Always The Babysitter - Chapter Twenty-Six: The Hellfire Club
Author: @harringtonstilinski
Characters: Steve Harrington x Olivia Henderson(OC)
Word Count: 3,303
Warnings: tooth-rotting fluff
Smut: no | yes;
A/N: Hi, friends! I can't believe we're on the last season!! Buckle up, friends, 'cause it's a lot this season!! If you like this chapter, please do not hesitate to reblog and give some feedback, whether it be in the reblogs, comments, or my inbox. As always, read at your own risk and enjoy 😊
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The phone ringing startled me awake as I sat up straight in the bed. Looking at the clock, I tried to count three hours backward from the time shown, slightly struggling before jumping to my feet and rushing to the phone, answering with a groggy and breathless, “Hello?”
“Can I read this to you?”
I sighed at the sound of El’s voice before answering, “Of course, sweetie.”
She always read me her letters that she wrote to Mike, asking for my advice on whether or not it sounded good enough. “Okay. Here it goes. ‘Dear Mike, today is day 185. Feels more like 10 years. Joyce says time is funny like that. Emotions can make it speed up or slow down. We are all time travelers if you think about it. For example, this week is going very fast. I think because I am so busy. I have to make something called a visual aid. I hope Mrs. Gracey will give me an A. Some exciting news; Joyce got an amazing new job. She gets to work at home. She says she loves the freedom. Will is painting a lot, but he-he won’t show me what he’s working on. M-maybe it is for a girl. I think there is someone he likes. Because he has been acting… weird. Jonathan is acting weird, also. I think he is just nervous about college. He is still waiting for his big letter. I hope he and Nancy get to go together. But I don’t know how he’ll ever get to college because his car is still broken down. His funny friend Argyle has been taking us to school. His hair is longer than mine. And he and Jonthan like to smoke smelly plants together. Jonathan says the plants are super safe because they come from the Earth, but to not tell Joyce. Me? I’m twice as happy now. You were right. It just takes time. I think I have finally adapted. At first, I missed all the spring flowers, but now I find it pretty here, too. I even like school now. I am still best at math, but my grammar is good now also. Thanks in part to Olivia back home. It helps that everyone is so nice here. I have made lots of friends. Even so, I am ready for Spring Break, mostly because I get to see you. I am so excited to see you, it is hard to breathe. Are you excited, too? I think you will love it here like me. I think we will have the best Spring Break ever. I hope my spelling was better this time. Miss you. Love, El.’”
She breathed deep on her end of the phone, silently asking me what I thought. Taking a drag from my cigarette, which I rarely ever do, I nodded my head before saying, “It’s good! But the part about friends? I’m not sure that should be in there.” El’s kept her word on telling me every detail when she calls me. This bitch Angela bullies her to no end, and it pisses me off to the point where I want to get in my car and drive to California to beat the shit out of this girl… but I can’t since she’s a minor and I’m 19 years old. “Maybe just tell him the truth?” I took another drag, holding it for a moment as I said, “The truth–” I blew the smoke from my lungs. “Is a lot better than having to cover up your lies in front of him when he’s there in a couple days.”
“Livvie! Are you smoking again?” Mom hollered.
“Shit,” I whispered, dabbing my cigarette.
“Steve will be here soon!”
Holding the mouthpiece of the phone, I hollered back, “Okay!” Sighing and shaking my head, I removed my hand, saying into the mouthpiece. “Listen, get ready for school, do the finishing touches for your visual aid that I know you’re gonna kick ass on, and have a good day at school, okay? I’m sorry this phone call is short.”
“It’s okay,” El said. “Can I call you tonight?”
“I’ll be at Steve’s, but sure,” I smiled. “You can call.”
“Okay. Argyle is here. I finished my visual aid before I called you.”
“Okay, sweetie. Have a good day at school.” “I will. Bye, Olivia.”
“Bye, El.” I hung up the phone, yawning after I did so. Going into the kitchen, I made myself a cup of coffee, adding my sugar and cream into it before taking a sip and walking back into my room.
No, Steve’s parents didn’t come home last night. Dustin needed help with something for school, so I told him I’d come for the night to help him. My plan was to go back to Steve’s, but I ended up falling asleep on Dustin’s bed, him waking me up to kick me out of his room. As I entered my own room, my phone was ringing, so I walked to it, picking up the receiver, answering with, “Can’t I just enjoy a cup of coffee this morning?”
“Good morning to you, too,” Steve said.
Sighing, I said, “Oh. Morning, baby.”
“Hey, listen. I’m gonna leave here in a few minutes to come get you and then pick up Robin, okay? So, be ready this time.”
I chuckled. Last time he had to come get me from my house I wasn’t ready for work. He and I had had… a night and I was super tired the next day, so I didn’t wake up with my alarm. We were late for work and Robin was late to school that day.
“Okay, I’ll be ready.”
“Promise?”
“Promise! I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
I hung up the phone, taking another sip of my coffee while looking at my closet door. I set my mug down, walking towards the door when I heard a knock on my bedroom door. “What?”
“Liv, I need you to stall Mom,” Dustin said.
“And why, pray tell, do I need to do that?” I asked, turning to look at him with my arms crossed.
“I’m talking to Suzie and I need you to not tell her what’s going on behind my door.”
Scrunching my face in disgust, I said, “Dustin, I don’t need to hear you two have radio sex.”
“We’re not! It’s something about school,” he exclaimed.
Sighing, I said, “Fine. Whatever. But you owe me.”
“Thank you!” he said, running back across the hall to his room, sliding his door closed.
I turned back to my closet, finally able to go into it to pick my outfit for the day; a graphic tee, comfortable but tight-fitted jeans and my Converse. I’ve been working with Steve and Robin at Family Video since October and I have to say I quite enjoy it. Not the whoring out my boyfriend part, but everything else about the job, aside from Keith, is awesome!
Once I was dressed, I heard talking on Dustin’s Cerebro, that he somehow installed in the house, so I poked my head in to see what was going on.
“That’s a negative, Dusty-bun,” Suzie said.
“Son of a bitch,” Dustin said, pressing a button on his radio. “Try tigers86.”
“Tigers86, copy that.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked, walking into his room, sliding his door to a crack.
“Liv, not now,” Dustin said.
I sighed, “Alright. Oh! I can’t pick you up tonight. Steve and I are going to the game and then I’m going back to his house.”
“Fine, whatever,” he said, going back to his radio.
“Jiminy Crickets, Dusty,” Suzie said. “I’m in.”
“Holy shit,” he said.
“Wait, is she… is she hacking into the school system?” I asked.
Dustin and I jumped at the sound of hearing pounding on his door, Mom’s voice ringing on the other side, “Dusty, what’s going on in there? You’re gonna be late.”
Mom went to open the door just as Dustin shouted, “Don’t come in! I’m naked!”
She shut the door before saying, “Oh, Livvie! Steve’s here!”
I said, “Shit!” at the same time Dustin said into his radio’s mouthpiece, “Running out of time here!”
I walked out of his room as I heard Suzie tell him to hold on. Walking past Mom in the hallway, she told me to grab a slice of toast on my way out, which I told her I would, grabbing it and a banana before rushing out of the house, hearing Steve honk his horn. “Alright, Harrington! I’m coming!”
Opening the passenger side door, I tossed the banana at him, my piece of toast hanging between my teeth. As I buckled my seatbelt, he backed up out of our driveway and started towards Robin’s house before he sighed out and said, “Good morning, Henderson.”
“Harrington,” I said, muffled through a bite of toast. I shook my head while taking the toast from between my teeth, saying, “Ew. No.”
He chuckled, handing the banana back to me. “You’re lucky I let you eat in my car.”
“At least I brush the crumbs off my legs when I get out of the car.” I finished my toast by the time we got to Robin’s house. Getting out of the car, I brushed the crumbs off my jeans, turning to go back in the passenger seat when Robin called out, “I need the front, Henderson!”
When I turned to face her, she shoved her shako into my hands, the yellow and white plume sticking out of the top. Yes, I know marching band lingo, shut up.
As we started driving, Steve was telling her about our date we had the other day when we had the day off. “And then we went to Enzo’s and had an amazing dinner–”
Leaning between the seats, I interrupted, “I literally thought he was going to propose, it was so freaking romantic.”
“And then we went back home and watched a movie–”
“Cuddling on the couch before I fell asleep to the movie.”
“What, no sex?” Robin asked.
Chuckling, I said, “No. Not that night. The next morning, however…”
“Gross.”
“You asked!” I exclaimed.
“Liv, I’m not fully awake yet. It is 7:00 in the morning, we have this stupid pep rally, and I woke up looking like a total corpse.” She pulled her face back after fluffing her hair a little bit.
“Oh, you’re worried about a basketball pep rally?” Steve asked. “You expect me to believe that?”
“Newsflash, Steve, you were in the pep rallies, remember?” I said, poking his cheek.
“Yeah? So?” Robin said.
“We all know what this is about,” I said, looking at her profile. “He’s not buying any bullshit. This is about Vickie.” I smiled at her as she turned her head to look at me. “Absolutely not.”
“Yes, it is, and you know what else I think?” Steve said.
“I don’t care–”
“I think you gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you’re around her.”
“You just gotta be yourself, love,” I said.
“You’re both quoting me to me, you do realize that right?” Robin said.
“Well, maybe you need to listen to yourself,” Steve said. “Ever think about that, smartypants? I mean, I listened. Look at me. Boom. Back in business.”
Looking at him, I deadpanned, “You’ve been in business, Steve. For over a year!”
“It’s not the same thing,” Robin said. “And Liv’s right.”
“Plus, when you asked out girls, they all said no,” I said. “Big deal. Nothing happened, other than your ego getting bruised–”
“I ask out the wrong girl, and bam, I’m a town pariah,” Robin added.
“Yeah, I’d buy that, except Vickie is definitely not the wrong girl,” Steve said.
“We just don’t know that, do we?”
“She returned Fast Times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds. Do you know who pauses Fast Times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds?”
Silence.
“Oh, my god,” I breathed. “People who like boobies, Robin!”
“Ew, don’t say boobies!” she said.
“I like boobies, Steve definitely likes boobies, you like boobies! Vickie definitely likes boobies,” I said.
“Wait, you like boobs?” they both asked.
“We’re not talking about me.”
We got to the high school, Robin and I getting out before I handed her her shako hat for the pep rally. We hugged before she ran off with her friends, chatting and walking them as she met up with them.
“Were we like this?” I asked, leaning over a little bit.
“Yup,” Steve said.
I looked at him, our eyes meeting. I smiled as he leaned in closer, our lips meeting for a second before I heard kids through the opened windows saying, “Get a room, Harrington!”
We pulled apart as I groaned, resting my forehead on his shoulder. “Get me off this campus before I beat the shit out of these sophomores.”
He chuckled, driving off to our day job that helps with the bills… metaphorically speaking.
~~~
I was standing with Steve on our side of the counter when the phone rang, and because I was standing by the phone, I turned around and picked it up, answering it with “Family Video, this is Olivia speaking. How can I help you today?”
“Liv, I need you tonight for Hellfire.”
Chuckling, I said, “No way, Dustin. Not tonight.”
“What?! Come on!”
“I don’t even know how to play! Plus, I’ve got a date with Steve tonight.” I turned my head over my shoulder, watching Steve help out a female customer.
“Just move your date this one time! Come on.”
“What, to hang out with you and Eddie? I’ll pass this time.”
“What about Steve?”
“Negatory, little brother.”
“He’s just jealous because I have another older male friend.”
I heard the smug little smile on his stupid little face. “Yeah, I don’t think he feels the same. Besides, Steve and I really dig each other. I think that he could… well, I know he’s the one.” I watched as some girls walked into the store. “Oh, I got– well, Steve has customers. I’ll call you back.” I hung up the phone, faintly hearing Dustin say that he’s at school.
Turning my head over my shoulder, I whispered, “You're on, babe.”
~~~
Once we were done with our shift, Steve and I went to grab a bite to eat before heading to the basketball game. I said hey to Nancy as we walked in and gave a small wave to Lucas with a thumbs up. He slightly smiled back at me, going back to his warm ups.
After Steve and I found a spot in the bleachers, I turned into him after he put his arm around my shoulders once we sat down. I looked up at him, asking, “Baby, would it bother you if we won this game after we’ve graduated?”
“Interesting point,” he said. “Thanks for bringing that up, babe.”
I chuckled, wrapping my arms around his middle while still looking at him. He looked down at me, giving me a chaste kiss on my lips. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he said, a smile ever present on his face.
The principal came up to the microphone that was in the middle of the gym, asking, “Everyone now please rise for our national anthem.” You could hear everyone standing, collectively. “Singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. All the way from Nashville, our very own Tammy Thompson!”
I clapped while looking confused at Steve as he looked over at Robin, a confused look on his face as well. Tammy started singing, the microphone giving feedback as she did.
“Told you,” Steve whispered. “Muppet.”
“Oh, my god,” I whispered, trying to hold back my laugh at either Steve calling her a muppet or her singing, I couldn’t decide. Maybe a little bit of both.
“Okay, she does sound like a Muppet,” Robin whispered.
“Oh, my god, totally,” I heard Vickie agree. “She sounds like Kermit.”
“I was thinking it was more like Miss Piggy.”
I snorted, turning my head into Steve’s shoulder, his hand coming up to rest on cheek from my shoulder.
When the game started, we got two baskets right off the rip. I honestly didn’t get basketball, I just knew the basics from what Steve had tried to explain to me over the years. But everytime he got to what he thinks is interesting stuff, I would always fall asleep.
I swear I was getting whiplash just watching the boys run up and down the gym, shooting baskets, colliding with one another, almost getting into fights with other team and the ref.
Seeing movement from the corner of my eye, I looked in Lucas’ direction, seeing him running onto the court. “Oh, my god. He’s putting Lucas in. He’s putting Lucas in!” I exclaimed, jumping in my seat, happy that one of my kids is actually playing.
I knew three of them were on school grounds with Hellfire, so I wasn’t worried about them. I wasn’t worried about Lucas either, moreso happy for him that he’s finally getting to play.
Steve was enthusiastic as ever, standing and shouting at our players to shoot the ball, to pass it, to not travel with the ball. I swear to god, seeing him in this element turned me on like no freaking other.
Steve and I were standing, the ball being passed and dribbled around before he said, “Shoot it!” as one of our players got the ball, making the basket.
A few more points in and Jason, the captain, called a timeout. The team huddled together as the drumline started to play a cadence. I secretly did band throughout middle school and freshman year of high school. I quit once Steve became King, not wanting him to be associated with a “nerd.”
Once the game continued, Jason got the ball, and from what I heard from Dustin, Jason’s a cocky motherfucker who thinks he's the top dog of the high school just because he’s King. No one will ever meet up to Steve as King.
Jason shot the ball, not making the basket at all. Ha ha! That’s what he gets. Lucas grabbed the ball as it bounced off the rim, breaking out of the huddle to run a few feet from the basket, turning around to make the shot as the buzzer went off.
You could hear everyone collectively stand again as the ball flew through the air. I could feel Steve behind me as we watched the ball bounce off the rim to the backboard and into the basket, giving us the Championship win!
Steve and I jumped, excited for Lucas and excited for the win. He wrapped me in his arms, giving me a kiss on the lips as the players and cheerleaders ran over to Lucas, chanting his name.
We had waited outside for the team to come out after hitting the showers, Lucas spotting us right away.
“Oh, my god,” I exclaimed, giving him a big hug. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks, Liv,” he said. When we pulled apart, he kept his hands on my shoulders. “Thanks for coming.”
“Of course!” I said. “I wouldn’t miss my little brother playing for the world!”
He smiled before looking at Steve, giving his thanks to him as well. Jason and his small crew came out, calling Lucas over to them. He walked with them as Steve and I started our own journey to his car.
I stopped him as I watched Dustin and the rest of Hellfire walk out of the school. He spotted me, raising his hands in the air. “Liv!” Dustin shouted. “We won!”
Giving him a smile, I raised my thumbs out to him, letting him know I was proud of him.
Steve and I went home that night and celebrated with a movie and popcorn, clothing optional.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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A/N 2: hi, friends! pls be kind and reblog! it really helps us content creators out <3
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Posted on April 22, 2024
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To each of the prisoners: Define love.
To each of the guards: Define justice.
OH THIS ONE IS INTERESTING...
Akio: Do I have to answer this.. Why would you ask me that anyway? Is this because of the answer I gave during my second interrogation?.. Fine. I think love is.. Always staying by your lover's side. Never leaving them. Never betraying them. Always being honest with them. Being so loyal to them, you could die for them. Um.. Haha, so he never did any of those things..
Aimi: Hmm, I've never had a significant other, so it's hard to say, haha.. Well, I think love is when you two feel safe around each other! It's when you can trust your partner with anything and know that they won't break their promise and they won't leave you no matter what you do. And no matter what, they will never judge you. Ah, I think you can say the same about platonic and familial love too!
Shun: U-um.. Let's see.. Well, it's obviously going on dates and.. Uh.. Doing all the romantic stuff, y-you know?.. D-do I have to tell you all the details?.. Y-you're looking at me like I don't know anything about romance. And I do know about it, please believe me! I mean, I did have a girlfriend.. A-anyway, love is something that I will never be complete without. I need to be loved. It's like.. If I'm loved, it means someone in this world appreciates me, right? They would probably be sad if something happened to me..
Naomi: Um.. I never was that interested in romance, so I can't really- Hm? It doesn't have to be romantic? I see.. Well, I can't even tell you that much about platonic love.. I'm sorry, I'm really boring when it comes to that, haha. But if I had to think about it more.. Maybe it's when others don't expect anything from you? You can be anything you want to be and you're still wanted and appreciated.. It sounds nice when I think about it, actually.
Kei: Heyyyy, didn't you say that someone like me can't know anything about love? Haha, well, as I've said before, I believe that pain and love can't be separated. Why? The thing is, if someone puts you through so much pain every single day, but you still choose to stay with them and don't even think about leaving them.. Yeah, that's love to me. And if you truly love someone, you'll be okay with them hurting you in some way. That's what Mom used to say. And I love her. You love her too, Eiji. You've never even tried to run away, after all.
Eiko: You're probably not gonna believe me, but I actually wasn't interested in love at all until I.. well, met that guy. I thought it was just a stupid waste of time, just like friendship and all that stuff. But hey, of course I felt lonely. My relationships never had any meaning, the only somewhat deep relationship I have is the one with my dad. So, if you were to ask me about love.. I think love is when your relationship with someone has some kind of meaning. Maybe it makes you happy. Maybe it wants you to keep living. Maybe it makes you feel like you have some kind of purpose. You just know that if something happened to that person, you would feel like your life has become incomplete. That's love to me.
Asahi: E-eh?.. I know that I'm more mature than other kids, but like.. Ugh, fine. So, uh, I think love is when someone gives you everything you could ever want from them. N-no, I'm not just talking about food and toys and that stuff! Though that's also important, of course.. But like.. I-if you asked them for a hug, they'd be okay with it.. And if you asked them to spend time with you, they'd still agree even if they're busy.. A-anyway, I know I'll be popular when I grow up, but right now I don't care about all that. I just wanna have fun and I don't want to think about anything.. Uh, "serious".
Yurika: Your question is simple, so my answer will be the same. It's what I felt for my boss. S-she wasn't just a manager to me. She actually gave me a reason to live. She showed me that I still have worth even if I'm not that smart, not that hardworking and not that productive. She's not like my parents at all and those guys are rich, but still wanted me to work! H-huh?.. "Did you see your manager as your lover or your mother figure?".. Uh.. B-both?
Riku: Let me think.. Well, there's many different types of love, you know? I don't really know which one you want me to talk about.. Oh, so like, love in general? Um.. For some reason, it's still hard for me to think of an answer.. Maybe something like, even if you get sad or angry sometimes, they still understand you and still willing to listen to you? Like, they won't go "Come on, cheer up already!" Oh, also they respect your privacy and personal space, that one's important. Even if I love them, I don't want them to call me at 3 am and start telling me the tragic story of how their cat died when they were eight, thank you very much.. Y-yeah, that did happen to me once.
Reina: I don't know much about it, so I'm afraid my answer won't be that interesting. But maybe.. it's when someone still wants to be with you even if they've seen your worst qualities? No, I don't mean any of that "But I still find them beautiful" kind of stuff. That's actually kinda concerning. It's like, they won't leave you if they see you fighting with someone and yelling at them, but they also won't tell you that you were in the right for acting like that, if you really were in the wrong.
Eiji: It's when all sinners get what they deserve. They get the punishments that fit their sins and they have no choice but to accept it, meanwhile the innocent ones get to finally live a peaceful life. And before you ask me, no, nobody in this prison is innocent except me and Guard 002.
Miki: I'm not really as passionate about it as Eiji-san, but.. I think it's when people who did something bad without any reason and don't feel any remorse get.. I-I don't want to say "punished", but.. Basically, they're not able to do anything to the innocent people anymore. I want to believe that everyone in this prison is innocent and everyone had their own reasons and if it wasn't for those reasons, they would never kill anyone.. But I'm not so sure anymore. So if someone in this prison really is guilty.. I guess I'll have to make sure they don't hurt the innocent.
Hiyuu: I think it's when all people are treated as equals. Even if someone is guilty, I won't treat them like a villain. I will punish them, because that's my job as a guard, but it doesn't mean I genuinely want their life to get worse and it doesn't mean I want them to die. I just want them to see what will happen if they continue to act this way. Pain is the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone, so I believe that even if that someone really did something bad, they should be treated with respect if they're in pain. So you can trust me, my punishments won't be that bad, haha.
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