joyce and Hopper start… not quite dating but everyone knows it’s just a matter of time. Jonathan and Will have already discussed what it might be like having El for a sister someday. They’re not sure if/when that might become official, but to the brothers she’s already joined their family and they’re both happy. (Jonathan immediately had a fondness for El, she’d saved Will and her “papa” was super shitty too, and his protectiveness and compassion kicked in and he was able to start bonding with her pretty quickly, to his surprise.)

The weekend after the 4th of July they are all hanging out at the cabin, trying to cram in as much as possible as the fall and upcoming school year draw nearer. They’re eating leftover watermelon and Max is teaching them her patented seed-spitting technique, though Will is still helping El finish the part of the lesson they’re on and he loves that he can help, but he wants to kinda hang out too and El realizes this, of course.

El leans in to kiss him on the cheek and thank him because she genuinely appreciates his patience with her so much and she knows it’s taking time away from other stuff he could be doing to tutor her, he’s such a good friend and a sweet person and El is so happy having him in her life, in her family even, but at that exact moment Dustin nails Will in the side of the head with a watermelon seed and Will whips around to face his attacker, and El ends up planting it right on his mouth.

Everyone gasps and freezes and El breathes in sharply and tenses, but Will just kinda sits there wide-eyed for a minute before bursting out laughing. El’s face is a mix of fear and shame and she’s turning red, and everyone else is kind-of hesitantly looking at Mike. He isn’t sure how to react because yeah, his… girlfriend(?) just kissed his oldest friend but it was completely an accident, obviously not intended, and rather than being mad he’s kind of having a sudden anxious realization that wow, okay, that was not something he ever expected to see but uh, it wasn’t… wasn’t bad because El is pretty and Will is cute and he–um, okay yes he did just think Will is cute?! He’s having a violent bi awakening panic attack and omg why is Will laughing this is so awkward Mike’s turning into a tomato to match El why–

“Will, is… are you okay?” Dustin asks carefully, afraid he’s just set into motion a chain of events that made his friend go insane, because Will is practically rolling on the floor by now, and Will manages to stop just enough to gasp “I’m going to have to tell everyone who ever asks for the rest of my life that my first kiss was with my sister,” and Lucas spits his drink out all over Dustin and Max and then there’s an uproar of laughter and yelling and El is apologizing frantically and Will is wiping tears of laughter from his eyes and Mike is just standing there frozen and beet red and kind-of?? more than a little upset that El kinda just stole Will’s first kiss?!

-When everyone finally goes home Will and El stay (because Joyce and Hopper were out somewhere together so she’s picking him up when they get back), and they both kinda sit for a while comfortably in silence until Will knowingly asks if she’s okay and El admits she’s sad because Max explained that apparently first kisses are important and El’s sorry she ruined Will’s. Will assures her instantly she didn’t, it was an accident anyway and then goes quiet for a moment before “I’ll tell you a secret, El, don’t tell anyone else, but I don’t wanna kiss girls anyway, so it doesn’t count, it was only a technical first kiss, my official first kiss has to be with a boy so you didn’t ruin it at all.”

And El is so relieved because she never talks about it to anyone but she knows, knows everything bad that happened to Will is her fault, but now he’s her brother and her friend and she loves him and her new family and though she hates it, the truth is she wouldn’t take it all back, opening the gate, even if she somehow was able to, so she just has to try her hardest to make sure he’s happy and safe from now on.

-This is how Will Byers comes out (because confirming with Jonathan what Jonathan has always kinda known doesn’t count, he’s never had to hide who he is from Jonathan so it’s not “coming out”, he was never “in” when it comes to his brother). El is the perfect person because she doesn’t know how to hate, not for reasons like this; she accepts him immediately and that’s what he’s been so worried about, after everything Lonnie and the kids at school have ever said he’s been too scared to even tell his mother, let alone the boy he likes. And suddenly Will’s crying in her arms and El’s become a sympathetic crier so then they’re both crying and El starts crying harder because maybe she was wrong again and it’s not okay, obviously, if Will’s still sad? And that’s how Hopper and Joyce find them, hugging and crying their eyes out and the adults are so bewildered.

-The Byers get in the car to go home after they finally calm down (and Will assures El everything’s fine several times with hugs), and Joyce doesn’t even have to ask, she just gives him a concerned look and Will looks out the window to hide his face and takes a deep breath before he quietly admits, “I was crying because I told Jane I’m gay and she didn’t bat an eyelash, she just accepted me.”

-Joyce immediately pulls the car over and unbuckles her seat belt and leans over and hugs Will so tight, and he screws his eyes shut so he doesn’t see her face but he can hear her murmur “Sweetie, I have been waiting for you to accept yourself,” and suddenly a weight he didn’t even realize he’d been carrying is gone.

The remainder of the summer Will and El become closer than ever, while Mike strangely becomes frequently absent to Party events. One day in mid-August Mike visits El alone while the others are out seeing Back to the Future for the second time (because Dustin and Lucas started an argument about time travel mechanics after the first time and forced Will and Max to come again while they rewatch for research) and he’s only there 15 minutes before she quietly asks “Are you mad I kissed Will because I’m supposed to kiss you?”

Mike shakes his head furiously like a wet dog and assures her of course he isn’t, it was an accident and he’s over it, it’s been over a month, El, “I practically forgot about it already”, but she just looks at him thoughtfully and then her eyes widen the tiniest bit and she asks again, “Are you mad I kissed Will because you wanted to kiss Will?” and Mike’s face drains of color so fast it’s like he’s in a cartoon.

“What?! No, I–” he starts unconvincingly, his voice raising into a panicked shrillness, but interrupts himself, “Steve told you, didn’t he, or I mean he told Dustin who told you, or something, whatever, somehow it was that douchebag, wasn’t it? I knew I shouldn’t have trusted him, ‘master of romantic advice’ my ass!”

El is very confused but lets Mike rant about Steve Harrington being an untrustworthy jerk for a full five minutes before finally grabbing his hand and shaking her head. “Nobody told me anything. You seemed mad. So if you’re not mad about me then it’s about Will, right?”

And then Mike is very embarrassed because obviously Steve wouldn’t have said anything, he’s practically Dustin’s older brother now, but he can feel the “friends don’t lie” coming so he’s screwed anyway.

“Okay, fine, maybe I might have thought about it a little but… it’s because I think I might like boys too.”

“Like? Like you want to kiss?” El’s mental gears are turning and Mike nods, “Yeah, I still want to kiss girls but maybe boys too, Steve said it’s… that I don’t have to pick only one. Some people like both.” (Bisexual is much too complicated a term and Mike’s still not entirely convinced Steve didn’t make it up.)

-A light bulb goes off in El’s brain and she thinks hard for a minute before she says, “If you want, we don’t have to kiss anymore so you can try to kiss a boy,” and Mike’s eyebrows almost shoot clean off his head, but he looks at her carefully and sees she’s sincere and not upset, and for the first time he sees her solely as the girl she’s become, not the Eleven he first met nearly two years before, so quietly he just says “If that’s what you want, El.”

She nods but then narrows her eyes at him, “You’ll still like me as a friend?” and he smiles warmly and nods, “I’ll always like you as a friend, El, no matter what, even if it’s not the kissing kind of like,” and El’s heart jumps because maybe it is possible, maybe she’s really this lucky, she can keep all the good things she’s gained and still make Will happy too.

“But don’t tell anybody else I like boys, okay El?” Mike adds suddenly, and El nods, a smile creeping onto her face. El keeps her promises and tells nobody anything, but for the few weeks remaining in the summer, she occasionally wears a satisfied little smile, the cause of which even Max can’t get out of her.

-In the fall of ‘85 the kids all start high school, El a little nervous but feeling prepared thanks her friends and family (especially Will), and Will finally confident, at least a little, because he’s accepted himself and he’s got the best family ever and if anyone gives him shit, his future step-dad is the chief of police and his sister can break arms (and worse) with her mind and they all accept him too and love him no matter what. (He’s pretty sure the rest of his friends will too, but he promised himself that he wouldn’t tell them he’s gay until he told Mike first, because Will’s realized that’s been a long time coming and now’s as good a time as any since El told him vaguely about their “breakup”; Will knows he’s single and hasn’t had a chance to develop a crush on anyone else yet. He owes it to his best friend to be honest, and well, if Mike breaks his heart, [which he’s mostly expecting, tbh] Will believes at least he’ll still be his friend, and he’ll move on. Eventually.)

El is so happy when the complete Party meets for the first time in front of the school on the first day, finally all together in the open, and she doesn’t miss how her two closest friends look at each other. This will be a good year, El thinks.