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candied-cae · 2 years

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And Who Are We At The End Of The World? - Needing To Do Something

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Chapter 7/? - - - Read it on AO3

Word Count : 8,007

Summary: In the aftermath of their first throw down with Vecna, it's time everyone started trying to get ready for "normal" life. Considering normal would mean a state of constant fear for his return to ruin what's left of their broken town. But they've all got to start putting the pieces back together somewhere.

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The rest of the day passed in a bit of a blur for everyone.

Susan stayed with Max in the hospital. She was a wreck as she held her daughter’s hand and just sobbed by herself. Across the hall, Wayne sat in a chair by Eddie and quietly watched over him. It might’ve felt awkward for Steve if he hadn’t practically slept through the whole day. Praise be to good hospital drugs and the doctors who order them. But he wasn’t the only one who practically missed all of Friday. Most of the Party slept the day away at their own homes. Even if they hadn’t missed so many hours over the days they were trying to figure out the Vecna thing, just the day before had been so rough that each of them felt tired all the way to their bones.

While they were all out of commission, the police did their job.

They spoke to Ms. Kelley, who was willing to talk about Chrissy’s panic attacks, hallucinations, and lack of sleep with them. She mentioned how Chrissy never wanted to say much, would outright refuse to say who it was, but always talked about someone important to her saying terrible things. Things that made her believe she’d never be enough. Not pretty enough, not skinny enough, not good enough. Someone she loved making her hate herself.

She had suspected that it was Chrissy’s mother because that’s just the kind of things mothers are so good at doing to their daughters. But, it wasn’t impossible to say that her boyfriend could’ve instilled these same ideas in her. That she could’ve feared him if she wasn’t ‘enough’. They reviewed her files at the school and saw a record of growing anxiety and fear right there in ink.

They stopped by Gareth, Jeff, and Bruce’s houses. Each of them confirmed what happened when Jason and his lackeys showed up at their band rehearsal. It all happened exactly as Lucas had said it did, and their families assured that they haven’t seen any of the kids in the Party come to see the boys or call their houses. So it was unlikely they’d have been able to make up the story and tell them what to say. And Gareth still had marks on his hand from Jason’s shoes that were pretty damning.

After that, they tracked down Andy. Found him alone, licking his wounds, back at Benny’s with the very same black eye Erica had promised them. They had him recount how pissed Jason was when Eddie joked at the basketball team’s expense in the cafeteria. And how Jason behaved when Chrissy didn’t show up for the afterparty. Admitted that, the next morning, when he made a joke about the body of a Hawkins student found on the news being Chrissy, Jason didn’t have a single thing to say about it. And he confirmed the night at Lover’s Lake that he was still going through Reefer Rick’s things when he heard all the commotion outside and couldn't go on the record for what happened to Patrick.

They even went to what was left of the Creel House. It was a complete devastation of debris. Like someone had ripped it apart right down the middle and everything has just kept caving in since. But they brought in excavators, and they started to uncover a lot more evidence. They found Jason’s body practically buried under the foundation with a lamp that must’ve nearly burned right through him from the looks of it. Along with various blood-splattered boards which later matched Jason, Lucas, and Max’s samples. They even found the gun Jason had bought, covered in his prints and missing two bullets, as well as a crushed Walkman with a Kate Bush tape.

Every little detail matched what the kids had said.

They might’ve not been able to find perfect evidence that Jason killed Chrissy… but they put together a lot more of the story. And everything that came to light, along with Jason’s unaccounted-for time, did point towards a very different answer than they had been expecting. When they took a look from this angle and noted: Jason’s pious rallying, the manhunt he initiated, on top of Max’s identical injuries, and the proof of Lucas's fight with him? All of it led to an explanation that Jason was an emotionally abusive partner, with something of a god complex, and skill with leading mob-like - or cult-like - behavior.

When that blend of superiority was butted against Eddie’s “I don’t give a fuck about your social hierarchy” attitude? When he was otherwise an undisputed king of the high school to everyone but 'The Freak'? That bred a lot of rage. And when Chrissy came to Eddie for weed to help her escape her boyfriend’s demand for perfection, Jason was so enraged that he broke into Eddie’s trailer, killed her for the treachery, and tried to kill Eddie until he ran off. He probably heard about the Victor Creel killings when he was younger and, when he was blind with fury, they served as an inspiration for the kind of pain he could inflict on someone.

From there, Jason killed Freddie for investigating the murder when he went off alone. Nancy might’ve even been next if she wasn’t busy talking to Wayne Munson and stuck with the police after. Then he killed Patrick for getting in the way of Eddie when he changed his mind. And finally, he chased down Lucas for leaving their side and helping Eddie, nearly killing Max as his revenge against him.

It made sense. And it meant that they almost ruined Eddie Munson’s life because things got out of hand too fast. They wouldn’t be able to officially close down the case and make a statement until they could actually talk to the guy, but it was looking like they’d be able to drop the charges on Eddie as long as his answers matched up.

The police still didn’t like how weird all the murders were. The level of cruelty and disfigurement while leaving no fingerprints or bruising… it was still incredibly weird and didn’t seem like anything that could be possible. But the mortician said, even though he couldn’t figure it out, that the science is always evolving.

“This could be something that makes more sense in the next five years than it does right now”, they excused. And so Powell didn’t worry himself with it beyond that. Decided it was something he didn’t need to understand today.

By the end of March 28th, the world was quiet for what felt like the first time all week for any of the members of the Party.

When morning breaks on Saturday the 29th though, Steve finds it quite loud again. A nurse was at his door bright and early to decide if he was really going to get to leave that day. She poked and prodded and asked way too many questions. Then she called in a doctor, who did the very same poking and prodding and asking. When they were satisfied, they handed him a plastic bag with the clothes he’d come in wearing, but then the clock struck 8 am. And Dustin and his mother arrived.

The boy was in another graphic tee under an open button-up but was missing his current favorite hat, the Thinking Cap. His mother, on the other hand, was in a long dress. It was a pale lilac color, covered with floral patterns, with a necklace and big earrings that matched.

There was less poking and prodding from these two, but they did deliver another barrage of questions when Steve just wanted to get dressed back into his gross clothes from two days ago because it would at least be an improvement upon the robe he was wearing.

He pulled on his WarZone branded get-up - even though it smelled like something he’d rather throw in the wash than wear - except for the brown leather jacket. He didn’t put that piece on. When he looked at it, he saw the dried, crusting blood. It wasn’t even just on the inside from his own injuries. The back was splashed with it.

From Eddie.

Eddie, who was still unconscious.

The doctor said it wasn’t anything to get worked up about yet. His body had been through a lot of stress and just needed more time to rest before he’d be ready to get up. Which was probably a good thing anyway since he couldn’t mess up his stitches if he wasn’t moving around.

Either way, the thought of putting back on the jacket stained with Eddie’s blood churned something in the pit of Steve’s stomach. He chose to shove the thing back into the plastic bag and try not to think about it. He fished his watch out of the sack and put it on his wrist before pitifully looking at the state of himself in the mirror. He’d gone ahead and cleaned himself up a bit the previous day between his naps, but his hair… oh his hair. It was the flattest it’s been since he figured out how all the different kinds of hair products worked. He combed his fingers through the locks for a moment before he just gave up. There wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to improve his current situation until he was back in his bathroom at home.

When he emerged from the bathroom, he honestly expected to see Wayne in the chair by Eddie again. It was already 8:17. But the chair sat empty. Well, it was none of his business what time the guy's uncle was going to be by. And if his gaze lingered on Eddie for a moment longer than was casual, because he remembered being the kid with injuries from monsters who didn’t have his family by his side... well, it didn’t matter.

Steve turned his attention to Dustin, who was gearing up for another hug, and smacked his hand on his head to ruffle his hair while holding him an arm's length away. He had to at least try and protect this newly forming scar tissue. But just as easily as Steve dodged Dustin’s embrace, Claudia had him in hers.

Steve was helpless. What was he supposed to do? Push away the woman kind enough to drive him home? Push away the most recent hug he’s shared with someone who wasn’t one of his rotten kids? Alright, maybe that line of thinking was bordering on ‘too sad’. Steve returned the hug and looked over his shoulder to see Dustin sticking his tongue out in tame retaliation. Guess the little stinker at least tries to tone it down around his mom.

When she released her hold on him, Steve did wonder for a passing moment when was the last time his own mother actually hugged him. At least, hugged him beyond the kind of polite courtesy she’d provide as she was headed out the door. Beyond the quick squeeze and “Call if you need anything” before she was rolling her well-used suitcase away.

But again, Steve’s head reminded him that those themes are ‘too sad’ for right now. Thankfully, there weren’t any tears trying to burst through that he had to fight back, otherwise that would've just been way too awkward to deal with so early. He just needed to get home before he had a chance for any more embarrassing moments.

“Alright,” he sniffled nonchalantly,” Let’s get out of here. I am so tired of these white walls and all that beeping.”

They stopped at the nurse’s station so he could complete his check-out paperwork, and within the next fifteen minutes, they were exiting the front entrance. As they walked into the parking lot, it was the first time Steve really looked at the Henderson’s family car. It was this mustard-yellow color that honestly made a lot of sense for them. They seemed like a bright, loud bunch - without being too gaudy like the TodFather was - but just a little more toned down, a little more down-to-earth.

When they started to climb in, Mrs. Henderson playfully snapped at her son for trying to take the passenger seat,” Dustin! Steve is our guest, you go in the back.”

“It’s fine, Mrs. Henderson.” He tried to shrug it off to just get on his way home,” I’m alright with the back.”

“Nonsense. Dusty can wait until we get you home to hop up front.”

The two boys looked at each other and switched doors, both unable to fight against her.

As Steve got settled into the seat, before Dustin had lowered himself in, Claudia turned to him and said,” And it’s really Ms. Henderson, honey. Didn’t want to correct you yesterday with you still laid up in bed, but I haven’t been a Mrs. for a little while now.”

Steve nodded without reply and cast an eye to the kid in the back, trying not to be obvious. He’d noticed that Dustin never talked about his dad, he wasn’t oblivious enough about the little guy to have not. He figured there was something going on there, but never was really sure how to ask. But that answered that question, at least a little bit more.

Dustin closed the back door and Steve was about to start giving his mother directions, when their driver waved her hand at him,” Don’t worry about that, I know where is it. The Sinclairs and I looked it up in the phonebook when we went out last night and picked up your car from by the lake. Wanted to make sure it was at your house instead of out there in the sticks.”

“Oh, you didn’t need to-”

“Hush. I told you, if there’s anything you need, to just ask us. All of us parents are very grateful you’ve been keeping an eye on our kids these last few years. Especially after the scare we had last night.”

As Ms. Henderson pulled to a stop at the red light, she turned over to look at him,” There aren’t enough words in the world to say thank you. The news says there’s already been over a dozen casualties. Our kids aren’t a part of that number. So if we can pick up your car, drive you home, or drop off groceries or casseroles or cookies, we will. We want to.”

Steve is left just looking at her, silenced as she casually turned her attention back to the road just in time for the light to go green. They pull through the intersection and he doesn’t know what to say. It’s not like he doesn’t know how to talk to adults or parents, but they’ve never done this kind of stuff for him. They’ll sidle up next to his mom and dad at parties to comment on his success in sports, they’ll grab his chin and croon over what a handsome boy he’s been growing up into, and they’ll smile to each other as they wax on without bothering to talk to him.

He knew how to handle that. Knew how to paste a smile across his face while saying “Thank you, sir” and “Thank you, ma’am”. Just like he was supposed to.

Joyce and Hopper were a little different. They’d known about how involved he was with all the Upside Down stuff, so it wasn’t really the same when they saw him. Joyce bandaged him up after he’d faced fights with Jonathan and the demogorgon, Billy and the demodogs - though the paramedics handled him after the Russian affair - but that was it. She cleaned him up, said thank you, and maybe looked at him a second too long. Like, maybe she was deciding if she could do anything more. But Jim would always emerge about then, and clap him on the shoulder so hard he nearly fell over with how woozy his head had felt after the fights.

It was nice the way they had looked at him and saw something more than other people did. But even that was all just the immediately after terror, coming down from conflict, cleaning up stuff.

And here, Henderson’s mom was bringing up food like she planned to check in on him.

That concept was foreign to him. That kind of being cared for isn’t something Steve knows about. Much less knows how to handle and respond to.

Which is why Dustin was his saving grace when he quipped in,” Seriously dude, she went crazy yesterday. Our kitchen is overflowing. You have to take something off our hands, or we’ll never finish it before it goes to shit.��

His mother glanced at him in the rearview mirror and commented,“ Dustin! Language. And I didn’t have anything else to do while you slept until 6:30.”

“I was tired!”

“Yes, you were. And, I do appreciate that you at least fell asleep on the couch.” She nodded before leaning over to Steve,” Our kitten, Tews, curled up on him the whole time. It kept the little baby out of my way while I was cooking, and it was just so adorable. I took these pictures-”

“Mom!” he tried to deter her, but Claudia pushed through.

“My favorite is this one where Tews had rolled over on her back and ended up right on top of Dusty’s face-”

“She tried to suffocate me!”

“It was very cute, Steve. If you wanted to see any of those.”

“MOM!”

Steve couldn't help the smile that tugged at his cheeks.

So this was the Henderson’s? They talked to each other. And not just asking for a basic rundown of how work and school were going. They spent time together, looked at each other, laughed, and teased… It was interesting watching the way they were with each other. Steve might've gotten pretty attached to Dustin over the last two years, but there was surprisingly little overlap between him and Dustin’s mother to have seen it before now.

“You know, Ms. Henderson, I think I would like to see that one.”

The boy in the backseat erupted at the betrayal,“ STEVE!”

“It’s really a very sweet photo. When you get to feeling better, come stop by the house, and I’ll show them all off to you. You can also see the photo albums I have of Dusty from when he was a baby-”

“STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!” he screamed to stop her,” YOU’RE BOTH EVIL! THIS IS CHILD ABUSE!”

By the time Steve and Claudia were done teasing the poor boy and came down from their laughter, they’d arrived at the Harrington residence. It was time for Steve to be alone again. He didn’t let the fact reach his face and instead kept the smile up as he began to climb out of the car. He pulled the house keys from the hospital bag and watched Claudia wait to drive away until he’d unlocked the door and waved goodbye. It was a small detail, but it stuck. She bothered to make sure he was able to make it inside before she left, just like Steve does for the kids, but has never witnessed from this angle himself. But once they were gone, down the road, Steve was met with silence.

Just like usual.

He dragged his feet through the entrance, kicked off his shoes, and let the bag fall from his wrist to the floor as he made it to the hall table where the house phone sat. It was right next to the tape recording answering machine, which had a little red light blinking up at him. He still felt weird about it. He’s the only one he knows who has one at their house, most people don’t like the idea of leaving a message and would just call back later anyway. But his parents got one set up when his father started taking more business trips, and they got the thing updated to the newest model pretty much every New Year.

He took a breath in before he pushed down on the play button and listened to the machine wind the tape back.

“Hello, Stephen.”

It was his mother’s voice that played from it. Because, of course, it was. She didn’t sound tipsy at all, which is enough of a surprise, considering Steve can hardly picture her without a martini in her hand. So, it meant she probably called yesterday morning before she'd had time for a drink.

“I’m sure you’re still at the hospital right now. We heard from a nurse down there at Memorial. She said you got a bit hurt in the earthquake, came in with a few friends. It sounded like it was a big one. But I know you’re an adult, and you can handle yourself.”

Yeah, he was just a little beat up with a couple of buddies. Not a big deal. Nothing to get worked up about. Nothing to bother getting on a plane and coming back home over. Why would anyone think to do that for their kid?

“When you get home, give us a callback. I-” There’s a muffled sound which was probably Mr. Harrington talking to her.

Because why should he want to leave his own voice for his son to listen to fresh out of the hospital?

“And your father wants to make sure nothing at the house got broken, so if you could check around before you call, he’d like to know. Anyway, we're needed at a lunch meeting with a couple of chair members and their wives, so we’re heading off. Don’t forget to check in when you get this, baby. I don’t want to worry.” And then the machine clicked to let him know that’s the end of the recording. That’s all she had to say, so she hung up the phone.

He just stared down at it. His dad wanted to know if anything of his was broken, but besides that, he had nothing he wanted to say himself. His mom just wanted a call back so she didn’t have to feel guilty or think about him too much… The perfect image of parenthood.

In the back of his mind, he whispered to himself,” She didn’t even say ‘Love you’.”

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

It’s not like he expected one.

His father never said it, and even with his mother, it was a rare occurrence. She’d say it easier when she was intoxicated. So maybe it was just his luck she called before their lunch, where she surely got a few glasses deep. It wasn’t a surprise, but it still stung.

He bit his lip and just walked away. Took the stairs slower than he usually does, trying not to jostle his fresh wounds, and he grabbed a spare set of clothes from his room as he made his way to the bathroom. If nothing else, he wanted a damn shower.

It wasn’t incredibly eventful. He shucked off the clothes that’d been dirtied with blood and grime and decided he didn’t even want to look in the mirror until he got cleaned up. When he stepped into the warm spray, he leaned back until it was pelting right into the crown of his head. He didn’t even move. Didn’t reach for shampoo or soap. Didn’t run his hands through his hair. Didn’t wipe away the water as it trailed over his closed eyes. He just stood in it, letting it hit him in the otherwise silent bathroom of the far-too-empty house. He couldn’t tell how long he just stood there, but, after a bit, the water didn’t feel warm enough.

He was pulled from his trance to turn the handle up. Just a little bit at first, but it still wasn’t warm enough. A little bit more, but it wasn’t enough. He kept turning it higher as the water steamed. Once he might call it ‘nearly scalding’ he left the handle alone and let the water strike into his back like it’d be enough to work over the knots and sore muscles. Like its almost burning touch would soothe the open scrapes left behind from the Upside Down.

And it doesn’t. But it does help.

Eventually, the world didn’t feel like too much to handle. Eventually, he was able to make himself turn the temperature down and go through his usual bathroom routine. Shampoo scrubbed hard against his scalp and washed out, conditioner run through the length and left to sit, soap on a loofa against every surface of his body until he started to actually feel clean… he even spared a glance at the razor he hasn’t used since he did competitive swim. But Dustin’s pestering wasn’t going to make him pick it up. Even if his dates didn't love to rake their fingernails through his chest hair, at this point, it was Steve's little spot of rebellion against the little nerd. He rinsed out the conditioner and stepped into the steamy bathroom. The mirror was fogged over, which was probably a good thing because he really hated looking at his stitches. Something about seeing the way they go into his skin usually made him cringe.

He pulled on the clean clothes - a dusty blue sweatshirt and a pair of jeans - before he rubbed the water off the mirror to see himself. And he still looked like a wreck. He was a clean wreck now, but a wreck all the same. Tired eyes, bumps and bruises, messy hair hanging around his face. He grabbed a small hand towel from the closet and shook it against his head until his hair wasn’t still dripping. Then he descended the stairs back to the kitchen, very intently keeping his eyes off the phone as he passed by.

He shuffled through the fridge and cabinets until he ended up with a container of honey granola and laid on the couch to eat it by the handfuls. Was there really a reason to go through the trouble of bowls or spoons if there was no one around to see his less than mannerly approach to breakfast? Steve flicked on the tv, and every channel he tried was running updates on the earthquake.

Statistics of casualties, injuries, missing persons, mass exodus, property damage, and seismic magnitude.

All of which made him feel like shit.

They were supposed to make sure this didn’t happen. They were supposed to deal with Vecna so that everyone else could just keep being ignorant and happy. They failed. And no one was even running the good news of Eddie’s innocence because the police hadn’t done a new press release yet. It was only a few minutes before he couldn’t keep listening to the cycling news stories. He pulled himself up off the couch and started thinking about stuff to donate, but he honestly wasn’t really sure what he should be putting together. Surely, the struggling people of Hawkins have no use for his trophies and medals, probably not the knickknacks his mom's interior decorator had strewn about the house, and nothing in his father's office would be much use.

He returned to the phone set, and instead of calling his absentee parents, dialed Robin Buckley’s house.

“This is the Buckleys.” a man’s voice announced when the line picked up.

“Hello, sir. This is Steve Harrington, Robin wanted to make plans about running donations over to the high school.” he got used to speaking through his introduction and including why he was calling with her parents. They still didn’t like him all that much, so it definitely helped to have a good excuse to call.

“Alright…” her dad replied.

A few seconds passed, some sounds of muttering and muffled movement came through, and suddenly Robin’s voice was the one in his ear,” Mornin’ Steve. You don’t want to sleep in before we get everyone together? It’s not even 10:30 yet.”

“Nah,” he shrugged, not like she could even see it,” I was asleep pretty much all of yesterday. Ready to do something.”

Ready to get out of this big, quiet, empty house.

“Well, I’ve already got a box packed over here, so I’m ready whenever you want to come by. Nancy called yesterday and said she and Dustin already had their stuff together, so we can drop by to grab them too.”

“Yeah, yeah. So, quick question, Rob; what sort of stuff should I be grabbing?”

“Umm…” She hummed for a moment, mulling it over,” They’ve got people who don’t have anywhere to stay sleeping on cots in the gymnasium, so blankets and sheets would be good. Clothes you don’t wear anymore. I think Nancy said she was throwing in some toys and books. All that sort of stuff people could use right now.”

“Okay, give me something like half an hour to get stuff together, and I’ll be at yours,” he told her.

“Sounds like a plan. But, you’re going to fix your hair for me, right?” her voice took the familiar lilt of her teasing.

Steve didn’t even answer, just rolled his eyes.

“Because as much as I was honored to see your natural display, it is unnerving to bear witness to ‘The Hair’ as it was the other night.”

“Jesus Christ,” he groaned,” You’re too much.”

He could hear her smile through the phone,“ You love me, though.”

“Debating that decision now.”

“And you’ll still show up for me anyway.”

“We’ll see.”

“Yes, we will.” She snickered before adding,” In 30 minutes.”

“Goodbye, Robin.”

“Bye Bye, Stev-”

Steve rolled his eyes again as he set the phone back on the receiver a moment early, just to be a little mean.

While he walked around the house, he bothered to mentally inventory the rest of it. His father’s office? Fine, only a few things fell off the bookshelves, but nothing was broken. His parent’s room? Practically pristine considering how often it’s vacant. Guest rooms? Look just like they always do. Closets, the attic, the basement? Nothing to note. Every square inch of the place was, at worst, disheveled.

In between tidying up a little, he put together a pretty good pile of spoils. A couple of spare linens and blankets, old and still nice clothes were the obvious things. But he didn’t really have any toys or games or books, so he thought to raid his parent bathroom closet. They had a huge collection of unnecessary travel-size toiletries. Both things they themselves had bought for travel, as well as items they brought back from hotels and such. His mom originally got into a habit of making his dad bring them home with him before she started accompanying him on his business trips, so she'd know he actually stayed at the places he said he did. And now that she just went with him all the time, she brought them home herself. Because she’s always had sticky fingers for small things she doesn’t need.

Now, they’ve got a shelf covered in mini bottles of shower products, toothpaste, mouthwash, and even deodorant that no one uses. They seemed like the kind of things that would be smart to bring in. He was a little proud of himself for thinking of it. He stopped by his bathroom one last time, to brush his teeth and run some pomade through his hair. Then he tucked everything away into the trunk of his car before finally returning to the landline. He stared down at it with buzzing nerves before deciding to bite the bullet and get it over with. He dialed for his parent’s rental in Washington.

“Don’t pick up, don’t pick up, don’t pick up…” he muttered into his hand as his teeth worried against his bottom lip.

Eventually, the ringing ended, and he was greeted with a voice telling him to leave a message or try calling the front desk at his father’s office instead.

“It’s Steve. I got out of the hospital okay and checked out the house. Nothing’s broken or damaged, the water's running and the electricity is working fine. Everything looks good over here. Uh, nothing on me’s broken, and I just stayed the two nights, so the hospital bill shouldn’t be too bad. Anyway, I was just checking in while I’m here like you asked. Going to head out in a bit, so you might get the machine if you call back again…” he found that his voice faded off a second too soon.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to punctuate the voicemail with an ‘I love you’ or not. He knows she’d probably like to hear it. Kids are supposed to tell their parents they love them, after all. But the pettier part of him says that since she didn’t say it in hers, he didn’t need to leave it for her in his.

“Bye.” he simply concluded before putting the phone back down and rushing to get out the front door in case one of them happened to call right back.

The drive to Robin’s is easy. It’s muscle memory for Steve at this point to flow through the suburbs away from Loch Nora down to her place on Redding Drive. As he parked his car in his usual spot just past her mailbox, he spotted her already waiting for him, seated on the steps of her porch. She stood up, bringing into her arms a box that looks light enough he didn’t feel like he needed to help her get it in the popped trunk.

She approached the car, but stopped a few feet away and looked at Steve like she was waiting for something.

“Well? Come on, let’s go,” he told her through the open passenger window.

A smirk found her lips,“ Told you you’d come for me anyway.” she chimed with that big smile as she dropped her items next to his and closed the compartment.

“Just get in. We’ve got places to be.”

“I know,” she said as she plopped herself into the passenger seat.

“So, how’re you feeling?” she asked, checking over him with searching eyes that made him feel like he needed to cover up more.

“I swear you’re probably the fifth person to ask me that today-”

She cut him off with a raised finger,“ Am I hearing you right? Are you complaining that people care about you enough to ask?”

He raised his own in opposition,“ I’m not complaining-”

“It sounds kind of like complaining,” she affirmed, connecting their raised fingers like they were Elliot and E.T.

He dropped his hand in defeat and simply told her,“ Buckle up, Buckley.” as he got ready to pull away from the curb.

“Yeesh, what’s got Steve Harrington tied up in knots?” she wondered as she clicked the seat belt into place.

After a beat of silence, Steve decided to just change the subject entirely as they drove away from her house,” So, have you heard anything from Keith about the state of our employment yet?”

”Not yet. My parents told me that the strip downtown looks fine, so there shouldn’t be any damage to the building itself. But I don’t know what the plan is doing to be about people going back to work right now. That new mayor had a segment on the news last night, said the city government was checking all the infrastructure in town before letting people back into the buildings and would take everything on a 'case-by-case basis to get Hawkins up and running smoothly again'. But there’s not even been a decision on if the school’s going to get back in session, and Monday’s only two days away, so I don't think that's really going to happen on schedule. Especially if people are living in the gymnasium right now. And he said the priority would be making sure the essential businesses kept up first; power plant, trash service, postal service, the bus route, and all that stuff. So I don’t know how quickly they’ll be getting to us kids with part-time-” she paused and motioned to him,” -or full-time jobs at the local video store.”

Steve was grateful for her rambling schpeel. It gave him a minute to get out of his head about his parents. He noticed that just listening to her talk could pull him away from a bad mood pretty easily.

“Damn… greatest Spring Break ever. There’s been half an apocalypse, we’ve got friends in comas, and now we can’t even save some more cash watching movies between customers.” he shook his head at the loss.

Robin sighed wistfully,“ You’re telling me. I had planned this week to finally get you to sit through Victor/Victoria…”

“That’s the Julie Andrews one, right?” he asked, pretty sure he remembered Robin saying she was the lead actress in it.

“Yeah”

“Well, if we still have jobs next week, I’ll let you pop the tape in, no difficulty from me.”

“Don’t make me a promise you won’t keep, Harrington. I can’t afford to have you break my heart right now, too.”

There was a somber tone at the end of the joke, Steve looked at Robin hanging her head out the window, and asked,“ We been thinking about Vickie?”

She nodded her head, but kept her eyes off of him,“ We’ve been thinking about Vickie. Vickie and her dumb, stupid boyfriend and the fact that he gets to give her dumb, stupid kisses. I know I said I was going to get over it because it was just my love life against the end of everything as we know it, but…”

“It’s not so easy to just get over it.” he knowingly finished for her.

She agreed,“ No, it is not.”

“Well, if it’s still bothering you, I’ll listen to you rant all night long.” she turned in her seat to look at him, so he shrugged and added,” I’ll even let you give me dumb, stupid kisses if you need to.”

He threw on a big pout and turned to her as Robin gasped and smacked his arm. He threw up a finger to add his condition,” Only on my cheek though! Because, no offense, but you’re a lesbian, Robin! I don’t like you like that! We are as platonic as platonic gets.”

She shook her head at him,“ Platonic with a capital P.”

“Platonic with a capital P,” he swore back.

“You’re so dumb.” she lovingly joked as she reclined back into the seat.

“So I’ve been told. But you still bother to keep me around anyway. Must love me or something.”

“Guess I must.”

By the time it was almost noon, Steve was pulling to the Wheeler’s driveway with Robin and Dustin in tow. They all go up to the door to knock and get greeted by Karen. She smiled at them and offered to have them inside to eat something, but they all noticed the other car in the driveway and the guests at the table, and just decided they’d rather be on their way than seated with some strangers while Ted grumbles about everyone eating him out of house and home. So Karen called her daughter down from her room. The girl came from the top of the stairs with an overflowing box of her own in her hands. Which, upon seeing, prompted the four of them to unpack their boxes and reorganize them all in the driveway. All the bedding went in one box, clothes in another, Steve’s toiletries sat on top of the canned food, and games and books were being put together when Karen came out with a final box of stuffed animals she said she just came across in the attic.

All four of them pile back into Steve’s car once they have the boxes sorted, Robin in the passenger with Dustin and Nancy looking mildly displeased in the back, and they started on their way. It was at the moment Steve was pulling out of the driveway that Nancy spoke up about something she noticed when she was brought home the day before.

“Did you guys see the government suits around town?”

“Yeah” Dustin answered simply.

“They came back?” Steve asked, looking in the rearview mirror for a second to catch Nancy’s eyes.

“Yeah. I didn’t think they would. El’s not even here anymore, and Hopper was, like, our only point of contact for them, so…” Nancy shrugged to Dustin and Robin who were looking at her,” I just figured we were kind of on our own. But I saw a few of them walking around a lot of the bigger damage sites while I was going home yesterday. The library, city hall, and I’m pretty sure one was waiting outside the hospital when we all left.”

“So how long have they been in Hawkins…” Steve mumbled, more to himself than anyone in the car.

Nancy started to answer anyway,“ No clue, but-”

“Why haven’t they tried talking to any of us?” Robin asked.

“I’m not sur-”

“Wait a minute,” Dustin interrupted, voice worried,” They’re not going to let Eddie take the fall to keep eyes off the Upside Down stuff, right?”

“Exactly why I brought it up, I think we need to talk to them and get them on the same page. To make sure they don’t start peddling some coverup story with falsified evidence that will mess things up for Eddie after we might finally have the cops on our side.”

“Yeah, yeah. Um, do we want to do that after we go by the high school or…?” Steve started to ask.

“Well,” Robin reasoned,” If they’re trying to keep an eye on things, they’ll probably have someone at the high school too, right?”

The two in the back seat nodded in agreement.

“Alright, so mission donate to the needy slash convince the government agency to not fuck us over?” Steve offered to make sure he knew where he was driving.

“Mission Supply and Demand” Dustin corrected.

Steve looked into the mirror and locked eyes with Dustin, a disappointed expression on his face. A little annoyed that the kid felt the need to one-up him, and a lot annoyed that he didn’t come up with the name. It was pretty smooth. The kid might have an inflated ego, but dammit if it isn't a little earned. Not that Steve’s going to say that to him.

“What? That was a good one!” Dustin argued.

The driver sighed and yielded,“ Mission Supply and Demand”

When they pull into the school parking lot, Nancy starts assigning them boxes. With his limp, she only let Dustin even look at the bedding, Robin got the food and hygienic items, Nancy took the stuffed animals, and Steve was piled with the box of books and games on top of the box of clothes. It takes practically no time at all for them to drop them off at the table and feel like they can’t just walk away.

Maybe they all felt guilty about not stopping all of this from happening… but, not even a minute later, they were all volunteering.

Robin walked the food over to the lunch station and starts helping out making sandwiches for pick up, Dustin trailed along to get a tray of water cups to pass out to everybody at their cots, and Nancy and Steve were shown to the apparel table to sort everything out by age. Nancy told Steve to keep an eye out for anyone who looked like the secretive government operative type, and they split the gym in half to make it easier. Leaving Steve the perfect view of one Vickie Nelson sliding up right next to Robin.

They were spreading peanut butter and grape jelly onto bread side by side, and for a second Steve was preparing himself to listen to Robin’s rant later. About how she should have done this, and shouldn’t have done that, and how stupid it is to hope… but then he saw her smile. Vickie was saying something, and Robin was smiling at her. A few seconds later and they were laughing together. Robin looked like she was stuck between being terrified out of her mind and thrilled beyond reason. But she was smiling in a special Robin Buckley way that said it was going really, really well. So Steve resigned himself to just smile back at them, and he’d ask Robin about how it went later.

“About damn time…” he hummed pleasingly to himself.

“What?” Nancy asked, having barely overheard the mumble, and not enough to be able to tell what he said.

“Nothin’. Was just happy Dustin’s managing fine without his crutch right now.” Steve answered with a nod to Henderson weaving between makeshift beds and asking if people were thirsty.

“Yeah, I was glad to see he wasn’t really needing it too badly today. That kid likes getting in trouble too much to be laid up in bed.” she agreed.

“That’s what I was thinking,” Steve replied with a warm chuckle, which brought a few of Nancy’s giggles to the surface.

And then Steve caught himself thinking about how comfortable it was, laughing with Nancy again. It was weird, the two of them. They were in fits of love three years ago, breaking each other’s hearts a year and a half ago, nothing to each other until monsters rose again last summer, and here they were now; organizing kid's clothes and laughing about Dustin Henderson.

It was weird, but it was right. He couldn’t figure any other way to think about it, besides it being right. He likes that he and Nancy are talking again. Perhaps, maybe just maybe, he likes-

“There!” Nancy whispered with urgency.

Steve turned to look over his shoulder and saw the person Nancy was pointedly looking at. It was a woman wearing sunglasses indoors, a navy blue pantsuit, with one hand permanently affixed in her pocket, probably holding onto a gun, while the other held tightly to a leather briefcase. She had a short cut of dark brown hair framing her face and bold red lipstick that, honestly, seemed like it would make her stand out a bit much for someone who’s supposed to be keeping a low profile.

Nancy put down the shirt she was folding on top of a stack and glanced at the team leader who told them to sort clothes.

“Cover for me,” she said quickly, as she stepped away from their station and towards the mystery woman.

Nancy took weighty steps across the gym floor to her. She set her face to look serious, determined to get the answers she wanted. As she closed in, the woman turned to her, but before she could speak, Nancy was starting.

“You’re with Doctor Owens’s team. Right?”

The woman paused for a moment and answered with only a recognizing,“ Nancy Wheeler.”

And for some reason, that just pissed her off more.

“I take it, that’s a yes.”

The woman looked around the room, pulled on an attempt at a sweet smile, and started to ask,“ Why don’t we take this outside-”

But Nancy cut her off,“ How long have you known?”

“Excuse me?”

She took a step closer to the woman and set her tone sterner,“ How long have you known we were having another situation in Hawkins before you bothered to show up?”

Her faux expression slipped a bit.

“We didn’t stop keeping an eye on this town after the girl left if that’s what you’re asking.” She breathed and, when Nancy didn’t speak up, continued to admit,“ We’ve known the whole time, dear. We’ve been here since the cheerleader-”

“The whole time? And you just- you just let it happen?” Nancy sneered the words out.

How dare they? How dare this staff who was supposed to keep things in check just do nothing? They didn’t step in, didn’t talk to anyone who knew, didn’t do anything to help them while they were left to try and fight off that monster Vecna-

“Let’s take this outside.” the woman repeated, insisting on the idea through her gritted teeth.

#This chap is doing so much #Diving into Eddie being confirmed not a murderer?#Starting the Hawkins' Moms Support Club for Steve?#Dipping into Dustin's Family Life?#Introducing Steve's Family Life?#The beginning of the Robin/Vickie that's going to be super cute (if for just a little while)?#Some more Badass Take-No-Shit Nancy time?#This chap did it all... BUT NEXT CHAP?!?!?!#Oh. Everyone needs to buckle in for the next chap.#I'm going to be doing some sad some happy some funny - and I swear on Dustin's mom... Eddie will get to talk!#And yeah - I'm adjusting the Everyone-Returns-To-Hawkins timeline a bit... don't worry. It'll be great.#Stay tuned ❤️✨#Steve Harrington #Eddie Munson #Steddie #Steveddie #Steve x Eddie #Nancy Wheeler #Robin Buckney #Ronance #Robin x Nancy #The Fruity Four #Stranger Things #Stranger Things 4 #Stranger Things 4 spoilers #Stranger Things 4 volume 2 spoilers #stranger things fanfiction #ST4 fanfic #Steddie Fanfic #Ronance Fanfic

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