Chapter Text
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December 22
The Saturday before Christmas, Steve drove across Roane County to go to the big mall in Denville. This was the first Christmas he was spending with other people in a really long time, and he wanted to get everyone something special. He found some necklaces for Joyce and Claudia, tehy were really nice. Not quite as expensive as the stuff his mom wore, because he really couldn’t afford that. But something nice none the less. He also found a really cheesy jewlery set for kids, it was a necklace, bracelet, and clip on earrings. It had gaudy pink cubic zirconia stones and it was all heart shaped. It was very clearly designed for young girls, but Steve thought El might like it. The few times they had met, she seemed to really appreciate the things she missed out on. He wouldn’t dare get something like that for Max, but it would make El feel happy.
The mall wasn’t really a great place to get the kids' gifts, so he drove back to Hawkins. The record store was having a big pre-Christmas sale. He wanted the new Wham! album, Jonathan’s teasing be damned. It got released while he was in the hospital, and then he got caught up in the whole babysitting thing, so he never really got a chance to listen to it.
While he was at the New Arrivals table he saw off in the corner with the rock and metal stuff he saw a tape. It was mostly black, but it said in small letters “concert: the cure live”. Steve recognized the name from the tapes Will had played and figured it would be the perfect gift, so he grabbed it.
He heard a voice call from behind, ”Long time no see my King!”
Steve rolled his eyes, and turned around, “Always a pleasure, Munson.”
Eddie looked down at his hands, and smiled, “Well what do we have here? You might be getting taste just yet.”
“What?”
“The Cure? I don’t go for that goth shit, metalhead through and through, but my friend likes it a lot. It’s certainly better than ABBA or any of that disco shit”
“Hey! What’s wrong with ABBA?” Steve wanted to be annoyed, this guy he had just met was insulting one of his favorite bands, but he couldn’t help but let a small smile grace his lips.
“ABBA sucks dude!” Eddie grinned, and Steve just rolled his eyes.
“Whatever man, The Cure tape’s a gift for a friend.” Steve looked at Eddie’s tapes, and it seemed cool. Eddie seemed cool. He wasn’t cool, not to the kids. He was just Mike’s sister’s shitty ex girlfriend. He didn’t know about their games or their movies, and they all hated Wham! “Actually, you know about music, Right? Don’t you have that band?”
Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed and Steve worried he had said something wrong, but he started to nod. He let out a quiet, “Uh, yeah. It’s Corroded Coffin, I play guitar and sing.”
“Do you think you can help me pick out some music for my friends? I’m trying to get Christmas presents.” Steve internally fist pumped, but he wasn’t enough of a loser to do that externally yet.
“Um, sure. What are you looking for?” Eddie seemed calmer, almost excited, and that made Steve excited. He really wanted to get something good for Max, she still seemed guilty over everything that happened with Billy. She was just a kid, but that little window into her life terrified him.
“I’m, there’s someone –she’s going through a really hard time– I don’t know. Maybe something to like help her? Make her feel like someone else gets it? Even if that person isn’t me, cuz like I know I’m pretty stupid.”
Eddie fixed him with a really long and indecipherable stare. It felt kind of scary, Eddie’s big eyes bearing into him like that. But before he could tell him nevermind, he can find christmas gifts for the kids on his own like a good babysitter, he took off across the store. “If you tell anyone I’m giving you recommendations other than Ozzy and Metallica, I just might have to kill you. But try Kate Bush, kinda gets that angst right and she has killer vocals.”
“Thanks! She’ll love it! Um, I was gonna get the Weird Al tape, but he already has it.” Steve wanted to get Dustin a stand up album, but he wasn’t sure if it was a thing about the music or the comedy. Dustin really liked musicals, he and Will would listen to some together.
“Oh! I know just the thing!” Eddie practically sprinted to some corner Steve had never bothered to check out. He came back with some parody Beatles album and a weird looking album with a green tongue. “Monty Python, the superior musical comedians.”
“You’re really good at this. Uh let’s see, I don’t really know what Lucas likes. He’s really into like science fiction stuff and when we watch MTV he likes the weird music videos, like stuff with a really good story.” Steve realized he didn’t know that much about Lucas’ music taste and decided he was going to change that next time they hung out.
“Purple Rain, easy. Get him to watch the movie, but the album’s pretty good.” Eddie handed him an album with Prince in a weird outfit on a motorcycle. He was familiar with it, but he had never really allowed himself to fully look at it. Prince was hot.
Steve needed to distract himself, and fast. He stuttered out a “What are you getting?”
“Oh uh, it’s Abbie Hoffman’s record.” Eddie smiled shyly.
“The American flag guy with the coke thing?” Steve furrowed his eyebrows, he had heard Abbie Hoffman’s name in the news a lot growing up. The dude was weird.
Eddie rolled his eyes, “Oh my god, Harrington that’s- he’s so much more than that. Should’ve known you were a yuppie from the polo.”
Steve’s chest did a funny thing and he looked down at his shirt. He suddenly felt like he wanted to change. He shouldn’t give a shit about Munson’s opinion, but for some reason he did. “Well, thanks for all your help. I think I’ve got the rest of them planned out.”
“Always happy to do my duty my liege.” Eddie bowed, and it made Steve laugh. He ran off to the rock section and got the new Bowie album for Jonathan and the new Pat Benetar for Nancy. It was weird, getting her a gift, all things considered. However, being a part of this whole monster hunting family made things like that feel small. It hurt, but what didn’t.
December 23
The kids are having a party at the Wheeler’s and it has been made abundantly clear that Steve can not get out of this. So he just plans on going, but doing his best to avoid Nancy, it still hurt. Looking at her. Thinking about her. Thinking about them. Thinking about how everything was bullshit.
They were watching the old Star Trek show in the background while everyone was giving each other gifts. He was enjoying sitting back and watching everyone. El came up to him and held up the box that held her present. She stared up at him from her place on the floor with curious eyes. “What is this?”
“It’s a necklace.” Steve answered simply, he was kind of getting used to the fact El was still kind of new to the whole childhood thing. He mimed putting it on.
“Necklace.” She repeated like she was trying to commit it to memory. Steve wasn’t exactly making honor roll any time soon, but he thought Nancy might have been onto something with the whole flashcard thing. Although it did occur to Steve that El might not be able read. Maybe he could talk to Hopper about getting her some books or something from the Church garage sale. Last time he spoke to his mom on the phone she told him to make sure he volunteered to help them organize all the stuff. He ended up going through some of the old books in the Nursery. A lot of the books were old Bible stories, and Steve doubted Hopper was raising the kid religious (also she might be more powerful than Jesus ever was but that’s a question for when Steve can’t fall asleep at night). But there were plenty of the old books like Ginn Reading, Frog and Toad, and Shel Silverstein. Steve wasn’t exactly a strong reader, but hey at least he’s literate.
He snapped out of his sad zone out and remembered he needed to explain what a necklace was. “Yeah it’s jewelry, makes girls feel pretty sometimes”
“It is pretty. Can you help me put it on?” She had a really big smile on her face and she was holding the cheap pink heart with such reverence it warmed Steve’s soul. He took the necklace from her and thankfully didn’t fumble the clasp too bad. She walked over to the mirror and stared for a while lost in thought. “I feel pretty, I think.”
“Yeah you are kiddo” He smirked and ruffled her hair. She scrunched her nose and giggled even if it started with a little huff.
“Thank you, Steve.” She wrapped him in a tight hug, and Steve hugged back.
===
December 24
Jon and Joyce were working the Christmas Eve late night shift since they were getting overtime pay for the holiday. They made sure Steve was staying over because it was snowing very hard. He and Will were watching White Christmas and Miracle on 34th Street. It wasn’t really either of their tastes, but it felt in the spirit of the season. Will was drawing in his sketchbook, not really paying any attention.
“So, what’d you ask Santa for this year?” Steve asked.
“Steve, c’mon. I know Santa isn’t real.” Will said it casually, and Steve’s heart sank. Will had lost so much of his childhood. He was going to absolutely destroy whoever took another thing from Will.
“Who told you?” Steve asked in a very controlled, completely normal tone, and Will gave him the strangest look.
“Steve, I’m Jewish.” Will gave him the best eyeroll Steve has ever seen and Steve realized that this was not another abnormal childhood thing, but an incredibly normal childhood thing.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I’m also 12. We’re not babies you know.”
“Keep telling yourself that kid.”
Steve went to the kitchen and started making some pasta for them. He was getting better at cooking. Babysitting did that to him, and he found he really enjoyed it. It was calming, and really nice getting to hold something and know he was the one who made it. Eventually the movie ended while Steve was cooking and Will just put on The Addams Family reruns on one of the syndication networks. The whole family was trying to teach Lurch how to dance, and Steve was getting really into it. It was funny.
“Alright kiddo, wash up.” Steve set the table and waited for Will to start to eat. They usually ate in relative silence, and Christmas Eve wasn’t any different. Will was just a naturally pretty quiet kid. It took Steve a little to get used to, but eventually it became comfortable.
“Steve, where do babies come from?” Will looked up at him with the same face El had yesterday. All the blood drained from Steve’s face and he started to stutter. What the fuck does he say to that? Where is Joyce? Isn’t this her job? Holy shit holy shit holy shit All of a sudden Will burst into a fit of laughter, wheezing and going red in the face. He wheezed out, “God that was so easy.”
Steve just rolled his eyes, and shaking his head. That kid was a little shit. He wasn’t loud like Dustin. He wasn’t bitchy like Mike. He wasn’t as quick with comebacks like Lucas. He was more subtle with it, he liked making jokes even if he was the only one in on it.
“Well, um. If you ever have any questions. About. Any of that. You can ask me or your brother, or like your mom even though that might be awkward” He did his best to say, even if he felt like his face was on fire. He meant it, even if the concept of it made him want the ground to swallow him whole.
“Thanks Steve, but I’m good. That’s um, not going to be a problem.” Will stared at his food and started moving it around. He was frowning, and Steve was going to press him on it further, but Will changed the subject. “The necklace you got El was really cool.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, it was really pretty .” They laughed at the Addams and Will looked at Wednesday with a sort of wonder Steve didn’t recognize. He didn’t think it was a crush like when he watched the Brady Brunch and found himself fawning over Jan. No Will wasn’t- He didn’t- He was- Will’s interest lied elsewhere. Maybe it was more of a be like her thing. Will was really making use of the three pieces of black clothing he had.
They went back to comfortable silence, and it was the warmest Christmas Eve he’s had in years despite the blizzard. Will fell asleep around 11 on the couch while they were watching the Addams Family. Steve carried him to bed so he wouldn’t be in pain in the morning. The cold hurt his joints, and Steve needed the couch anyway. The old crochet blanket was always kind of scratchy, but it made Steve happy anyway.
Chapter 4: I'll shake this world off my shoulders
Christmas
For the first time since Steve was 13 he woke up to the smell of pancakes on Christmas morning. He walked the 12 feet to the kitchen and saw Joyce carefully flipping the pancakes. Will and Jonathan were still asleep, if Steve had to guess.
“Need a hand?” He whispered, careful not to be too loud. Sound traveled far in the house.
“Oh perfect you’re up! Here help me with the recipe,” She grinned looking through the fridge for eggs. He grabbed the recipe book and did his best to read it. “How many eggs do I need?”
“Um, I think you need 4 eggs.”
“Really?” Mrs. Byers furrowed her brow, she walked up behind him and looked at the pages. “Steve, sweetie it says 1 egg.”
“Oh, I’m sorry-” Steve frowned, embarrassed. He hated when this happened, he hated school for this reason. It is humiliating.
“No, Steve don’t worry about it! Here, I’ll read and you can mix the ingredients.” She squeezed his shoulder to reassure him it was okay and Steve took over stirring in the ingredients. He loved baking, even if his recipes always came out a little messed up. “How often do you bake, you’re already doing better than I did.”
“Oh, not that often. I mess up the recipes a lot, so they always come out wonky.” Steve shrugged and started up the stove to use the pan Joyce had taken out.
“Sweetie, have your parents ever taken you for an eye exam?”
“No, uh, they did when I was little but they said I just needed to focus my eyes a little harder.” Steve answered simply. He didn’t even remember what the eye doctor had said at the time.
“Well, maybe that should be your new year’s resolution. See about getting glasses.” Joyce said it in the voice she used when she left little room for argument.
===
Eventually the Byers boys got up, they ate breakfast and laughed at Jon’s bedhead. Jon spun it back on Steve, saying without all the hairspray he looked like he got into a fight with a bird and lost. It stung a little, but not nearly as much when other people made digs about his appearance. Jon’s tone lacked any real bite, just a playful return of Steve’s energy.
After breakfast they opened all the presents. Will went first, getting excited about the brand new basketball hoop Steve had found in his garage. He absolutely lost it at the tape.
“No way! I didn’t even know they were putting out a live album!” He leaped up and wrapped Steve in a tight hug. He was jumping up and down, much to Joyce’s laughter. “Jon, we’ve gotta put this on later! Can you believe it!”
“Yeah buddy I can.” He said, sending Steve a smile that made his stomach do something very funny. “After gifts we can pop it in the stereo.”
The next person to open gifts was Joyce, opening her gift from her sons. They got her a photo album, Jon had filled it with pictures from the last year. Things to replace some of the sadder memories attached to the family photos from before Will’s disappearance. The two of them had even managed to put Will’s (non-map) drawings into the scrapbook. It didn’t look like much, a little book about 6 by 8 inches, with a white cover with some sort of pastel pattern. It wasn’t really any of their styles, but that didn’t matter. Joyce had started crying, bringing in the boys for a hug. Which lead to all of them crying, it was not an unfamiliar occurrence. At some point it stopped making Steve feel awkward. He would get a pang of jealousy somewhere deep in his soul that he desperately tried to hide, but since that first visit to the hospital in ‘83 he stopped judging the Byers family for any emotional outbursts. It was more than deserved.
When their moment ended, Will motioned to Steve to open his gift from Will. “You didn’t need to get me anything-”
“Oh just open it up!” Joyce swatted at him, rolling her eyes.
It was just a drawing in a simple picture frame. It was actually several drawings in a large picture frame, one of those ones for certificates or something. It was a colored pencil drawing of what Steve thought at first was a comic book, but when he looked closer he realized it wasn’t Spiderman or Batman. The first panel showed Steve protecting the kids in the tunnels. The second had Steve, Lucas, and Will playing basketball. The third was Steve and Will hanging out in front of Castle Byers. The fourth and final panel had Steve and the Byers all sitting around the kitchen table. Steve had felt the tears welling in his eyes, and before he could even try to hold them back they were falling.
“You like it?” Will asked timidly. He had a kind of scared look on his face. He also looked like he had tears in his eyes.“Like you really like it? It’s not weird or anything?”
Steve went over to Will’s spot on the couch and gave him a hug. “Kid, this is the best Christmas gift I’ve ever gotten. Thank you.” And he meant every word of it.
Jonathan opened up his gifts from Joyce which were film for his camera and some new cassettes. Will opened his gift from Jonathan which was new colored pencils. Then Joyce opened her gift from Steve. When she opened the tiny box her jaw dropped. She took out the necklace and held it with amazement.
“Steve, this is too much. You didn’t have to-”
“You were nice enough to let me spend Christmas with you guys. Consider it payment for the food.” Steve chuckled and Joyce gave him an almost dangerous look.
“Steve, you being here is gift enough. Don’t you ever think you need to repay us for being part of this family. You’re one of us, and I mean that.” She held him tightly and looked him in the eyes, it was almost uncomfortable how sincere she was. He couldn’t doubt she meant it, even if he did doubt that he deserved it. “Seriously, you didn’t need to get me anything, nevermind this. If it was too much money we can return it, I don’t want you spending your lunch money or anything on me-”
“Really, it’s okay Joyce. You keep it. I promise it’s okay.” He squeezed her hand back, and it was true. His parents had enough money, and they didn’t really ask many questions about where it went. Joyce deserved something nice, and the simple diamonds in a diamond formation on a gold chain seemed like a great gift. It wasn’t quite as expensive or big as the things his mother wore, but it seemed perfect for Joyce.
“Well, as long as you’re sure. Thank you.”
Jon made him a mixtape. He told him to read the card.
The Christmas Card was a simple snowman drawing on construction paper done by Will. The inside said:
I would never normally put ABBA on a mixtape, but you know. Besides, you like them. You’re a good guy Steve, and I’m really glad to have you in my life, and you’re really great for Will. Thanks for being there for us.
Jon
Steve smiled as his insides melted, he thanked Jonathan and was going to make sure he listened to it the second he got home.
===
It was the best Christmas Steve had ever had. Joyce read him the recipes while he attempted to make chocolate chip cookies. It wasn’t too bad, except for mixing in the chocolate chips, it turned out to be a lot harder than he had expected. They laughed at Joyce as she attempted to put the star on the tree despite her height, ultimately having Steve lift Will up to put it on. They watched Christmas movies, and the Byers told stories of Christmas’s long past. Steve wasn’t really looking forward to going home.
Chapter 5: There's a joke here somewhere
January 2:
Steve went back to his hotel room and slept off the beers he had. He wasn’t nearly drunk enough for a hangover, thankfully. There was a low buzz in his body, like a little bit of electricity coursing through his veins. Driving home felt like he was flying in an airplane. He didn’t quite feel real. The drive was calm, and upon entering Hawkins, he felt himself deflate a little. He had gotten the answers he was looking for, but it wasn’t like he could use the information. No, it was time for him to return.
When he got home, he changed and showered. He was initially hesitant, he wondered if something as simple as showering would make it all go away. Would it break the spell? Wake him him up from whatever wonderful dream he was living the last few days? Was he just Cinderella, and it had hit midnight?
His thoughts were interrupted by the familiar sound of the phone ringing.
“Harrington residence, this is Steve speaking-” He said with a faux smile, having been trained in that response since childhood.
He was cut off with a harried, “Hi Steve, it’s Joyce. I know you were going to pick up Will from the Wheelers on the fourth, but Mike canceled the sleepover. Can I drop him off tomorrow?”
He heard a lot of loud noises coming from the other side, fear bubbled up inside of him. There was crashing and screams
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, Will and Jonathan are fighting right now. I think it’s pretend? I’m not entirely sure. Jonathan is trying to get Will to take his meds, he’s been having seizures–it’s not possession we checked–and Will doesn’t want to take them so he was hiding them I think. I’m pretty sure they’re wrestling. I’m going to go check on them- oh wait, tomorrow is that okay for drop off?”
There was a lot of information in those few sentences, not much of it that Steve understood truthfully. “Yeah, tomorrow sounds great Mrs. Byers. Go make sure the boys don’t burn down the house.”
“Thanks, Steve! Will put that down! Did I raise you in a barn-”