koyaflwr - Tumblr blog

koyaflwr · 2 years

Note

i'm obsessed with your brenner story! could i request a drabble on how holly and brenner met? thxx

hello! thank you so much for asking! of course you can.

here's a short drabble:

Angel Eyes

martin brenner x original female character, dr. brenner x original female character

summary: since Holly can't seem to find enough courage to talk to him, Martin will have to find some way for them to meet each other.

warnings: none

********

“Okay, okay, stop knocking Lisa, I’m coming!” Holly yelled while getting up from her bed. She grudgingly started to walk towards the door, lazily dragging her slippers through the floor. “How many more keys will you lose before realising you have a serious probl��"

Holly’s heart stopped beating at the sight before her. Opening the door, she had expected to meet her roommate; instead, she met a guy’s eyes. Not any guy, the guy. The dreamiest guy on campus, the one she had been secretly crushing on since the first time she saw him. She knew his name was Martin Brenner, and that he was a PhD candidate for neuroscience at her university. She knew he lived on the floor right above hers, but she had never built enough courage to actually speak to him.

She weakly smiled at him, wondering why on Earth was no other than Martin Brenner knocking on her door. They had maybe exchanged a greeting or two, but that was as far as their acknowledgement of each other had gone. She doubted he even knew who she was, let alone that she studied at the same college he did.

“Quickly, come on!” The man rushed her out of her apartment.

“What the—?” She screamed, snapping out of her trance. “Who do you think you are?!”

“My roommate, he—he collapsed!” The guy mumbled, scared. So convincingly that Holly stopped being suspicious, and started following after him. “I don’t know what happened to him!”

“Have you called an ambulance yet?” She asked, running upstairs alongside him.

“Yes, I have, but I don’t think it can wait that long.” He answered, opening his apartment room.

“Does he have any diseases you know about?” She asked, as he made way for her to enter the room. There, on the couch, lay a man. Holly rushed towards him, and started taking his vitals.

“No, he’s healthy, he eats fine and he runs and sleeps well, I don’t know what could’ve happened!”

“Where were you when he collapsed?” She asked, counting his heart beats per minute. Weird. They were normal. “Did he say something about feeling bad before?”

“No, he just dropped like that.”

Holly frowned. He seemed to be breathing just fine too. His body temperature seemed okay. His cheeks were a little flushed, but nothing out of the ordinary. If she didn’t know better, she would simply guess he was asleep.

She kept on checking things, until, by nothing but pure coincidence, she looked up towards the kitchen, and saw them. The cans. Holly looked at the guy standing before her, and sighed. She walked towards the table, and picked one of the opened cans of beer.

“So, don’t you think maybe this massive amount of alcohol had something to do with your friend ‘collapsing’?” She teased him.

“Well you’re the med student, not me.” He smiled, approaching her.

“And, as such, I diagnose him with extreme drunkenness.” She laughed, shaking her head. “You should probably get your friend to bed and prepare some aspirins for tomorrow morning.”

“As the doctor says.” The guy said, jokingly bowing his head. He then picked the blacked out man in his arms and carried him to his room.

“Make sure he’s on his side!” Holly screamed, peeking inside the bedroom. “In case he… vomits.” She stuttered, after seeing he had already laid his friend correctly on his side, and was throwing a blanket on top of him.

“Gotcha!”

She walked back to the kitchen, and, as she waited for the man to come back, Holly started to feel self conscious. There she was, finally speaking to the man she had been dreaming about for months, and she was wearing her pyjamas. A pink short with a matching button up shirt. Oh, if only his friend had passed out some other time. One she was wearing her pretty purple dress, preferently.

“Sorry for that.” The guy apologised, joining her side. He was wearing a grey pair of pants and a t-shirt with their university name. It seemed he had been exercising. He looked really, really handsome. “He can drink a little bit too much from time to time.”

“It 's fine.” Holly answered, flustered at such a sight. “I’m just glad he’s okay.”

“Can I offer you anything to drink?”

“You really don’t have to.”

“Come on,” he gave her shoulder a nudge, “the least I can do after pulling you out from bed like that is offer you a soda.”

“Alright, then.” She gave in. The guy grabbed a pair of cans that were already sitting right on the counter, and led her to the sofa. He had picked a soda for him but a non carbonated drink for her. Great. She didn’t really like sodas that much.

“Thank god there was a doctor in the building,” the guy sighed, indicating for her to sit down, “I had no idea on what to do.” That was weird, she thought. He seemed pretty knowledgeable on how to treat someone who’s drunk.

“Well, I’m not really a doctor, yet.” She explained, laughing. “I’m just a stu… Wait a second, how did you know I was a doctor?” He looked at her, with the same expression on his face as a kid who had been caught being naughty.

“I must have seen you wearing your scrubs in the hallway.” He said, casually sipping from his can. Holly looked down at hers.

“And how did you know I didn’t like carbonated drinks?”

“Just… stroke of luck.”

“Have you been stalking me?” She asked, bewildered. The guy stared at her for a couple of seconds, before breaking down in laughter.

“Stalking is too big of a word.”

“Yeah, big word for fitting for a big crime.” She spatted. “Oh my god, is an ambulance even coming? Is your friend actually drunk?”

“No.” He answered, with a guilty expression on his face. “And yes.”

“Oh my god.” Holly put her hands on her face.

“Okay, let’s say I have noticed you around campus. And let’s say I did take a little bit of advantage out of my friend’s situation so I could have an excuse to talk to you.” He gently grabbed her hands, so that they would stop covering her face, and put them in her lap. “Is that a crime?”

“I guess not.” She answered, blushing. She couldn’t believe that Martin Brenner had noticed her. “How did you know I would even be at my house? I have crazy hours.”

He remained silent, and bit on his cheek.

“Have you memorised my schedule as well?!”

“In my defence, I’m kind of a genius, I can’t help but to pick on things I don’t even intend to!” Holly couldn’t believe her ears.

“Oh my, aren’t you a humble one.” She laughed.

“Come on,” he teased her, getting close to her, “are you going to tell me you haven’t noticed me on campus too?” She simply stared at him. “At least glanced at me?” He insisted.

“I might have seen you strutting down the halls, yes.” She answered, proudly. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing she had certainly glanced at him, at the very least.

“I don’t strut!” He pretended to be hurt, but his smile gave him away.

“You so do!” Holly cackled. “Mr. ‘I’m kind of a genius’.” She mocked him.

“I kinda blew it with that one, didn’t I?”

“I might be willing to let it pass,” Holly teased him, “if you tell me one thing.” She added, lifting one finger.

“Anything.” He answered, taking hold of it.

“Is your friend really drunk?” She whispered.

“Oh, he is hammered.” They guy whispered back.. “I really shouldn’t let him drink that much.”

“It would rather make you a better friend, yes.”

The two of them went quiet, since they had reached a comfortable silence. They looked at each other, and suddenly started laughing.

“What?” He wheezed.

“Nothing,” she smiled, “you just haven’t introduced, yet.”

“You’re right, where are my manners?” He blinked. “I’m Martin Brenner. PhD candidate in the Neuroscience department. And, you—?”

“Do those two go together?” She cut him off.

“What?”

“The ‘Martin Brenner’ with the ‘PhD candidate in the Neuroscience department’.”

“Oh, come on.” He giggled.

“Like, scenario, you go to the hospital, so in pain you’re fearing for your death, the nurses ask your name, and you say… ‘MartinBrennerPhDcandidateintheneurosciencedepartment’.”

“Oh, so you’re a funny one.” He smiled. “Noted, …?”

“What?”

“Your name?”

“Am I to believe you haven't already stalked my name out of someone?” She asked him, raising an eyebrow.

“Fair point.” He nodded. “I want to hear it from you, though.”

“Alright,” she straightened her posture, “I’m Holly. Holly Montessori. I’m a med student, I hope to get into surgery.”

“That’s interesting.” He said. “Which area?”

“Cardiology,” she explained, “but in Paediatrics. I’m also working on getting my master’s on child development.”

“Smart and beautiful.” Martin winked at her. Holly didn’t have a mirror to look at herself in, but she didn’t need one to know she was blushing so hard her whole face must have been red.

They kept on talking for hours, although neither of them had noticed time passing. They felt bewitched by each other. That was until a noise coming from the bedroom broke the spell they had so easily fallen into.

“It seems like your friend could use some help.” Holly commented, frustrated. Just as things were going so smoothly.

“He can manage.”

“You did say you would be a better friend, though.” She smiled, and glanced at the watch above the window. “And, it is quite late. I should get back home, I have an early class tomorrow.”

“Of course,” he said, cordially. He helped her up, and walked her to her apartment.

“This was nice.” She said, after opening the door. “You are far more likeable than what I thought.”

“I have been complimented on my charm, multiple times.” He said, putting his hand on the doorframe, just above the two. He towered over her, he had to be at least a foot taller than her. Holly noticed her heart speeding up, and she somehow managed to get enough courage to put her hand on his chest. His heart was beating fast too.

“Your modesty doesn’t go unnoticed either.” She joked. He looked down at her, and Holly felt as if he was about to kiss her. But no, he was too much of a gentleman to do so. He knocked on the doorframe twice, and then backed away.

“Well, Holly, thank you for helping me out tonight, I promise I’ll try and get my friend to stop drinking as much. Goodnight.” He turned around, and started walking down the hallway, when Holly’s voice stopped him.

“Do you think your friend will collapse one more time at least, before he gets better? To prepare in case you need my help again.” She asked, with a grin.

He elegantly turned around, smiling from ear to ear.

“I think there’s a very big possibility of him doing so, yes.” He beamed. “Next Friday, maybe? Around 5 p.m.? He likes to hit the bar after classes.”

“I’ll make sure to clear my afternoon, then.” She laughed. “Just in case I need to save your friend’s life again.”

Holly stayed just long enough to see him throw her a big smile, before closing the door behind her. She leaned against it, and put her hand over her chest. Her heart was racing. That day, she learnt what falling in love at first sight truly felt like.

Martin didn’t believe in angels, but, as he was walking back home, he could’ve sworn he’d just met one.

********

thank you so much for requesting, i hope you liked this!!

#dr brenner #dr brenner x original female character #dr brenner x reader #martin brenner #martin brenner x original female character #martin brenner x reader #stranger things #dr martin brenner #dr martin brenner x reader

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koyaflwr · 2 years

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hi love! i just wanted to let you know i love your writing <3 i was wondering, could you give us some context on dr brenner story's characters? and a little bit about the timeline? thank you so much! i hope you continue on writing the story

Hi there! Of course I can!

It all actually started with a prompt I got on another blog where I write fanfics (mostly shadow and bone and fate the winx saga lol) so I created this one to write Stranger Things' fics. The prompt was basically what if Dr Brenner had a family in Hawkins and what would happen if he had a kid who was best friends with the boys who somehow ended up caught up in the whole Eleven thing. I thought it was super interesting so I gave it a go. Also, I love inventing tons of characters and storylines within cannon divergence so it was a perfect prompt ahaha.

I'll write more about each character below the cut:

Harper: she's Holly and Martin's eldest kid, at the time of Will's disappearance she is 16, and is best friends with Nancy. In this fic I had intended for her and Steve to get together, instead of Nancy and him. She will get involved with the whole Upside Down thing with Nancy and Jonathan. Again, I don't know if it helps but I picture her with brown hair and brown eyes.

Luke: he's the second kid, he's Mike and Will and Lucas and Dustin's best friend, he likes all the nerdy things the others like as well. He gets along with Eleven as soon as he meets her. He doesn't know about his father's involvement with her up until they're being chased but will go against him if it means helping Eleven and getting Will back. I picture him with brown eyes and blonde hair.

Poppy: she's the youngest, she's seven, she won't get involved with the whole Upside Down thing at all.

Holly: she is, basically, a fairly normal person lmao. She is 46 (5 yrs younger than Brenner). They met when she was 20 and he 25, while she was in med school. She was a paediatric surgeon specialised in cardiology but stopped working so they could start a family. She does (did?) truly love Brenner.

She truly has no idea about her husband's experiments (and will grow to despise him for that). She thinks she has a normal husband, a normal family, a normal life all together.

That is up until Will disappearence when she starts to be suspicious about the laboratory. She's one of the few people who believe Joyce right from the beginning and is willing to go against her husband if it means finding the truth. I imagine she will help Joyce and Hopper in their investigations, using her status as Brenner's wife to get them into the lab.

I don’t know if it's useful, but I picture her as a rather small woman (who doesn't look small next to Brenner though the man is so tall) with blonde hair and brown eyes.

As for Dr. Martin Brenner, I do think he is an awful person who kidnapped children and tortured them, so he will be characterised as such and won't get much understanding from his family after the truth is out. That doesn't mean he's like that with his own family, though. I picture him as a fairly good and normal father and husband, and I think he really cares about his wife and children. That's the thing with monsters, right? You could be staring at one without realising.

-----

Well, I hope this answers your questions and that this was what you were asking for ahah. Feel welcomed to asked more in case I wasn't clear enough on something!

#dr brenner #dr brenner x original female character #martin brenner #martin brenner x original female character #dr brenner x reader #martin brenner x reader #stranger things

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koyaflwr · 2 years

Text

The vanishing of Will Byers

martin brenner x original female character, dr. brenner x original female character

summary: continuation to what if?

warnings: none

********

It was little after 4 a.m. when the phone woke Holly up for what it felt like the millionth time that night. She opened one eye and saw her husband disappearing into his study, only to see him come back almost immediately. She didn’t know what all the calls were about, but as a result of the last one, her husband started to hurriedly get dressed while swearing under his breath.

“What’s going on?” Holly yawned, after sitting up and turning the bedside lamp on.

“Sorry to have woken you,” Martin apologised, while buttoning his shirt, “but I need to get to the lab.”

“Now?” She asked, with a frown. “Is everything okay?”

Her husband did not answer, and instead rushed to the bathroom. As he did that, the phone started ringing away. Holly started walking towards his office to pick it up, when she heard her husband yell.

“Don’t answer that!” He barked. Holly flinched, she had never heard Martin raise his voice at her like that.

She tried her best to ignore the heavy feeling rising on her chest, the one that made her feel as if something terrible was going on. She picked a tie and coat for her husband, so he didn’t waste time doing so himself, and waited for him in their room.

“Here,” she said, once he came out of the bathroom, “let me put these on.”

Holly softly put the tie around his collarbone, letting her fingers linger around his neck. His heart was racing, and his skin was hot. She started knotting the tie up, while looking up towards him. He refused to look back at her. The phone started ringing again.

“Martin,” she whispered, placing her hand on his chest, feeling her own pulse speeding up to match her husband’s, “what on Earth is going on?”

“Nothing you should be concerned about.” He lied. She was tired of lies. So Holly gently brushed her palm against his cheek, and forced him to look at her. He seemed almost… sad. And for the first time, she felt as if walls were falling down. She saw his face break down on a grimace she had rarely seen before. “You can’t, Holly.”

“I can’t… what?”

“You can’t know. I can’t tell you.”

“Why?” She asked, feeling a lump on her throat. It felt as if she were breathing through a sponge. “Why, Martin?” She demanded.

“They would know.”

“Who would know?”

“It’s too dangerous.”

“Dangerous?” Holly whimpered. “Martin, you’re scaring me, if something—”

And there it was, his gaze, hardening up again. She hadn’t taken enough advantage out of his vulnerability.

“It’s confidential.” He said, straightening up. He smoothly pushed her to the side, so he could get his briefcase. “I’m going now, don’t wait up. If the phone in my office rings, do not answer it, alright?”

Holly put her arms around herself, trying her best not to let daunting thoughts cloud her head.

“Dear, don’t make that face. This is just an emergency. An electrical outlet that went crazy. It is rather worrying, especially if we don’t want Hawkins to run out of power, but it’s nothing for you to be scared about.” He added, with a soft smile.

“Do you promise?” She asked, and she instantly regretted that. His once gentle smile turned into a frown. He didn’t believe in such stupid things as promises.

Holly was finishing up with breakfast, when she heard the phone in the kitchen ring. She served Poppy once last glass of orange juice, before picking up.

“Hello?” She answered, hoping it was her husband. Her face fell down in disappointment after she heard Joyce’s voice.

“Holly, hi. It’s Joyce.”

“Oh, hi Joyce.” She greeted her.

“Listen, just by any chance, is Will at your house? Did he stay over after last night’s game?”

“No, I’m sorry Joyce, I—I don’t think he’s here,” she stuttered, “Luke came home alone last night. Is everything alright?”

“He’s… you know what, he probably left for school early, don’t worry. Thank you.”

“O—okay Joyce, let me know if—” But Joyce had already hung up. Holly shakingly placed the phone against her chest, and started feeling dizzy.

Something, something… dangerous had happened at the lab, and then Will hadn’t shown up at his house. Was it coincidence or casualty? She just prayed Joyce was right, and that Will had arrived at school early. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind, and started rushing the kids.

“Come on, guys!” She exclaimed. “It’s time to go to school, get in the car!”

She helped Poppy put on a sweater, and grabbed her bag.

“Mom!” Luke yelled, from the outside. She looked towards the foyer and saw him peeking through a window. “I’ll take the bike to school!”

“Okay sweetheart!” She yelled back.

“We’re going to Mike’s after!”

“Alright honey, but don’t be too late! Get back home before nightfall, okay?”

“I will!” He yelled, before storming off.

“Okay Poppy, let’s go love, we wouldn’t want to be late to school, would we?” She asked with a mischievous smile, bopping the little girl’s nose.

“I wouldn’t mind.” The girl smirked.

Holly dropped the kids at school, and left towards the hospital with an anxious feeling on her chest. She couldn’t help but to think about Will, and whether he was safe at school or something else had happened. The moment she arrived at her office she was already wishing she could already get home, to hopefully get some news about him.

Turns out, she didn’t even need to get home to get such news. By afternoon, the whole town could talk of nothing else but the disappearance of Will Byers. The police kept saying disappearance was too big of a word, given that it hadn’t even been a day since the boy was missing. They kept saying how he probably was just hiding somewhere to ditch school, or was with his father. But Holly knew better.

She had known Will ever since he was a baby. He had spent countless days at her house, due to the fact that he was one of Luke’s best friends. And she knew he wouldn’t do any of those things. Something must have happened to the boy.

As hard as she tried not to, her mind couldn’t help but to go back to the unsettling conversation she had had with her husband at dawn, and to the thousand of calls that were so clearly worrying they had unnerved him. It couldn’t be a simple coincidence. But it had to. She knew her husband, it was impossible for him to have anything to do with Will disappearing. Even if they were handling dangerous stuff in that laboratory, she knew he would never risk putting any kid in danger. She trusted him.

After picking Harper up from a friend’s house and Poppy from swimming lessons, Holly returned back home, hoping her husband would already be there. But he wasn’t. Two times in a row, he had already been late after work. Holly checked the phone to see if Martin had left any kind of message, but he hadn’t.

Was she being irrationally fearful about it? It certainly wouldn’t be the first time. She had always been an overly anxious person. Maybe she was trying to tie up loose ends where there weren’t even stakes.

“Mommy?” Poppy’s voice shook her out of her absorption. “Can you help me do my homework?”

“Of course, honey,” She smiled, trying to leave all of her worries regarding Will behind. “Just let me go change my shoes first, alright? You start taking out all of your notebooks, I’ll be right back.”

Holly went into her room to put on her slippers, when she heard the phone in her husband’s office ring. But, as Martin had asked her to do, she let it ring. She kept on changing her clothes, forcing herself to think about other things.

About helping Poppy do her homework.

About remembering to buy Luke’s classmate a birthday present for the following week.

About the weird cough the Philip’s baby she had that morning had. If the baby kept on having it despite the medication, she would have to order some scans.

Harper needed a new pair of boots.

Her mom had called, asking when they would visit. It’d been a couple of weeks since she had last seen her mom, so she could probably plan a small road trip for a weekend. Maybe she could even get her sister and brother to go as well, and get the whole family together.

Without even noticing, she had already changed and had even taken her makeup off. But, just as she was walking across her husband’s office, the phone rang again.

She stopped in her tracks, and looked at the thing. It was too much temptation to refuse. She felt a sudden wave of courage building up inside of her, and in the spur of the moment she went behind the desk and picked up the phone.

“Brenner?” A male’s voice asked behind the phone. “Brenner, you need to come back to the lab. Something has happened with the… the thing. Gate. I think it’s… that it’s alive. That there is something back there.”

The man ceased speaking, waiting for an answer. Holly stopped breathing.

“Dr. Brenner…?”

She hung up. She suddenly felt weak, as the rush of adrenaline that had possessed her wore off. She understood every single word the man had said and yet she felt as if he had been talking in a different language. She couldn’t grasp the meaning behind his words. ‘Gate?’, ‘Something alive?’ It all seemed too chimerical to be real. But, if anything, it further fueled her suspicions about something atypical happening at the lab. It couldn’t just be an outlet malfunctioning.

“Mom!” Poppy screamed from the kitchen. “I think I can do the first exercise on my own!”

Holly closed the office’s door and walked towards her daughter, wondering if she had somehow hallucinated the whole phone call.

“Why isn’t dad here again?”

“He’s working late today, Luke.” Holly sighed. She had figured that by dinner, Martin would already be back home, but there they were, finishing their meals, without a single phone call from her husband.

“Wait, so this means he won’t pick me up from Nancy’s later?” Her sixteen year old daughter asked.

“Why would he need to pick you up from Nancy’s?”

“Mom, I’ve already told you, we need to study for our chem test tomorrow.”

“Well… you can study here. And give her a call, if you need to.”

“What?” Harper asked, outraged. “You told me I could go!”

“That was before what happened today.” She said, with a stern look, that luckily managed to ease Harper. “Until we know Will is safe, there will be no more late night goings, am I understood?”

She specifically glanced at Luke, who particularly loved to go on bike rides with his friends at night.

“Do you at least know when is he coming back?” He asked, with an innocent smile.

“I don’t, bee.” Holly answered. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” Luke shrugged his shoulders, “since there’s a much bigger radio at the lab, I thought I could ask him to let me use it.”

“What for?”

“Finding Will,” he blinked, “ours have way too little reach.”

Holly’s eyes softened at her son’s words. She had left that previous cryptic phone call cloud her mind so much, she had failed to realise how scared Luke had to be.

“I’m sure he will be back in no time, honey.” She smiled and kissed him in the temple. “I bet he’ll let you use whatever you need to find Will.”

“Does this mean I can go to Nancy’s?”

“Harper!”

“What?” She exclaimed. “You said Dad would be here soon, and I really have to study for my exam—”

“That’s so not true!” Luke yelled. “You just want to go make out with Steve!”

“You’re such an idiot, Luke!”

“Harper!” Holly reprimanded her. “You know it’s not okay to call your brother such things and Luke,” she added, shifting her gaze towards the boy, “you know you don’t get to say that kind of stuff about your sister’s life.”

“She’s the one who doesn’t care about Will!”

“That’s not true!”

“You only care about dad coming back so he can pick you up from Nancy’s house.”

“I was only asking!” She defended herself. “It’s not like we can all stop with our lives just because someone went missing!”

“It's not just someone, Will is my best friend.” the boy muttered, with tears threatening to fall down.

The boy’s gloomy expression caused his sister to soften her posture, and Harper started to gently rub Luke’s back.

“Don’t worry, they’ll find him in no time, you’ll see.”

“What if they don’t?”

“Then I will go out by myself and find him!” She exclaimed.

“Sure you will,” the boy laughed, “well then, tell Steve he can come and help us look for him.”

Holly was already in bed, finishing up with some reports, when she heard a car pulling up the driveway. She quickly stood up and put on her dressing gown, and walked towards the garage. She was surprised to see her husband coming out of the car, with a soaking wet Luke by his side.

“What’s going on?” She asked, confused.

“Guess who I found in the middle of the street?” Martin said, sternly, grabbing the boy by his hand. He harshly closed the car door, and gently shoved his son inside the house. “He apparently sneaked out after you sent them to bed.”

“Oh, is that all you’re going to say?” The boy complained. “How about we talk about catching Steve jumping off the roof just now?”

“Luke?” Holly asked, softly, taking her dressing gown off so she could put it over Luke’s shoulder’s. “What were you doing out?”

“I just felt like going out.” The boy mumbled, shrugging his shoulders. Martin scoffed.

“Luke, sweetheart,” she said, kneeling down so they could be at the same height, “I will need you to be honest with me, okay?”

The boy stared at her for a couple of seconds, before looking at his feet. “We were looking for Will.”

“Honey, why? It’s freezing cold outside and it’s pouring. I’m sure the police—”

“The police aren’t doing anything!” Luke screamed.

“Luke!”

“But I’m right!” He sobbed. “They keep on saying Will is just ditching school, but I know him mom, he is not!”

“And I believe you sweetheart, but—”

“No! I’m the only one who cares about Will! And I know something terrible has happened to him and if no one else is willing to go find him then we will do so!”

“Son, I don’t care if that boy is ten feet away from this door, you are not going outside after dark, am I clear?!” Her husband shouted.

The boy glared at his father and ran upstairs, towards his bedroom.

“Martin!” Holly whispered through clenched teeth. “How can you even say such a thing?”

“Oh Holly don’t look at me with that face, you know I didn’t mean that.” He sighed.

“No, I don’t, as a matter of fact.” She sneered. “And nor does Luke so you better go upstairs and apologise to him.” Holly pointed towards the stairs, and then started walking through the hallway at her right.

“You know, this kind of stuff happens because you’ve always been too permissive with them. Kids need discipline. Are you even familiar with that term?”

“Oh, don’t you come here and tell me how to handle kids.” She taunted him. She was the one with an actual degree in child development. “I’ll be in our room. And after this behaviour of yours tonight, I don’t expect you to come join me.”

The man dismissed her with a frown on his face and grudgingly started walking up the stairs. He was about to open the door to his son’s room, when he heard him talking about something that caught his attention.

“So are we still on the same plan?” Luke was saying into his walkie talkie. “You’ll wait until tomorrow to tell your mom about her?”

There was an answer back, but Martin couldn’t hear what they said.

“Did she even tell you where she’s from? Or is she still not talking?” The man leaned against the door so he could listen to what they were saying better. “Maybe she wasn’t taught how to speak, maybe—”

‘Eeeek’. The door creaked, due to Martin reclining on it with more strength than he had intended. The boy quickly turned the radio off and turned around to see his father walking towards him with an apologetic look on his face.

“Can I sit here?” The older man asked, pointing towards a spot next to him in bed. He nodded.

“Luke I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the things I said back there. It wasn't my intention to make it seem as if I didn’t care about your friend.”

“It’s fine.” Luke said, shrugging his shoulders.

“No, it’s not fine.” He insisted. “Your friend matters to me and I will do everything in my power to help find him.”

“Do you really mean that?” He asked, his eyes glistening with hope.

“I do.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” The little boy hugged his father tightly. “Can we use the radio at the Laboratory, then? Ours have practically no reach when you compare them with the ones you’ve told me about.”

“We’ll see about that.” The man smiled, ruffling his son’s blonde hair.

“Really? I’ve told Dustin what you’ve told me, and he said those radios have…”

Martin waited, and waited for what it felt like years until his son finally stopped babbling. It wasn’t that he didn’t like talking to him. Luke reminded him of his younger self. He too was a smart little boy with a particular interest in science. He enjoyed discussing with him and helping him with his science assignments. One of his favourite parts of the day was to answer all of the boy’s incessant questions, and see the wonder on his face. But something he had heard him say to his walkie talkie had reached part of his brain and stuck there. He had mentioned a ‘her’. A ‘her’ that didn’t know how to communicate with other people.

What if it was…?

He knew he had a better chance at the boy being honest with him if they were on good terms.

“Who was her?” He asked, once he was all talked out.

“Who?” Luke asked, confused.

“The girl you were talking about with your friend on the radio.”

“Oh…” Luke laughed nervously, “it’s just the… uh… this new radio we have at school!” He lied. “We call it a ‘her’.”

“Is that so?”

“Mr. Clarke got it for us.” Luke explained. “For the audiovisual club, I mean. It’s really cool.”

“Well that’s great, buddy.” He said, standing up. “Now, go to sleep. And no more sneaking around, is that clear?”

“Yes, dad.”

“Goodnight.” He said, and closed the door behind him. He leaned against it, and scoffed. He would have to get it out of him some other way. Nothing some new toy wouldn’t do. Or a visit to the laboratory, the boy always asked him to go see science experiments. Maybe he could free one of the rooms and improvise some silly little thing, some circuit with capacitors and reels for him to play with. There was a whole part of the lab dedicated to appear as if it wasn’t nothing more but a normal lab where they experimented with energy, after all.

Of course, Martin had to consider the possibility of Luke actually not knowing anything about it. Thinking more rationally, it was very unlikely for Eleven to talk to some boys. Let alone go to the house of people she hadn’t met before. He was probably being paranoid. Luke would’ve said something. If not to him, to Holly, at the very least.

Still, he could tell the boy had lied to him. But why would he even lie about a new radio…?

“I thought I had told you to not come here.” Somehow, he had walked into his room without noticing. Holly was already in bed, finishing up with some work. “There’s at least two guest rooms in the basement you would find perfectly comfortable. That way, when you arrive at such hours again, you won’t wake me up.”

“I’ve already talked to Luke.” He sighed, walking towards her. “I guess it’s time now to apologise to you.” He whispered, sitting at the edge of the bed, next to her. “I’m sorry I didn’t call to let you know work would keep me away until late.”

“Okay.” She said, meeting his eyes rather reluctantly. “Thank you.”

“Can I sleep in my bed now?” He teased her, already standing up to look for his night clothes. But Holly grabbed his hand, and stopped him.

“I need you to tell me something first.”

“What is it?” He asked, sitting back down.

“I need you to be honest with me, Martin.” She whispered, softly caressing his chest.

“What?” He whispered back, putting his hand on her lower back to bring her closer.

“I need you to promise me” Holly felt her husband tensing up at such words, and ignored the way his hand started to press more harshly against her waist, “that the laboratory has nothing to do with Will’s disappearance.”

She stroked his chest again. His heart was racing.

********

i liked this prompt so much, i had to keep on writing! hope you enjoyed it!

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koyaflwr · 2 years

Text

what if?

martin brenner x original female character, dr brenner x original female character

summary: what if dr brenner actually had a family in Hawkins? A family who is completely clueless to his work at the laboratory.

warnings: none

next part

*******

November 6, 1983

Holly wiped her hands on the apron around her waist, before looking up towards the clock, and sighed. They were late.

“Am I doing it okay mama?” A little voice beside her asked.

"They're perfect honey." Holly smiled at the seven year old girl. Since she had already finished making dinner, and no one had arrived home yet, they decided on making some cupcakes. "Your dad will love them."

She had expected her son to be late, he was playing that board game with his friends at the Wheeler’s, after all, and god knew they could spend days playing that thing if there wasn't anyone to stop them. But her husband was rarely late. In the twenty five years they had been married, Holly could count with her fingers the amount of times he hadn’t arrived home at time. He was structured like that, always rigorously sticking to his routine. He was supposed to leave work, pick Harper up from a friend’s house, and then come home.

Her husband, Dr. Martin Brenner, was a scientist working at Hawkins National Laboratory. He was the head of the place, as a matter of fact. Holly didn’t have a clue of what her husband did for work. Something to do with energy, she assumed. Something related to the electricity in Hawkins. Whatever it was, she could tell it wasn’t an easy job. Sometimes, he came back home happy. Most of the time, he came back home stressed.

She met Martin while she was still in med school, when she was only twenty years old. It didn’t take long for him to propose. It didn't take long at all for her to say yes. As soon as she met him, she fell head over heels for him. And so did he.

Before the kids, Holly used to work as a paediatric surgeon in Indianapolis, and she also had a PhD in child development and pedagogy. Martin had always been fascinated by her studies, and would eagerly read all of her papers. After Harper was born, she stopped working altogether, and didn’t take on any job until Poppy, her youngest, was four. She then started a simple job as a paediatrician in Hawkins Memorial Hospital. Her husband had insisted on it, that she needed something to keep her busy throughout the day. Maybe he just wanted her to have something to focus on. Something that would tire her away from asking so many questions about his work. She didn't get to perform surgery, as she had dreamed, but being a general practitioner wasn't that bad. It was good enough, she guessed.

They had just put the baking tray into the oven, when she heard a bike bell ring. Moments after, a twelve year old boy came running into the kitchen.

“Okay, I know what you’re going to say," he said, out of breath, "but how could I know the campaign would take ten hours?!”

“Ten hours?!” Holly asked, bewildered. “You’ve been playing that game for ten hours?”

“We didn’t realise it was so late!” The boy excused himself.

“Luke, I’ve told you, if you’re going to stay out for that long, you have to at least call to let me know.”

“I know mom, I’m sorry.” He said, apologetic. “On the bright side, next time you won’t have to wait because we will have the campaign right here.” He added, mischievously.

“Well, now go wash your hands and then come help me and your sister do the dishes, your dad and sister should be coming home soon.” Holly said, kissing the boy on his temple. "Hey," she added, while he was at the sink, "did you leave your bike on the porch, like we've talked about?"

"Uhh... yeah." He lied, looking away from her.

"Luke," she sighed, "how many more bikes will your father have to break before you learn? You know he can't see them from the car if you leave them tossed in the driveway!"

"I'll take it to the driveway..." he groaned, "tomorrow."

Holly couldn't help but to chuckle. She would start to get strict about it. The next day.

"So, this... battle of yours," Holly said to Luke, while they were loading the dishwasher, "are your friends coming tomorow, then? I'll have to buy those snacks Will likes so much."

"Campaign, mom." Luke corrected her, with a smile. "It's called a campaign, not a battle."

"Shall I prepare the playroom for you campaign then?" She asked, playfully.

"Yes, thank you."

"Harper says that game is for big nerds," Poppy chimed in, with a teasing grin on her face.

"Well honey, it wasn't very nice of Harper to say that, was it?" She whispered, smiling at the girl. "Plus, I think it's sweet of the five of you to stick together like this, Luke."

"It's cool, mom. Cool. Not sweet." The boy complained.

Just as he was saying that, she heard a car pull up on the driveway. Thankfully, she didn't heard any sounds of a bike being, once again, ran over.

“Mum!” A sixteen year old girl yelled, struting into the kitchen, “dad won’t let me go to a small gathering tomorrow that some friends are having.”

“Hello to you too sweetheart, how was your day?”

"Mom, I'm serious, everyone is going!" Harper complained, ignoring her. "It'll be super lame if I don't go!"

“You’re just not old enough to do those things, Harper." A strained voice answered behind her. Holly turned around to see her husband approaching her, to leave a small peck on her lips.

"Ugh, you guys don't ever let me do anything!" The teenager protested.

"You just want to go out with Steve." The little boy mocked her.

"Shut up, you loser!"

“Hello honey,” Holly greeted her husband, ignoring the hell that was breaking around them, “did you have a good day?”

Martin didn’t immediately respond to that, and just stared at her with a concerned look.

“It could’ve been better.” He said, with an uneasy tone on his voice. Something seemed off about him. Something had happened at the lab. Not that he would share any of that with her.

Holly would’ve asked him to elaborate, if it weren’t for their youngest daughter jumping into her father’s arms.

“Dad!” She squealed. “We made cupcakes for you.”

The man stared at the girl with a tired, yet sweet, smile, and exhaled.

“That sounds great, Poppy.”

It wasn't until later at night that Holly had the opportunity to continue with their conversation. After dinner, he had spent a whole hour alone in his office room, doors shut completely. She had heard his personal telephone ringing all the time.

“So, what happened today?” She asked, with a small voice, while she was finally settling in bed, next to him. Martin took a couple of seconds to answer.

“Just problems.” He muttered, not looking up from the book he was reading. She noticed he wasn't really reading, he was just scanning the pages to pretend he was doing so.

“What kind of problems?” She insisted.

She saw him stop moving his eyes, and finally got him to lift his gaze to look at her. She could tell he was annoyed.

“Nothing you should be concerned about, my dear.” He sighed, closing his book, and leaving it on the bedside table. Her husband threw a faded smile at her, before reaching to turn off the lamp.

Holly pursed her lips, in an attempt to make her husband realise that was not enough for her, but it was too dark for him to notice.

As much as she didn't believe any of it, she knew about the rumours people spread about the laboratory. About what they did. About experiments… But she never paid attention to them. Or rather, she decided to ignore all of them. Whether it was intentional or not, she had made the choice of living in blissful ignorance a handful of years ago. Martin was a good husband to her, and a great father to their children. That was enough for her.

So she simply laid back, rested her head on his chest, and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to fall over her.

She was right about to fall asleep, when her husband's voice brought her back to conciousness.

“I saw Luke’s bike on the driveway.”

“Mmh…” she hummed, tiredly, “he must have left it there after coming back from Mike’s house. I always tell him to leave it on the porch, but he doesn’t-”

“No, it’s not about that...” he dismissed her, clearing his throat, “did he come home late tonight?”

“Just before you arrived.” She answered. “Why?”

Her husband didn’t reply right away, and she could tell he was carefully deliberating on the correct thing to answer her.The one that explained the most, without revealing much.

“From now on, tell him to not come so late at night.” He said, dryly. His voice had trembled in a very unlikely manner for him. Was it fear?

“Why?” She asked, perplexed. Luke knew he couldn’t come home that late, but Hawkins had always been a pretty uneventful place, so Holly wasn’t as strict with curfew.

“Well… let's just say one can never be too careful.” He added, and the harsh way in which he hugged her indicated Holly she wasn’t to ask anymore questions about it.

But she had learnt to be okay with it. She was used to half truths.

******

should this become a series? thank you so much for reading!

next part

#dr brenner #martin brenner #dr brenner x original female character #martin brenner x original female character #dr brenner x reader #martin brenner x reader #stranger things #doctor brenner #doctor brenner x original female character #doctor brenner x reader

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