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astridthevalkyrie · 6 years

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Axe to the Heart: Chapter 12

Astrid Hofferson/Steve Harrington. “Maybe I hate a lot of things here in Hawkins but I suppose you’re not one of them.”

Chapter 11: Talking and Coping

Our Very Own Babysitters’ Club

Requested by @naadestiel on Tumblr and ChrisFlannery on Fanfiction.Net. I hope you guys like it!

The snow wasn’t all gone yet, but it was getting there. Astrid’s shoes made small prints as she walked to the Wheelers’ door, shivering with her arms around herself.

And the main thing on her mind was that she was definitely not the babysitter type.

She was more responsible and more forward thinking than most people her age, but that just meant that she stopped them from doing stupid things (especially when it came to Snotlout and the twins), not that she was ready for kids to count on her.

Then again, it wasn’t five year olds. She was watching over kids who would be in high school next year. But after meeting Jane, she was still wary. These children had clearly gone through hell and back. Maybe not as bad as Jane, but still. Did she really have the capacity to deal with that?

And...Steve really liked these kids. If they didn’t like her...

Karen Wheeler answered the door and smiled widely. “Hi! You must be Astrid!”

She shook the woman’s hand and nodded, plastering on a pleasant smile as though she wasn’t nervous. “I am. Nice to meet you, Mrs. Wheeler.”

Her hand must have been freezing, because Mrs. Wheeler ushered her inside and closed the door. Astrid walked in and saw the stairs first, and the kitchen to the left.

It was a normal house with normal parents and not so normal kids.

“So, the kids are in the basement. Nancy is upstairs, she’s leaving in a few minutes. My husband should be back in about two hours. I’m going out for some me time.” Astrid laughed politely as Mrs. Wheeler winked. “Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and please ask Mike if you don’t know where something is. I trust them to behave.” She straightened and called out, “Mike! Babysitter’s here!”

“Alright!” came a boy’s voice from the basement. It was definitely a middle schooler. Astrid ran a hand through her hair and smiled encouragingly at Mrs. Wheeler.

“I’m sure we’ll be fine. Thank you, Mrs. Wheeler.” She waved goodbye to the woman, who smiled before leaving and closing the door behind her.

Astrid took a deep breath. Alright. She just had to go downstairs and hang out with them. They already knew she knew about the Upside Down, so they wouldn’t feel like they had to hide something from her. It would be natural. It would be cool.

She was about to go when Nancy came down the stairs, with her jacket on and her hair over her shoulder. She paused when she saw Astrid.

“Oh. Hey.”

“Hey,” she offered awkwardly, “um...I’m here to -”

“Babysit. Yeah. I know, Mom said Steve couldn’t make it.” She came downstairs and the two girls looked at each other before Astrid spoke up.

“You look nice.”

Nancy smiled, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. Damn, if it got any more awkward, people would think there was some sexual tension going on. “Thanks.”

There was a honk outside and Nancy straightened. “There’s Ally. Thanks for doing this, I know my mom really appreciates it.”

She turned towards the door and was reaching out for the knob when Astrid blurted, “Hey, Nancy?”

Nancy looked at her, blinking in surprise. “Yeah?”

“I never thanked you for saving my ass a month ago.” Astrid swallowed, taking a deep breath. “So thanks. Um...I’m pretty sure I would have died if not for you and Byers. Tell him I said thanks too. Of course, I’ll say it if I see him, but I mean, you’ll probably see him first. Not that I won’t still say it to him -”

“I’ll tell him,” Nancy cut her off with a laugh, and a smile that reached her eyes. “And thank you, too.”

She frowned slightly, racking her head. She didn’t remember doing anything for Nancy, but the girl had opened the door and left before she could ask.

So, anxiously, Astrid made her way downstairs.

There were five kids. Trying to piece together the information from Hopper and Steve together, she tried to identify them.

By their hair.

The boy with the shortest hair was Lucas, the boy with the curly hair was Dustin, and the redheaded girl was Max. She was fairly sure that Will was the one with the...mushroom haircut, for lack of better words, and Mike had curly-but-not-as-curly-as-Dustin hair.

Max was the one who greeted her first. She was sitting back with her arms crossed as she nodded to their babysiiter.

“Hey. Are you Astrid?”

“That’s me,” she answered, slinging off her bag, “hey, if I mix you guys up, correct me, okay? Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max?” she tried, pointing to all of them.

“You got us all right. Congratulations.” Dustin smiled widely at her, and then looked down at the monopoly board in front of him. “I own that already, Mike. Hey, is it true you hit a demogorgon with an axe?”

Astrid felt a smile grow on her face as she leaned against the wall. “I did. Is it true that you guys name all these monsters after Dungeons and Dragons terminology?”

Max and Will laughed, and the boy said with a smile, “Not me and Max. When these guys named the demogorgon, I wasn’t...there.”

There was a thick silence in the air after that, probably because everyone’s minds had jumped to where Will had actually been. Astrid saw Mike’s brows furrow in concern, and then he frowned.

“So…” Astrid began, trying to break the silence. “Where’s Jane?”

That was the wrong thing to say, apparently.

All the kids looked at Mike, who was now scowling. “Jane isn’t allowed out of her house unless it’s a special occasion. Monopoly isn’t special.”

Astrid opened her mouth to say that she had seen Jane the night she went to the hospital, but then closed it, realizing that Hopper had only brought her out because it was really late at night and he didn’t want her to be alone. And she didn’t want to make the kid upset.

So she sat down and watched them play.

After a few minutes, Lucas turned to her and said, “You wanna join in, Astrid?”

“Oh, no, I’m no good at monopoly.” That was true. That had definitely been Fishlegs’ and Snotlout’s game. She was more of a Sorry! girl, or even Candyland (even if it was entirely based on luck, yadda yadda yadda). Dungeons and Dragons was great too, but that was only because that was what she had grown up with, being friends with the nerdiest people on the planet. Steve had said the kids played it a lot. Was it because of her that they weren’t playing it now?

Another few minutes of just the kids talking, and then Dustin stood up with a bored look. “Guys, this is never gonna end. Let’s just do something else.”

“Like what?” Mike said, giving him a deadpanned look. “Seven up? There’s nothing to do.”

“Let’s talk to Steve’s girlfriend, then,” Max suggested with a shrug, and before Astrid could speak that she was in no world Steve’s girlfriend, Mike snapped back.

“You just wanna talk to her cause she can use an axe!”

“I mean, is that not cool? How many people do you know that know how to use axes?”

“I’m sure there’s plenty of people!”

“You’re just mad that she brought up El -”

And they kept shouting at each other, back and forth. Astrid exchanged a bewildered look with Will, who grimaced and gave her an apologetic look. Dustin started shouting, trying to get them to calm down, and Lucas was pinching the bridge of his nose.

Despite the fact that it was kids arguing - and that she might have a part in it - it reminded her so much of home that she smiled, ducking her head. Hiccup would be nursing a headache while Fishlegs tried to break up a fight between her and Snotlout, with the twins chanted on for them to let go of their words and fight with their fists instead.

“Alright, hey, stop it!” She stood up and clapped a few times until they looked at her. “You guys realize you don’t need to do everything as a group? This is a group gathering, yeah, but even best friends -”

“She is not my best friend,” Mike cut in, crossing his arms.

She went on as though she hadn’t heard him. “Even best friends need some time apart sometimes. So if you’re getting sick of each other, do your own things. I’d love to talk about my axe,” she said to Max with a small smile, “but, to set the record straight, I’m not dating your adopted big brother, guys. We’re just friends.”

She was grateful that they all took seemed to take it to heart. Dustin, Mike, and Lucas went upstairs, while Max and surprisingly, Will, plopped down in front of her, joining her on the floor.

“So, an axe? That’s so cool!” Max grinned, biting her lip, and Astrid smiled at her.

“Yeah. I got it back when I was living in Berk.” She sat back and leaned against the wall. “We were given weapon training there, we’re really...into Norse mythology and vikings, y’know?” She leaned forward. “One of my friends, he was never good at any fighting when he was younger. But he was really good at making the weapons, even if he couldn’t use them. He made me this.”

Will’s brows furrowed. “If....everyone learned how to fight...and your friend couldn’t...didn’t people make fun of him? Because he was different?”

He was speaking from full personal experience. Poor boy. She wasn’t the babysitting type, but even she was ready to pull Will Byers into a hug if he needed it. “Well, yeah, they did. A lot, actually.” She hummed softly, thinking of the small brunette eagerly telling her about his day before being shoved against the wall by some brute. “But he stuck with what he could do, what he was a natural at, and he got some recognition eventually. Lost a leg on the way...but that’s a story for another time.” She grinned, seeing both kids’ eyes widen in astonishment. “It’s alright, we make...we used to make fun of him a lot over it. Heck, he joked about it too. It was a running joke between all of us.”

Will smiled, sitting back with his hands supporting himself. “So he...he got to be someone, finally.”

Astrid nodded. “Yeah. But don’t think it has to happen. Sometimes it’s okay if you’re not someone. My friend, he became someone by being himself. Be yourself before anything else.” She let out a small laugh. “I know that sounds ridiculously cheesy, but it worked for him.”

And Will reminded her a lot of her Hiccup in his younger, awkward years.

While Max reminded her a lot of herself.

Damn, was she getting old?

“Thanks, Astrid.” Will grinned at her and she grinned back, crossing her arms.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re so cool,” Max breathed, leaning forward, “can you...teach me? How to use the axe?”

“Me too!”

Astrid smirked, resting her head in her hands. She was bonding with them! Well, not all of them, but two fifths of them! That was real progress! She was definitely going to proclaim this proudly to Steve. “If you can teach me to skateboard and you can take over my drawing lessons, sure.”

They both laughed - and she was really thankful that she had asked for the lowdown on them before coming here.

The rest of the time passed, for the most part, uneventfully. They all got together to watch Star Wars - which Astrid had zero interest in, but that was when she took the time to relax, so it was okay - and there was no arguing.

Mike still had yet to warm up to her, but Dustin and Lucas were trying their best (which she was grateful for). And Max and Will had seemed to have accepted her, which made her beyond elated.

By the time Ted Wheeler came back, Astrid was really looking forward to seeing these guys again. Maybe she could get on Mike’s good side by convince Hopper to let him and Jane see each other…

“Thanks again, Astoria,” Mr. Wheeler said, taking out his wallet.

She bit her tongue - that was the third time he’d gotten her name wrong - and then raised a hand. “Steve said he didn’t take any money.”

“Yes, you’re not Steve, though, are you?” he asked, chuckling at his own joke.

He didn’t take no for an answer (he’d probably been put up to it by his wife) so Astrid took the five dollars and left the house after saying goodbye to the kids.

They liked her, for the most part. It was a victory.

It felt significantly less colder, now that she was walking home.

Next chapter: Astrid just wants to focus on what the teacher is saying, but that’s difficult when Steve Harrington is pressing a note into her hand every minute.

Please send in requests!

#httyd #stranger things #astrid hofferson #steve harrington #stevestrid #valkyrie stories

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bubba532to · 5 years

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Bought From KINDLE UNLIMITED

Title: Shifters of Bear's Den

A Shifting Destinies Complete Box Set

Release Date: #AlreadyReleased

Author: Cecilia Lane

Reviewer: Ingrid Stephanie Jordan

Serial: Standalone, No Cliffhanger

#PRN #BearShifters #AssortedShifters

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

•••••••••••••• ♦️Just love twists and turns and that's what you get with this book. I loved it, this book captivates you from the first page, to the last-full of magic. There is everything in this mind blowing book - Adventure, Survival, Fear, Betrayal, Suspense, Action Packed, Loyalty, Hate, Love, shit load of Drama, Revenge, Sacrifice, Wowzer! Definitely a Must Read Series!

••••• Title: Forbidden Mate #1 🔹Leah Arden is a run away human, who caught her boyfriend with another woman, now she wants to stick it to him. She grabs something of his before she leaves, he follows her making her car crash down a cliff, by a magical town called Bearden.🔹Callum Strathorn is a Bear Shifter plus Chief of the Firefighters. His dad the Alpha has taken ill, Callum takes over the Mayor's seat while his brother Cole is now the FireChief. Rescuing a woman in a car crash is hard for everyone, there is not one human in Bearden, they don’t belong there.

••••• Title: Dangerous Mate #2 🔹Doctor Rylee Garland is human scientist sent by the government to study the shifters in Bearden. Going to a shifter community is a once in a life time job. Rylee was going to do her job to the best of her ability. Being assigned a big hunk as a bodyguard was definitely a distraction. But when it came to men she was broken and scared. This Major she was assigned to by the government was the worst and she knew he had an ulterior motive but what?🔹Cole Strathorn is a Bear Shifter plus a Fire Fighter in the magical town of Bearden. No one knew where the barrier was or did they? Cole's bear was uncontrollable loving fight at the drop of a hat. This is why I has been told to be a bodyguard to a scientist who smelt like Wildflowers, but the pisser is he was demoted to a babysiiter now. Cole needed to find out if this delicious little bit is a spy or a mate?

••••• Title: Hunted Mate #3 🔹Becca Holden aka:Becks is a FoxShifter, she left Bearden ten years ago because of a earth shattering tragedy, feeling alone she ran. Running from state to state, job to job her misery followed her, not paying attention to her surroundings she falls prey to hunters, the fear, the blood, she had to survive, escaping was Becca's only choice. When she finally did escape she ran back to Bearden. 🔹Nolan Byers is a Bear Shifter whose mate ran out on him, she has been back six months still refusing to acknowledge him. When a fire bug starts going crazy in Bearden the firefighters have there hands full, trying to keep it from the woods that surrounded Bearden. Then it got personal!

•••••

Title: Runaway Mate #4 🔹️Meghan Wilcox is a very rich human actress whose well known by her public, even though she hasn't worked in five years. But today she was running from a man she thought to be for her, as time went by he became a tyrant. Embarrassing her in front of everyone was it, she leaves the day before her wedding. Driving day and night she finally stops in Bearden. Thinking she was finally safe she gets kidnapped in her sleep by men her fiancee hired. Lucky for her she is saved by a Bear. Her life begins that night.🔹️Graham Jennings aka: Gray is a Firefighter Bear Shifter whose Bear is out of control. He knows soon his Alpha will be putting him out of his misery. Then everything changes one night. He saves a girl, he's accused of the kidnapping, he is set up the list goes on and on. Oh! He finds his MATE!

••••• Title: Stolen Mate #5🔹Everly Mathers is a Rare Jaguar Shifter who lives in an RV Caravan like gypsies. There Alpha believed there women were to cook, clean, breed and beaten. Everly was a midwife taking care of all the women in the caravan. When things got dicey she ran. 🔹️Sawyer Strickland is a Bear Shifter who takes in a pretty scarred and scared lady. He must protect her at all cost. But will she let him?

•••••

Title: Untamed Mate #6 🔹Mara is an Lioness Shifter. Watching her brother killed not being able to stop it, she had to participate with the evil to save the rest of her family. Now she’s under the city of Bearden in a cell for her crimes. She follows there demands to save the ones she loved and now she is in a cell beneath bearded to atone for the crimes she was forced to commit.🔹Hudson is a BearShifter, one thing he know is Mara is his mate. Now the only problem Hudson has is freeing Mara of her own guilt and bringing the other shifters in the loop. Will his love win or evil?

☄️ This author has written this series so realistic you feel like you are there. Definitely Phenomenal!! This book is my own translation of this series..

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