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caxde · 2 years ago

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thunder step | 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary you are Dustin’s older sister, you and Eddie used to be friends but haven’t seen eachoter in a while, Dustin needs a sub for Hellfire tonight and you agree to go. (2,3k)

warnings fem!reader, fluff, hurt/comfort, eddie as a DM, mutual pining, yearning etc, slowburn friends to lovers, idiots in love!!!, multi post fic?, english is not my first language so I apologise if there’s some mistakes, not proof read!

“For Fuck sake’s, please?” you ignore him once again. “I’ll do the washing up for you.” still, nothing comes out of your lips. “I’ll wash your car for a month” now that does sound more interesting.

“Car wash, and the new Black Sabbath cassette” You demand.

“Jesus what do you think that I’m made of money?” Your eyebrow raises, you know for a fact that he has way more money than anyone else in your house.

The silence that you provide to him makes him reconsider the offer.

“ Car wash, and I’ll make mum buy you the cassette” You nod, slightly biting your inner cheek. You look down at your little brother.

“Okey Dusty buns, you’ve got yourself a deal.” He giggles in respond, grabbing your hand and running eagerly to your car demanding to leave your house right at this second. “Jeez kid, your little meeting is hours away, and I need to get my old stuff, so you’ll wait.” You inform him, arms crossed in your chest, back reclaimed to the threshold.

“M’kay. Let me call Mike then, tell him I found our sub, so he can tell Eddie.” You frown at the mention of his name.

“Edd still runs Hellfire?” You ask, curious to learn that the boy that sat behind you last year in Maths, is still in that shithole.

“Oh, yeah. Kinnda forgot you knew him.” You feel heat coming to your cheeks all of a sudden. You nod fast and head to your room to try and find your old Hellfire stuff.

Yes, you used to be in Hellfire. Yes, of course you knew Eddie. It’s not like you weren’t friends anymore, you just stopped hanging around where he usually was. And since your last PC was killed in last year’s campaign, you didn’t really have an interest in starting one this year.

You had enough, working with Steve and Robin at Family Video, getting over everything that happened at Starcourt, helping your little brother Dustin when he needed and wanted your help, taking care of your house, now that your mom spent more and more time at work. Leaving for entire weeks, even if they sometimes felt like months.

With everything going through your head, absentmindedly, you got on your floor. Looking directly to your last drawer, pulling it open and finding your little figurines. There was a character that you never got to use, and you are positive that Eddie would lose his mind, if you roll well enough and are lucky enough.

“You ready, kid?” You ask Dustin once your car’s parked. He smiles, teeth finally showing.

“Didn’t know you even had a shirt like ours' ' He giggles as he walks out the car and closes the door. You grab your backpack, and his as you’re heading out.

“And who the fuck do you think drew it?” You smile quite proudly, as his mouth opens in shock. Eyebrows raised, you nod. “Um kid, does… Does Eddie smoke inside?” You ask tentatively, you know he’s not fondly of you smoking, but he also knows how anxious you can get.

“Yeah, well, sometimes, though, he does step back, and it’s usually when we are trying to figure out what our next move should be.” You nod, and touch his shoulder, as saying, thanks, go on, I’ll start in a second.

He understands, no words needed.

You grab your packet of cigarettes, Zippo in your other hand, you lit one up, and as you’re letting your body hit the wall, you look at the sky. So much more quiet that you remember.

You can hear a familiar van, music blasting, parking badly. And there he is. He looks just as shocked as you do when he sees you, though you only see his shock for a millisecond. He gets his Stuff out of the van, backpack hanging on his shoulder. He smirks as he walks towards you.

You didn’t remember that he looked like that. Hair slightly longer than the last time you saw him. Muscles that seem to have gotten more defined under his jacket, his lips curving up in a smile, pinkish and with a familiarity that shocks you. As you get another drag of your cigarette he stands in front of you.

“You know, I didn’t believe them when they told me you were coming” He says almost too calmly for the way he entered the scene.

“Good to see you too Munson” You smile as smoke escapes your mouth. You really do mean it.

His eyes get lost in you for a second. You might not realize it, but have changed too. The slightly ripped thighs that elongate your legs, the ripped shorts, the Hellfire shirt, though old and with holes, sits perfectly into your body, hugging every part of you that he might find attractive. You feel him checking you out, but you think it’s more because of the shock of seeing you here than anything else.

“It really is.” He laughs, arms to his chest. As you drag the fag to your lips, his hand rises up, a question in his eyes, can I?.You nod, and he takes it, to smoke it in utter silence as you light up another one. Fingers brushing for a second.

“So” He starts to say, looking directly into your eyes. “Come so I can kill another one of your PC’s?” You laugh, even if you try not to.

“Too soon Munson.” You chuckle looking at the ground for a second. “No, I’m here to kick your ass, you’ll see.”

“Can’t wait”

Character sheet, spell cards, the multiple die, it all lies in front of you. But you’re enchanted by Eddie and his storytelling. He leans closer to the table, hair brushing his face, a smile creeping into his face, you think that whatever is coming up next can’t be good. And if you are being sincere with yourself, you aren’t really paying attention to what he’s saying, more so than the way he’s moving as he does. Hand on the table, strong grip, enough so to make his veins show in his arm, as he propels his body up and announces that Vecna is, once again, alive.

The entire table bursts into various screams. Your face, pure shock. He smiles, and gives you a little wink. What the fuck was that you think.

Your party starts to attack, and as your roll for initiative was low, -enough to make Eddie chuckle, and for you to glare at him with daggers in your eyes- you wait patiently for your turn. A lot of your party members have died - all be it, only dropped to 0 Hit Points, not permanently dead like you did-, and they just Captured Dustin’s PC. You nod as you know what you must do.

“I got you kid, don’t worry.” He looks at you, puzzled.

“You sure?” He asks, panic in his voice.

“Yeah, am sure. Scout's honour.” You say as you take your tongue out, making a silly face so his shoulders relax a bit. You see Eddie standing up and taking a step back, as he loses his hand in his front pocket, and you stare, maybe a little bit too hard, and he grabs a cig, and looks down on you.

“And as so happens m’lady, it’s going to be your turn next, so, if you delight us with what it is that you intend to do.” He teases. Smirk in his face, eyes lost in yours. And your heart is beating faster and faster.

“Okay so” You stand up. Hands on the table, chest pushing forwards pointing at him. Your hair moving everywhere as you look at him, smoke disappearing out of his mouth. “So I was with Mike, so I’m probably right around here.” You ask as you point to the board, your mini hasn’t entered the board since the fight started so you needed to make sure you were right. Eddie nods, looking right at where you’re pointing. “Rad, okey.” Your left hand goes to your chin, and as you stroke it, a smile forming in your face you say “So with Tempestuous Magic, before I cast a first level or higher, I can fly 10 feet?”

He begins to smile, you can tell he’s excited to see you play again. His eyes seem to glow brighter than before.

“That sounds right” He reassures you. You’ve cracked it. And hope you’ll blow his mind away.

“So I can, like, run through here and then fly 10 feet over these, whatever they are, ‘cause I don’t take opportunity attacks.” You smile as you begin to explain your move.

Starstruck as he seems he nods and says in shock, mouth open and beaming with excitement.

“You absolutely can, yes.”

“Okay, awesome.” You look at the board once again. “ So I get here and, before I cast anything, who all is within 10 feet of me?” You need to be absolutely sure that the higher command to Vecna is close, if he is it’s going to be awesome.

“Um, that would be Dustin, who is down underneath the gallows and other than that, the second in command to Vecna’s army.” He says with a pride so high at his well played round.

Your smile grows bigger.

“Perfect” You purr out. He sits back to his throne, cigarette finished and in the ashtray. “ Okay, so what I’m gonna do is,um… I’m Gonna do a fourth level Thunder Step. I'm grabbing Dustin to come with me.” You declare triumphantly. You are basically teleporting next to him and saving your little brother's ass, if this works out.

As he realizes what you’ve just told him. his mouth opens and glares at you, Shock and glee evident on his face. “You can pick one person to come with you.” He almost whispers. Your skin tingling as you hear his voice so low yet deep. Your face, with a bright smile, still higher than he is, looks down at him. Your smile grows wider, and cheeks turning ever so slightly pink.

“Indeed I do, dear Edds. So, I’m doing a fourth level Thunder Step, and I’m also using my Channel Divinity, um, Destructive Wrath.” His face turns slightly white. Yours beams with joy. Your party is finally catching up to what you’re doing. “Basically, this allows me to do max damage in an attack of my choosing once a day.” You inform everyone at that table, as you read over your card spell once again. “So basically they’re all taking 40 points of damage, and then since I cast lightning spell, they’re also all gonna take another 3. And then.” As you stop to gather some air, you see Eddie’s face. Both parts are equal, shocked, pissed and proud of you. You can feel your cheeks burning, seeing him like that. Under your spell. “I’m gonna use Quicken Spell to do Spare the Dying on Dustin as I teleport them back in here.” Your eyebrows rise up as you start giggling.

Your party is looking at you, they start to go wild.

Eddie's face is frozen in complete shock.

In a single round of combat you’ve managed, not only to save your little brother, but also to fuck his army up considerably. He smiles up at you, finger to his temple, moving forwards from his throne. Biting his lower lip as he looks you up and down.

“Yo…” Mike says in complete shock “Holy shit, Oh my god” He keeps repeating.

“We’re gonna fuck you up Munson, she read the rule book!” You catch Garret hyping you up and your smugness grows as you step back like he did only a second ago, so you can smoke in peace. Basking in your glory.

“Hell yeah.” Dustin finally says as he looks at you. You can tell he’s proud of you.

Eddie gets all flustered and finally meets your eyes. Though mad, he can’t stop smiling at you.

“You did, ah, what, you did” He mumbles contemplating you, up and down. You get lost in his eyes for a second.

“43 damage to everyone within 10 feet of me.” You tell him. Smoke pushing to him.

“But not to…” He can even finish his sentence. Too shocked to process.

“But not to him, because he’s coming with me. And since I spared them, they’re no longer dying.” You grab your spell card, and flicker it at him. He grabs it in his hand, it shows through his rings as he reads it once over.

“Fuck me Henderson.” He lets out, hands in his hair, satisfied with a grin in his face.

“Just did.” For a moment it truly seems to only be you two. Until you remember where you are. “And it's called payback.”

He laughs, god you missed his laugh. He looks at you once more, and as he nods, he winks at you. “Well played, Henderson.” He stands up once again. “How did you know that he had such low HP?” He asks, forgetting that you two are not alone in this room.

The table loses their shit, this implies that potentially, you just killed a big bad villain.

“You forget.” Your chin up, as you walk slowly to him. “I DM’d for you last year, and you’ve got the same guidebook as I do.” You fist bump him playfully into his chest. His mouth opens in shock, as he covers it, you can hear the entire table going crazy. and your touch growing warmer where your hand connected to his chest.

“THIS IS AMAZING” Your little brother proclaims. You bow theatrically, as they cheer for you, calling your name and your PC’s name.

You return to your seat, this time it's Eddie who can’t stop looking at you. Your cheeks become even pinker. You’re really happy with how this played out.

if you enjoyed (i I really hope you did), please reblog! i promise it makes a difference

this fic is multi-chapter <3 part two part three part four part five

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sweet-villain · 2 years ago

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Lending A Hand ~ E.M

@haileighboi asked:

Here is another fluff one shot🤭

Ok so the reader is Dustin’s older sister. (Who is a cheerleader but is not popular she is more to her self always hangs in the library with her best friend Liz, who has been her only friend for years) When Dustin was going through her room look for quarters for the arcade (like mike did in season 2) he find her diary and reads it because he sees his DMs name in it a find out his sister has been in love with him so Lil dusty buns plays match maker. It works!!! Eddie feels the same they go on a date everyone is happy until it hits Dustin. Eddie is now dating his sister so now Dustin is in over protective little brother mode when Eddie comes around to see his sister. When ever you guys sit together he squeezes himself in, when holding hand he breaks it. Reader and Eddie find it hilarious especially when Dustin tries to intimidate Eddie by deepening his voice and has the little brother talk. 🤣

Sorry it is so long but I thought it was a cute idea.

Tags : : @ceriseheaven @josephquinnlover0 @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch @stillfalling30minslater @alyisdead @witchy-munson @e0509

My Master List is in This Area

" Do you know the meaning of chewing?" you stared in disgust as Dustin scarfed down his breakfast like he hasn't eaten in days. Your nose twitched as he grin full mouth of food.

" Thank you for breakfast, mom! But Liz is already waiting for me as it is" you scrambled out of your chair bringing your half eaten breakfast to the sink. Your mom put her hand on her hips, waving the spatula at you. " At least grab some to go, hunny. I don't need my little cheerleader to starve" you shook your head, kissing her cheek.

" Let's go butthead!" you shouted towards Dustin who groaned with food in his mouth as he slide on his backpack. " Bye mom!" he shouted as he raced out the door with you. The both of you shoved each other through the doors as Liz stared in amusement watching you both.

" We're going to be late, move it Dusty bun" he groaned as he slipped out the doors first and ran towards Liz's car leaving you to mutter underneath your breath fixing your pony tail as you waved to your best friend.

" Took you long enough, Henderson" she playfully rolled her eyes. " Oh be quite you, start driving or we'll be late."

" Oh that's right, Miss I'm A Cheerleader, I need good grades but I'll stay in the library to be a nerd and shut myself from everyone else forgot I had such a dork for a sister" you reached to the back to flick your brother in the nose.

" I'm not one that plays a fantasy game and has a girlfriend that's miles away and sing-" you were cut off by Dustin tugging on your pony tail.

" That's rude! You little-" you started to say when Liz screamed causing you and Dustin to look at her while she drives.

" Henderson's I will kick you out of my car. I swear" she warned. You huffed in your seat mocking Dustin in the back who mocked you back.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You walked through the desks to get to your seat in English plopping down near the window over looking the outside. The chair next to you scraped against the ground and you knew who sat in that seat. It was your crush, Eddie Munson. He was your little brothers Dungeon Master too.

" Hey Henderson, you look a little spaced out. Everything going okay in there?" he asked tapping on the back of your head. You turned your head meeting his gaze. He had a small smile on his lips as he slouched in his chair with his legs out, spread.

" Yeah, I'm good. Let me guess you forgot to bring your notebook and a pen?" he pursed his lips as he put a finger on his chin and tapped it like he was thinking. You giggled at his expression. The sound brought his heart racing as he offered his hand to you.

" Would you, m'lady be so kind to give the young bard a piece of paper and a pen of your liking?" he asked.

" The lady would" you ripped out a piece of paper from your notebook skipping over the paper that had his name on it with little hearts around the eye before giving it to him. You offered your pen to him too and he took it with a brush of his fingers against yours. The touch caused your breath to hitch.

" Something wrong?" Eddie asked, catching it. You shook your head burying your face into your notebook as you flipped it to a clean page. He chuckled as the teacher walked in but Eddie couldn't help it but watched as you took notes. The way you were so focused in writing everything down.

He couldn't help but feel his heart race every time you'd look at him at the corner of your eye.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

He looked at me today like I've given him a whole world into the palm of his hand. His smile made my heart flutter, the way his hand brushed over mine. I felt it. The spark that was there. Maybe I am overthinking it. Eddie Munson doesn't like me like that. I mean, look at me. Look at Chrissy Cunningham. She looks more like his type.

" Hunny! Time for dinner!" your mom shouted. You closed out your diary and stuffed in behind your pillow. Inside your pillow case where you were sure no one would find it.

" Coming!" you shouted as you looked at yourself in the mirror, fixing your hair. You hadn't notice Dustin standing outside your door pretending to fix his own hair like he was imitating you.

" What are you doing?" you asked with your eyebrow raised.

" I'm you" he says, " I'm pretty." His hand brushed down his shirt like he was smoothing it out. You groan, " You're so annoying."

" Look who I'm related to" you squinted your eyes, " you better run or I'll make-"

" Kids, dinner!" your mom shouted.

" Coming!" the both of you yelled back. Dustin ran down the stairs before you could say anything else and you followed him, plopping in the seat across from Dustin.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You were studying with Liz in the kitchen for one of the tests that were coming up. She had made flash cards while you were making something to eat, she wanted a sandwich. Meanwhile Dustin was frantically searching around in his room for coins. He wanted to go arcade with the others.

A light bulb went over his head remembering you had a piggy bank in your room full of coins and some cash. He listened over in the halls of your voice and Liz, hearing you ask if Liz wanted some cheese on her sandwich. He rolled his eyes, you and your famous turkey sandwiches. They were good. One of his favorites but you gushed about to everyone.

He slowly opened your room fearing the door would crack and when it didn't, he sighed in relief and walked inside. His eyes roamed until they spotted the purple piggybank on your dresser next to a music box that had some of your jewelry in it.

" Yes, I knew you where here" he mumbled to himself grabbing it with his hands as he shook it. Our slipped more coins that he ever imagined. Why did you need all of them? Where you saving up for something? He shrugged and grabbed some stuffing them into his pocket.

In the corner of your bed, in the slip behind you pillow laid the small notebook that catches his attention. He looks back into the hall to hear you return to studying with Liz.

" Nerd" he mumbled to himself before plopping down on your bed. He jumped on it a little as his hand reached for the small notebook that was hidden behind your pillow. It had your name on it, the words " do not open" and diary all together on the front.

Dustin was skimming through it until his eyes landed on a name. Not just any name. His dungeon masters name. His eyes grew wide at what he was reading. You liked Eddie Munson? His mouth dropped open as he closed the notebook with a small thud.

He stuffed into where he found it before racing over back to his room grabbing the radio.

" Mike, Lucas. Come in, Will. Do you copy? I need all heads in"

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You yawned as you pull up picking up on your way to pick up Dustin from Hellfire tonight. Steve had some sort of excuse saying he had a date of some sort. Your fingers tapped on the steering wheel as you waited for them to come out. The door opened minutes later, you snorted watching your brother jump over the steps with Mike being goof balls.

You pressed in the middle of your steering wheel scaring them with a honk of your car. They screamed, clutching each other as if something was about to get them. You threw your head back in laughter as you stepped out of the car.

" Get in goofballs" you said through your laughter. Eddie had emerged last as the rest started to leave but you waited to wish him a good night. Dustin nudged your side, " Quit gawking at him."

" At who?" you asked. Dustin didn't utter a word as Eddie walked closer. " You're still here?" He took notice Mike in the car already with a bored expression on his face.

" I'm guessing your taking those two sheeps home?" He asked, bouncing back and forth on his feet. Dustin takes notice on how Eddie kept nervously looking away.

" what gave it away?" you sarcastically say, with a playfully eye roll. He chuckled, shaking his head. " Sarcasm is pretty on you just like you" he flirts.

Your cheeks flush red, " oh my god, will you two just admit to each other that you like each other and go on a date?" Dustin mutters out throwing his hands up. " I mean look at you two, your both nervous to even look at each other and your always smiling wider whenever the both of you are around each other. Look at you, Eddie. Your eyes a partially shining."

Eddie shoots Dustin a glare, " Shut it Henderson."

" I think it's cute" you mutter catching Eddie's attention. He turned his head back with his eyebrow arched up hidden behind his bangs. " You do?"

"Yes, you're very pretty Eddie" his cheeks flushed red as he took a piece of his hair and chewed on it acting shy.

" How about a date, Munson? Tomorrow?" he released his hair from his mouth as he agreed. " I'll pick you up at 7"

" Sounds like a plan"

A honk of the car startled the three of you as Mike waved, " Can we go home now?"

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You twirled around in the mirror pressing your hands down on the skirt you were wearing.

" Aren't you glad I opened my mouth and now you have a date with Eddie" Dustin says as he plops down on your bed with a comic book in his hands.

" How did you even know I had a crush on him?" A beat of sweat appears on Dustin's forehead. Your eyes were in slit thinking he was going to make up some lie to you about this.

" I just knew" he says with a shrug, " you've made it obvious."

" Oh... well thanks" you shrugged.

" You're welcome. You know I do want to see you happy even if you're the most annoying in the world" you smiled down at him as you sat down on the edge of your bed.

" Thank you, that's the most nicest thing you have ever said to me" Dustin playfully shoved his shoulder into you as you shared a laugh with him.

" If he does anything stupid, I will hunt him down" Dustin tries to sound threateningly but fails as it brings laughter to you. The doorbell rang, " I'll get it!" you both shouted as the two of you raced downstairs.

" It's for me, Dusty bun" you shouted.

" It's my friend" he shouted.

Your hand lands on the doorknob, " Ha!" Dustin huffs as you opened the door revealing Eddie holding flowers in his hand as he eyes the two of you.

" Were you two just fighting over who opens the door?"

" I won" you happily said while Dustin stuck his tongue out at you. " Are those for me?" you gasped seeing your favorite flowers in his hands. His cheeks tinted red as he nodded, rubbing the back of his neck as he offered them to you.

" This is so sweet, let me go put them in a vase. I'll be right back" you sent a small smile Eddie's way making your way into the kitchen where your mom was.

" Who are those from?" She asks, " they are so pretty."

" They are from Eddie" you shyly tell her. She smiles widely seeing your reaction. " Does my little cheerleader like Eddie?" you nodded.

" I'm happy for you, hunny. Is he at the door?" you nodded again. She set her things down as she made her way to the door to say hello to Eddie.

Eddie took notice of your mom making her way over to him. He has been over the house a couple of time to drop Dustin off, to drop things for Dustin, stay for dinner and hang out with Dustin.

" It's good to see you, Eddie" your mom greet him.

" Good to see you too Mrs. Henderson" he smiles at her.

"Take care of my little girl, you hear me?"

" okay, mom we're going" you grabbed onto Eddie's wrist dragging him out the door.

" Have fun you two!" your mom shouted, " Not too much fun!" Dustin shouted as your mom closed the door. Eddie opens the door for you, " m'lady" and bows.

You giggle, " thank you kind sir."

You slide into the passenger seat as he closes the door making his way to the other side where he gets in, shooting you a grin. " Ready, sweetheart?" he nickname throws you off balance making your heart flutter.

" R-ready" Eddie starts the van, putting his hand on your thigh as he drive off.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

Since the date, everything was going so well. You've became officially Eddie's girlfriend. But Dustin now came to terms that you were dating Eddie now. He huffs when Eddie comes over and sits besides you on the couch.

" Excuse me" Dustin making his way over in between you and Eddie, " Scoot over" he looks down at Eddie. " This is my usual spot" he points to the couch.

You look at your little brother with amusement watching him put himself in between you and Eddie. You look over to Eddie to see he had the same look on his face.

" Could you pass me those chips?" He asks Eddie, " can't seem to reach" Eddie reaches over to toss the bag of chips into Dustin's lap and puts his arms around the couch but Dustin leans back and feels Eddie's arm.

" Man, not right now. I don't need a cuddle" you snort watching the two as your boyfriend glances down at Dustin with amusement written on his face. He shoots you a look saying are you seeing what I am seeing.

You gotten up to grab yourself something to drink and Eddie follows you wanting to have a moment with you. But, to your disappointment Dustin walks into the kitchen to squeeze in between you and Eddie.

" Sorry just need this cup right there" he grabs the dirty cup off the counter top and puts it in the sink. Eddie grabs a hold of your hands about to bring your hands up to his lips to kiss them when Dustin grabs a hold of your hand and Eddie's.

" It it cold in here? I need some warmth" he holds your hand in his while the other in Eddies. This is the funniest thing you have had seen your brother do. He was having his own fun getting in between you and Eddie.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It's been like that for a whole week where Dustin didn't want Eddie to touch you or be near you. You decided it was time to confront your little brother and ask him what's been going on.

" Hey" you knocked on his door. " It's me, can we talk?" you asked through the door. The door opened to reveal Dustin.

" Is something wrong? Did you get hurt? Did Eddie do something? I swear I'll kill him" Dustin muttered.

" No, no nothing like that" he nodded opening the door wider as you stepped in looking around his room. You have been in his room maybe four times. He didn't like it very much when you were in his room.

" Is everything okay? I mean you've been acting more weirder than usual" you mumbled plopping on his bed. Dustin sighed as he sat down next to you.

" Why won't you let me be near Eddie? Are you afraid he will hurt me?" He shook his head with a small pout.

" No, not that" Dustin looked away feeling upset over the real reason why he kept doing what he was doing. " Please tell me, I'm worried" you moved closer to him and wrap your arms around him.

He looked up at you with glossy eyes, " Hey, what's the matter?' you shifted to face him. " What's got you like this?"

" It's just, I feel like Eddie will take you away from me. You're my big sister and I love giving you shit"

" Language" you warned, poking his nose. He scrunched it.

" I'm also your brother, I just feel very protected over you. You know? If he hurts you, I want to be the first one to land a punch on him. If he says something to hurt you, I want to be the one that bites his head off. You know?"

You nodded, " Listen to me. Eddie isn't taking me away from you, I'm always going to be your big sister. We're always going to have the bond that we have. I know you'll always be there to take care of me whenever I need you. The same thing I would do to you, and if Eddie will hurt me. You'll be the first to know, I promise you."

" I love you" he says throwing his arms around.

" I love you too, dork" he chuckled as he hugged you tighter. There were rare moments like this with your brother but this felt different. Because he never was like this.

─── ･｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

It was silence at the dinner table as Eddie looked between you and Dustin and then at your mom. She was aware the moment you had between Dustin and how Dustin felt about you being with Eddie.

Eddie was a little scared of the silence then he was startled as Dustin cleared his throat. He stood up from his chair as he turned to Eddie.

" I have some words I need to say" he runs a hand through his curls and puts his cap back on his head. " To you" he points to Eddie. You pause your fork grabbing onto the chicken focusing your attention on your brother.

" Dustin, what are you doing?" he puts a finger up to shush you.

" That's rude" you mumble. Your mom reached over the table and tapped your hand. " It's okay, hunny. He means well" you huffed in your seat crossing your arms over your chair.

" You listen good, Munson. This is my sister" he points to you. Eddie nods, but continues to listen. " If you even think about hurting her in any way possible. I will hunt you down, I will come into your trailer and I will take your guitar and I will throw it into Lover Lake. Do you hear me?" your eyes widen as Eddie eyes did too, but he nodded.

" I don't plan on hurting her, no. way' Eddie says as he looks over to you reaching for your hand. Your hand slide into his, lacing his fingers with yours.

" If you do anything to upset her, I will take Steve's bat and make your van look extra pretty" As Dustin continued to act protective over you, he pointed a finger at Eddie's face.

" Just please don't hurt her" Dustin begs him. " She's been through a lot as it is" you look down at your plate when Dustin says that. Eddie gives your hand a squeeze.

" Also, please don't make be barf whenever this happens" he motions to your hands. " Almost forgot" he walks around the table to unlace your fingers from Eddie. His one hand in yours and the other is in Eddies.

" I got cold" you chuckled, shaking your head.

" yeah got cold, got it" Eddie snorted.

" Dusty bun please sit down, we didn't finish dinner" you stuck your tongue out at Dustin as did Eddie.

In response, Dustin stuck his tongue out at you and Eddie.

This was a start of something good.

#Eddie Munson #imagine Eddie Munson #Eddie Munson one shot #Eddie x reader #Eddie x you #Eddie Munson x reader #Eddie Munson x you #Eddie Munson x y/n #Eddie Munson x dustin older sister!#Eddie Munson x female reader #jewls writes

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witch-of-sadness · 9 months ago

Text

Just Breathe

Summery: You come back to your family after dropping out of college, but maybe it isn't as bad as you thought.

Warnings: Hurt/comfort, reader feeling like a failure, Claudia Henderson being a good Mom, and a excited Dustin at the end. <3

Note: A blurb written while high, projecting myself a little lol. This is the start of my Lonely Day series btw (Eddie x Reader)

Breath in, breath out.

You dragged your feet as you walked up the driveway to your "childhood" home, dreading the conversation you were about to have. After burning out at community college, you knew you had to swallow your pride and admit defeat to your mom. I mean, it's not that you were demanded to be the golden child, but you still tried to do your best.

What would you even say?

Breath in, breath out. You turned the doorknob and walked inside. "Mom, I'm home..." you called out tentatively. You heard footsteps before your mother appeared, taking in your dejected expression with a soft sigh. "Oh baby... come sit down and tell me what happened."

Between shaky breaths you explained how overwhelmed you felt, the constant pressure of classes and exams proving to be too much. Your mother listened silently, taking your hands in hers with sympathy in her eyes.

In, out, in, out, in, out. Ragged.

You felt like such a failure after living up to the high expectations you set to yourself for so long. But your mom reassured you that your worth wasn't defined by grades or achievements. "For now, just focus on yourself okay? Don't worry - everything will work out, honey."

You hoped she was right. In that moment, returning home seemed like the only choice... even if it meant facing your own insecurities and rebuilding your confidence from the ground up.

"No way! You're here!" Your brother's voice was heard from the stairway, and your heart already felt less heavy.

masterlist

#stranger things #x reader #henderson!reader #henderson!sister #dustin henderson #claudia henderson #eddie munson

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fromasgardandback · 1 year ago

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Rocker Mayfield - Part I

Eddie Munson x Mayfield!Reader

description: Y/N Mayfield moved back to Hawkins after their father left her to be with his new family. Living in the trailer park wasn’t bad, especially with an attractive neighbor.

word count: 1.6k

warning: divorce, abandonment, crappy relationships, fluff

a/n: i will be making this a mini-series. maybe 3-4 parts?

masterlist | oneshots

Hawkins, Indiana. The dreadful town in the middle of nowhere. Farmlands, hillbillies, and rich freaks who loved to tell you they were “popular”. I hated it here, but what else was I supposed to do? I’m in my senior year and refuse to not finish just to get a GED. I am Max Mayfield’s older sister and when she was just a toddler our parents split. Mom took Max and Dad took me, but I fought to spend the summers with Mom and Max. Every summer I did except for last summer which is how everything went down on both of our ends. Max dealing with underworld demons and me dealing with my own. I practically lived alone because of how much Dad was out. I took care of myself and learned to do it all. Until one day at the beginning of summer, right before I was about to leave for Hawkins, this young bimbo walked into our house. She looked like a hooker, a gold digger, and someone with major daddy issues. That summer I found out my father was living a whole lie apart from Max and me. He created this whole other family, and by “family” it was Dad, this bimbo, and two dogs. I won’t lie, I contemplated taking the dogs. He told me to get out and move back in with our Mom. All summer I packed everything I owned, black-mailed him into getting what I needed to take care of Max and me and left. I took the eleven-hour car trip from New York to Indiana.

I pulled through the trailer park entrance, making my way to the one mobile home that I knew too well. Putting the car in park, I got out taking in the surroundings and awful smell. From the front window, I saw Max visibly happy to see me. She ran out before I could run to her and we both fell in a tight hug.

“Y/N. I missed you. Never leave me again.” Max mumbled into my neck.

“I missed you too, kid. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.” I smiled holding her closer.

Luckily the trailer was a two-bedroom trailer, so I shared one with Max while Mom got the other room. She worked long hours and late nights. Barely being home for Max, so being home is like I came for Max. Which I did, because if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have returned. The place still looked the same as the last time I was in it. Brown, brown, and oh yeah, more brown. Max set up a bed for me in the corner of her room while she took the other side. Part of me felt bad that she doesn’t have her own privacy anymore, but based on the late-night calls about her nightmares and night terrors, I know she wouldn’t mind. I set my things down and turned to sit on the bed.

“One perk of Dad bribing me to leave is that I got the car. So, wanna go for a drive? Get out of here and take a breather?” I said leaning back on my hands.

“Hell yeah.” Max sighed in relief. I knew she needed someone to support her and that is who I am going to be. Her main support while Mom was out supporting us. I took Max driving down farmlands and back roads that lead to a lake. I parked and we spent the night watching the sunset before heading home.

School started within the next week or so from my arrival. The feeling of going to Hawkins High made both of us physically sick. When the first day came we regretted getting out of bed. I pulled into the parking lot and looked over at Max. Her face went from upset to straight disgust.

“It’s going to be okay. I’m here with you the entire time. Find me and I’ll be there for you. Maybe find your friends? Dustin was the sweetest to you, he can give you some kind of comfort.” I said gently squeezing her hand.

“Thanks, Y/N. I just want to get it over with and go home.” Max said, giving me a tight-lip smile. I knew this year was going to be harder on her than anyone, but if I could make some part of her day memorable, I will.

“Listen to your music. Remember to take breathers. And I love you!” I yelled at her walking towards the school and away from my car. She laughed, playfully flipping me off. I grabbed my bag, following her into school when this guy came out of nowhere and I bumped into him.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” I said picking up a pack of cigarettes and handing them back.

“No, it’s fine darling.” The voice said as our hands touched. That voice, I know that voice. It was familiar. I look up to see a curly, long-haired man with a metal look. Jeans, jean and leather jacket, a bandana, and a chain connected to his back pocket and belt loops. Only one kind of person in Hawkins looked like that

“Eddie?” I questioned, finally getting to see his face.

“Y/N?” He questioned back, looking at me.

“Oh my gosh, it is you.” I smiled wide. Eddie and I used to be friends when we were younger and every summer we would hang out when I came home. Calling each other wasn’t an option because of my father, so we would write one another and I kept everyone.

“It really is. Come here.” Eddie enveloped his arms around me, holding me close. I wrapped my arms around his neck, hugging him back.

“When did you get back? I would’ve helped you move back in.” Eddie kept looking over my face as if something happened.

“Last week, but I know you were working hard at the plant. I didn’t want to come over and bother you just to bring in heavy items.” I said walking inside with high school with him.

“You know I would do anything to help you. Don’t hesitate again.” He said seriously.

“Oh yeah? Just so you can go through my panties again like last summer?” I said standing in front of him at his locker.

“You weren’t supposed to be that fast in the bathroom.” Eddie’s face went red.

“You admit it!” I said laughing and walking away.

“No, Y/N. Get back here.” He laughed following me to our homeroom class.

A few months passed and it was late fall. Fall in Hawkins was similar to what a New England falls resembles. Beautiful colored leaves, colder weather, and a vibe of dark academia. Eddie and I skipped the last class which was just a Study Hall and headed to his secret picnic table in the forest. We’ve been talking about anything and everything. More than we could write in our letters.

“It wasn’t my ideal situation to come back home to basically become a mother figure to my younger sister or be her keeper, but she’s my best friend. I love that girl with everything in me.” I smiled thinking about Max. “I’d do anything for her.”

“That’s admirable. I feel the same way about Wayne.” Eddie said, leaning over the table on his elbows.

“I haven’t seen Wayne since we were kids. How has he been?” I asked following suit and leaning my elbows on the table. His eyes sparkled at the mention of his beloved uncle.

“He’s doing good. They switched him to the night shift down at the plant, but other than being tired, he’s doing good. I can’t believe you remembered our last conversation about him.” Eddie said looking at me. Just looking into his eyes made me weak.

“Of course, I did, Eddie. I care about you and Wayne so much. You’re very close to me so I’m going to pay attention to what you say. Even if you ramble on about how “Henderson” is annoying you about winning the last game.” I laughed, smiling at him.

“It was valid!” Eddie was very enthusiastic about his Dungeons and Dragons meetings. “Do you still listen to rock music?” He asked playing with his rings.

“I do and some metal. The ones you recommended. I really like Metallica.” I smiled while looking at him wearing a shit-eatin’ grin knowing I paid attention to his requests. “You know I have kept every single one of our letters.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I love that we started that at a young age. It’s very endearing. I mean who would’ve pegged you for the kind of guy to write letters to his childhood best friend while being the town’s metalhead freak, but because he plays a fantasy game.” I looked him in the eyes again.

“Don’t forget to mention satanic cultists too.” He chuckled. “I’ve kept all of mine too. Wayne tells me it's because I’m in love with you.” He blushed saying those words.

“You? In love with me?” I chuckled. That’s funny because it’s not true. Eddie wasn’t in love with me, he’s my friend.

“What if he’s not wrong? Would it be so bad if I was?” Eddie leaned over the table again, this time getting closer.

“No,” I gulped. “Would it be bad if I said I am too?” He’s showing the signals. Either show mine too and get rejected or finally be able to be in love with Eddie. My hands were shaking from this interaction. I didn’t get many in New York. The girls were prettier and the guys weren't Eddie.

“No, darling. It’d be great, so I can do this.” Eddie closed the gap between us and kissed me. I froze for a quick second, letting my brain register what was happening. I raised my hand to hold his face and kissed him back.

#sarah's specials #eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson x mayfield!reader #eddie munson headcanons #stranger things 4 #stranger things headcanons #stranger things x reader #stranger things #wayne munson #max mayfield #max mayfeild x reader #max mayfield x sister!reader #dustin henderson

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munsonsprincess11111 · 8 months ago

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Awkward situation

Eddie munson x Henderson!reader

Summary: your dating Eddie munson your brothers best friend. Even though it annoys the he'll out of Dustin he can't exactly stop you both. Eddie stays at your place after a d&d campaign that went on to long with the rest of hellfire.

D&D was a success last night for thr group. Though it rolled to early hours of the morning. So with permission of mother Henderson the boys stayed in the basement. Everyone left early the next morning besides Eddie. Mother Henderson didn't mind him staying longer though as she liked the positivity he brought to Dustin.

Eddie was leaning on the kitchen counter talking to Dustin as he finished the dishes from the night before. Eddie had taken out the trash bag they filled up and the one that was in the kitchen.

"I'm thinking the next campaign I'll work in a few less monsters keep it short and sweet after the one last night." Eddie says to Dustin

"Yeah give us a small recovery break" Dustin laughs and Eddie laughs along. The boys continue to talk Eddie helping Dustin dry the dishes and put them away. As they finish up you finally wake up and come walking into the living room to say good morning to your mom. Then to the kitchen.

Dustin and Eddie turn when they hear someone enter. Dustin scoffs and Eddie can't help but smirk. Your wearing one of the band tees Eddie gave you that was way to big and a pair of your more slutty panties. It isn't lacey at the front and covers some of your ass with the help of Eddie's tee shirt but Dustin still scoffs.

"Jesus y/n put your ass away for once we have company." Dustin says. He doesn't tend to care how you walk around the house infact he walks around in his underwear when no guests are there. But he does care when his friend is stood there.

You gasp and look up to see who it is and see a very smug looking Eddie. You let out a breath and step to Eddie. "I think your forgetting your company is my boyfriend." You say as you step forward into Eddie. His arms go around you as he smiles. You hug him around his middle putting your face in his chest.

Dustin makes fake gagging noises and Eddie frowns at him. You bring your face out of his chest and look up at Eddie. "Morning beautiful." Eddie laughs slightly looking at you with your messy hair and goofy smile.

"Morning eds. How comes your here?" You ask genuinely curious.

"I stayed the night. Campaign wrapped up late so everyone crashed here but the others left I stayed to help Dustin tidy and see you." HE smiles kissing you. You melt into him finally getting a hello kiss.

"Why didn't you come get in bed with me if you was here?" You ask frowning.

"Cause it wouldn't be fair that I came here to see my friends and then ditched at 2 am cause I want to sleep in your bed." Eddie chuckles. You nod kissing him again.

"OK I'm here to and eddies here to see me right now y/n so shoo." Dustin says pointing to the door at the kitchen. You groan and pull away from Eddie's warm embrace. "Here" Eddie says giving you his hoodie he had on the kitchen side. You smile and kiss his cheek and take it happily before exiting the kitchen.

"And stay out!" Dustin calls behind you. Eddie looks over at him "what?" HE askes Eddie noticing his disapproving look.

"She's still my girlfriend even when I hang out with you." Eddie says raising his brows.

Dustin scoffs again "Common let's go to my room I wanna show you my new comics." Dustin says guiding Eddie out of the kitchen. Eddie nods and follows Dustin. Walking to Dustins room Eddie sees your bedroom door open and peaks in. Your sat at your desk drawing something.

"Whatcha drawing?" Eddie askes curiously making you jump.

"Jesus Eddie you scared me." You says calming yourself " 'm drawing a window but it's open ans the curtains are flying outside n the windows like smashed n stuff." You answer his question. Eddie nods and smiles at you.

"You my boyfriend again yet or still one of dustins sad little friends?" You ask smirking. Before he can answer Dustin calls his name.

"That should answer your question." HE chuckles walking away from your room to dustins.

"Yes well I have to see my girlfriend now." Eddie says approaching your room.

"But why she's so boring." Dustin protests.

"Alright dude I was here from 6 pm yesterday playing d&d n I didn't speak to her once. I stayed still didn't. At 12 pm she woke up and I spoke to her. Then you got her to go. Then when I was talking to her 5 minutes later you summond me again. Its now 5:30 pm and I wanna see my girlfriend. I'll hang with you inna bit or tomorrow OK?" Eddie answers as calmly as he can

He loves Dustin but he just couldn't talk to you. You walked to dustins room to see if he or Eddie wanted a drink as you was making yourself a coffee and dustin told you to get out.

"OK fine but you have to watch scream with me." Dustin says. Eddie nods knocking on your bedroom door. You open it and smile at the sight of Eddie.

"You finally been set free?" You ask giggling.

"God I'm still stood here." Dustin says stomping off. You roll your eyes and let Eddie Into your room. He flops onto your bed and you crawl up him kissing him sweetly when you Reach his lips then laying next to him.

"I don't see why Dustin hates me. All I do is try." You say putting your head on Eddie's chest. Eddie knows it upsets you when Dustin treats you like crap. You're his older sister and do a lot for him, but Eddie will admit he does treat you like shit sometimes.

You and Eddie have spoke about it before when it's been bothering you so you know you can talk to him now. Eddie kisses your head. "Honestly babe I think it's purely because we're dating. He will get over it eventually. Like I said just give him time." Eddie says closing his eyes relaxing.

"Yeah your right." You mumble back. You lay like that for a while as you both drift off into sleep. Eddie's arm around you. Your head on the side of his chest his heart is and your arm across his chest. Your legs entangled at the bottom of the bed.

Dustin bursts into your room without knocking making Eddie jump out of his peaceful sleep. Only to throw his head back when he sees Dustin stood in the doorway.

"Yes Dustin?" Eddie askes whipping his hand over his eyes.

"What are you doing?" Dustin askes Eddie frowning

"Well I was cuddled up with your sister asleep but now I'm awake talking to you. What's up?" Eddie askes again wanting to know what Dustin needed to urgently.

"Wanted to put the movie on common I've got our snacks out and stuff." Dustin says bouncing on his feet. Eddie lays on your bed in slight defeat. He either goes with Dustin leaving you and when you wake up you'll be upset or he can tell Dustin he can't resulting in an annoyed Dustin.

"What if I wake y/n up and see if she wants to watch it with us?" HE askes dustin

"What no you said YOU would watch it with my all you two will do is make out and its bro time not hoe time." Dustin says crossing his arms.

"Don't call your sister a hoe." Eddie says running his hand up your back. Eddie slips himself away from your sleeping body not wanting to wake you and goes into the living room with Dustin. Dustins buzzing he puts the movie on and sits next to Eddie opening the popcorn.

30 minutes later you wake up and notice Eddie isn't by your side. You frown and rub your eyes walking out of your bedroom. You walk to the bathroom and the doors wide open. You use the bathroom and wash your hands then you hear the TV. You walk into the living room seeing scream on the TV and both the boys on the couch.

"Eds?" You say quietly behind them. Both there heads turn to you. Eddie smiles and dustin rolls his eyes. "Whyd you leave?" You ask stretching your arms up.

"Cause he wanted to watch the movie with me." Dustin answers for Eddie. "You should've woken me up I would've came and watched it with you guys." You say crossing your arms looking at the boys with a soft expression.

"We wanted to watch the movie not you sit there making out with Eddie. It's bro time." Dustin says shoving his mouth full of popcorn. Eddie's head turns to you. He sees the look of hurt in your face. Your bottom lip wobbles and you nod. "Kay ill um ill go." You say hugging yourself as you walk off.

"Good." Dustin says through his mouthful of food. Eddie's pissed he was annoyed before but now he's pissed.

"To far." Eddie says looking at dustin

"What?" Dustin says confused

"To fucking far. I get she's your sister and I'm your friend but she's still my girlfriend. I've been dating her longer then I've properly known you Henderson. You've been in hellfire 7 months I've been dating your sister nearly 2 years. I get its annoying but if you don't like it you shouldn't have become as close with me as you have. We wouldn't of made out the hole time. She could've come and sat with us. She could've stayed in the kitchen with us. She could've come to see your comics to. I'm sure she would love that. But you treat her like shit. I've been nice you know cause I Dont want you to hate me cause you are my friend. And I don't want your mum to think bad of me. But she's my girlfriend n I don't let my other friends talk about her like that so you don't either. I'm gonna go make sure she's OK cause I'm gonna go with you didn't see her upset when she walked off." Eddie snapped at Dustin before he got up and walked to your bedroom.

Dustin was slightly shocked by eddies outburst. But Eddie didn't care he walked to your room. He said hello to your mun who was in the kitchen on his walk room.

"I'm sorry for snapping at Dustin aswell I'm justa little annoyed at how much he snaps at y/n." Eddie says not wanting your mum to suddenly hate him.

"Your fine Eddie just go make sure she's OK ill talk to dusty." She says smiling Eddie nods and goes to your room. He knocks and doesn't get an answer so he knocks again. "Go away." You mumble from the otherside of the door.

"Babe let me in. Don't make me climb through your window. I'll do it no hesitation." Eddie half jokes just wanting you to open the door. Which you do so he succeeded. You smile smally at him. "Want a hug?" HE askes hugging you. You nod and cling to him. He holds you just as tight as you cry slightly.

"Baby why are you crying?" Eddie askes kissing your head. You pull your face away from him slightly smiling at him. "Cause I heard what you said to Dustin. N i loved that you defended me even though you didn't need to. N then you apologised to my mum. N i was like. Holy shit I love him so much." You cried smiling as Eddie pulled you back in.

"Don't care. No one speaks to my girl infront of me like that don't care who they are." Eddie says. You stay holding eachother for a few before Eddie takes you to the living room.

"Let's clear this up. You don't be mean to her no more. Sure have your sibling banter or whatever but don't talk to her like you was or imma disown you. And you, you need to stop just walking off when he upsets you and tell him. OK right. New plan. Dustin if I'm here for D&D I'm here for you if I stay over after I stay with you I help you tidy up and whatever you wanna do with me we do then cause once I'm with y/n I'm not gonna stop hanging out with my girlfriend ok? Unless its like a movie or something we can all watch it even your mum can join. You need to stop being weird about the whole us dating thing it didn't effect you until you joined hellfire. Now let's all sit down and finish the movie." Eddie says as he pulls you to sit next to him.

"I didn't know I was upsetting you y/n I'm really sorry" Dustin says with sincerity in his voice.

"It's OK Dustin. I get its weird that me and Eddie are dating cause he's your friend but we've Been together a while you know so you just gotta deal with it really." You giggle sitting up. You hug Dustin for a second so he knows everything is OK.

Then you lay into Eddie's side as he wraps and arms around you kissing your head. "I love you." HE mumbles into your head. "I love you too." You smile up at him.

Once movie finished you and Eddie went to dustins room so he could show YOU all his new comics and stuff. Eventually he let you and Eddie go free. Your mom said Eddie could stay over again as he was respectful (to her atleast) so you both headed to your room and crawled and your duvets cuddling eachother.

"Missed my girl." HE mumbles.

"Missed you too babe." You hum back.

"Hopefully its all better now." Eddie says kissing your neck.

"Trust me I think its better all ready." You smile at his kiss.

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"I love you more."

"Edward you actual bitch."

"Is someone to sleepy for the I love you battle."

"Yes now cuddle me and show me how you love me more."

And he does just that until your both out cold.

Safe to say Eddie's little speech worked cause you woke the next day to Eddie and dustin in the kitchen and as you enter Dustin smiled at you and said nothing about you being immediately clingy with Eddie. You'd woken up just in need of his skin contact so you hugged him for a while even while he made your coffee.

That day you all went to the arcade and actually had fun with Dustin for the first time in a while. You held Eddie's hand with no gagging noises and you were happy.

"I love you." You kiss Eddie as Dustin plays whatever game he's playing. It breaks Eddie's focus on the game and it goes straight to you. He then kisses you back. "I love you too." HE says, snaking a hand around your waist eyes, going back on the game Dustins playing.

"I love you more." You smirk.

"OH you getting revenge for last night huh?" HE turns back to you smiling and you nod smirking. "Mk let's stay at the trailer tonight n ill show you how much more I love you." HE whispers in your ear. Your haw drops as Eddie smirks looking back at dustins game telling him to do something.

You stood shocked as Eddie's hand squeezed your hip he was still smirking....

Boy were you excited for tonight.

#eddie m #eddie munson thoughts #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x yn #eddie smut #eddie x reader #eddie x you #rockstar eddie munson #eddie my beloved #eddie stranger things #dustin henderson #dustins sister

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skyfallslayer · 6 months ago

Text

Should We Stay or Should We Go? || Chapter Two

-A ST Rewrite Feat. Steve Harrington x Henderson!OFC-

Main Masterlist || Series Masterlist

🎲Summary: On the night of November 6th, 1983, Stephanie Henderson decided to walk her little brother’s friend, Will, back home. However… they never arrive. Now, Dustin, Mike and Lucas, and soon the exception of the girl’s ex-best friend, Steve, must band together to find out what happened. Meanwhile, Steph and Will must fight for their survival in this nightmarish version of Hawkins, Indiana.

🎲Chapter Summary: Lucas, Mike and Dustin try to talk to the girl they found in the woods; And Hopper questions an anxious Joyce about an unsettling phone call; Steph and Will must continue to survive; And Steve’s eyes get opened in a way he never saw coming.

🎲Pairings: Will x Platonic!OFC; Dustin x Sister!OC; Slow burn! Steve x Henderson!OFC (Ex-bestfriends to Lovers); Slow burn! Byler

🎲Rating: Teen-Mature

🎲Word Count: 11,024 (Oh, my lord)

🎲Date: 5/16/24

🎲Warnings: Angst; Swearing; Implied Broken Friendship; Talks of Kidnapping; Mental Strain/Breaking Down; Implying Sex; Lying; Implied Suicide; Death/Killing; Talks of Corpses; Blood; Gun Use; Steve's 'Asshole Era. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!

(And let me know if I missed anything)

🎲A/N: Jesus. This was a tough one to write and edit (Hopefully I didn't make too many mistakes). But, geez. Writing different POVs, everyone's thought was a tough one. But hopefully y'all can understand 😅. Also, I am NOT a D&D player, so some of lore just comes straight from the wiki. Hopefully that's reliable enough. Anyway, sorry for the delay. Enjoy!

|| THE NIGHT BEFORE ||

“What the fuck are you?!” Will heard her scream as the creature tried to outmatch her. The light above them grew brighter and brighter, and he squeezed his eyes shut while gripping her jacket tighter. He prayed this was just another nightmare. Maybe… Maybe he’s getting his wish when he hears the silence. Does he dare open his eyes and see the truth?

He’s scared, trembling, and it heightens when he hears the girl heaving for air. So much so he clenches his grip on the fabric tighter, the strange smelling air going through his nostrils causing him to gasp himself. When his eyes snapped open is when his coughing fit started.

He hears his name being called, and hands coming around his shoulders. He almost jerks away, afraid, until his orbs settle on the silhouette before him.

“S-Steph?” He croaked, a sense of relief flooding his veins. “What just happened?” He could see the confusion on her face, looking around for clues. He followed her eyes, nose crinkling at the sight. “We’re still in the shed. But it’s… gross.”

She swallows. “Stay behind me.” She tells him, and guides herself through the door. They both shivered at the sudden drop in temperature. “Jesus, It’s freezing.”

Will and her looked around, the outside world seemed to be encased in a blue hue, the places around seemed to be tangled with vines and covered in something sticky. There was also a white powder that looked like snow, raining down from the dark skies above. A sky that didn’t even have moonlight like it did a few minutes ago.

“Did you hit your head when we crashed?” She asked after getting his attention away from the sky.

He shakes his head, almost sadly. If that had both just hit their heads, would the situation have been better? He frowns, worriedly thinking away as the older girl tries to stay calm.

“Come on.” She says, gesturing to him to follow. “Let’s go inside. I want to see something.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

The rain was coming down more intensely than before, followed by the grumbling of thunder and lightning. Somehow, miraculously, the boys, mostly Wheeler, managed to convince the strange girl they found in the woods to return home with them, and hid her in the basement.

“Is there a number we can call for your parents?” Mike asked, worriedly as the girl looked between the three boys, all scared and confused.

“Where’s your hair? Do you have cancer?” Dustin spitted out, genuinely curious.

“Did you run away?” Lucas asked, skeptical.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?” Mike says, just as his friend questions a red sustain on her shirt. He slaps his hand away quickly. “Stop it! You’re freaking her out!”

“She’s freaking me out!”

“I bet she’s deaf.” Dustin suggested, before taking a quick half step and smacking his hands together. The sound makes the girl flinch, and he frowns apologetically. “Not deaf.”

“That’s enough, all right? She’s just scared and cold.” Mike said, silencing the two before running over to the laundry basket and grabbing some clothes. “Here, these are clean. Okay?”

The girl takes them, taking a second to be grateful before she starts stripping– The boys freak out, Mike running up to stop her while the other two look away.

“See over there?” He points. “Th-That’s the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?” She nods and he shows her inside. Just when he was about to shut it behind him, she grabs it forcibly. “You don’t want it closed?”

“No.” She finally says, surprising him.

“Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well… Um, how about we just keep the door…” He slowly moves it until there’s about three inches of space. “Just like this. Is that better?”

“Yes.”

Mike smiles and leaves her be, rejoining the group who were having a conversation of their own.

“This is mental.” Dustin said, freaking out.

“At least she can talk.” Mike points out, with Lucas shaking his head, replying,

“She said ‘no’ and ‘yes’. Your three-year-old sister says more.”

“She tried to get naked.” Dustin adds.

“There’s something seriously wrong with her.” Lucas said, touching his temple. “Like, wrong in the head.”

“She just went like…” The Henderson boy makes a motion of taking off shirt (and even knocked his own hat off his head).

“I bet she escaped from Pennhurst.”

“From where?” Mike said, eyebrow raised.

“The nuthouse in Kerley County.”

“You got a lot of family there?” Dustin teased, getting a dirty look.

“Bite me. Seriously though, think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she’s so crazy.”

“Why she went like…” He does the shirt motion again. In his mind this was helping him and Lucas’ case.

“‘She’s an escapee’ is the point. She’s probably a psycho.”

“Like Michael Myers.”

“Exactly! We should’ve never brought her here.”

“So you just wanted to leave her out in that storm?” Mike asks, irritated.

“Yes! We went out to find Will–”

“And Phanie.” Dustin pressures.

“And Steph – not another problem!” Lucas agrees.

“I think we should tell your mom.”

“I second that.”

Mike holds his hand up. “Who’s crazy now?”

“How is that crazy?” Lucas scoffed.

“‘Cause, we weren’t supposed to be out tonight, remember?”

“So?”

“So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom–”

Dustin’s eyes widened. “Oh, man.”

“Our houses become Alcatraz.” Lucas frowns.

“Exactly. We’ll never find Will, or Steph.” Mike says, seeing Dustin make the shirt motion once more, silently asking the question about the girl. “All right, here’s the plan. She sleeps here tonight.”

Henderson perked up again. “You’re letting a girl–”

“Just listen! In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do. She’ll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We’ll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And this time, we find Will and Stephanie.”

Lucas and Dustin share a look, until one of them finally shrugged. “I guess that works.”

“Great. We’ll start again tomorrow. Goodnight, guys.” Mike bid them as he went off to start making the mysterious girl a place to rest.

“This is crazy, man.” Lucas said, once they had snuck back out. “What the hell is Mike even thinking?”

“I don’t know. Do you think his plan will really work?” Dustin asked, as they headed over to where their bikes were hidden.

“I’m giving it less than a fifty percent chance of success.” He sighs. “I better get home.”

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Hey, don’t look so sad.” He pats his curly haired friend on the back. “We’ll find them.”

“I just want my sister back. You have no idea.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

In the following morning, in the Byers house, the eldest seemingly was keeping it together, making the morning meal like he always does and hoping his worrying mother would have just a bite.

“All right, Mom. Breakfast is ready.” Jonathan said, while placing the plate down in front of her, her thoughts being interrupted.

“What?” His mother said, before moving some papers. “No, be careful of the poster.”

“Yeah, okay. All right–”

“I can’t eat.”

“I just need you to eat, Mom.”

“Listen, listen. The Xerox place opens in, like…” She looks down at her watch. “30 minutes–”

“Mom–”

“And I don’t want you to go alone–”

“No, I know. I told you, I got it.”

“So I’m gonna have Karen take you, ‘cause I should be here.” She gestures around, all jittery. “Claudia will meet you there, b-but if she’s not, she’ll reimburse us for the copies of Stephanie, I–”

He shakes his head with understanding. “Okay.”

“We need to make, what, 200, 300 copies?” He nods again. “How much is a copy?”

“Mom?”

“Ten cents?”

“Mom?”

“If we– ten cents”

“Mom, Mom!” Jonathan stops her from counting the cash she had laid out, and squeezes her shoulder with her other hang to calm her. “Y-You can’t get like this, okay?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” Joyce replies, taking a shaky inhale of nicotine.

“No, it’s okay.” He reassures her softly, just before someone comes knocking on their door. The mother rushed over with her son on her tail, busting the door wide open for the exhausted police officer.

“We’ve been waiting six hours.”

“I know, I came as soon as I could.” Hopper replies, nearly dead on his feet.

“Six hours.”

“A little bit of trust here, all right?” He slides his hat off. “We’ve been searching all night, went all the way to Cartersville.”

“And?”

“Nothing.”

Joyce made a choking sound and looked away. “God…”

Hopper frowns, sadly. “Flo says you got a phone call?”

“Oh, yeah.” Joyce nods and shows him their phone.

He picks it, examining the speaker part of it which was charded black. “Storm barbecued this pretty good.”

She took a step back in surprise. “The storm?”

Hopper looked at her like she had two heads. “What else?”

“You’re saying that that’s not weird?”

“No, it’s weird.”

“Can we, like, trace who made the call? Contact the–”

“No, it doesn’t work like that.” He shakes his head, and then looks at her with all seriousness. “Now, uh, you’re sure it was Will? Because Flo said you just heard some breathing.”

“No. It was him, it was Will... and h-he was scared. And then something–”

“It was probably just a prank call. It was somebody trying to scare you.”

“Who would do that?” Joyce questioned, face full of confusion and sickness.

“Well, this thing’s been on TV. It brings out all the crazies, you know. False leads, prank calls, uh–”

“No, Hopper, it was not a prank. It was him.”

“Joyce.” He begins, as she denies him again

“Come on, how about a little trust here?” She laughs dryly. “What, you think I’m– I’m making this up?”

“I’m not saying that you’re making it up.” Hopper looks at her with concern again. “All I’m saying is it’s an emotional time for you.”

“And you think I don’t know my own son’s breathing?”

“Joyce–”

“Hopper, my son’s missing. A-And not only that, someone else’s daughter is missing.” She nervously takes a puff of her cigarette. “And you know what the mess up part about that is? Stephanie didn’t have to! She didn’t have to be the sweetheart she is and take my son home. She could have just drove past him, but she didn’t! She didn’t, Hop. And now I have to live with the thought that I made someone else’s kid go missing because I. Was. Working!”

She ends with an emotional sigh, tightening the heavy tension it the room. Jonathan worriedly looking at his mother before, locking eyes with the police chief who was trying to find the right words to say.

“You hear from, uh, Lonnie yet?” Hopper asked after the small silence.

“No.”

“It’s been long enough.” He puts his hat back on. “I’m having him checked out.”

“Oh, come on!” She sighs loudly, watching him leave. “You’re wasting your time.” Then the door shuts, and rubs her temple. “Jesus. He never listens!”

Jonathan ponders for a moment, before asking, “Mom, how likely is it that Will would actually go to Lonnie’s?”

“I…” Joyce runs a hand through her messy locks. “It’s possible, but he lives a long, long way. Especially on foot. But… I don’t– maybe he would! I…” She sighs again, overwhelmed. “However, I don’t think he would have gone with Stephanie. He’s… W-Will knows your father’s not the best man, and Will, you know, has that heart of gold.”

That got a chuckle out of both of them. “Yeah.”

“I don’t think Will would have risked Stephanie like that.” She shakes her head. “No. She’s an older kid, and older sister. As much as this sounds messed up, she would have done anything to make sure Will was safe. I know it. So… my question is…” She locks eyes with her son. “What would a girl her age think is a safe place for a young boy?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| TWO NIGHTS AGO ||

Stephanie flipped the lightswitch on in the kitchen out of curiosity, but finds herself still submerged in darkness. “Just what I thought. There’s no light.” She says with a frown.

“The flash of light we saw–” Will looks up at her. “Do you think it was a power outage?”

“I don’t think there’s light here, I mean-” She starts walking around, rubbing her shaking hands together. “Look at this place. I don’t think we’re in Hawkins anymore.” She shivers just a smidge. “At least it’s a little warmer inside here.” Then she hears a distressful sound. “Will?”

The boy was pale, pupils blown wide and had a small tremble. “W-What do you m-mean we’re not in Hawkins anymore?” He asked, lip quivering with a slight pant. “B-But th-this looks like my house. D-Did w-we get taken somewhere else? Can we even g-go home? I–”

“Shit… Will–” She rushes over, hands coming up to his shoulders while she gets on one knee. “Will? Hey, bud, listen– hey.” She makes sure his gaze meets hers. “Don’t freak out. I know it’s scary, but we’re going to figure this out. Once we do, I’m going to get us home, I promise.”

The boy sniffles into his shoulder, fighting back tears. “You promise?”

“I promise.” She says it without realizing the fate of those words.

He swallows and extends out a certain finger. “Pinky promise?”

Her breath was nearly taken away by that certain question, taking her far back into a distant memory. But… like hell she’s going to let that memory change her judgment. She interlocks hers with his and repeats, “Pinky promise.”

That got him to crack a smile. “So, what next?” He asks, making her rack her brain for a plan.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT DAY ||

He woke up again to his cat’s crying. The young Henderson frowns, heart clenching at how Mews was wondering where his sister was at. For the urban legend of how cats had no emotions, he’s certainly not seeing it. He rubbed his eyes and wandered aimlessly around, the thought of calling sick into school was still fresh in his mind. Should he? I mean it made sense, and it wasn’t like the school won’t understand, so….

Was that a yes?

He walked through the hallway, curls in his eyes as slows in front of his sister’s bedroom. His cat locked eyes with him, sadness and confusion filled the slitted pupils. Mews meows again.

“She’s not back yet.” Dustin says, getting a chirp. “We’re trying. She’ll be back soon.” He starts walking away, hearing him make a sad sound once more.

“Dusty-bun, I’m going to make some posters.” Claudia said, who were gathering her belongings by the door. “I left you breakfast on the stove.”

His nervous fingers gripped his t-shirt as he tried not to sound so down. “Hey, Mom?” Her eyes meet his gaze. “Is it okay if I… stay home today?”

Claudia’s face softens bittersweetly. “Of course you can, sweety. If you leave the house for whatever reason, just leave me a note where you’re going, that’s all I ask.” She gives him a kiss on his hairline, and is one foot out the door before adding, “Oh! And be back before dark. Okay? Your Mama doesn’t need to worry about another kid.”

“Can do.”

He watches her smile and closes the door, locking it. He frowns at that action, I mean they’ve never locked their door before, and now it was becoming second nature. He was even surprised she told him he could leave the house. Or… did she not expect him to leave this place in the state he’s in? Sounds like something she would do.

He sighs and heads for the kitchen to make himself a plate. He didn’t have much of an appetite, really, but he didn’t want to hurt his mother’s feelings or make her beg for him to eat – he didn’t want to call ‘pot kettle black’ since he was the one that had to convince his mourning mother to eat last night. But it was hard, his fork just picking at the food, cutting it into smaller pieces to stare at before dropping his utensil onto the plate.

Steph… His fingers dug into his pocket and pulled the gold chain out, letting it sprawl out in his palm. He stares at it intensely, thinking. Come on, Sis, give me a sign. What happened to you and Will? What caused you to go off road and run? Run with Will’s shotgun out of all things?

What had got her so scared that they needed a weapon to protect themselves? Both her and Will were the last two people that would resort in violence, so the fact that they decided to arm themselves with a weapon tells him that something sinister was up.

But what? Dustin lays the necklace down next to him, pretending that she was here to eat with him like she always does, before deciding it was time to munch on what was left on his plate.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Hopper struggles to keep his mind clear after that conversation with Joyce. His thought always going back to this particular moment:

““Stephanie didn’t have to! She didn’t have to be the sweetheart she is and take my son home. She could have just drove past him, but she didn’t! She didn’t, Hop. And now I have to live with the thought that I made someone else’s kid go missing because I. Was. Working!””

Of course the woman felt guilty about everything. I mean, your kid goes missing, who else are you going to blame other than yourself? But she also was chipping away at the idea it was her fault that that poor girl was missing too. Blames herself for working later than usual, and wasn’t the one to come across her own son on the road and pick him up. That’s a lot of guilt for someone who’s holding the family together on her own.

He listens to the volunteers shout the children’s names, hoping that they would shout back. Hopper wishes that too. He prays that one of them would yell back for help and get this nightmare over with.

“Hey!” He shouts at the two officers. “Anything?”

Callahan shakes his head. “You?”

“No, nothing but a dead phone.”

“Joyce?”

Hopper nods. “About one step from falling off the edge.”

“She’s been a few steps for a while now, hasn’t she?” Powell asked, as he’s met with a stern glare.

“Kid’s missing, man. Show a little class.” Hopper snaps, making them avert their eyes.

“All right…”

He exhales and takes off with the rest of the group, shouting, “Come on, let’s go! We got a lot of ground to cover.” He keeps his fingers crossed that this would be it. That this would be the search that brings them home.

For their mothers' sake.

For his sake.

For every goddamn person out of here’s sake.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| THE NIGHT BEFORE ||

Stephanie shifted through the last cabinet and frowns. “Well, we can’t cook anything because there’s no electricity. But we can eat the dry goods. Unless we can figure out how to start a fire” She sighs, and wrinkles her nose. I mean, they can go a few days without eating if they didn’t want to touch the box of crackers covered in goo. But water? How were they supposed to have water if the faucet comes out with something they probably shouldn’t drink.

She rubs her temples, thinking. “I guess we’re going to have to look for some bottled stuff to drink.” She makes contact with the boy who just entered the room. “How you feeling?”

“Fine. I got a bit of a chill, but we can still grab clothes out of the closets if we need it.” Will replies, hugging his walkie talkie close.

“And the call?”

“Nothing. I mean I could hardly ever get reception over here anyway, so maybe we can try finding a different spot.”

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea." She says with a sigh. “Where’s the shotgun?”

“Oh, uh– Mom’s room.” He points behind him.

“Alright, maybe I’ll take a peek outside. If it seems clear, maybe we can try to find some reception.”

Stephanie leaves the room with Will looking back at his walkie. He had to remain strong, hopeful. He has to get through to someone. His friends, his family, one of them has to be able–

Wait.

Was he hearing things? Was his mind playing tricks?

His eyes trail to his living room where he swears he heard someone talking. It was faint, but you can’t miss it.

It sounds like… His chest tightens at a thought, his brown orbs blown wide as he looks at the yellow phone on the wall. It was probably hopeless, stupid even, I mean… the damn thing didn’t work when Stephanie tried to call for help when they were being chased. But that was the real world, this was… fake? Maybe it different, maybe it’s—

Oh, shit.

Maybe he’s just grasping at straws at this point and hopes it turns out okay.

His fingers latch around the phone, pulling it off the receiver and dials his home’s number, praying with all his might that this ridiculous idea would actually work.

Come on, come on, come on, come on, com–

Oh, he felt like crying when someone picked up.

[ ‘Hello?’ ]

His mother’s voice broke through and poke him in the heart. He couldn’t breath as relief washed over him like a storm.

[ ‘Hello? Lonnie? Hopper? Who is this?’ ]

Say something, say something, say something– His lip quivers as he swallows. “M-Mom?” He can’t wait till Steph hears about this. “M-Mom, I-It’s me.”

She can hear me right? She has to.

[ ‘Will? Will? It’s Will!’ ]

[ ‘Mom, it’s Will?’ ]

He could cry upon hearing the second voice. “J-Jonathan? Mom? M-Me and Stephanie are tr-trap in some weird place! I-I don’t know what t-to–”

Then he was cut off by the dreadful sound of the monster. Will watched as its claws wrapped around the corner, almost like it was pulling itself into the kitchen. He doesn’t even know where it came from. He didn’t even hear it freaking come in!

He froze on sight, his mother shouting something he couldn’t make out as the beast with no eyes looked directly at him. He wanted to scream but it was stuck in his throat. Is this how he was going to die? Die by listening to his mother’s pleas to answer her?

It shrieked and seemed to get bigger, ready to strike him down before it took a bullet to the face. The shot made it fall against the wall, and Will drops the fried phone and backs himself away. Stephanie looked half scared to death too as she cocks the shotgun again and fires one more when it stands up, sending it flying to the living room. As quickly as her buckling knees could hold her, she rushes over to Will, pulling him behind her as she aims the barrel into the direction the beast was. Shaking intensely, she carefully peeks around the corner to find that it had completely vanished like it did earlier. She gasps in shock before sliding to the ground herself, mentally drained.

“Steph!!” Will calls out with worry. He could see her eyes glassing over, her skin becoming paler as she shouts,

“Where the fuck are we?!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT DAY ||

Steve strolls into school, head in the clouds, and an aching feeling in the pit of his stomach. His sleep went to complete shit after the conversation with his girlfriend last night. He still doesn’t understand why it was affecting him so much. It’s not like him and Steph hung out anymore. So why is he losing sleep over this?

You’re not even friends anymore, Harrington. He mentally slaps himself. Get your shit together–

“Boo!” Tommy yelled, jumping out from behind the corner, startling him.

“Jesus, Hagan.” Steve said, holding his chest while the other teen laughed.

“That was so easy.”

“So–” Carol’s arm snakes around him with a grin. “Did you tell your little girlfriend about your party?”

“I-I… not yet.”

“What? You didn’t tell her at her house yesterday?”

“N-No. Never got the chance to.”

“What?!” Tommy scoffs. “Stealthy Stevie didn’t get to use his skills last night?” Him and his girlfriend laughed, but then grew quiet seeing how distant the King was being. “What the fuck’s going on with you, man?”

“Um…” Steve’s gaze gets caught onto someone else, spotting a certain person posting a certain flier up on the bulletin board. He swallows, and masks a fake smile. “You guys go ahead to class. I got to grab something out of my locker.”

“Oh, we can go with you.” Carol begins, trying to follow him but he shakes them off.

“No, no. Go ahead. I’ll meet you there.” Steve ignores the strange looks they gave him before walking away. Deciding this was the ‘only’ way, he rushes over to the oldest Byers kid, ‘accidently’ pushing his shoulder into his, knocking the papers out of his hand while he was leaving. He scoffs, while saying, “Watch where you’re going!”

Jonathan says nothing as he bends over to collect the rest, oblivious to the other teenager sliding a paper away with his foot. Once he leaves, Steve retrieves the flier from under his shoe, reading it over.

HAVE YOU SEEN ME? Stephanie Henderson Age 16, 5’4” Brown Hair, Blue Eyes, 110lbs. Last seen wearing a brown work uniform, black jacket, white sneakers, and a baseball cap. Reach out to Claudia Henderson or Joyce Byers at #### or ####

Steve stares with a distant look in his eyes, thumb brushing over her picture. Such a gentle smile for a gentle person. God… why did they have to use that picture? It was right before he–

He frowns, throwing his head back.

Fuck…

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Back at the Wheeler’s house, Mike decided to stay home, his parents totally unaware of him doing so. He showed the new girl around his place, acting a bit giggly when they finally got to his room. He was so excited to show off his action figures, and comic books, and anything else that he holds close to his heart. He didn’t even realize she was starting to wander off to where a collection of trophies were. Her brown eyes grew with fascination by them.

“Oh, these are all my science fair trophies. We got first every year.” Mike’s smile drops just a tad. “Except for last year when we got third. Mr. Clarke said it was totally political.”

Yeah, it totally was that. He expected some kind of reaction from her, except for the one where her eyes widened and she slowly pointed to the picture of Will in their fair picture together.

Mike perked up, hopeful. “You know Will? Did you see him? Last Night? On the road? Did–” He pauses. “Hang on a sec.” Maybe he’s getting his hopes up as he grabs another photo after shifting around in his drawer. It was a picture of his friends’ families at the lake, posing nicely for the camera.

He points to the girl in the right hand corner. “This is Stephanie. She’s his sister.” He points to Dustin who’s hanging out behind her. “She supposedly gave Will a ride the night he disappeared, and we can’t find her either. Did you see her too?”

The girl studies Steph’s face, slowly the same reaction she had from seeing Will returned as she pointed again. “I–”

Her answer was cut short when they heard something from outside. Mike gets up quickly, peeking through his curtains to see his mother’s car pulling into the driveway. He pales.

“Shit.” He rushes to grab her by the hand and strings her along. “We gotta hide!”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

Of course the eldest stayed awake for most of the night, the two of them tucked away in the far corner of Will’s room, her eyes trained on the door just in case that wretched monster appeared again. She kept a good grip on the shotgun, one foot planted on the ground for a quick pop up if needed. Adrenaline was pumping in her blood, she was fighting off her exhaustion and hunger, while a tune played on her dry lips.

“♪ Here we stand

Worlds apart, hearts broken in two. Two. Two

Sleepless nights.

Losing ground, I’m reaching for you. You. You

Feeling that it’s gone

Can’t change your mind

If we can’t go on

To survive–♪”

Will stirred beside her, his head resting on her shoulder that was starting to fall asleep, but she refused to jostle the kid. God knows he needs his rest. Well… so does she, but she’ll get around to that.

Her mind wanders back to the conversation they had last night, the one where Will admitted he spoke to his mother on the phone. Shock wasn’t the right word, especially when she examined the phone that had been burnt black, and when asking again if he heard that right, the youngest Byers swears he did.

Is there actually a way to communicate to… well… ‘our world’, I guess. She ponders on that thought, wondering if it’s possible to do so without frying your phone to death. Not to mention Will swears he heard people talking before calling his mother. Can we only communicate to the people we ‘hear’?

She scolds herself. This hurts my head too much.

“♪ –The tide

Love divides

Someday, love will find you

Break those chains that bind you

One night will remind you

How we touched and went our separate ways

If he ever hurts you

True love won’t desert you

You know I still love you

Though we touched and went our separate ways– ♪”

Will stirred again, this time waking up slowly with a groan. “Was it a dream…?” He whispers, his eyes opening at a snail pace.

“I wish.” Steph says, sadly.

“Did you sleep okay?” He asks, rubbing his face.

Her heart skips a beat and a lie slips out. “Uh, yeah. It was fine.”

“That’s good.”

“We shouldn’t stay here.” She says, surprising him. “We should probably move around, maybe lose that monster for a while. And you’re probably hungry too, I know my mom keeps cans and bottled water down in our basement for emergencies. That should tie us over for a little while.”

“Is it even safe to go out?” He wonders, yet intrigued. He’ll admit… he is a bit famished.

“I don’t know. But we got to try. Right?”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“Whoa, whoa. Careful, careful.” Hopper says as he snags his partner by the collar. “I need you alive for the next few days, at least.”

Callahan smirked and scoffed as he gestures to the Quarry below. “Oh, hell, I could survive that.” He said, making his superior laugh. “What? George Burness made the jump. And he was drunk as a skunk. He did it on a $10 bet.”

“George is a liar. You make that jump from this height, that water turns into cement. Hits you like a ton of bricks.” Hopper smacks his hands together. “Break every damn bone in your body.”

The youngster pondered on that for a second before shaking his head. “Nah.”

[ ‘Chief, you copy?’ ]

Hopper grabs his walkie from his belt. “Yeah, Flo, talk to me.”

[ ‘Hey, Chief, we got a call from over at Benny’s. I think you need to get there right away.’ ]

And those were words he didn’t want to hear. So he and his team rushed over there as quickly as they could, and the first they were met with was the smell of a rotting corpse.

“Ugh, Jesus!” Callahan said, covering his nose.

“Suicide?” Powell asked, after a moment of silence.

Hopper hummed and stared in disbelief at the man laying on the table, pistol in hand and a bullet wound straight through the temple. There’s no way this can be real.

“Missing kid, suicide.” Callahan frowns. “You must feel like a big city cop again, huh, Chief?

“Well, I mostly dealt with strangers back then.” Hopper replies, this particular moment he almost broke down. “Benny was my friend.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

Stephanie peeked outside before gesturing to Will to follow. The two of them had backpacks on that they found lying around, going to use them to fill up with anything they could find – But the task that lay ahead was going to be hard. The task was…

Walking back through Mirkwood to the Henderson home.

No lights, just a few bullets to spare, and their pure will to survive (Or maybe it’s the fear that’s fueling that will).

“I don’t like this.” Will mutters, only a few minutes after they left the Byers’ driveway and down a few feet on the road. “What if that thing spawns in front of us again?”

“Then we shoot it and book it again. That’s all we can do now.” Steph replies, carefully looking around. But what if he’s right? What if thing actually just spawns out of thin air? Then there’s not telling where and when not to go.

He stays silent, shaking a tad as they make it further down the road. It took a hot minute for the older girl to notice this and stop briefly, the twelve year old’s eyes confused just as she held out her hand. Without missing a beat, his clammy hand takes it, squeezing it tight. She smiles just a tad, reminding her of Dustin before they started walking again.

She felt him hang on to dear life as they strolled into the darkest part of Mirkwood, the eeriness that was silence was making their hearts race. She came to a conclusion after facing the monster last night that she had to be the strong one here. She has to act like the older sister again, and remain calm, and to keep him safe.

I made a promise. I don’t know how to fulfill it just yet, but I’m going to get him out of here. Steph casts a glance down at him, the poor boy’s face looked so cold. Does hers look like that too?

She grins after a quick thought. “Hey–” His eyes locked with hers. “What does a ‘Ranger’ do in D&D? That one sounds intriguing to me.”

His face lights up. “You actually want to play D&D?”

“Hey, you suggested it, I might as well. So, the Ranger? What’s that like? The lore?”

“Well, Rangers are warriors that explore different civilizations, and they hunt down the deadliest of monsters. They’re trained in many different combat techniques, survival skills, and even some magic.”

“Magic? I like the sound of that.”

“They mostly reside in the forest, or anything ‘nature-y’.”

She chuckles. “I don’t like the sound of that. What else? Aren’t there like… classes… or different types?

“Oh, yeah.” He nods. “I guess it depends on what you prefer. Do you want me to tell you?”

“I’m all ears.” Steph said, making a motion. I’m just glad he’s stopped shaking.

“Well, there’s a lot. The most common ones are ‘Beast Masters’, which are accompanied with an animal companion. Then there’s ‘Hunters’, which are mainly just professional assassins that take down monsters of all sorts. Now, even though all Rangers have the capability of taking monsters down, Hunters are strictly made just to do that.”

She hums. “Interesting.”

“Then there’s ‘Gloom Stalkers’, who live mostly in dark realms, and take down the shadowy beasts roaming the territory. They’re pretty good at ambushing their opponents.” He smiles. “Personally, I find that the coolest.”

“Well, I can see why. What else? Do Rangers get weapons?”

“Of course! The most common is a two-blade or archery.”

“Archery sounds cool.”

“See, I agree. But I know Lucas always says it’s ‘stupid’, so–”

Steph shakes her head with a sigh. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to prove him wrong when I play.”

“So you are going to play with us!” Will said, joyfully, like you just told him Christmas was coming early.

“If that’s how I prove Lucas wrong, then so be it. So how does one newbie play D&D?” She asked, hopefully this will keep him occupied. At least I can keep him distracted until we get there.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

“Are you out of your mind?” Lucas said, as soon as Mike was done with his explanation for them being here.

“Just listen to me.” Mike pleads.

“You are out of your mind–”

“She knows about Will and Steph.”

Dustin perks up after being the silent one here. “What do you mean she knows about them?”

Mike grabs the pictures from earlier and holds them up. “She pointed at them, at their picture. She knew they were missing. I could tell.”

“You could tell?” Lucas asked, looking between the pictures and the girl who was on the bed.

“Just think about it. Do you really think it was a coincidence that we found her on Mirkwood, the same place where they disappeared?”

Dustin nodded, agreeing. “That is weird.”

“And she said bad people are after her.” Mike said, with a frown. “I think maybe these bad people are the same ones that took Will and Steph. I think she knows what happened to them.”

“Then why doesn’t she tell us?” Lucas asked, glaring at her direction before stomping over. “Do you know where they are?” He grabs her by the shoulder. “Do you know where Will and Stephanie are?!”

“Stop it, you’re scaring her!” Mike pulls him away, as his friend brushes him off.

“She should be scared! If you know where they are, tell us! This is nuts. We have to take her to your mom.”

“No! Eleven said telling any adult would put us in danger.”

“What kind of danger?” Dustin asked, his thoughts from earlier about his sister and Will taking a shotgun with them crossed his mind.

Lucas gives him a weird look. “Her name is Eleven?”

“El for short.” Mike clarifies.

“Mike! What kind of danger?” Dustin pushes, his stomach turning.

“Danger danger!” The brunette makes a finger gun and points it between Henderson’s eyes before moving over towards Lucas who demises quickly.

“No, no, no!” Sinclair snaps, rushing for the door. “We’re going back to plan A. We’re telling your mom.”

He pulls open the door only for it to slam shut automatically. Not even batting an eye at that, he tries again, for it to not only to shut with more force but to even lock itself. The boys look back at the only explanation, and they see El standing on her feet with a drop of blood coming out of her nose.

“No.” She said, with a tone that told them not to push it.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Back at the station, Hopper was questioning an anxious friend of Benny’s. Earl was his name, and he was sitting in a chair, eyes full of disbelief as he lit a cigarette.

“Just doesn’t make any sense, Chief.”

“You, uh, notice anything odd about him the last few weeks?” Hopper asked, trying to keep it professional (even though this case was hurting him the most).

Earl shakes his head. “No, we’re fixin’ to go fishing down the Etowah next Sunday. I mean, he was lookin’ forward to it. I know that.”

“He got any enemies you might know about? I mean, people who might not want him around?”

“The exes didn’t like him much. That’s for sure, but… nah.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“Yesterday. Lunch, same as always.”

“Just you and the boys?”

“Yep. Me and Henry and…” He pauses. “Well, there was this, uh, this kid. No kid did this.”

“Kid?” Hopper nearly perked up hope. “What are you talking about?”

“Yeah. At lunch, uh, there was this boy that, uh I mean, he was trying to steal food out of Benny’s kitchen. Can you imagine that?”

Hopper locked eyes with Callahan who got the silent message. “This kid what’d he look like?”

“Well, he was about yea high.” Earl raises his arm up and out. “You know, tiny like. I didn’t get a good look at him, though. He was back in the kitchen.”

“He look like this?” Callahan asked, coming back with a missing kid poster of Will.

He takes the flier, and immediately shakes his head. “Oh, no, that’s… that’s Lonnie’s missin’ kid. No. This was a different kid. This one had really short hair. I mean, it was buzzed nearly down to the scalp.”

Hopper tries not to let his composure break, and continues to hold on to the slimmer of hope. “Yeah, well, let’s… You know, let’s forget about the haircut. I mean, if this kid had a buzz cut… could it be Lonnie’s kid?”

“Well, I-I… didn’t get a good look at him. About the right height, though. I mean, could’ve been. Yeah, that’s… Could’ve been.”

Hopper frowns, taking the poster back from him. “And, you only saw the boy right? No girl? Teenager? Dark hair?”

“No.” Earl shakes his head once more. “No. I didn’t see a girl.”

The Chief mentally sighs. This is not good.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

[ ‘A party?’ ]

Finally! Steve thought, pumping his fist. She finally sounded intrigued. He was hoping this would make up for his weird behavior at school.

And, no, no, no, It wasn’t because of– well… ‘you know who’. Totally not because of her. Totally, totally, totally not–

[ ‘Steve?’ ]

Nancy’s voice broke through his totally not clouded mind. “Uh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, a party. Well… kind of. It’s just going to be me, Tommy H. and Carol. No parents for the whole weekend, so we wouldn’t have to worry about them coming in and ruining the mo-jo.”

Just my friends and my girlfriend. Just having fun, no worries about–

[ ‘Not much of a party with just four people.’ ]

He laughs. “Okay, I’ll admit, it’s a little sad. But you know, it’s better this way. And, you know, if you want to, you can invite Barbara. If it makes you feel more comfortable. Or not. Or you don’t have to come–”

[ ‘Steve.’ ]

“Yeah?”

[ ‘I’ll totally come. But I’m going to try to convince Barb first if that’s alright.’ ]

“Yeah, Yeah. Totally. It starts at seven.”

[ ‘Starts at seven. Got it. I’ll see you then.’ ]

He smiles. “See you then. Bye.”

[ ‘Bye.’ ]

“Yes!” He said, once he hung up the phone. “Finally.” He feels his spirits get lifted again. “This is going to be perfect.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| HOURS BEFORE ||

“Welcome to Mi Casa.” Stephanie said, upon entering her home. Just as gross and dark as Will’s.

“You said the basement, right?” Will asked, the thought of eating something sounded nice.

“Yep.”

They thought navigating below “sunlight” was going to be hard, but I guess living in darkness for nearly twenty-four hours had its perks. Finding the tote where the emergency supplies were easier than they thought, their stomachs growing when they saw the cans of food.

“Hang on second.” Steph said, disappearing back up the stairs for a sec, and then coming back with some forks and a can opener. She uses her shirt to wipe it clean the best she could before using. “Pineapple or Peaches?”

“Pineapple, please.” Will said, drooling as she placed the open can in his hands. The two of them plop down criss-cross applesauce, sighing with relief that they could finally take a rest.

“We’ll have to take what we can, but don’t make your bag too heavy in case we need to run again. Got it?” She replies, sliding over a bottle of water to him too. He nods, and takes a second to chug some liquid too.

One can was enough for now, since none of them had any clue how long they’ll be here, they’ll need to ration what they can find. Food, water, a first aid kit, some mittens and hats, an extra jacket, socks (And Will was proud to find a half box of matches laying around).

“Do we need anything else?” He asked, making her think.

She hums, and feels around her pockets. “We need more ammo. Or another gun at least.”

“Do you have any?”

“No. I don’t.” She closes her eyes. Now where could we get more nearby?

But the more she thought about it, the more she dreaded. She does know one place they have a gun, and hopefully still does since it’s been so long.

She sighs. “I know… one place that has a gun. It’s far though. Really far. It’ll take us a couple hours to get there on foot. But it’s closer than going to town.”

“If that’s what we have to do, then let’s do it.” Will said, sliding his backpack back on, ready to start their journey again. He flashes her a goofy grin. “I hope I can count this as PE for school.”

If that was a joke to cheer her up then it totally worked.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Now that they might have a lead, the police and its volunteers spread out in the woods behind Benny’s diner, hoping to find some good news (For Hopper’s sake he really hopes so).

“Hey, you think Earl really saw Will?” Callahan asked, trying to keep up with his Boss’ speed. “I mean, what’s he doin’ with a shaved head? And stealing food from Benny?”

“Tell you what, when we find him, we’ll ask.” Hopper replies, with an attitude.

“Can’t ask a corpse questions.” Powell said, getting a glare. Suddenly, one of the volunteers blew a whistle.

“Hold up! You got something?” Hopper shouted and broke into a sprint. “Hey, what do you got?”

“Not sure.” The person said, crouching down next to a drain. “Maybe nothing. I found this. In there.”

Hopper takes a piece of fabric from his hand, before shining his flashlight through the drain, still hopeful that maybe he was lying in there, scared but safe.

“No way a kid crawls through there.” Powell said, in denial.

“I don’t know… a scared enough one might. His brother said he was good at hiding.”

“Yeah, but, just Will?” Callahan asked, conflicted. “What happened to Stephanie? ‘Cause there ain’t no way a teenager’s going to fit through this drain pipe.”

“Maybe they separated?” Powell questioned.

“I’m not so sure about that. Claudia said her daughter would never leave anyone behind.”

“Willingly that is.”

“Come on, you two.” Hopper said, jogging again.

This time, they decided to follow the drain pipe that led them further into the forest. Just as their knees were about to give out, they’re met with an electric fence and a keep out sign for the one and only…

Hawkins Lab.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“El?” Mike announces his arrival into the basement. He had just finished having dinner with his family, and even convinced his mom to let his friends stay the night. All part of his plan to figure out what was happening to his missing family.

“No adults. Just us and some meatloaf.” He continues, placing a tray down in front of the makeshift fort, letting her know to come out. Her eyes trail to him and then to the two boys falling behind. “Don’t worry. They won’t tell anyone about you. They promise. Right?”

“We never would’ve upset you if we knew you had superpowers.” Dustin said, before getting hit in the leg by Mike. “Ow!”

“What Dustin is trying to say is that they were just scared… earlier. That’s all.”

“We just wanted to find our friends.” Lucas admitted, feeling a tad guilty for his actions.

“‘Friends’?” El asked, confused by that word. It was so foreign to her. What does it even mean?

“Yeah, friends. Will? Steph?”

“What are ‘friends’?”

Lucas gave her a weird look. “Is she serious?” Henderson shrugged. “Um, a friend–”

“Is someone that you’d do anything for.” Mike cuts in.

“You lend them your cool stuff, like comic books and trading cards.” Dustin adds.

“And they never break a promise.”

“Especially when there’s spit.” Lucas also puts in, making sure she was getting it.

“Spit?” El said, tilting her head.

“A spit swear means–” He spits into his palm. “You never break your word.” He holds his hand out for Dustin to take and shake. “It’s a bond.”

Mike nods in agreement. “That’s super important, because friends… they tell each other things. Things that parents don’t know.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Barbara finally pulls the car over to the side after her friend insisted they stop here. She looks over at the brunette with a strange look. “What are we doing here? His house is three blocks away.”

“We can’t park in the driveway.” Nancy said, making the ginger roll her eyes.

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah, the neighbors might see.”

“This is so stupid.” Barb shakes her head. “I’m just gonna drop you off.”

“Calm down, Barb. Come on. You promised that you’d go.” Nancy pleaded with her ‘baby doe’ face. “You’re coming. We’re gonna have a great time.”

“He just wants to get in your pants.”

Nancy chuckles with disbelief. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Nance… seriously. He invited you to his house. His parents aren’t home. Come on, you are not this stupid.”

“Tommy H. and Carol are gonna be there.”

“Tommy and Carol have been having sex since, like, seventh grade.” Barb cringes at the thought. “It’ll probably just be, like, a big orgy.”

“Gross.”

“I’m serious!”

“All right, well…” Nancy takes her seat belt off and starts unbuttoning her sweater. “You can be, like, my guardian. All right? Make sure I don’t get drunk and do anything stupid.”

“Ugh.” Barb said, shaking her head. She watches as her friend takes her top off and starts fiddling around in her purse for another one. “Is that a new bra?”

Nancy pauses. “No.”

“So, obvious, Nancy…”

“Hey.”

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

“What’s the weirdo doing?” Lucas asked, watching her sit at their D&D table and close her eyes.

“El?” Mike said, as they gathered around, waiting.

When she opens her eyes, she slowly gravitates to one of the pieces and picks it up. “Will.” She replies, showing it was the Wizard piece, the one that the boy always plays as.

“Superpowers.” Dustin said, as Lucas rolled his eyes, still not convinced about this whole thing.

“Did you see him? On Mirkwood? Do you know where he is?” Mike asks, just before she brushes the rest of the figures off the board and flips it over. She places the wizard piece on the board. “I don’t understand.”

“Hiding.” She replies, the boys looking at one another. She then places another figure down, surprising them.

“Who is that supposed to be?” Lucas asked, as Dustin perked up.

“The Ranger. Is that Stephanie?” He asked, as she nodded. “Are they hiding?” She nods again. “Together.” Another nod.

“From the bad men?” Mike asked, but she shakes her head in disappointment. “Then from who?”

And without saying another word she places another figure down.

It was a beast with two heads.

The Demogorgon.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

It took a while like she said, and luckily they had no trouble getting there, but what was troubling the young boy was that she wouldn’t tell him where they were going. Was she embarrassed by this place? Did something happen? He doesn’t know, but it’s gnawing at him.

“We’ve arrived.” She said, as they were coming up to it.

It was… a pretty big house, much bigger than his and even his friends’ houses. He wonders if this was one of the rich neighbourhoods or something like that. And sure enough… his questions would be answered when he happened to catch the name on the mailbox.

Oh.

Now he understands why she didn’t say anything.

“So this is the…” Was he choosing his words correctly? “The King’s house?”

“Yep.” Stephanie said, hand on the doorknob which miraculously opened. She rolls her blue eyes. “They still keep it unlocked.” They stepped inside, still gloomy and covered in vines and goo like the last two. “Let’s go upstairs.”

Will follows behind, observing everything that seemed a bit foreign for him. “I knew they were rich but I didn’t know they were that rich.” He said after observing art piece after art piece that he knows isn’t locally made.

“Yeah, they got crazy money.” She said, and her pace seemed to quicken without her noticing. She hustles into the parents room, opening the closet to find a safe. “Shit.” She forgot about the lock. “Where did that bastard put the key?”

Stephanie starts running around the bedroom, pulling open drawers, looking through trinkets, his wife’s jewelry box too – A curse word after every failed attempt.

“Steph?” Will said, worriedly.

“Just give me a second.” She snapped, and left the room. She starts opening the drawers from the tables in the hallway, visibly getting more annoyed with each second. “For fuck sakes–”

“Stephanie!”

“What?!” She slammed it shut, rattling everything that was on. The force and her tone seemed to shock him, and even take a small step back. She grips the table, closing her eyes to calm herself. “Fuck. I just…”

And when she opens them she finds herself staring at the boy she wanted to forget about. It was a picture of him on his swim team, the frame saying: Championship 1981. She just stares at with emotions the youngest Byers couldn’t figure out what they were.

“Steph?” He asked, slowly.

“Yeah?”

“What happened to you and Steve?”

She continues to stare at the photo for another minute before pushing herself to stand. “I think he still keeps that knife in his room.” Was what she muttered before heading in the opposite direction to another room.

Will could only wonder what really happened to them…

Just as the lights started to flicker.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

Inside the most “fabulous” party of the year, Barb laid back in one of the pool chairs, listening to the terrible music that’s blasting in her ear as her best friend watches her boyfriend slice a hole into a beer can and start drinking it all in one go.

“Is that supposed to impress me?” Nancy asked, as he sat down and lit a cigarette.

“You’re not?” Steve asked, genuinely surprised.

“You are a cliche, you do realize that?”

“You are a cliche. What with your– your grades and your band practice.”

“I’m so not in band.”

“Okay, party girl. Why don’t you just, uh, show us how it’s done, then?” He hands her the knife and a can.

“Okay.” She says, all giggly.

“You gotta make a little hole right in–”

“I got it.”

“Yeah, she’s smart, you douche!” Tommy said, as he crushes his own can on his forehead.

Soon, everyone was chanting “Chug” as Nancy down a whole beer in under thirty seconds. Everyone cheered and laughed, proud at the achievement.

“Barb, you wanna try?” Nancy asked, holding the blade up.

“What? No. No, I don’t want to. Thanks.” She said, shaking her head. But after a quick back and forth badgering she finally gave in. She rips the items out of the girl’s hand, clearly upset. It wasn’t long before her judgment was clouding her mind and accidentally nicks herself.

“Whoa, Gnarly.” Tommy said, impressed by the deep cut.

“Are you okay?” Nancy asked, worriedly.

“Yeah.” Barb said, trying to push her away.

“Barb, you’re bleeding.”

“I’m fine. Where’s your bathroom?”

“Oh, it’s– Steve stands up, and starts taking her over to the sliding door. “It’s, uh, down past the kitchen, to the left.” He frowns. Shit of course.

But before he could say anything, Tommy had pushed Carol into the pool and then jumped in after her. Steve then shrugs, and lets a smirk play on his face as he does the same to Nancy before doing a cannonball.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

Steph tries to contain herself as she enters his room. It was taking a lot of strength not to just start flipping things over, and tear those stupid pendants off the wall.

Stupid fucking house. Stupid fucking room. Stupid fucking Harrington. She grits her teeth, fighting back the tears in her eyes as she desperately tries to remember where he hid the blade.

She lets out a groan. “For fuck sake’s, man! Where did you put it?!” She yells, and kicks whatever was near her. She swears something must have fallen out from it, but she doesn’t even want to look.

God damn you, Harrington. She scolds, and rubs her face. How can he–

That’s when the light in his room flickered on and off scaring her half to death. “What the–”

“Stephanie!” Will’s voice shouted, kicking her into high gear.

“Fuck.” She mumbles, and races to find that blade.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| PRESENT ||

As soon as Barb comes out of the bathroom, she immediately spots a certain someone heading up the stairs. “Nance! Nancy.” She shouts, getting her to stop. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere. Just… upstairs. To change. I… fell in the pool.” Nancy said, feeling like she was on cloud nine. “Why don’t you go ahead and go home. I’ll just… I’ll get a ride or something.”

“Nance–”

“Barb, I’m fine.”

“This isn’t you.”

“I’m fine. Just go ahead and go home, okay?”

And then Nancy leaves her all alone, confused and heartbroken by her friend’s actions. But despite being hurt, she couldn’t just up and leave her drunken buddy like this. So…

She decides to wait.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Steve had found her some clothes she could change in, and he was grinning like a kid upon the thought of seeing his girlfriend in his clothes.

I’m such a dork. He tells himself as she calls out his name. “Yeah?” There was a look in her eyes that he’s never seen before, and honestly was turned on by it.

But ‘Fuck that’, says the universe, and the home phone starts to ring.

He groans, irritated. “Hang on a second–” He proceeds to run out of the room, and shouts, “Hey! Turn the music down in case it’s my parents.”

Nancy chuckles, cheeks flush because she was ready to lose her– wait. Did something just touch her leg? She looks down to find that a box was tipped over and had opened, and wonders when that happened. Did she accidently kick it without realizing? Or was it already like that? Frankly, curiosity got the best of her as she crouched down to try to fix it. But then, her actions slowed when she saw something.

The Wheeler picks up a paper – a flier – to her surprise was the missing poster of Stephanie Henderson.

“What?” She says, quietly, confusedly. Why was he keeping this? And that’s when she puts two and two together. She starts shifting through the small pile which was made up of photos, movie tickets, receipts from a record store, arcade tokens and– “Oh, my god.”

Suddenly, Steve comes jogging back in, relief on his face. “False alarm. It was just–”

“So who is she to you?” Nancy asked, standing up and flashing the memorabilia at him.

His face falls immediately. “Hey, that’s–”

“Is she the person that was rumored you pushed away?”

“It’s nothing.” Steve replies, trying to take the stuff away from her, but she ain’t budging.

“It’s nothing, or she’s nothing?”

“It’s– W-What? You jealous?” He asked, trying to play this thing off cool, but his girlfriend wasn’t stupid.

“I’m not jealous. I’m just curious.” Nancy replies, honestly. She takes another look at the photos in her hand before looking back at him. “I mean, if she isn’t your friend anymore, then why do you hang on to all this stuff? Or better question–”

“Nancy, stop, it’s just–”

“Why did you break it off?”

His brain short circuits again. “What?”

“I said, ‘Why did you break it off?’ I mean…” She flips through some of the photos he has, memorized. “From what I see, you two remind me of Barb and I. You two look like you were tied at the hip. So why break it off?”

“I…” Why couldn’t he fucking talk all of a sudden? “I didn’t, I–”

“So, she broke it off?” She said, eyebrow raised.

“No. I-I broke it off, she didn’t do anything–”

“So… why did you?”

“Nancy–”

“Look, I just want to understand you. I mean, every time I think I have you figured out you throw me through a loop.” She gives him a reassuring look as she picks up the box, shuffling whatever was remaining around. “I mean, from what I see, you seem like a completely different person then. I just wonder if it’s a good thing or a bad–”

Now it was her turn to look lost (and for Steve to lose all the color in his face). She frowns, slowly pulling out a small casing. “Is this a… bullet?”

“That’s nothing!” He manages to snag at least that away.

“Why do you have a bullet in the box?!” She asks, eyes blown wide.

He swallows. “Nancy–”

“Did you shoot her or something?”

“What?!” He scoffs. “No! Why would I shoot her?!”

“Well did she shoot you?”

“No! Nobody shot anybody, it was just–”

“Then why do you have a stray bullet cas–”

“‘CAUSE IT WAS MY FAULT!! OKAY?!” Steve snaps, startling them both (He can’t believe he just lost his cool like that). He swallows again, head spinning at the memories (Why did he fucking leave the box right there?). “I just… there was an incident and… it… shaped my decision, okay? But it didn’t involve me or her with a gun, it was… s-someone else. Someone I know. I don’t know why I’m holding onto it, I…” He sighs and grabs the box, holding it out for her to put the stuff away.

It takes her a moment to process it all, and she does put all the stuff in her hands away, but she remains silent the whole time. She’s never seen him act this way before.

It honestly concerned her.

Nancy breaks eye contact, and only reverses it when she gathers the right words. “Look, Steve, I’m sorry I intruded, I probably shouldn’t have but… I’m just trying to understand you.”

Steve shakes his head, still confused. “I-I…” He shrugs, and crosses his arms defensibly. “What’s there to understand?”

Nancy gestures to him and says, “Well, for starters, you’re an airhead and–”

“So?” He cuts in, as she holds her tongue and continues.

“And you’re arrogant, snarky, and sweet–”

“Sweet’s fine.”

“Of course. Sweet’s fine. I love how nice you are to me, Steve.” She then frowns for him. “However, that gets overshadowed by your… insecurities.”

He pauses, now it was his turn to take in those words (What the hell did she mean by that? He’s not… no). “I don’t… I don’t have any… any–”

“Steve.” Nancy takes a step closer. “I don’t know why the kid in these pictures decided to change into the one I’m seeing before me, but if that doesn’t have to do with any insecurities, then I’m not sure why you decided to make that change willingly.”

“I… W-Willingly?” He scoffs again. “What do you mean? I never change willingly? What are you even getting at, Nance?” He hasn’t changed. He’s never changed. What is she even getting at?

But Nancy looked at him with eyes full of pity and took another step closer. “I don’t know what the reason was for you two to stop being friends, but all I know, from what I gathered, she wasn’t the one to end it.” She places Steph’s flier on his chest that he subconsciously grabbed, and said one last thing before leaving his room. And that was,

“Maybe there was a good reason for you to end it, but that’s not an excuse for you to stop being who you really are.”

And Steve’s left with an epiphany he’s not sure he can decipher.

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

|| NOW ||

As soon as the lock was broken, she retrieved the gun from the safe and frantically told her companion to get down the stairs. Will and Steph’s hearts were in their ears, and it sped up when the light above the front door flickered.

“Shit–” She pulls the boy to a halt, and redirects them to the back door. “Go, go, go, go, go.”

She throws open the sliding door, and out into the backyard, but as soon as they step foot onto the ground, the lights around the empty pool start to flicker. The two of them stopped immediately and held their breaths. They weren’t sure where the beast was at, but it was definitely nearby ready to snatch them up.

They were afraid to even breathe or twitch. What if this thing really does appear out of thin air?

They both jolted when a loud growl came from somewhere inside the pool. Wasting no time, Steph taps Will on the arm and makes a shushing gesture, then waves him to follow her. The boy understood completely, and the two of them move slowly, so carefully that there’s not way–

The both of them screamed when two human hands grabbed onto the top of the pool ladder.

A girl’s head poked up, face battered and covered in grime, her glasses shattered and splattered with blood. The girl looked so fam–

“Nancy!!” She shouts, as something growls behind her, scaring all of them to their core. And when her eyes landed on the two of them, she desperately yelled for help just seconds before the beast’s claws wrapped around her head and pulled her back.

Will and Steph matched the girl’s scream, and the beast roared in delight that his prey was just right in front of it. Its claws could be seen grabbing the ladder, like it was trying to crawl out and feast.

That’s when the two of them booked it.

The guns rattled in their hands.

The tears in their eyes.

Whatever this place was, they knew…

This couldn’t get compared to hell itself.

(TBC)

-Taglist is Open-

@ladygrey03 @poppet05 @tooearlyforthis @lovesfics @lordzzz

@mirkwoodshewolf @sadbitchfangirl @olivewisp

@emsownuniverse @unspecifiedvisitor @smaryamsstuff @kitty49646

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strangerficsxx · 3 months ago

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Chapter One: Suzie, Do You Copy?

story:Midnight Rain wc: with a sudden power outage, jennifer begins to suspect something bad is coming, suspecting the gate has been opened, things turn upside down when she go through a bought of depression -- hiding her feelings from steve.

[a/n: all characters, plot, etc. are not mine. The only thing I own is my original character. credit to gif owner.]

{ June 28, 1985 }

Coming back from the restroom, Jennifer puts on her Scoops Ahoy sailor hat as she enters the shop. She walk past Robin, leaning against the counter and sees a group of kids walking up to the counter of the ice cream parlor as she watches from afar. Jennifer recognizes the group of kids from the events of last year, smiling at Max who smiles back. Robin leans against the counter as a raven-haired kid rings the obnoxious bell that sits by the register.

"Hey, dingus. Your children are here." Robin calls.

"Again? Seriously?" Steve asks from the staff room.

Annoyed, Steve lets the kids through anyway as they trudge through the white vague corridor. Jennifer steps behind the counter, helping two teens select their ice cream before handing them the cones. They pay before walking out of the shop, looking back she watches her boyfriend bring the group of kids with him. He sneaks the group of kids in through the back of the mall, coming back into view as he smiles at his girlfriend.

"Wow, such a good mom," Jennifer jokes.

Steve rolls his eyes, annoyed.

"Well, when you've been doing it for the last two years, you get experience."

Smiling, Jennifer walks in the room and sits down, fumbling with her keys as her eyes well up with tears. Steve approaches and kneels in front of the brunette as they make eye contact.

"Are... Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm-I'm fine."

"No, you're-"

"Dingus. Get out here, there's a group of girls that are annoying me,"

"Okay, just a second. I'm a little busy here."

"Making out with Jennifer? No. Hurry up, dingus."

Steve rolls his eyes as he looks back at Jennifer. The peck their li[s before rising, standing behind the counter. He takes another order, beginning to scoop ice cream when suddenly the lights flicker Jennifer glances down at her arm, seeing the scar that she got from her boyfriend's backyard in 1983. The lights then shut off completely. Looking up, she watches as Steve walks over to the light switch, flipping the knob up and down.

"That isn't gonna work, Dingus."

"Oh, really?" He asks, flipping the switch at an even faster pace.

Suddenly, the light turn on in the mall. A nautical tune plays from the radio as Steve glances at the lights above then looking at Robin and Jennifer.

"Let there be light,"

Even though Jennifer couldn't see Robin's face, she knew she was making some kind of expression toward Steve. The three employees get back to work as Jennifer counts down the hours of work before being able to go home and crash.

——

{ June 29, 1985 }

Jennifer suddenly awakes, looking over at the clock. She sees it sitting ten after eight as the realization sets in, she forgot to reset the clock the previous night due to the power outage. Not only that, but she's very late for work. Throwing the covers off, Jennifer stumbles out of bed and over to her closet where she throws on her Scoops Ahoy uniform and does some light makeup since she'll sweat the makeup off later that day.

Grabbing her keys off her shelf, she leaves without eating before exiting the house. Sliding in the driver's seat, Jennifer puts the key in the ignition as her vehicle starts. Pulling out of the car port and drives down the road and towards the mall, parking in an empty spot as she removes the keys from the ignition and her seatbelt from the latch as she hops out of her car. Striding towards the entrance the sweat forms on her hairline as well as her chest. She walks in and towards the entrance of Scoops Ahoy. Robin notices the sweaty brunette as she smiles, Jennifer smiles back. Steve enters from the back door and greets his girlfriend with a kiss. Pulling away, Jennifer smiles at him as the short haired girl stares at them in disgust.

"Alright, love birds break it up."

"What? It's not like we're making out, or having sex." Jennifer says.

"I don't care, you're abusing company policy."

"Fine, we'll just greet each other like two friends."

"Okay.."

Jennifer rolls her eyes, stepping behind the counter as she holds her keys as she watches as Robin slings a single scoop of ice cream into a cone, handing it to the person. Later, the brunette sits in the back as Robin straightens up and Steve is slinging ice cream in the front. Jennifer overhears his conversation with two girls.

"Alrighty, one scoop of chocolate. That's a buck-twenty-five." He says. "Ooh, Purdue. Fancy."

"Yeah, I'm excited,"

The girl chuckles.

"Yeah, you know, I considered it, Perdue, but I was like, you know what? I really think I need some real life experience, you know, before I hit college, and see what it feels like." He rambles, continuing on. "Kina, like uh, I don't know, see what it's like to earn a working man's wage."

The register beeps as Jennifer giggles, continuing to listen. Steve apologizes to both girls.

"I think that's really important."

"Yeah, totally."

"Yeah, anyway, its so fun. We should kind of like, you know, I don't know maybe hang out this weekend or-- oh, sorry about that. Uh.." The change clatters as it hits the counter.

Jennifer's smile begins to fade as she hears her boyfriend ask a girl out. The awkward male continues talking as the girl turns him down. Robin grabs the white board filled with tally marks and sets it on the counter top.

"Another bites the dust," She says. "You are 0 for 6, Popeye."

"Yeah, I -- I can count."

"It means you suck," Robin comments.

"Yep, I can read, too." Steve says.

Jennifer rises, standing next to Robin as Steve approaches them.

"It's this stupid hat. I am telling you, it's blowing my best feature."

"Yeah, company policy is a real drag." Jennifer responds.

"You know, it's a crazy idea, but have you considered... telling the truth?" Robin asks.

"Oh, you mean, that I couldn't even get into Tech and my douchebag dad's trying to teach me a lesson, I make three bucks an hour, and I have no future? That truth?" He asks.

Jennifer notifies them that a group of girls are approaching as Steve and Robin look towards the entrance. Steve turns to face the two brunettes again.

"You know what? Screw company policy." He says, taking his hat off and tossing it past Jennifer.

"Oh, my god, you're a whole new man."

He turns away and approaches the group of women. Jennifer begins to think about breaking up with Steve as she begins to feel sad, almost on the verge of tears as Jennifer turns away. A stray tear falls from her eye, wiping it immediately. However, Robin notices.

"You okay?"

"Oh, me? Yeah, I'm fine."

"No, you're not. What's going on? Are you... jealous?"

"What? Jealous? Me? No. No, I'm not. I've been... I've been struggling, wondering if I should even keep going with the relationship. I'm beginning to think about breaking up with... him."

"Oh, my God."

"Oh, please. Don't act like you care."

"I do care, or I wouldn't be asking if you were okay. And, wouldn't be standing here listening to you talk about how you want to leave the relationship."

"I mean... should I though? It's just we've been through so much, and that's something we have in common. But, the other part of me wants to end it and see what else is out there."

"You do what feels best to you, okay?"

Jennifer nods, tears streaming down her pale cheeks before wiping them away. Steve notices and rushes toward her, wrapping Jennifer into a hug.

"Steve, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah,"

"Okay, I just wanted to comfort you."

"I know, but this... this really isn't a good time. I.. just need sometime to think." Jennifer says, pulling away from Steve and rushing out of the shop and into a nearby Girls bathroom.

——

That night, Jennifer finishes up for the night as she makes her way out towards out of Scoops Ahoy, pulling the cap off her head. She walks toward the entrance of Starcourt Mall as Steve catches up to her, stopping Jennifer in her tracks.

"What is it Steve?"

"Earlier... you seemed upset, and I wanted to make sure everything's fine."

"Everything is.. is okay. I promise,"

"Okay,"

Jennifer walks out to her car and enters, closing the door beside her. She puts the key key in the ignition as the car starts, blowing out cold air. Jennifer turns the AC off as she sits and stares in the distance in front of her. Tears cloud her vision, the anxiety creeping up on her as she sobs into her hands as the radio begins playing the soft tune of 'I Wanna Know What Love Is' by Foreigner. With tear stained cheeks, Jennifer slides her seatbelt on and pulls out of the parking lot and drives to Roane Hill Cemetery.

Walking toward Wilhelmina's headstone, Jennifer sits in the dry grass and stares at the stone in front of her. Tears stream down her cheeks as a graduation cap sits atop the headstone, the tassel blows in the musty wind. Jennifer sniffles before clearing her throat. Though, she couldn't say another word, Jennifer lays down and cries to herself quietly before drifting off to sleep.

——

Jennifer stands in the bus with Wilhelmina and the kids as the doors on the bus opens and Steve steps off, wielding the bat. Metal creaks around him as he spins his bat before holding it close. He creeps through the junkyard, chittering continues. Steve swivels around and sees two creatures fanking him as they growl. Dustin opens the bus door, shouting for him to abort. Dart charges as Steve rolls across a car’s hood. One falls through the windshield as he hits another one with his bat. At the bus’s door, Jennifer, Max, Lucas and Dustin motion to steve as he scrambles inside, but Billies pushes past them and runs for her life but gets attacked by one of the demo-dogs.

Jennifer is still in shock and panic, not knowing what to do next until she sees Billie lying lifeless on the grass. She rushes toward her and sees the massive pool of blood forming under her body. Tears well up in Jennifer's eyes as they meet with Billie's.

"Je.. Jennifer?"

"I'm here, I'm here. I'm gonna get you to the hospital, just hold on."

"N-no, I... this is my time, Jennifer." She sniffles. "Don't wait for me, go. Save everyone I... I'll be... okay."

"Billie, don't say that. I'm getting you help." Jennifer cranes her neck. "Steve! Help me."

Steve rushes over, telling the kids to stay on the bus before dropping to his knees.

"Jennifer," He says.

"No, no. We... we have to save her. She's... she's gonna die. Steve, please?" Jennifer pleads, tears running down her cheeks as the air feels thicker with each breath she takes.

Jennifer picks Billie up and rests her body on hers, blood seeping into her shirt. She makes eye contact with the blonde.

"Jennifer... Jen... It's okay, let me fly with the angels. I... love you." Billie says, her head rolls to the side.

"Billie," Jennifer calls. "Billie. Wilhelmina, please, wake up. No!" Jennifer cries, holding a dead Wilhelmina close.

As Jennifer gently places Wilhelmina on the ground, she cries harder as Steve brings her into his embrace. The kids begin to approach as they feel saddened by the moment.

——

Suddenly Jennifer wakes up as she starles before looking around in the twilight. The moon is full and the heat is wet. Sweat forms on her forehead and her breathing is ragged. Craning her neck, Jennifer sees her boyfriend Steve down on one knee. She calms down a little as tears stained her cheeks.

"Steve?"

He brings Jennifer into his arms as she sobs silently in his chest. She wraps her arms around him.

"I'm here,"

"I-- I had -- I wasn't meaning to fall asleep. I was trying to say goodbye to B--Billie, but I slipped into a slumber."

"It's alright,"

"No, it's not. I-I wish she were still here."

"I know. but she's gone, and you couldn't help that."

"I know,"

Her and Steve stay there for a little bit longer before pulling away, helping Jennifer to her vehicle before she takes off down the road as she wipes away the tears that stream down her cheeks.

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zaynmirrors · 1 year ago

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A/N:

Hello all! New fanfic here. Let me know if you want to start a tag list. If you guys have any ideas for chapters, anything! I take requests, it just takes me a minute to upload them. Let me know what you think!

Tw: eventual smut, abuse (not from current characters), mom!reader, youngmom!reader, children, others I haven’t thought of yet.

Pairing: Eddie Munson & Mom!Reader.

Dustin Hendersons older sister

FIGURE YOU OUT:

Chapter 1

When Dustin had invited his friends over he didn’t anticipate his sister and niece falling asleep on the couch before they were supposed to arrive.

His original plan had been to have a movie marathon but now he was unsure if they’d both be able to sleep through the noise. He’d known you were up practically all night, he’d heard the frustrated groans and heavy feet even from his room at the top of the stairs.

Normally his well behaved niece would sleep through the night and barely even fuss but the poor two year old was battling an ear infection. “Dude do you think we’ll wake them up if we just watch the movies?” Mike asked hushed as he looked over at the back of the older woman.

“Look I don't want to wake either of them” Dustin sighs quietly, “Y/N was up all night” Lucas made a sympathetic face, and glanced over at the subtle movement of Dustin’s sister.

When y/n graduated highschool, she had run away with her lover leaving their mom distraught. Y/N returned almost a year later, heavily pregnant, crying about how her supposed highschool sweetheart had left her.

Y/N didn’t really like to talk about it in detail, Dustin understood that there was more to it but never pushed. He was happy his older sibling was back, and enjoyed being an uncle.

The loud banging on the door startled the boys, all eyes looking to y/n. The banging continued, causing Dustin to scramble up and jerk the door open. “Dude” he hissed looking up to the curly headed senior.

The smile on Eddie’s face faltered, confused at the not so friendly greeting, “that’s no way to greet a guest Henderson” even his normal speaking voice was boisterous.

“My sister’s asleep on the couch” Dustin spoke quietly causing Eddie to try and peek around the foyer to see for himself. He gave an apologetic smile and pushed past the younger boy.

“What’s the plan, boys?” Eddie asked, trying to be quiet. They all shrugged, unsure what would be quiet enough to not wake the two fast asleep on the couch.

Dustin spoke “y/ns usually a deep sleeper” shrugs and continues, “we can just try going ahead with the movie marathon” The rest of them nodded in agreement, Dustin went to the kitchen and began gathering snacks, the others followed in order to help.

Y/n jolted awake, unaware of the group of teens in the kitchen, or the repeat senior who was supervising them. She looked down making sure the small child wrapped in her arms was still asleep.

She took the opportunity to unwrap from the child and stand, stretching. Y/n took the blanket off the back of the couch covering the toddler with it. The quiet chattering of the teens had reminded her of Dustin’s plan. She felt awful as well as embarrassed.

Y/n made her way to the kitchen and leaned against the frame, “if I ordered pizza would you boys eat any?” This caught the kids off guard causing them to jump, y/n chuckled not aware of the taller man on the other side of the room.

They talked amongst themselves and then nodded in agreement that pizza would be good. “I’ll go order, Dustin can you-“ she didn’t even need to finish her question before he nodded understanding to keep an eye on the toddler.

Y/n called the local pizza place putting in a decent sized order. Treating the teens was the least she could do, especially as she’d realized they had tried to be quiet and still were.

She took the opportunity to freshen up, which just consisted of fixing the loose ponytail and brushing the sleep smell off her breath. Y/n wanted nothing more than to curl into the bed and go back to sleep, but that wouldn’t be fair to either Dustin or her child.

The outfit that was currently being worn was fine, she was going for comfort rather than impression. When y/n came back out and glanced over at the couch her child slept on, tucked into the corner of it was a tall curly headed man.

Dustin had mentioned Eddie before, however, the thought of him being what looked to be almost her age never crossed her mind. He looked at her child as if she was a bomb waiting to go off. Normally she wasn’t much of a worry, but there was no telling today.

“Here let me-” Y/n started and bent down to pick up her child to give Eddie more room, as he was frantically telling her it was okay. Jovie was picked up carefully and carried to the room she shared with her mother.

Mike smirked and looked at Eddie, “Scared of a baby Munson?” Eddie went to say something but stopped when y/n walked back into the room and spoke, “What’re we watching?”

Dustin had no qualms against his sister joining, she was into just about the same things he was. “I think we’re going to watch a bunch of horror movies” he looked to the rest of the group to make sure they were in agreement.

“Oh! In that case-” she held up a hand, hurrying off to her room again, this time returning with a stack of movies. “Steve dropped these off” Dustin carefully took the stack and looked through it, passing the tapes to each of the boys to get approval.

“Half of these are new releases” Mike states, in shock. Y/n shrugged unsure of what to say, though she knew the gesture was more than just friendly from her babysitter. She wouldn’t entertain the idea.

“You guys cool with these movies then?” Dustin asked and each of them voiced an agreement. He made quick work to start up the first movie, while y/n paced waiting for the pizza afraid that the doorbell would wake up her child.

Eddie made his way to the foyer once the smell of melted cheese wafted into the living room. “Need help?” he asked lowly, y/n gasped not expecting the voice behind her. “Sorry,” he apologized.

Y/N shook her head, “No, you’re fine.” Said nothing else handing over two boxes of pizza. He made his way back to the living room strumming up excitement with the food. Y/n follow behind him shortly after, as she went to set her two boxes down an all too familiar cry erupted. “Fuck, I’m sorry boys” everyone but Eddie mumbled out a dismissal, not caring about the one small cry.

She went to go check on the ill child, Jovie stood in her crib, face crumpled in a grumpy expression. “What is it grumpy butt” y/n asked as she picked up the disheveled child. “Hungry?” Jovie nodded, placing a small hand over her left ear. “I know, time for medicine.” Jovie fussed, y/n bounced her trying to soothe the child “Hey, Uncle Mike and Lucas are here” This seemed to perk the child up.

Y/n smiled as she made her way back to the living room, “My and Lu!” Jovie shouted grabbing everyone’s attention. Making grabby hands at the two boys sitting next to one another.

“Hi Jo” Mike said just as excited, albeit fake enthusiasm. Mike also knew y/n disliked- no hated her child being called Jo. So this was his way of annoying her like any “normal” sibling would.

Jovie’s feet made contact with the floor and went to the two boys, dustin looked over them catching y/ns attention “want me to wait?” He’d been asking about the movie, she shook her head not wanting to throw more of a damper on their movie night even more than she already thought she had.

Dustin went ahead and started the tape while y/n grabbed the medicines from the kitchen. “Come in booger butt” she said sitting on the floor in front of the couch that still held an enamored Eddie.

Eddie watched as y/n expertly spooned each fruity smelling liquid into the toddlers mouth, then rewarding with small cut up bits of pizza. As if they still wouldn’t taste like the gross fruit flavored medication. As much as Eddie wanted to watch the movie, he’d be completely fine watching her all night.

Y/N barely made it through the first movie, Eddie noted when he had glanced from the screen to her. The child however was wide awake, being entertained by Dustin at least at the moment.

In between movies Dustin laid a blanket around his older sibling careful not to wake her, especially as he places a couch pillow behind her neck. It was clear to Eddie, Dustin cared deeply for his sister almost more than some siblings would. Eddie may have thought her ex or baby daddy or whatever, was just a piece of shit and left her to raise the baby on her own. Which is why Dustin cared so much.

Two more movies down and everyone decided to pause for a bathroom break. Eddie was the first back to his seat, noticing the toddler sitting in the middle of the couch as if waiting for him to return, “heydoh” she said clearly trying to say hello.

“Hi” he said, unsure what was happening. Then looked around for Dustin, “I’m Eddie” he continued holding out his giant ring clad hand.

Jovie examined his hand and took her tiny one wrapping it around his pointer finger. He’d almost melted at the gesture, never having an interaction like this before.

She tried to say something but whined placing a hand over her left ear. Eddie looked down to y/n to see if the sound had woken her up but she might as well have been dead.

“Your ear hurt?” Jovie nodded in reply to his question. He glanced around the room trying to find the medicine or grab Dustin’s attention.

Dustin who had overheard was already preparing the medications came over and handed the small measuring cup, “how do I-“ Eddie went to ask but was ignored, he swallowed down the anxiety.

Jovie instinctively opened her mouth ajar, Eddie carefully placed the rim of the cup against her lips and tipped it back. She coughed causing Eddie to curse “oh shit”

“She’s fine” Dustin stated, “she’s dramatic, aren’t you Jovie” she giggled like she knew exactly what he was saying to her. “Thanks for doing that”

Eddie mumbles a no problem as the child crawls in his lap. His arms fly up into the air unsure of where to put them. Jovie made herself comfortable in his lap, uncaring of who he was and focused on the movie. One that he wasn’t sure she should even be watching but if Dustin wasn’t concerned; He wasn’t going to be either.

Hours went on, the Hendersons’ mom had come home to a living room full of sleeping teens and her grandchild. She let them be and went on to bed herself, y/n awake, panicked as she was unable to find her daughter. She stood looking around only to find her tucked away in Eddie Munsons arms as he laid flat across the couch. She smiled softly at the sight contemplating on pulling her from his arms.

Y/n had no intention of waking him up but she’d feel safer if her daughter was asleep in her crib. As she tried to gently take Jovie from his arms, they tightened around her slightly and y/n decided to not worry about it. Her brother wouldn’t be friends with some weirdo, right? She made sure to place a blanket over the both of them, once she was satisfied that Jovie wasn’t going to roll off the couch she made her way back to her bedroom, changed her clothes and crawled back into bed.

Chapter 2

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swiftieblyth · 8 months ago

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Y/N Hopper

I’ve been working on a Steve Harrington x best friend Hopper reader but the reader was kidnapped by Papa and experimented on!

more info to come with the prologue to the series later today!

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caxde · 2 years ago

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thunder step | 𝐞𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

summary you are Dustin’s older sister, you and Eddie used to be friends but haven’t seen eachoter in a while, Dustin needs a sub for Hellfire tonight and you agree to go. (3,1k)

“D’you think Keith will let me play music?” You ask, vaguely to the room, Robin with her face buried in god knows what book and Steve with his eyes fixated onto the computer screen.

“You see him here?” Steve comments back. Bored out of his mind. You catch him throwing yet another ball of crumpled up paper to the bin, overflowing now.

“Meh, guess you're right.” You turn to look at him, Black Sabbath's new cassette in your hand already.

You lean over the counter, grabbing the stereo that’s connected to the store, you fidget with it until it magically unlocks, fuck yeah. As it starts playing you hear a sight escaping from Steve’s lips.

“Was that a sigh?” You question him, fake hurt in your voice, typical of the ever so dramatic you.

“No, I did not sigh” He replays absentmindedly. “You’re just annoying with this music of yours” He repeats, finally his eyes drifting away from the screen to look at you. “It’s like it summons him here” You follow the nod of his head all the way to the big window. His face with an expression you can’t quite understand.

Eddie’s here.

Wait, why is he here?

You look at him, van well parked for once, no blaring loud music, some Band-T you can’t quite decipher, same jeans that hug his legs just right. Infuriating, the smallest part of your brain thinks.

Unconsciously you look at yourself, the stupid green vest from FV sticking to you, covering the sleeveless top you’ve got on. Washed out blue jeans that kind of match his, with a similar cut above your knee, and those dusty converses. You fidget with your hair, as Robin emerges from behind the counter.

“Uh, what's Munson doing outside?” She asks, eyeing you.

“Fuck if I know, probably wants a movie.” You answer, shyly, awkwardly, anxiety ridden as you think it might have to do with you.

Robin looks at you. She doesn’t need to say a word, conveying everything she wants to tell you over a discreet look that escapes Steve’s knowledge. She’s saying of course he’s here to see you dingus, you didn’t see him for what felt like a year, I had to listen to you all night last night blabbing away about your stupid game and you talked more about him than the stupid game.

You answer, ever as quickly, with what Steve thinks its the same replica of Robin’s look, even if it isn’t yours says I know, but what the bloody hell am I supposed to do now, I feel like I’m about to puke Jesus Christ help Robs!

She can’t help but let a short laugh escape through her lips as the door opens, and the long-haired boy walks in. Eyes to the carpet, acting as if he doesn't see all three of you looking at him, making sure he gives you enough time to act as if you’re actually working.

You’re kind of proud when you catch him muttering the words to the song that’s playing. But panic works it’s way into your body once again, what the fuck are you supposed to do now, and, most important of all, why do you care that much?

“Go attend the customer dingus” Robin whispers, not as softly as she thinks she does.

“Kay, jesus” You whisper making your way to him.

Paranoid by Black Sabbath is suddenly playing, you know the words and can’t help your waist from swinging side to side as you approach him. You see him light up as he rests his eyes upon you.

“Henderson” He says with a nod and subtle smile. You smile back, without even thinking bout it, the way he says your last name, familiar and flirty? you’re not sure, but it melts something inside you.

“Munson” You reply back, with the same nod. He smiles too, maybe with his cool handled a little better. One of your arms decides to rest onto the rack of movies he’s surfing through, as the other holds it. “So, what brings you into my domain” You finally say once you manage to stop biting your lip. And even if you don’t notice it, he can’t keep his eyes away from your lips. You try to imitate his Dunger Master voice the best you can.

“A preposition.” He says, vaguely, looking up and down at you, feet coming closer, as he does so, you can hear your heart skip a beat, and you are even more confused than you were before, unsure of the effect he has on you.

“Oh”

“Don’t worry, you’re free to deny the invitation” He reassures you. What the hell is going on you want to scream, as you feel Robin's eyes glued at the interaction.

“I’m intrigued Eds, go on” You gesture with your hand, and Eddie tenses at the nickname, such familiarity shocking him. Rosey cheeks creeping on him.

“So, actually, your little brother sends me” He confesses, now even closer, one step more, your feet will be touching, and you’re not sure how you’ll react if that ends up happening.

“What’d kid do?” You ask way to quickly

“Worry not, my dear.” He says with a grin. “He thinks he’s ready to DM” He comments, reassuring you with a pet he leaves affectionately on your shoulder.

“That little shit?” You answer, brows up, questioning him.

“Yep, exactly my reaction.” Your shoulder moves down, signaling for him to continue explaining himself. “He says he wants to try it out first, before Hellfire, and he’s nervous as shit.” You laugh, softly, which makes him answer with a short chuckle, and biting his lip as he messes his hair, and your arms fall to your chess, crossed. “He says he wants to try it out, tonight, in your house, and we are short of one damn good player.” He pulls in closer again, your feet definitely touching now, and if your knee relaxed, yours would be touching his.

“Oh, so he’s really ready then” You answer. Biting the inside of your cheek, a bad habit that you can’t seem to stop. “Whaddunedme for?” Your words come out as one sentence.

“You should learn how to speak, you’re old enough now sweetheart.” He teases you, the reason remains unclear, what is the teasing or the sweetheart that made you chuckle and blush? “He wants a table of the best and worst troublemakers he knows to test his DMing skills.”

Ah, it all makes sense now. You nod acknowledging the information.

“Okey, count me in.” He claps and celebrates. You can’t help but smile at the sight of him. “Time?” You demand as he draws close, heart beating even faster.

“It’s a Friday” He remembers you “So 9pm.”

“I get off in 30 minutes.” You tell him, looking at the clock strapped into the red dull wall. “If you wanna wait around we can go um… to eat brownies before.” You say, hoping he remembers what brownies stand for. And as you watch his expression, recognition appears on his face.

“Great. Drive you home?” You nod, he smiles again, looks at the floor and waves you goodbye.

Dustin’s still not home once you arrive, accompanied by Eddie, thank god you think to yourself. Lights on, your bass lays into the couch, and you can feel the grin in Eddie’s face once he sees it.

“Shit,” he says. Pointing at it “You still have it?” You turn your back, looking at him, following his ring decorated finger to your prized possession.

“Yeah, I still got him.” You smile, teeth showing. Memories of you and Eddie playing before the session starts flare up into your mind. He follows you, as you take your shoes off and he does the same, you sit into the couch and grab it, putting the bass carefully into your lap. Eddie sits next to you, though not too close.

“D’you smoke inside?” He asks, curiosity filling his body and voice. You shake your head no. He nods.

“But you can roll it in here, we’ll just go to the backyard and light it up. Don’t think Hellfire’s ever been on time, be weird if it did now.” You say. Looking at him. Good his neck you can’t help but think as he pushes hair out of it, tucking it behind his ears.

“D’you wanna serenade me as I do so?” Was he flirting with you, it felt as he did.

Your feet turn the amp on. You think for a second, unsure of what to play.

“Still like Metallica?”

“Shit, yeah. Watchu got?” He asks as he pulls out his little briefcase, and starts to roll a spliff.

“Quite new, hope you recognise it, might sound like shit.” You add, to lower his expectations. Before you start playing a thought comes to your mind. “Mind if we split it, don’t feel like smoking an entire one on my own.”

He nods.”Thought so” He reassures you. His tongue sticks out as he concentrates, deeply into what he’s doing.

As you grab your little baby you whisper, “Jesus take the bloody wheel”

You concentrate hard. Your head booping softly as your hand slides into the strings. You start counting with your head boops. You touch the first note and feel Eddie staring as he looks closely to you. You count three stops, and start again having to hear the guitar playing even when it's not there, shit’s complicated you think but Master of Puppets starts taking shape miraculously. And the fact that Eddie started to tap his foot with the drummer's beat is helping you immensely. And you can hear him in and out of whispers singing the song. Your face relaxes, and you let the music drive you away. You love this song, you love playing and you love the way he’s looking at you right now. He’s captivated, so much so, he’s stopped rolling, paper in one hand and weed into the other.

You eventually stop playing. Shy smile in your face as you look up to the boy who’s sat up next to you, way closer than you remember, thigh touching thigh now.

“It really doesn’t make that much sense without a guitar once you get to this point.” You can tell you’ve somehow impressed him. He’s got no words to say.

“Fucking hell…” He says in an impressed whisper, looking at your hands, up your arms, stopping for a few seconds longer than he needs to in your neck, mouth, eyes and then you. All of you. “That was… Jesus”

“Huh, that good huh” You tease him, he knees your leg in response. “Not everyday I get to leave Eddie Munson speechless”

“You do so more than you think.” He says before he realizes what he’s just confesed.

Your eyebrows rise, curiosity invading you. You drop your bass carefully into the floor, so one of your legs gets up the couch and your other leg almost has to climb onto his.

“I impress you” You state. Grin across your face, proud smile innit.

“Shutup” He says, he’s blushing. You laugh. He avoids your eyes and finishes to roll the spliff.

“Smoke time?” He asks, standing up, offering a hand that you take.

“Smoke time” You replay.

The table’s full of papers, little cards and your very nervous little brother in the make-believe chair. But you can’t concentrate on any of it. Eddies sitting right next to you, his thigh pushing into yours. And the heat and feeling that he -for sure knows- is capable of making into your body makes you excited to be this close to him, and it being not weird, plus, the weed has made you all giggly and hypersensible as it always does.

Dustin, even if he’s nervous, is doing a good job at DMing so far. Albeit, in the table with you are his best friends, which you should have seen coming, Mike, Will, Lucas, you and Eddie.

The little guys are excited to see him describe where they are and what happens next, and a proud smile invades your face. He’s doing a good job, although it is pretty obvious he’s setting a trap to drop a battle onto you.

You feel Eddie's hand land into your upper thigh and tap two times, reclaiming your attention. A blushed-pink you looks over at him, and he makes a come close sign with his hand. You draw your face close to his, his mouth covered by his ring decorated hand touches your cheek, whispering to you, low and with that deep voice that you’re certain will make you shiver if you can’t control yourself.

“He’s setting a trap, right?” He asks for a validation you provide to him by nodding “Should we escape?” You retrieve your head back, hair brushing his hand, and signal no softly.

Now it's you who’s brushing his cheek, and his wild hair while you come closer than you really have to, enjoying the excuse that this gives you, being this close to him you can smell him, notes of weed, tobacco, sandalwood maybe? it doesn’t dawn upon you until later, that he can probably smell your perfume too.

“Let him play his game the way he wants to. He will never learn if he doesn’t fuck up.” You say, losing concentration as your eyes get lost onto his. You’re so close you could count his eyelashes if you had the time.

He pats you again in your thigh, you know he’s giving you the reason for once. But instead of throwing it away, he lets his hand rest there. Your legs pushes to him slightly. You see him smile to himself. Maybe he does like you, you start to think. You think you do too.

The game progresses, and an absentmindedly Eddie starts to draw circles into your leg. You don’t ever want him to stop this feeling.

“They leap in, that’s all my little dudes. A lot of my knights are dead, and that is going to be your turn sister, what will you do?” Your little brother asks you. Your hands frame your face as you look at him. You have been taking it easy in him, afraid to fuck up his game, but he has just made a fatal mistake. You look over at Eddie for confirmation, he nods, he gives you permission to be your chaotic game self.

“You asked Kid.” You say seriously. A grin growing in your face. Dustin’s excited to see what you're up to, you can tell. “Okay, so. I’d like to jump out the window and run to this space right here.” You say as you point at the board.

“You hum- You actually have enough- Yeah, you have enough movement to even just go out the back door.” He sounds curious he still hasn’t seen his big mistake, but Eddie’s caught up and slightly squishes your leg again, dangerously close to your hip now.

“Okay. Rad.” You point again and see the face of realization struck Dustin across the face, at the same time that Will gasps. “So I’m gonna cast Lightning Bolt on all these guys.” You look at the perfect straight line that lies in front of your character.

“Oh, hell yes.” You hear Lucas whisper. And a small laugh escapes from your lips. You’ve just fried all the troops that Dustin had left on your side of the board. You watch as he facepalms slowly.

“I guess I’ll do- Why not ‘cause the commander’s in there. I guess I’ll do, well, we might need another- No, Thunder Step is third level. I guess I’ll do another fourth level. Can I borrow 3d6?” You mumble out loud as you think. You feel Eddie's impressed face on your side as he squishes your upper thigh so hard you think you might lose your train of thought again.

“Fuck yes. Whatever you want bub.” Eddie whispered to you. Your skin lifts its hairs up as he calls you a stupid pet name.

Dustin's face is pure shock. And you smile with pride.

“Come on, you wanted this, you love this. This is fun for you.” You say torturing your brother ever so slightly, enjoying it a bit. “Okay, didn’t roll that well” You say as your die stop turning, and as you start counting you feel Eddie's voice once more softly into your ear, moving closer to you to look at the die.

“No, you did, you did bub” He reassures you, almost sounds like he’s praising you.

Dustin sighs almost sounding exactly like one of his cartoons he still watches and admits weakly that he didn’t realize that there was a perfect line, just kind of organically.

“Remember Dustin, Lighting Bolt’s a 100 foot line.” He says, almost like he’s trying to give him a tip for next time. “And your sister doesn’t fuck around”

“Just a bit” You laugh when you hear Eddie's praise.

“So it’s everyone, it’s everybody, it goes past the, to the back” Lucas sentences to the table. You look up to him, a thought passing through your mind.

“So, you know what I’m gonna do actually? I’m gonna do Empower spell.” You sentence once again, pure defeat collapsing into Dustin’s face. Eddie’s grip grows deeper. You whimper softly. He’s playing with you, you’re sure now. “So I’ll go ahead and reroll 4 of these I guess.”

“Fuck, yeah, that helped.” Mike says impressed by your skill once again.

“Cheers Wheeler.” You smile at him. “Okay so, 10, 20, 30, 39 damage total.” You do your maths out loud, gathering dice. Dustin, though incredibly defeated and with this game almost over, can’t hide how impressed and proud he is. “But they do have the option of a Dexterity saving throw, and they take half that if they pass.” You announce him as you see him lost in your DM’s guide. And as you look at the table you can't help yourself and add “And lightning ignites flammable objects. Does that mean that I can light that-”

“That tree on fire?” Eddie finishes your sentence, pure amusement for you written in his face. “You can probably get the banner too.”

You laugh and so does the whole table, but you can only hear him, that long haired boy sitting next to you, setting your own thigh on fire by his touch.

“Can we say, for the drama that I look into the commander’s eyes and scream watch your banner burn, bitch.” Even more giggles and laughter invade the table, and Dustins is uncontrollably possessed with shock laughter. “As I ignite him as the very first on my.. um lightning kebab.” You finish with a satisfied stiffed laughter. They can’t control it anymore and everyone loses it.

You lock eyes with an impressed Eddie, who grips you once again, might be the adrenaline, or the silliness, but your hand reaches his as he grasps it in a thigh embrace with your fingers, intertwined.

if you enjoyed (i I really hope you did), please reblog! i promise it makes a difference

this fic is multi-chapter <3 part one part three part four part five

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drops-of-june · 4 months ago

Text

SEASON II — EPISODE I: CHANGES

I don’t own the characters, this fanfic is based on the TV-Show Stranger Things (second season) from a Hargrove!Reader POV.

Quick reminder to readers, I'm not a english native speaker, so I'm sorry if there are any mistakes. Hope you understand.

You are not allowed to translate/repost inside or outside tumblr this fanfic. I will upload the fanfic in ao3, in my account.

TRIGGER WARNING: Subtle mentions of violence.

Summary: The first school year at Hawkins ends. As they say that when cycles come to a end, new opportunities open up.

Words: 6.2K

SEASON II — EPISODE I: CHANGES

'Come on... It can't be that bad.' Y/n commented, glancing towards Steve's bathroom door, which remained closed.

'I look ridiculous.'

Y/n was lying on Steve's bed and had been waiting for him to finish getting dressed, which he had already done ten minutes ago but he refused to leave the bathroom.

Steve's room had changed a bit since the first time she had visited him. By then it was a room that didn't reflect who he was at all. It was almost like a hotel room, with no hint of his personality other than a small picture of a car. Too... perfect. Now, he had taken a small step forward, and had studded some posters on the walls.

Y/n stared at the wall for a few seconds, as the image of Larry Bird stared back at her.

'It can't be that bad...'

'Electric blue is not my color.' He complained, causing her to roll her eyes. 'And this hat is stupid, why should we wear it?'

'Come on, I promise not to make fun.' She encouraged him.

'Liar.' Y/n, who was already losing patience and getting desperate, pulled herself straight up as she heard the door open and Steve shuffled out, his shoulders slumped. Y/n watched him for a few seconds and in silence. 'Come on... mock me.'

'Harrington, it's just a graduate robe and cap you'll wear for a few hours, it won't hurt you. Besides we'll all go the same. And blue suits you.’

After he took one last look at himself in the mirror, and took off his uniform, they set off for school.

It was a sunny day in late May 1985. The warm breeze brought with it a sense of change and new beginnings as the Hawkins High School seniors prepared for graduation. The basketball court was decorated with balloons and congratulatory banners, and white chairs lined up in perfect symmetry, awaiting the graduates and their families.

On the court, families and friends were already taking their seats. Susan and Neil Hargrove sat in the front row, next to Max, in the area reserved for family members.

In the bleachers were y/n's friends, including Eddie, Gareth, Jeff and Grant, ready to cheer enthusiastically. Eddie had fallen short of graduation requirements, so he would have to stay another year. A few seats down, Dustin was with his friends, but he seemed to be the most excited of all, cheering every time someone familiar walked by. Nancy and Jonathan were also present, to support Steve and y/n.

The principal approached the podium and began his opening speech, talking about the accomplishments of the class of '85 and the challenges they had overcome. The names of the graduates were called out one by one, and rounds of applause filled the air.

'Thomas Hagan.' Applause rang out as the boy went by to pick up his diploma and shook hands with the principal and teachers on stage.

'Y/N Hargrove.' The girl walked to the stage with a mixture of nervousness and pride. When she received her diploma, a little chaos erupted from the bleachers as y/n's friends began to shout her name.

'Let's go y/n! Do it for me!' She could hear Eddie's voice above the applause, making her smile even wider.

'You did it, y/n!' shouted Max, jumping out of her seat.

'Billy Hargrove,' Principal Higgins continued, trying to stop the noise.

' Got it, Billy!" Max cheered him on as well, as the audience applauded. Billy walked with his characteristic confidence onto the stage. The applause was equally deafening. Neil, still stoic, but Susan and Max smiled proudly as Billy received his diploma.

Finally, it was Steve's turn. He walked confidently to the stage, and when he received his diploma, he gave a little exaggerated bow that made everyone laugh. His friends clapped and cheered for them once again.

Once all the students had been named, the principal cleared his throat before announcing.

'I present to you all, the class of 1985.'

After a dinner out, the Hargroves returned to their home. While everyone was already asleep, the twins were in the kitchen cleaning up the coffee cups that were used upon arrival.

Y/n could feel the tension in the air. The same tension he had felt for days now.

Billy had been acting strangely for the past several days, as if he were carrying a secret he couldn't share. Since march, when they both turned 18, he seemed more distant, nervous and lost in his thoughts.

Y/n noticed it right away. She was his twin sister, after all, and she could read him better than anyone else. Finally, she decided to confront him.

'Billy, you're making me nervous.' She folded her arms, looking at him with a mixture of concern and determination. 'What's the matter with you? I know something's on your mind, but I have no idea what it is.' Billy avoided her gaze, pretending to be concentrating on properly rinsing the small spoons.

'It's nothing, y/n. I'm just... thinking about things.' He didn't make up a lie, he knew that with his sister they were no good. He'd never been able to lie to her no matter how much he wanted to, it was almost a skill she had for detecting them.

Y/n frowned, moving a little closer, and looked around in case they were being overheard by Neal or Susan, and lowered her voice, willing herself not to let the subject drop.

'You're thinking of leaving, aren't you?' Billy looked up quickly, his eyes reflecting surprise and a little fear. He shook his head, but the lie was obvious.

'No, it's not that...' She let out a sigh and put a hand on his shoulder.

'Billy, I'm your sister. I can see when something's bothering you. And if you're thinking of leaving, that's okay. I understand.' Billy pursed his lips, his eyes full of conflict. He was surprised, because he thought she was going to be angry with him. Many years ago they had made a promise to leave when they came of age, but things changed when Max and Susan came along, and the plan had been postponed until they found a solution. Now that they were older, they were not hindered by their father. Billy feared that if he told his sister he wanted to leave, she would think he was going to leave her alone with Neal.

'I don't want to leave you alone, Sundance. It's not right to make you go with me either, I know you've accomplished a lot here, and you have your friends. You figured out how to fit in here. But I...' She hugged him, interrupting whatever he was about to say. Silently, he hugged her back. Moments later, she spoke to him still in a low voice, almost a whisper.

'Don't worry about me, okay? Neither is it right for you to stay here alone because of me. This is your moment. You need this, and I'm going to always support you in whatever you decide to do.'

Billy looked at her, his expression softening a little.

'And what will you do with Neal?' He asked, glancing toward their father's room. She shrugged, but with determination in her eyes and downplayed it with a wave of her hands.

'Screw Neal, I'll deal with it. And I promise I'll get out of here too. But for now, you need this more than I do.' She took her brother's hand and led him to his room. She fetched a bag from under the bed and together, they packed Billy's belongings in silence, each movement laden with pent-up emotion. When everything was ready, they went to the entrance until Billy stopped at the door with a thud.

'Max...' He said, worried.

'She'll understand. Don't worry.' She told him, reassuring him. 'I'll explain it all to her.'

'Tell Madmax I'll miss her, and tell her to be good.' He walked over to his sister and hugged her one last time, and gave her a kiss on the forehead. 'I'll let you know as soon as I get a place, y/n/n. I promise.' She hugged him tightly one last time, feeling the weight of goodbye on her chest.

'You'd better. Take good care of yourself, Butch. And be happy.' Billy nodded, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

'You too, Sundance. We'll meet again soon.'

The girl watched him as he climbed into the Camaro, the engine roaring in the quiet Hawkins night. She watched him drive away slowly, the sound of the car fading into the distance. As the Camaro's taillights disappeared, Y/n felt a mixture of sadness and hope. She knew her brother was embarking on a journey to a better life, and that was what really mattered.

The cold night wind enveloped her as she stared out at the empty road, lost in thought. She remembered the difficult times they had gone through together, from her mother's departure to Neal's abuse. But she also remembered the laughter shared, the dreams whispered in the dark, and the promise of a better future. She breathed in deeply, feeling a new determination grow inside her. She knew her time would come, too. And when it did, she would be ready to embrace her own freedom and happiness, just as Billy was doing now.

As she walked back to the house, y/n felt an unexpected relief. She knew the wait wouldn't be easy, but she was certain it would all be worth it. She crawled into her bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of the days to come. Even though her brother was no longer by her side physically, she felt his support and love stronger than ever. And that gave her strength to carry on.

***

1974, April 13. California.

Silence reigned in the Hargrove house. In one of the bedrooms, however, someone was stirring between the sheets. The room had walls painted in a warm shade of olive dappled green and geometric wallpaper in shades of burnt orange and earthen brown.

The room belonged to Hargrove twins.

A bunk bed was next to the window, through which a little moonlight filtered in, faintly illuminating the floor covered with toys and books.

From the top bunk bed peeked out one of the boy's hands, Billy, as he tended to fall asleep all sprawled out. Judging by his breathing, he was in a deep sleep.

However, y/n in the bottom bed, she had woken up with a dry throat. Not wanting to make noise so as not to cause trouble or inadvertently wake Billy, she got out of bed and went downstairs in search of orange juice. The silence in the house was total, broken only by the light creaking of the wood under her feet. She opened the refrigerator door and drank straight from a bottle, enjoying the cold liquid that calmed her thirst.

As she was about to go upstairs again, she heard a sobbing sound that made her stop in her tracks. Her heart began to beat faster as she quietly approached the source of the sound. The dim light from the kitchen illuminated the figure of her mother, Amanda, standing by the back door with a suitcase in her hand, ready to leave.

Amanda tensed as she heard y/n's footsteps, but when she saw that it was her daughter, she seemed relieved. For an instant, something in her face changed, as if she realized something important.

'Do you want to go for a ride, princess?' asked Amanda in a low voice, with a shaky smile. She had a fresh bruise on her cheek. Y/n looked at the suitcase in her mother's hand and the smile disappeared from her face.

'Are you leaving?' she asked, her voice full of fear and confusion, with too much understanding for her young age. Amanda nodded slowly.

'Yes, my love. I need to go. I want you to pack your backpack with the most important things. Let's go.' y/n's heart filled with a mixture of hope, and excitement.

'I'm going to wake Billy,' she said, turning toward the stairs.

'No!' Amanda said quickly, grabbing her arm. 'It's just us going. Billy can't come.' Y/n let go of her mother's hand, backing up a step.

'Why can't Billy come?'

Amanda tried to explain, her eyes filling with tears. 'It's complicated, princess. Men have it in their blood. It's better this way.' She seemed to be talking more to herself than to her daughter, as if trying to convince herself it was for the best.

Y/n shook her head, not understanding too much, just knowing she couldn't leave her brother alone. Not with Neal.

'I'm not leaving without Billy.' Amanda took a breath, closed her eyes in grief. Then she reached over, trying to give her one last hug, but y/n pulled away.

'Please, baby.' She begged, reaching out for her, but the girl stepped back again. Y/n watched with a broken heart as her mother walked out the back door, disappearing into the darkness of the night, leaving her and her brother with the monster in the house. She felt as if a gaping void opened up inside her. She didn't understand why her mother had decided to leave. All she knew was that life as she knew it had just changed forever.

What happened that night, became a secret between her and her mother. The only secret she kept from Billy, to protect him. A moment that broke the connection she thought she had with her mother, and an event that marked her as a person.

Y/n had learned not to be emotionally dependent on others easily, keeping an emotional distance that allowed her to protect herself. Although she had close friends, she rarely opened up completely, keeping her innermost thoughts locked away for fear of being abandoned or betrayed again.

The idea of fully trusting someone had become an imposing mountain to climb, and though she longed for comfort and genuine connection, she always kept a part of herself reserved, like a reflection of the child who had decided to keep quiet about the truth to protect her brother.

***

The next morning after Billy’s departure came with a deceptive calm. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon when y/n got up, feeling the weight of the previous night still on her shoulders. She quietly made her way around the house, trying not to wake anyone as she prepared breakfast. However, she knew that this moment of quiet would not last long.

Moments later, Neal came down the stairs, his expression stern and his frown more pronounced than usual. She watched him as she poured herself a cup of coffee, trying to keep her own expression neutral. She knew the inevitable question was about to arise.

'Where's Billy?" asked Neal suddenly, his voice cutting. She looked up, meeting his gaze.

'I don't know… did you check his room?' she asked, innocently. Neal narrowed his eyes.

'If I ask, it's because he's not in his room. His car's gone, and his stuff's gone. It's empty. Don't tell me you don't know anything.'

Y/n shrugged, keeping her tone calm.

'I have no idea. I just woke up. He must have gone out while we were sleeping. I'm not with him around the clock to check on him.'

Neal snorted, clearly dissatisfied with her answer, but without further evidence, he couldn't question her any further. He turned and walked out of the kitchen, muttering something between his teeth.

Max, who had been watching from the doorway, approached her. Her eyes were full of questions, but the eldest only smiled softly at her, trying to convey calmness. It was a silent conversation. Max looked at her for a moment, and a slow, happy smile spread across her face.

'I'm happy for him. He deserves to be happy.' Y/n smiled back, feeling a comforting warmth in her heart.

'Yes, he does.' Seeing that Neal wasn't around, she approached Max and lowered her voice. 'He left you greetings, and told you to behave yourself.' Max nodded, her grin lingering as she sat down at the table.

It was already dark by the time she found herself automatically getting into her car. She felt the lump that had formed in her throat the night before growing larger and larger, cutting off her breath.

In other circumstances she would have turned to Sam, the only person who had managed to break through that wall she had built around herself for protection. But at that moment, four hundred miles away, he wasn't an option.

The girl's mind was weighing the possibilities. Max was completely out of the question. Y/n wanted to appear strong to her, and it was the main reason she left the house in search of relief.

She considered Gareth. In the months they had been in a relationship, the boy had proven to be attentive and caring. She knew he would understand her, but she dismissed it as not wanting to worry him.

She also thought about Steve. But at the time he had his own problems to deal with, after his father refused to pay for his college. Y/n wasn't looking to be another burden, and bother him with silly things.

She stopped her car at the trailer park and got out of the car with bated breath. Y/n approached Eddie's trailer, her steps faltering. Tears had begun to spill, incessant down her cheeks and her face was pale. With a shaky knock, she knocked on the door. Eddie, with his trademark smile and the relaxed vibe that always accompanied him, opened the door, but noticing that she was crying, his expression changed to total concern.

'Hey, y/n/n... Are you okay?' He asked, taking a step towards her, offering her his hand to pass. She entered the caravan timidly and stood at the entrance.

'Sorry...I didn't know where to go.' She looked inside guiltily but Eddie put a hand on her shoulder.

'Wayne's not here, relax. What happened? Why...?' he asked, looking at his friend. She closed her eyes and he wrapped her in his arms, lovingly, and stroked her hair gently. 'It's all right... you can tell me...' He murmured. Y/n didn't know where to start, so she just clung to him until she could control the sobs a little.

She felt kind of silly for feeling this way. She knew it had been the best thing for her brother, and she had even helped him put his suitcase together, but it didn't stop hurting.

'Did Gareth do something to you? Did he hurt you? Because I swear that even if he is my friend, I will hang him by the ba...'

'No. No. It's not that. It wasn't him.' She clarified quickly, pulling away from the embrace. 'It's Billy... he left...' She explained, and Eddie pulled her towards the table to sit down. 'I know he needs it. Getting away from Neal was what we always wanted...' Eddie was somewhat aware of her friend's family situation, so he nodded silently, letting her talk. 'But...' She laughs lightly. 'I must look stupid to be crying about this.’

'Hey... You don't have to explain, angel.' He said taking her hand, pressing it affectionately. 'And it's not stupid, you were together your whole life... it's completely understandable.' He reassured her. Y/n wiped her tears with the back of her hand, and Eddie got up to offer her some napkins, not finding any, with a slightly awkward gesture he offers her a roll of toilet paper, causing her to let out a laugh. 'Sorry, it's all we have.' She thanks him, taking some and wiping her face with it. 'Would you like some coffee?'

'I'd love to, thank you.'

Eddie went into the small kitchen of the caravan as his friend settled herself at the table, trying to regain her composure. The soft light inside the caravan contrasted with the darkness of the night outside, creating a comforting atmosphere.

As the coffee brewed, Eddie glanced back, noticing how she surveyed the space with a mixture of nostalgia and sadness. Y/n curiously observed the mugs and caps hanging on the wall and smiled slightly. It looked like an interesting collection.

The noise of his friend working in the kitchen was the only thing interrupting the silence.

Finally, Eddie returned with two steaming mugs and sat down across from y/n.

'Here you go,' he said, pushing a mug toward her. 'I hope it helps you calm down a bit.' She took the mug gratefully and took a sip, appreciating the warmth the drink provided. She looked at Eddie, feeling a little more reassured by his comforting presence.

'Thank you, Eddie. I don't know what I'd do without you at times like this.'

'Anytime, rockstar.' After a moment of silence. He spoke again, cautious this time, as if he was hoping he wasn't saying something out of line. 'And what will you do now?'

She played with the spoon in the cup for a moment, thinking silently.

'I can't leave Max alone.' She began. 'But I'd like to do the same as Billy...though I like Hawkins… I don't know if I'd go far.'

'I wouldn't let you.' Eddie jokingly admitted, with a friendly smile. 'I'm not like Sam, I'd drag you by the balls to Hawkins again.' He commented, causing her to laugh. She took a sip of the infusion and after a moment, spoke again.

'I've been saving...it's not enough to buy a house, but...maybe if I find a better job I could get money together faster.' She admited as she thought aloud and Eddie stood up to look for something. 'I hear there's a mall opening up in town. Maybe I'll apply for a job there, they can probably pay me a little more.'

Eddie sat back down and left a card on the table.

'A few weeks ago this guy came through the park… he was offering some new caravans, but maybe you can get something in your price range...' He offered. y/n's eyes lit up.

'Are you saying you want me as a neighbor?' She asked giving him a friendly punch on the arm. 'You're going to regret it.' She joked, making him laugh.

'It would be an honor to have you as a neighbor, rockstar.' He admitted with a smile.

Even though summer was just about to begin, the heat was beginning to make itself felt on the streets of Hawkins. The sun was shining brightly, promising long, hot days, and the air was heavy with a mixture of seasonal anticipation and laziness. The new shopping center, Starcourt Mall, was about to open its doors to the public, and the entire town was talking about little more than its upcoming inauguration.

In the parking lot, Steve and y/n were still inside the car. She already had experience working, but for Steve, this would be his first time applying for a job. So she kept trying to give him encouragement before getting out of the vehicle.

'Come on... It's not as hard as it looks.'

'But what if I get rejected? What if I don't get a job?'

'We'll resort to my plan B. I'm not going to leave you alone on this one...'

'What's plan B?' He asked curiously. She wrinkled her nose, and narrowed her eyes, letting on that it wasn't something to her liking. 'Y/n...' Steve had gone pale, looking like he was about to throw up.

'For you it wouldn't be anything bad...' she promised, closing her eyes. A shiver ran down her spine. Opening her eyes again, she looked at Steve with determination. 'But it won't be necessary. Because you'll do fine, you'll see...' She paused, but he still didn't look convinced. 'Harrington, you took on demogorgons and demodogs. This is a piece of cake.'

They both got out of y/n's car, and started walking towards the building.

'If it wasn't for my father I wouldn't have to be doing this.' He muttered.

'Steve, don't worry so much. Not getting into college isn't the end of the world. And I'm sure you only wanted to get in because it's what you're supposed to do, not because you really want to.' She said with a comforting smile. Steve sighed and smiled back, grateful for her support.

'I guess you're right... '

'I usually am...' She murmured winking at him, and making him laugh.

As they walked through the automatic doors, their eyes widened in amazement. The lobby was a large, bright space, the polished marble floor reflecting the fluorescent lights hanging from the ceiling. In the center, a fountain adorned with colored lights spurted water, and they couldn't help but pause for a moment to admire the scene.

As they walked down the wide aisles, y/n felt like a little girl in a candy store. On either side, stores attractively displayed their wares. The clothing windows were decorated with mannequins displaying the latest fashion trends. Y/n smiled at the sight of a record store with a vinyl and cassette section, imagining her friends getting excited to see the selection of music.

The aroma of food guided them to the second floor, where the large food area offered a variety of dining options. From burger and pizza restaurants to Asian and Mexican food joints, the air was filled with enticing smells that made their stomachs growl. Tables and chairs arranged around an open space with decorative plants gave the place a cozy, relaxed atmosphere.

Steve and y/n stopped and parted ways, wishing each other luck. The girl already knew where she would try her luck first.

She entered the lobby of the movie theater, and looked around the place curiously. There was definitely more room than at the Hawkins cinema, and it more closely resembled the movie theater where she worked in San Diego. On one side of the lobby, there were a couple of ticket booths with glass windows where visitors could buy tickets. Off to the side, near the entrance to the theaters, the concession stand offered a tempting array of popcorn, soft drinks and candy.

Y/n walked toward who she thought was the manager, a middle-aged man with glasses and a welcoming smile. The man was talking to someone y/n instantly recognized. Kyle, her former co-worker from the Hawkins movie theater. When the manager looked up, Kyle turned and saw her enter. His expression went from curiosity to surprise and then to a warm smile.

'Y/n! I can't believe you're here too,' exclaimed Kyle, coming over to greet her. 'Mr. White, this is y/n, one of the best employees we ever had at the Hawkins movie theater. If anyone knows how to run a movie theater, she does. She's helped me more times than I've helped her.' He admitted, putting an arm around her shoulders.' Y/n couldn't help blushing and shook her head. Mr. White looked at her with renewed interest.

'Really? 'Well, it sounds like you have an excellent recommendation. Let's go to my office for the interview.'

The manager's office was decorated with classic and new movie posters, and a small plant in the corner gave it a cozy feel. Y/n sat in a chair across from him, feeling more confident as the conversation progressed. She had answered all the questions with ease, highlighting her experience working in movie theaters in both California and Hawkins. She told him about how she had managed box offices, supervised the cleaning of the theaters, and assisted in organizing special events. Her previous experience seemed to impress the man.

'I see you have quite a bit of experience in the field,' Thomas White said, reviewing her resume. 'That's exactly what we're looking for. We want someone with your knowledge and skills to be in charge of less experienced employees. Someone who can guide them and make sure everything runs smoothly.' She nodded, feeling relieved and excited at the same time.

'Oh... That's too much responsibility.' She started, but offered him a hand. 'I promise I won't let you down.'

When she came out of the interview, she was surprised to find Steve waiting for her.

'Did you get it?' He asked encouragingly. She smiled and held up in the air in her hand the new uniform she was to wear for the job, folded neatly into two plastic pouches.

'And you?' she asked, curious. But in his gaze she discovered that he had either been unlucky, or else had fled the quest in a cowardly manner. She folded her arms.

'I've already been told no by three different businesses. I can't sink any lower.'

'Then you keep trying.' She said taking him by the arm. 'You can volunteer as bait for some killer critters from a alternate dimension, but you can't take on a couple of managers?' she asked, forcing him to walk. She stopped in front of what appeared to be an ice cream shop.

'How about here?' She asked, tugging lightly at his shirt sleeve. Before waiting for an answer from him, she dragged him into the shop and hit the little service bell over the counter. From the door behind the display, a boy came out and upon seeing them he seemed surprised, he seemed to be waiting for someone else.

'Oh, good morning, are you here to look for work? I'm sorry to tell you that we only have one vacancy at the moment.' He commented somewhat apologetically. The girl quickly shook her head.

'That's perfect! We're just looking for a position...' She said, tugging on her friend's arm. 'Steve is looking for a job.' She said, encouraging him to talk.

'Oh, great... Uhm... If you want, come over here and I'll ask you a few questions.' The boy told him, pointing to one of the cubicles, and Steve followed. 'My name is Ned Miller...' He introduced himself, as he sat down in the chair across him.

Y/n sat in one of the cubicles opposite, on the other side of the store to give them privacy, but gave Steve a thumbs up as they exchanged glances, to infuse some courage.

After a few minutes, she was distractedly rolling a napkin to near shredding it, when a voice called her name. Y/n looked up and saw Robin, the girl she had met the year before in French class, who was approaching her with a nervous expression. Y/n assumed it was due to a first day at work, but she remembered that she used to behave the same way in class too. She always thought she was a bit hyperactive. She talked fast, stumbling over her words.

'Oh, hi, y/n! I didn't expect to s-ee you here... here.' She said, unable to keep herself from stumbling over her feet. Her cheeks flushed instantly. Y/n had started to get up in case she should help her, but Robin disguised it as best she could, sitting down across from her. Her voice trembled slightly, and her gaze drifted briefly to the floor before meeting y/n's eyes again. 'Are you here for an interview or something?'

The alluded, noticing Robin's nervousness and trying not to make her feel any more uncomfortable, replied kindly.

'Hey, Robin! what a surprise to see you too. No, I'm not here for an interview. I'm just accompanying Steve, he's here for a Job.' She gestured with a wave of her head to where Steve and the manager were talking. Robin, hearing this, looked over to where she had pointed and saw Steve in one of the cubicles with Ned Miller. Her expression changed slightly, and although she tried to maintain her composure, a shadow of disappointment crossed her face. With a clearly forced smile, she turned her attention back to the Hargrove girl.

'Oh, I see. Well, that's... uh, great.' Her face showed some discomfort, and y/n remembered that the image most had of Steve at school, was not the real one she had indeed known. However, she was unaware that Robin had believed for a moment she would be working alongside her, and her mind had begun to fantasize scenarios where they shared chats and laughed together during breaks. Every time y/n smiled at her, Robin felt her heart race a little faster. The thought of spending so much time with her in the same place excited her and, at the same time, made her nervous. And all at once, that balloon of fantasies, deflated with a pinprick. Robin, blushing and smiling nervously, shrugged her shoulders. 'Anyway. If you ever need anything, you know, or if you want to chat during a break, I'll be around.'

Y/n smiled back, clearly oblivious to everything going on in her head.

'That sounds great, Robin. Thanks. I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot of each other over the summer.' She said, pointing to the theater uniform resting next to her on the seat. Robin nodded quickly, with a mixture of relief and anxiety on her face.

'Oh, yeah, definitely. And, uh, good luck with Steve and... well, all that.' She said before vanishing out the staff door, behind the counter. Only a few minutes later, Ned and Steve walked over to y/n's table. She asked Steve the question with her eyes, as the manager walked towards the room where Robin disappeared.

'So, did you get it?” she asked in a whisper. He seemed less glum than before, but not quite.

'I don't know, he still didn't tell me... He said to wait here.' He murmured, collapsing beside her. After a few minutes that seemed like forever to the two friends, the door opened.

'Welcome aboard the Scoops Ahoy ship, Steve!' Ned said as he stepped out of the staff room. Behind him was Robin. She was now wearing a white collar and puffed sleeves on a striped shirt, a vest and a high-waisted blue shorts.

'Do I have to wear that?' Steve asked, pointing to the uniform the other girl was wearing. Y/n smacked him on the chest with the back of her hand.

'Are you going to be this much of a prima donna about everything?' Robin asked. Steve looked extremely confused.

'I'm nothing like Madonna, so that doesn't even make sense' Y/n let out a laugh, Steve frowned at her, as if requesting for backup. Robin spoke again.

'You're going to be fine with the monotony of scooping ice cream for entitled adults and whining, sticky children all summer? What happens when one of your many friends and admirers comes in and you wish you were out there having fun instead of in here slinging another U.S.S. Butterscotch?' Y/n's gaze went from Steve to Robin, and vice versa.

'I can handle it.'

'Sure you can, rocket man.'

'Ok, ok, you two, settle down.' Interjected y/n,interrupting their bickering. 'We can do this like the civilized people we are. Right?' She asked, and they both fell silent. Just then, Ned seemed to finish filling out the paperwork for the hiring.

'All right, you two. It's going to be a sweet, sweet summer!' He said. Y/n forced a smile for her friend. 'Steve, let's get you into Scoops gear right away.' He said, as he opened the door for staff again, this time leaving it open for the boy to follow.

'Yippee' He muttered to y/n as he got up from beside him. Before following Ned, he stopped next to Robin and offered her a hand. 'Hey, look, if we're going to be working together this summer, let's call a truce, okay? I don't know why you don't like me, but I'm a pretty okay guy.' Robin looked at y/n, and y/n smiled at her, causing her to lose the rhythm of her thoughts, so she took Steve's hand without saying anything. And he went behind the counter.

'I don't want to sound rude, but are you really friends with Harrington?' She asked with a grimace. Y/n remembered when Eddie had asked her something similar. Although they hadn't gone through the shared experience with the demodogs at the time, the answer was even clearer.

'I'd trust him with my life. Give him a chance.' She asked sincerely. ' 'He's not like everyone thinks.'

Two minutes later, Steve is standing in front of them, with his uniform on, although the shorts he was wearing were tighter than the girl's. And the sailor's cap, barely fitting over his head because of his hair. Robin lets out a laugh at the sight of him. Y/n tries to be more discreet.

'That's...just...wow.'

'Thanks for really upping my self-esteem here.'

'I told you you looked good in blue.' Y/n commented.

'Can you do a spin?' Robin asked. Steve, frustrated threw his cap on the floor.

'Steve!' Scolded his friend, and before she could pick it up, Ned did, and dusted it off.

'I'm going to start instructing you on the basics of serving ice cream, okay?' He said, handing the cap back to Steve, and going behind the counter. Y/n climbed onto one of the seats, propping her knees up and leaning her torso against the backrest, facing the counter. However, before Robin and Steve followed Ned from the other side of the counter, the girl pulled a polaroid out of her backpack and snapped a picture of Steve, who was still frowning.

'Oh, this is perfect.'

'No,' he demanded, still frowning. 'Destroy that, right now.'

Y/n watches them, somewhere between amused and concerned. That was going to be a very interesting summer.

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