#When Dustin comes over holding a bunch of Billy's tapes he asks Max 'what's his favorite' and Max is like no I can't. I need to stay with B | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

ur-fav-alien · 2 years

Text

Okay so I watched ep.4 of s4 "Dear Billy" and I have thoughts... specifically thoughts about what would go down in the series if Billy was alive.

So I think it would be kinda obvious that he would be in Max's spot with the whole getting Vecna'd thing (Max would still be alive obvio Billy is just built different and survives the Mind Flayer). Then that whole Dear Billy scene happend and I started thinking even more of how it would go down if Billy was in Max's place. Obviously the letter would be to his mom, because why would it be for Neil? But then comes the question, where would Billy go to read this letter? If his mom is dead why would there be a grave in Hawkins for her, that doesn't make sense. So imagine they're all driving and Billy randomly says "turn here" and everyone is like "that's the woods?" and he knows that's the woods and he stil makes them turn there.

Insert Billy walking into this small clearing in the woods where he's made a makeshift grave for his mother because he has absolutly no idea where the fuck she is and for all he knows, she could be dead. WHICH IS SO FUCKING SAD. And then I started thinking about that scene between Vecna!Billy + Max and how he's saying Max feels guilty that she's glad that Billy's dead and like with Billy what if it's Vecna posing as Billy's mom and just kinda of berating him about what he's turned into due his father's abuse like: "Billy... my sweet Billy, what have you turned into? I don't even know who you are anymore... you look so much like your father... Billy I'm scared of you" And Billy is just sobbing

I would cry. I would cry like a shit ton.

#??? I don't fucking know'#And steve blurts out 'kate bush!' and they all look a thim like 'why the fuck do you know that?'#Every scene w/ the Hawkins gang I'm just trying to figure out how Alive!Billy would squeeze into that situation.#He had to quit basketball because his pyshical therapy was taking too much of his time and the stress was getting to him #or he's more the assistant coach because he was told to take it easy a million times but still wanted to be involved #That moment between max + Lucas in ep.4 is just Billy + Steve but they're both whispering because the kids are right there lol #also that scene between Nancy + Steve is more Nancy handing him a file and being like 'you're daniel now' because she intended on him comin #and He's just like #Billy Hargrove #Harringrove #you wanna know how this is Harringrove??#When Dustin comes over holding a bunch of Billy's tapes he asks Max 'what's his favorite' and Max is like no I can't. I need to stay with B #but that doesn't mean their gay? whaatt no way #They're just best friends Nancy. Why would you think any different?#sorry this is a lot of tags

87 notes · View notes

thinger-strang · 4 years

Text

Singing in the Shower and Other Sins (aka three times Steve was caught singing and the one time he wasn't)

@gideongrace this is for you 😚

(link to the version on ao3 https://archiveofourown.org/works/21394876 )

Steve sings all the time. Loud and off key in a goofy sort of lovable way. He jams with Dustin on their way to school, dances around Scoops and Family Video when it's slow, uses anything and everything as a mic.

Which made it so weird when Robin walked into work to find Steve singing like, good.

He had his back to her with an armful of tapes. His voice was soft and he was gently bopping (so he didn't drop all the videos). But his voice was so good!

Robin leaned against the wall and just observed Steve for a moment. It was weird, almost wrong, to hear the correct sound notes come from him.

"Having fun there, Springsteen?"

She shouldn't have scared him, she knows that. But his face was so funny when spun around, barely holding onto his stack of tapes.

"Jesus, warn a guy, Buckley!" He snapped, running his free hand through his hair.

"You can sing."

"What?"

"You always sing bad when I'm around, but you can like actually sing! Like sing really good!"

"Oh, no I wasn't singing? That was...that was definitely just the radio, I can't sing for shit, you know that--"

"Nuh uh Harrington, I know your dirty little secret now! You've got pipes!"

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Rob." He started putting stuff away again. "You of all people know I can't sing to save my life."

"I just heard you, don't know why you're denying it."

"Whatever, go get your vest before Keith gets here." Steve nodded towards the break room door but smiled at her knowingly.

"Fucking knew it!" She shouted as she went to put her vest on. "Why are you trying to hide this magnificent gift God herself has bestowed upon you?"

Steve shrugged and handed her half his stack once she got back.

"Don't tell anyone, don't need you messing up what little cred I have left."

She flipped him off.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

Life went on.

ii.

Steve made the mistake of telling Dustin where the spare key to his front door was. Under the ceramic frog in the planter left of the door. But the kid was basically his little brother and he'd shown Steve where his spare key was the week before. So they were even now.

So Dustin let himself and the rest of the party into Steve's house for an impromptu hang out sesh. Mike, Lucas, and Max made a beeline for the kitchen to drop off the arm fulls of snack they had while Dustin showed Will and Jane around.

Jane had started going by "Jane" full time since the Hopper-Byers move and the party was supportive as always. And since their move, the party had had three? maybe four hang outs at Steve's. So a tour was necessary since they missed the preliminary Casa de Harrington party.

"Holy shit do you guys hear that?" Will whispered once they got to the second floor's landing.

The other two stopped and listened. They heard a shower running and a radio going. Nothing special. Dustin strained his ears.

"No way."

"'No way' what?" Lucas asked as he, Max, and Mike joined them.

"That's Steve singing in the shower!"

"What's so bad about him singing in the shower?" Jane asked.

"Steve can't sing to save his life!" Mike said, incredulously.

"He's not that bad guys," Max tried to defend him.

"Okay, I love the guy like a brother but he drives me to school everyday and no, he cannot sing." Dustin explained as they crept closer to the bathroom door.

The shower shut off and his voice became clearer. The party continued bickering until the door swung open. Steam billowed out and Steve sang a line until he noticed the gaggle of teenagers in his hallway.

"What the fuck guys."

"What the fuck yourself Steven!" Mike shot back.

"Yeah, are you serious? For like, almost a year I've had to listen to you screech along to the radio when you've had the voice of an angel this whole time?! That's just plain rude." Dustin crossed his arms dramatically.

"Angelic's a little generous, Henderson."

"Your voice is really pretty," Jane said in awe.

Steve blushed and wrapped his arms around his torso.

"Thanks kid. Hey, how's Missouri treating you guys?" Steve pulled his shirt from the floor and put it on.

"Pretty good, the school has a huge library and Will joined an art club!" Jane said excitedly.

Will nodded along with her, putting his hands into his hoodie.

"Oh that's awesome! Glad you guys like it up there--"

"Can we get back to the whole 'Steve can actually sing' thing? Because that's still blowing my mind," Lucas interjected, flailing his arms a little.

"Yeah, can you sing Whitney? Because those were some pretty high notes if my ears don't decieve me." Max grinned evilly.

"No, I can't sing Whitney, I can barely sing, remember?" Steve sounded like he was talking to toddlers.

"Dude, none of use are deaf, we all heard." Mike gave him an unimpressed look.

"Yeah, and that was Queen and you definitely hit all those high notes. You can totally sing Whitney!" Max laughed and nudged Will when he stifled a giggle.

"I can't believe I'm being mocked by a bunch of 10 year olds!"

"We're fifteen, Harrington," Dustin said sarcastically.

Steve rolled his eyes.

"Okay, can you shits get out of my room so I can get dressed? Don't feel like spending the day in a towel while you make fun of my singing abilities."

He started to herd them towards the stairs as they protested, claiming they weren't making fun, just confused as to why he would torture them with a fake awful voice.

When Steve came downstairs, Max pushed play on the tape player in the living room. "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" started playing and Steve turned red.

"This isn't fucking karaoke night you dweebs!"

But he started laughing when they all started throwing popcorn at him and he proceeded to dump snacks onto everyone else, starting an epic pre-movie night food fight.

iii.

Robin's parents were going to be out of town for the first time in a thousand years so, naturally, she was throwing a party.

It wasn't a typical high school rager, more like a get together between friends and absolutely no children, Steve!

So really it was just Steve, Nancy, Jonathan, Barb, and Billy.

Steve and Billy came over early to help make food. Which translated to Steve making food while Billy sat on the couch and read, using the "I died for you bitches" excuse for the millionth time.

And ever since Robin had caught him singing at work, he became more and more comfortable singing around her. She didn't ask about him singing around Billy. So here he was, singing while mixing something together in a bowl. Like a goddamn housewife.

"If my parents were here they'd be so pleased I found a nice boy who knows what he's doing in the kitchen." She said as she measured some milk out for the brownies.

She could hear Billy snort from the living room over the "knowing what he's doing in the kitchen" comment.

Steve laughed and kicked at her shins.

Wham! came on and Steve's face lit up. And it was the yo-yo song, the best freaking one. And Robin was in band so her inntonation wasn't like awful, she definitely had the lungs for singing.

So they were singing along to George Michael in the Buckley's colorful kitchen while making brownies when the other three showed up.

"You can sing?" Barb asked with big eyes.

"You act like I've never sung in front you you before." Steve replied while hunching over, self conscious.

"Yeah but normally it's more...pitchy," Nancy offered.

"We're not judging your anything man, you've got a great voice," Jonathan filled in quickly. "Didn't really believe Will when he said Steve could sing."

He said that last part mostly to Nancy, but everyone heard it.

And Robin was kind of done. Because Steve told her, one time when they were hotboxing his car, that he sang bad on purpose because his dad thought it was "faggy" to be able sing that well. That he sounded like Freddie and George and Bowie in the worst way. And she knew he was bi, knew he got embarrassed when people started talking about him singing because of what his dad said.

She was about to call them out when Billy flipping Hargrove beat her to it.

"Leave him alone, you're just jealous your pipes aren't as good," Billy said in a monotone voice from the couch.

"It's fine, Billy, they're--"

"No he's right, lay off."

Nancy and Jonathan at least had the decency to look embarrassed. Barb walked into the kitchen to help out.

"Your voice really is good. Didn't mean to sound so shocked before. You were just...really good. And I totally remember you singing into a hairbrush that one time? And your voice cracked all over the place?" Barb bumped her hip into Steve's, wiggling her eyebrow.

"Oh my god, I almost lost my voice from that! God, that was forever ago, cannot believe you remember that."

"Yeah that's what made me realize 'King Steve" was like an actual human boy, not this entity the entire school and Nancy made you out to be."

Billy migrated from the couch to the counter when he heard the words "King Steve" and put his book on the counter top.

"When was this?" And thank god for Billy because Robin wanted to ask so bad what they were talking about.

"Oh Steve threw a little party back in junior year to woo Nancy and he was a little buzzed and was trying to make her laugh by singing along to, what was it?" Barb turned to smirk at Steve.

"ABBA, it's was ABBA."

Billy rolled his eyes and mumbled "of course" as Robin cackled.

"Very on brand, dingus."

"Yeah but he overexaggerated the awfulness and his voice cracked, like, painfully. Like, I felt it, it was so bad!"

Steve scrunched up his nose at the memory and laughed. Robin and Billy started laughing too and Barb continued telling embarrassing stories about Steve that the other two had never heard before.

+i.

Steve jolted awake to a loud clattering sound coming from the other end of his room.

"How many times do I have to tell you to clear off your fucking desk, Harrington," Billy stage whispered angrily.

"How many times do I have to tell you to use the fucking front door, Hargrove."

Steve hopped out of bed to meet Billy by the window. He scanned his face for bruises which made Billy rolls his eyes.

"Can't a guy just visit his boyfriend in the middle of the night without anything being wrong?"

"Yeah but you only sneak in through my window when you've had a bad night, you dramatic fuck." Steve cupped Billy's face with one hand and let him lean into it.

Comfortable silence enveloped them before Billy broke it.

"Couldn't sleep," he mumbled.

"Okay." Steve let Billy drop his head into his shoulder. " Do you wanna talk about it or go to bed?"

Because "couldn't sleep" is generally code for nightmares.

Billy shrugged, shoulder bumping Steve's chin a little, and Steve nodded, tugging him towards the bed.

He helped Billy get down to just his boxers and a tee before getting under the covers. Steve positioned them so that Billy was half laying in Steve with his ear over his heart and their legs tangled. Because Steve liked the pressure and Billy liked listening to the steady thrum of his heartbeat.

They laid like that for a minute, getting comfortable and used to each other's warmth.

And Billy had told him, a long time ago, that his mom used to sing to him when he couldn't sleep. And that was before Billy knew Steve could actually sing. That was what made Steve sing for real in front of him.

So, on nights like this, Steve sang.

He started humming the intro to "Going to California", moving his fingers in time up and down Billy's back. Billy let out a sigh and pressed himself closer into Steve's chest.

So Steve sang into the dark of his bedroom, chasing away monsters; the kind that live in your house and the kind that live underground, until Billy drifted off and pulled Steve with him into a warm and deep sleep that only comes when wrapped around someone you love.

#harringrove #fic #my writings #HOLY SHIT #guys pls read this i spent three hours frantically writing this thx #harringrove fanfic #this is kind of mean to nancy and jonathan but i dont like them so suck it #and theres backstory on ao3 but hopper survives and lives with the Byers and therefore moves with them and barb is here bc i said so #its a happy boys and supportive lesbians fic fight me

80 notes · View notes

biillyhargroves · 5 years

Note

i hope you’re feeling better ))): i have a fic request where steve tells the party (specifically dustin) that he cant go to an event/place they all planned (whatever you think fits) because he has a date and dustin is like “ok then bring the date!” and then steve shows up with billy and then everyone reacts to harringrove

thank you so much, friend, and thank you very much for the request!! I hope that this is ok!

where is your boy(fic requests open)

“No.”

Billy’s answer is clear, curt, succinct. He doesn’t even take his eyes off the road. When Steve tries to ask again, Billy slams his foot on the accelerator, and when Steve tries a third time he turns up the radio so loud Steve thinks the windows might break from the bass. Steve switches the knob back the other way.

“Come on,” he says.

“No.”

“Billy.”

“Why are you pushing this?”

“Billy, come on,” Steve says. “It’s one night. I promised them.”

“Oh, you promised them. Well, that changes everything.”

“Don’t give me that.”

“What?”

“That tone,” Steve says. “You’re being a real douche.”

“Yeah, that’s me,” Billy says. “The douche that doesn’t want to waste a Saturday night with a bunch of thirteen year olds. Real fuckin’ asshole.”

“You are,” Steve says.

“Uh-huh,” Billy says. “What exactly did you tell them? That you had a date?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. “So?”

“Problem solved. You’ll be on your date and they can do their stupid- what is it again?”

“It’s a movie night, Billy,” Steve says. “Movies? You know them?”

“A Star Wars marathon,” Billy recalls. “Great way to spend the weekend.”

“It’s a few hours,” Steve says.

“Per movie,” Billy says.

“We can bail after one,” Steve offers. “One, Billy.”

“Do they even know who your date is?” Steve is silent, brow furrowed as he studies Billy’s profile. Billy lets the question hang in the air between them, and no matter hard Steve hopes, the whistle of wind fighting through the cracked-open windows crack is not enough to wash it out. Eventually, Billy says, “That’s a no.”

“So what?” Steve says defensively. “What does it matter?”

“They’re gonna be pissed at you.”

“Max isn’t pissed,” Steve says.

“Not at you,” says Billy. “You didn’t get the speech.”

“She gave you a speech?”

“Yeah, there was a fuckin’ speech, Harrington,” Billy says.

“What’d she say?”

“Don’t change the subject.”

“I just wanna know what she said!”

“Maybe you’ll hear the flip side from her little shit friends.”

“Okay,” Steve says. “Okay, listen. I get it. You’re not their favorite person.”

“No shit.”

“They can warm up to you,” Steve says. “You have me and Max to vouch for you.”

“Sure,” Billy scoffs.

“And Nancy and Jonathan will be there,” Steve says. “So it’s not just us.”

“Like that makes it better,” Billy says.

“We watch one movie, and we’re gone,” Steve says. “I can, like...get sick or something.”

“What are we, sneaking around mom and dad?”

“It’s a fucking excuse,” Steve says. “I’ll start to feel sick, you can take me home, then we have the whole night to ourselves. Okay? And if it all goes to shit, I won’t ask you to hang out with them again.”

“You wanna try that last part again?”

Steve sighs heavily. “It’s one Saturday night, and I’ll never ask you to hang out with them again. Unless-” But Billy holds up a finger, his hand hovering dangerously over the volume knob. Steve sighs again. “That’s it,” he says. “Deal?”

Billy is quiet. He takes a few more turns in silence, then says, “Fine. Deal.”

---

“Who do you think he’s bringing?” Dustin asks.

“Steve?” asks El.

“I bet it’s Lori Rollins,” says Dustin. “She’s been spending a lot of time at the video store if you know what I mean.”

“All the girls spend a lot of time at the video store,” Mike says.

“Could be Jenny Graves,” suggests Lucas.

“What about that girl he’s always hanging out with?” asks Mike.

“It’s not Robin,” says Will.

“How do you know?” asks Lucas.

“It’s definitely not Robin,” says Dustin.

“What does it matter?” Max says a bit too harshly. “We’re gonna find out soon anyway.”

“Woah,” Lucas says. “What’s the matter with you?”

“Nothing’s the matter,” Max snaps. She is on the couch, and she lets her head fall back against the cushions and rolls her eyes. El slides closer to her- if anything else, for moral support. She doesn’t know exactly what’s making Max so agitated, but she’s been around the Hargrove-Mayfield house enough to have a guess. She’s heard two sets of footsteps sneaking in late at night when she sleeps over, and before they rode Max’s bike to Mike’s house, it looked like Billy was getting ready to go somewhere, too.

“Who are we still waiting on?” Nancy asks. She enters the room with popcorn in hand and Jonathan in tow. Jonathan sweeps the room, counting heads as he does.

“Steve, right?”

“And his date,” says Dustin.

“Steve’s bringing a date?” asks Nancy.

“We’re trying to figure out who it is,” says Lucas. Then there is a knock at the door.

“Looks like we’ll find out,” says Jonathan. Dustin is the first to bounce up, and he clamors to the front door with the other boys in tow. Max and Eleven hang back, Max staring up at the ceiling as El listens to the commotion at the front door.

---

“One movie,” Steve says, “then we’re gone.”

“I heard you the first three hundred times.”

“It’ll be fine,” Steve says.

“Are you saying that for yourself or for me?”

“Both,” Steve says. “Definitely both.”

Steve is visibly nervous as they approach the Wheelers’ front door. Billy walks a few steps behind him, his hands shoved into his pockets and his head down. He waits, and then nudges Steve when he makes no move to knock on the door. Steve jolts forward, and he knocks so frantically that Billy has to pull his arm away to stop the madness. Billy opens his mouth to speak, but whatever he planned on saying is lost when the door swings open to four smiles that quickly falter when they catch sight of Billy.

“Uh,” says Steve. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Will, Mike, and Lucas say as Dustin shouts, “What the shit?”

In the living room, Max squeezes her eyes shut. “Here it goes,” she groans.

“Here what goes?” El asks.

“Billy’s here.”

“Billy?” Jonathan asks.

“Billy Hargrove?” says Nancy.

“Well, at least everyone knows my name,” Billy says. He enters the room behind Steve and with the boys all crowding around them, a million questions tossed at them from four different voices.

“Billy is your date?” says Dustin, and Lucas asks Max if she knew about this, and Will asks how long they’ve been seeing other, and Mike asks why Steve brought Billy Hargrove to his house, and then Nancy and Jonathan jump up with another thousand questions on the tips of their tongues and no voices to ask them with. They look at each other, and then to El and Max. El seems only mildly surprised, and Max is rising off the couch.

“Enough!” she shouts. “Jeez. At least let them sit down.”

“So you knew?” Dustin accuses.

“He’s my brother,” Max says. “Of course I knew.”

“Why didn’t you say anything?” asks Lucas.

“Because it’s none of her business,” Billy growls, and Steve grabs his wrist when he sees the heckles going up. Billy snarls, but concedes. He stays behind Steve, shaking his head, and El offers them both a seat on the couch. Max turns as well and sits on the other end so that Billy and Steve are sandwiched between the girls.

“I didn’t think you’d come,” she tells her brother.

“I didn’t want to,” Billy says back.

“Dustin said it was okay,” Steve says defensively.

“You said you had a date,” Dustin says. “You didn’t say who the date was with.”

“Well it was with Billy,” Steve snaps. “Okay? Here he is.”

“Steve,” Nancy says, and Steve shakes his head.

“No,” he says. “No. You guys are jumping down our throats. Now, you wanted me to come watch movies with you, so I’m here, and Billy’s here, too, because you told me I could bring him. Okay? You said I could bring him-”

“Steve,” Billy says. He tries to take Steve’s arm, but Steve swats him away.

“No,” he says. “They’re being shits to you.”

“I think everyone’s just surprised,” Nancy says.

“About both you,” Jonathan adds.

“Well, they’re together,” Max says.

“It’s not exclusive,” Billy clarifies.

“You haven’t gone out with anyone else,” Max says.

“You spying on me?”

“I’m observant,” Max says. “And you’re exclusive.” She turns her attention to the group and says, “They’ve been together for weeks.”

“Thanks for that, Max,” says Steve, and she waves him off. The group quiets down. Steve absently reaches for Billy’s hand and Billy lets him take it, though he keeps his head down so that he can’t see all the eyes on them. Max moves so that she’s sitting on the edge of the couch- defensive, protective, placing herself in front of her brother. El, too, leans herself forward. There is a long and awkward pause.

“We should start the movies,” El says eventually. She looks at everyone in turn, then to puts her attention on Steve and Billy. “Right?”

They look at each other, and then to El. “Yeah,” Steve says at the same time Billy says, “Sure.” And with this settled, Jonathan pops in the first tape, and everyone settles in for the night. Steve and Billy pretend to ignore all the stares that they get, the heads that swivel to peek at them and quickly turn around when one of them (or, perhaps worse, Max) notices.

As the first movie nears its end, Steve whispers to Billy, “Should I get sick now?”

At this, Billy smiles and half-laughs. “Only if you really sell it.”

#harringrove #harringrove fanfiction #harringrove fic #stranger things fanfiction #stranger things fic #billy hargrove #steve harrington #lex writes fics #anon #answered

125 notes · View notes

screensirenfic · 4 years

Text

Black Leather - Chapter 33

We all arrived at Joyce’s house around the same time; Jonathan rushing in first to place an unconscious Will on the couch, and I was beginning to wonder what exactly happened in that lab.

They were meant to be helping the kid; not hurting him, but something about staring at his limp body just lying there made me feel sick.

Maybe it was too much of a reminder of Sara.

I tried not to think of her too much; her cute little pigtails and bright blue eyes painful to picture, even now.

The memories of the hospital were worse; her pale sunken cheeks, her head void of hair; looking more like a Holocaust victim than the bouncing, smiling little girl she used to be.

That’s one of the reasons we’d been so eager for Eleven to grow her hair out; the short stubble still too close a trigger of long evenings in the hospital, faking smiles and holding back tears because she couldn’t know the truth.

Dad had been on the phone for the last half hour, yelling down the line at what I guessed was was army, though clearly not getting anywhere.

They didn’t believe him.

Fuck; who would?!

This shit was crazy and I was the one living it! It didn’t matter if you were a cop, or a scientist, or the fucking president himself; nobody listened when you started with crazy talk.

“Hey.” Steve pulled me from my thoughts as he propped himself against the wall next to me.

Funny how he always seemed to know the right moment to cut in, just before I dragged myself too deep into my thoughts and risked drowning in them.

“Hey.” I replied; not really feeling up for conversation, but grateful for the distraction anyway.

“You feeling alright?” He asked; that soft concern in his voice overly familiar by now.

“Yeah; I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?” I tried to fake a smile, but it fell flat.

Probably didn’t matter anyway; Steve could always see through those.

“You seem a bit quiet...” Steve continued with his angle; turning his body so he could face me and look at me with those deep thoughtful brown eyes.

“I’ve got a lot on my mind...” I admitted with a harsh laugh, because it was true as of late. Between El and dad and Billy and now all this shit, my mind was fit to burst.

“Do you wanna talk about it?” He asked; always to lend a sympathetic ear to me, no matter what the problem.

“I’d... rather not.” I brushed him off, though the slightly downtrodden look on his face hurt me more than it should.

He was only trying to help, and God knows I could really use someone to talk to about all this bullshit, but that couldn’t be Steve.

He was too close to the centre, and I couldn’t afford to get him hurt.

He meant too much to me for that to happen.

“Let’s just go wait with the kids...” I offered, pushing up from the wall and walking into the kitchen, because all the sullen faces in here were beginning to get to me.

———————————————

The kids were gathered at Joyce’s kitchen table, looking more like depressed pensioners, than what had previously been overexcited children.

It was almost sad; really. What had started out as one of their fantasy adventures made real, had turned into another grown up nightmare that they just wanted to wake up from.

The tallest kid; Mike, Nancy’s brother I think, got up from his seat, walking over to a cardboard box of what looked like junk.

“Did you guys know that Bob was the original founder of Hawkins AV?” The kid asked as if it was common trivia, and not the total out-of-the-blue question it seemed to me.

“Really?” Lucas responded, taking his eyes off the kitchen table to watch Mike pick up a weird cube off the top of the box.

“He petitioned the school to start it and everything. And then he had a fundraiser for equipment.” Mike replied with newfound enthusiasm as he turned back towards us.

“Mr Clark learnt everything from him. Pretty awesome, right?”

The kids all nodded in halfhearted agreement, like me; clearly not on the same page as the lanky tween.

“We can’t let him die in vain.” Mike stated, launching into what I already knew through experience was a hero speech to rock the ages.

“Well; what do you wanna do Mike?” Dustin snapped; for once being the one to offer sense in all this.

“Alright; the Chief’s right on this. We can’t stop those Demodogs on our own.”

“Demodogs?” Max repeated, expressing the confusion we all shared.

“Demogorgon - - Dogs - - Demodogs. It’s like a compound. A play on words—“ Dustin clarified as if its the most obvious thing in the world.

“I mean; when it was just Dart, maybe…”

“But there’s an army now.” Supported Lucas, and I began to wonder when middle schoolers became such nihilists.

“Precisely.” Agreed Dustin; these two back to being best buds again.

“His army...” Mike stated; a dark sense of realisation crossing his face.

“What do you mean?” I asked, picking up that the tween leader just had one of those rare lightbulb moments.

“His army.” Mike repeated with weighted words, despite the confusion of the rest of the party.

“Maybe if we stopped him; we can stop his army too...” Mike suggested perhaps the simplest of solutions.

So simple; a child had actually come up with it.

So simple; it might actually work.

———————————————-

For two fully grown responsible adults, and four less easily defined teenagers to be following the plan of a bunch of thirteen year olds; we must be desperate.

I mean; it wasn’t like it was a bad plan. We use Will to get to the Mind Flamer... Flayer... thing. If I thought of it in a military sense; it was actually half decent.

A round of interrogation with a good helping of good cop, bad cop; it all seemed pretty solid.

Dad had to work out the kinks, but for the first time tonight; I could breath a sigh of relief, because for once; the whole world was resting on somebody else’s shoulders.

We’d prepped the shed as a impromptu interrogation chamber; the small dark space surprisingly indistinct beneath a layer of newspaper and duck tape.

Of course; I wasn’t to sit in on the interrogation.

That privilege went to family and close friends; with the exception of my dad, because someone here had to know what they’re doing.

Instead I was sat in the house with Nancy, Steve and the kids, trying not to feel like sitting ducks whilst the looming threat of possible annihilation hung over us.

Steve was working on his baseball swing, sweeping his nailbat in wide arcs as if fending off some invisible enemy.

“You alright there? You look a little tense?” I asked; noticing the tight rise of his shoulders as he made each swing.

“I’ll feel better once I know those things are dead.” Steve replied without a hint of his usual humour, and if Steve was somber; we must really be in trouble.

“If he finds out where we are; will he send those things after us?” Max asked, sounding genuinely nervous for the first time tonight.

“He won’t find us.” Lucas assured her with far more conviction than he had any right to, and I was reminded why young love was so foolish; always making promises you can’t keep.

“Yeah; but if he does...” Max continued her train of thought; fear clouding her mind from all reassurances.

“Judgement day.” Lucas stated ominously, and I tried not to dwell on the truth in the statement, knowing all too well the odds we were up against here.

—————————————————-

Twenty minutes of thumb twiddling later; I was really starting to believe this whole plan had been a dud and it was time to start packing our bags and moving to Nebraska.

Then dad walked in with that steely look of determination in his eye, Joyce and Jonathan following close behind, and I knew they’d managed to crack the kid.

“What happened?” Dustin asked as dad snatched a sheet of paper off the wall, before taking a seat at the kitchen table.

“I think he’s talking. Just not with words.” Dad replied, scribbling a series of dots and dashes on the paper.

“Hey; what is that?” Steve asked; reaffirming he was the slowest in the group.

“Morse code.” We all stated, silencing him as my dad began to translate the code into English.

“H - E - R - E...” Dad stated as he wrote down each letter; the red crayon nearly bending with the force he held it with.

“Here.” Mike read; triggering a series of looks between Joyce and Jonathan.

“Will’s still in there. He’s talking to us.” Dad clarified; the meaning of that sentence finally striking home.

It worked!

The kids’ fucking shitpile of a plan worked!

And with it; we were gonna kill this monster for good this time.

9 notes · View notes