Chapter Text
It was a mostly quiet journey, at least. Once that thrill of a new adventure rubbed off - which usually happened within the first few hours of any road trip - it became a chore. Which it was, and it wasn't. It wasn't really a vacation by anyone's definition, but it was important, and it was happening. It was a break from school and the insanity of their daily lives in Hawkins. Just not a perfect solution.
Steve was a little bit running from an awkward situation between him and Nancy; Eddie was a little bit running from a city still full of people who didn't totally buy the whole “he's innocent” thing; El was a little bit running from whatever tension existed between her and Mike that hadn't really improved since her dip in a flooded pizza freezer... Hop might've been the only one of them who hadn't really seen the trip as a nice way to get out of town for a few days. Course, he'd already been gone for quite a while until just recently.
Whatever way they were all individually feeling about their little trip, they had made more progress during the overnight hours. Steve switched off with Eddie sometime before Hop woke up. A few hours later, the old coot was grumbling for a coffee stop and about wanting to get his hands back on the wheel. Because he felt like the only “real adult present.” Eddie was the one to accuse him of being a control freak, even as he pulled them into a gas station sporting a neon “The Coffee's Hot!” sign in the window.
They would end up playing a game of musical chairs stretched over the next full day of driving and stopping when they had to. And the girl would end up giving in to the backseat beggars's demands for another wager, for the record. Their second bet was settled on the matter of signage.
Between all the local laws, announcements, and billboard signs, they had a veritable pick of them. So, at the next gas station stop, they huddled up, put their heads together, and made their next game about how many signs there were between them and Seattle. The three of them shook on it and made El the official tallier, but they all had to call out to her every time they saw a sign so they'd be in agreement on how many of them they passed.
It helped the hours roll by faster and resulted in a few giggles and snorts at the oddly worded advertisement or two.
The four of them did end up stopping before they reached Seattle and settled their bet though. It was nearly midnight, and they still had more than three hours to go before they would reach the city. So Hop decided that when asking someone to join in taking down an eldritch nightmare, the whole interaction might go over better if they didn't just sneak up on them in the dead of night. It'd be better for everyone to go ahead and stop at a hotel, stretch out on a bed for a couple hours of sleep, and make the rest of the drive in the morning. Meet up with Kali when light was out and the ask sounded a little more reasonable, a little less unhinged.
They end up getting off I-90 in a little town called Ritzville. Some tiny historic sort of spot, but it had a motel with plenty of vacancy. They booked two adjoining rooms that came with a pair of twin beds to each of them for the night. As soon as they dragged their bodies and a few essentials into their stays, they were all of the mind to quickly take turns with the showers to get that thin layer of sweat washed off of their bodies.
But, when Steve climbed out from his cleanup, Eddie wasn't in their room anywhere.
He quickly checked through the open door to Hop and El's room, only to find the young girl lying on her stomach at the foot of the bed, starry eyes stuck on the motel's fuzzy TV screen while some black-and-white flick played. No sign of his recurrent roomie to be found. Steve then poked his head out of the door into the room, finding Eddie against the railing, smoking a cigarette to the sight of a parking lot barely lit up by the streetlights of the main road. He stood shirtless, soaking up it the warm, late-night air that East Washington was gracing them with. His long hair knotted into a bun and dripping onto the white towel laid across his shoulders.
Steve made sure to tuck the room key into the pocket of his pajama pants and joined him.
“See anything good out there tonight?” he joked upon his arrival, smiling at the small flinch of Eddie being caught off guard.
“Nope,” he disputed, popping the 'P' sound in the word as he shrugged. “Nothing interesting to see at all. This place seems just about as boring as Hawkins is. At least they have the historic angle, though. Something to advertise besides being cursed.”
“Well, we're not exactly sightseeing, are we?” Steve wondered. Defending the small town and its lack of amusement, just a little bit.
Eddie pointed at him with the two fingers pinched around his cigarette,“ You're the one who asked if there was anything good to see.”
“Point taken.” He then motioned with his chin,” You happen to have something stronger than that on hand? A certain, herbal friend?”
“You think I brought my stash with me? On a trip not only across multiple state lines but in a car with a minor AND an ex-police chief?” Eddie looked at him slack-jawed and on the edge of offense.
“Sorry. Didn't realize you had enough time between showing up at the diner and demanding you come with to clear your stuff out…” Steve had started saying until Eddie couldn't bite back his grin anymore.
“I didn't,” he gave in. “Yeah, I have something stronger. But I'll only put out if you go down to the vending machine around the corner and get us some sodas. Your treat.”
Steve rolled his eyes but quickly accepted the offer,“ Deal. What's your poison?”
“Craving a root beer, if you can manage it.”
Once he had his order, Steve disappeared around the corner of the building to get to the front by the office. To where they'd seen the magic machine of drinks and treats upon their check-in. Eddie hadn't really had that much time back to himself, Steve had just escaped his eyesight when he snuffed out the ashen end of his cigarette in favor of pulling out the joint in his pocket. Yeah, he'd already planned on getting a little blitzed before Steve invited himself to the affair, sue him. Anyway, he was just getting it up to his lips and flicking the lighter when the door to Hop and El's room opened up.
And Hop just looked at Eddie for a second, assumably taking in the sight of the man about to enjoy the first hit. They'd gone a few states away and still hadn't found a place that was fine with a guy having a couple grams of weed. And, sure, Hop was a “reformed” chief of police who no longer had the power to arrest him, certainly not in an entirely different timezone. Probably. Right? How far do citizen's arrest laws go?
The man had warned him about cleaning up his act a few times already… was there a real chance of things going south while he was stuck with the man thousands of miles away from home?
Hop still hadn't said anything. And Eddie had to have been standing there, wide-eyed, paralyzed, looking like a deer caught in headlights. Having just lit the end of his joint, but not having gotten far enough to take in even a single breath of it.
He slowly lowered his hand away from his face and tried to find the right way to say it.
Stumbling into,” Hey. Hey, Jim Hopper. This? This isn't-”
And then Jim only held out his open hand. Expression unflinching, rock solid, unreadable despite being stern.
Eddie almost winced to hand it over.
So, imagine his surprise when Hop didn't just drop it into the cement and grind it under the toe of his boot, but instead rolled it between two fingers and took a drag of it for himself.
A long one. Deep. Shit, yeah, he's done that before.
Eddie was still trying to process exactly how screwed over or perfectly fine he was when the man blew the thick cloud of smoke out, sending it drifting in the light breeze. He hissed through his teeth as he looked at it and twitched his mustache under his nose.
“Either I'm going crazy, or pot doesn't taste the same now as it did when I was young.”
And the world just turned upside down again for Eddie.
With a small dose of caution, Eddie shrugged and spoke,“ If you really wanna see how different it's gotten, you could stand to try some of California's strain. I'm sure they didn't have Purple Palm Tree Delight back in the… What? 50's? 60's?”
And then, to Eddie's happy surprise, Hop barked a short laugh and said he'd leave all of that to the kids then, handing Eddie back the roll and excusing himself to bed with the warning that Steve and Eddie just better wake up fine in the morning or he and the girl were going to leave them stranded at the motel. Eddie couldn't quite tell if that was another one of his jokes, or not, but he gave an awkward chuckle anyway and caught just the tiniest upturn of Hop's crow's feet as he closed the door.
And Steve soon returned, a can of Root Beer and Sprite in each hand. They shared the first few tokes quietly. Slow and casual sips from their sodas until they felt just a little bit heavier in their limbs and sat down on the edge of the stairs to continue.
But by then, Eddie couldn't keep the question that'd been gnawing at him since before they left Hawkins,“ So, this for your nerves about going into town later?”
With slightly bleary eyes, Steve turned to face him but he didn't seem to catch what he said the first time.
“Hm?”
“Well, you said your folks were in Seattle,” Eddie mentioned carefully,” Didn't seem very excited about that fact though.”
After a moment's hesitation, he nodded along,“ Right. Yeah, sure. This can be about those nerves too.”
“And the other nerves? Which ones are those?” Eddie leaned closer, just enough to sit up more straight than against the railing.
“They're… complicated.”
Steve quickly averted his gaze, hiding his eyes, as he stole another hit. Eddie reached over and plucked the joint from between his fingers with a little tease.
“Complicated is fine. I don't know if you've noticed, but we have a little free time we could use to detangle 'complicated' a little bit.” Eddie offered.
And the man sitting beside him didn't immediately jump into the confession, it took a few seconds of silence and bubbling nerves before his mouth seems to suddenly spill out some way-too-honest mutters…
“Maybe I'm nervous because I'm worried I'm not a good person then. Un-complicate that.”
The demand hit Eddie's mind sideways. “You're a good person,” he argued, thinking back over the last hectic month of his life and how much of it he'd been able to lean on Steve for.
And still, Steve seemed to almost tune him out. “Says you…” he excused.
“Says lots of people.”
“Sure.”
And clearly, Eddie wasn't getting very far. Steve was in a bad way, suddenly grumpier and talking all hopeless about himself., but that isn't allowed. Especially not if they were getting ready to put themselves in danger. You don't put people on a battlefield if they aren't going to be that concerned about making it back home. Wayne said stuff like that to him when he was younger and asked about why his dad kept making so many bad decisions.
But Eddie wasn't Wayne. He didn't have the same smooth accent and aged wisdom that made everything he said carry weight. No. Instead, Eddie had his own sort of charm.
He stood up from the concrete stairs and walked to the bottom. A sharp turn on his heel, a pointed expression across his face, his fists curled tightly and held up by his face with the joint sticking out between two fingers, he posed like a stoned boxer challenging the mopey teenager before him.
“Put ‘em up,” he said simply.
And Steve finally tore his eyes from the wall,“ What?”
“You heard me. Put ‘em up. We’re fightin’ right now.” Steve looked at him like he was watching each individual screw come loose and fall from his ears, but Eddie didn't mind. He continued right along,” Because you just insulted my and my favorite lil' dude’s taste in friends. So put ‘em up. I like my odds against you. Heard you lose most of your fights, and I’ll only go down dirty: trailer park style.”
Steve rolled his eyes,“ You’re stupid.”
“No, you are if you think kids like Dustin Henderson - or any of the rest of them - are friends with shitty people.”
And something about that point stuck.
Steve's eyes softened a little to think of that curly-headed little dork back home. “He is a little…” The edges of his lips started to gently break into a smile as he remembered a buzzword Robin used for him once,” Sardonic ray of sunshine, isn’t he?”
Eddie smiled too, wider and more toothy. He relaxed his arms and let them fall a little bit.
“Yeah, he fucking is. And that's a good title for him, Harrington, but moving on, what’s got you all knotted up right now?”
And still, Steve wouldn't say it. His eyes almost went fearful as he put them back on the ground. He was biting it back, but Eddie didn't understand why. So the man huffed and sat himself back down next to him. He took another puff before he passed, and waited for Steve to get his lips around it before he spoke next.
“I did hear through the grapevine that someone made a mistake with a certain Wheeler sibling,” he said as gently as he could.
Steve's attention snapped to him. Almost looking betrayed, he groaned,“ So, you do know about Nancy-”
“Well, we’re clearly not going to talk about you and Mike. Or Holly. So? What happened?”
“I don't know. And I feel like an asshole for not knowing.”
“Well, let's try to figure it out together. Come on, man. We've got all this time away from home- and don't you want to have a better handle on it by the time we get back?”
Eddie was making sense. Steve knew he was. It was hard to explain exactly what his mind was running around with, but he was going to give it a try. Because he had a lot of people believing in him. And even if he didn't understand why, he didn't want to let them down.
“I don’t know- I just… When she said it, I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. And as she leaned in, it didn’t feel right. Does that make sense?”
“No offense, but absolutely not. Come on, Harrington, this was your ‘the one that got away,’ right? You should be on cloud nine now that she and her guy called it off, and she wants back in your lap. What, with all your ‘I’m trying to find my one,’ nonsense.” Eddie stole the joint back while he teased.
“It’s not nonsense.”
Eddie shrugged like he was weighing the options,“ It’s a little childish, don’t you think?”
“What? Wanting to believe in, god forbid, true love or a soulmate is childish?”
“It’s kinda storybook if you think about it. All fantastical and fairytale-like. What? Are you a secret nerd when it comes to the ways of love?”
Steve drew back with fake offense,“ How dare you? I’ll take a pair of scissors to your hair for that.”
“Don’t you dare, Steve Harrington!” Eddie swiftly stood back on his feet. He leaned back over the barrier of the stairs, the pale expanse of his bare torso showered in the dim glow of streetlights as he waxed dramatically,“ You mustn’t, or it’ll taint your honor! A knight in shining armor traversing the realm in search of his one true love, the princess whose heart was made just for his to share. He must focus on completing his grand romantic mission, not on reckoning with the lowly banished one who presses his buttons.”
“Oh, you’re really asking for it now,” Steve stood to join him.
Eddie's eyes went wide, and he jumped to the bottom of the steps to put the bars of the railing between them, out of reach in case Steve really made a lunge for it. “But Sir!” he squealed, wondering if Steve was going to chase him through the parking lot before the night was over. But he just shook his head and braced against the cold metal to look down at him.
“Alright, I'll leave the romantic white knight alone,” he said. ”But seriously, why isn’t Nancy Wheeler good enough for you all of a sudden?”
“It’s not that she’s not good enough for me! No one's saying that! I just- I don’t think she’s…” he hesitated, anticipating another mocking comment.
“The one?” Eddie finished the thought for him.
Steve put his head down on the railing and closed his eyes,“ If you say another word, I swear to god, I’ll kill you.”
“Not that I think you’ll actually finish the job those demobats started,” Eddie poked his forehead with a finger until he looked up,” but have you considered that maybe you’ve already got someone in mind?”
“Hm?” Steve's face screwed up.
“That you’ve already got someone you’re waiting to hear say it? Someone you’re waiting to see lean in? Someone that you think is your ‘one’? You give that idea any thought?” Eddie proposed.
Steve leaned back on his feet, only giving it a brief consideration. “No. Because who would it even be? Anita? Kathryn? Janice? Grace? Eve? Sara? Meera? Candace? Tracy? Rita? Francine? Whitney? Linda? Amy? Heidi? Brenda-”
“Jesus Christ, Steve. Good to know at least one thing about you never changed.”
“What?”
Eddie smirked,” The fact that you still get around like a back alley cat.”
“I can’t believe this- are you trying to call me a whore? Now? Now, when I’m falling into crisis because I want more than sex or a short-term interest, is the moment when you've decided I should be slut shamed?”
“Just calling it like I see it, Stevie.”
“Then shut your eyes!”
“No, can do. Getting to make Steve Harrington squirm is the best thing that came out of all this hell. Well, maybe second best to my rocking scars.” Eddie made a proud motion to his sides.
Which was another thing they didn't share an understanding of. Steve wasn't trying to make a gross face, but his eyes went right to the traumatized skin on Eddie and instantly felt an awkward twinge from his own. It drew up something tense in the pit of his stomach. Something heavy he still hadn't learned how to get used to carrying.
“You like having these dumb things all over you?” Steve doubted.
“Well, they're at least kinda cool, don't you think?” Eddie asked surprised.
“No offense, but absolutely not.”
Eddie came back closer and shook him by the shoulders,“ Come on, when you get outta your rut, I'm sure the ladies will all go goo-goo-eyed over them. No one can resist the charm of a good heroic story with the evidence right there, written in flesh.”
“Oh, really? So you have plans to start woo-ing your way through the local population using yours then?”
Eddie brought his voice lower,“ If it was as easy for me to do so as it is for you? Yeah, probably. I'd at least try. Guys like scars too.”
“You can keep flaunting yours, and I'll keep keeping mine to myself.”
“Ugh, that's such a waste. You already went through the trouble of getting some scars, and now you don't even want to have any fun with them?”
“Some of us don't try to work the unusual, anti-conformity, attractive enough if you're into the whole nerd-who-hangs-out-in-a-dark-room-with-the-other-social-outcasts thing-”
Eddie jumped in before he could finish making his point, his focus latching onto two of Steve's words more than the others,“ Ooo! I think there was a compliment in there. 'Attractive enough' by Steve Harrington's own standards. High praise indeed.”
“Shut up. I'm just saying that some of us try to stick to the more widely acceptable terms of good-looking. And scars are an imperfection by definition.” Steve argued,” Whether it's acne scars you picked at one too many times or something bigger with some horror story to go with, it's imperfect.”
“Flaws just mean people will be able to tell you aren't a creepily perfect android handmade to seduce the members of the human race and send all the surveillance you gathered back up to the mothership that built you.” Eddie's sci-fi metaphor didn't seem to have much sway on Steve's mind. So he adjusted his aim and pointed right at Steve's own face,“ Like freckles. You already have a bunch of those. And moles. Technically imperfections, but you can't pretend like you haven't been complimented on how charming they look on you since grade school.”
Steve had to admit it,“ … I have.”
“So, there's your proof.” Eddie pridefully declared,“ These are known laws of the universe. Conventionality doesn't mean shit. Steve Harrington is naturally gifted with the ability to make imperfections look amazing. Apply that thinking to the scars, and you'll be golden.”
Steve's sullen face turned to look at him. Right in the eyes. Connecting them by that thin thread of their vision. After a moment of that, he broke the eye contact first. Glancing down for the last smoldering ashes of the roll in Eddie's hand. He swiped it back, bristling with a mocking question.
“Those more bullet points from your Munson Doctrine?”
But Eddie held his gaze on him. Unflinching. “Yeah. They are.”
He could feel his own cheeks burning. He was getting cocky, overconfident. Eddie was gone enough and having too much fun that he was letting his mouth run away with him. And he could feel it happening, but the weed made him just want to slump in on himself and see how far Steve was going to let him push.
Only a few seconds passed before Steve blew out a thin cloud of smoke and dropped his head between his shoulders. He shook his hair out gently, not enough to really get Eddie at all, just little drops of water left to fall onto his own shoulders. And he seemed to rein himself in.
“Sure,” he gave, though he still didn't sound fully convinced. “Sorry, I kinda brought all that down on you all of a sudden. I usually keep stupid stuff packed away for Robin to crack open and deal with, but, uh, since I can’t exactly run off to her right now…”
Eddie excused him with a leisurely swat of his hands. “It’s fine. I don’t mind. Was happy to be helpful for once.”
“You’re helpful a lot. Don’t sell yourself short.”
“You sure? Seems like when I come around, things are going to hell.”
“Volunteered to come on this crazy trip and donate your van to the cause,” Steve noted,” And things went to hell way before you entered the picture. Now you’re just in it with the rest of us. In the hell of it, with the doomsday team.”
With a huff of a chuckle, Eddie decided to let him win,“ Guess so.”
Steve wondered on that branch of thought to himself,“ All in all, would I be an asshole if I said I was kinda happy your life went to hell? Just a little?”
Eddie's grin widened with a slow nod,“ I feel like that definitely counts for a few asshole points.”
“Well, I sort of am,” Steve said anyway. “It’s nice having you on the team. Nice not being the oldest ‘kid’ on it.”
He wrapped an arm across Steve's shoulder, yanking him into a half hug as he stole the last of the blunt back. Cheering along with him,“ You finally have someone to share custody with! Lord knows Nancy wasn’t going to do it with you.”
Steve shoved his arm off,“ Hey!”
“What? Too soon?”
“Yeah! A little!” he argued.
“Sorry,” he put his hands up,” I thought we'd made it to the playful jokes stage already.”
“We have. Whatever, it’s fine. Just means you get a couple asshole points too.” Steve poked him in the rib.
Eddie covered up the sensitive spot with his empty hand and threw a glare his roomie's way. Scooting a few inches further from him. “And I take 'em with pride,” he boasted. Before looking up at the starry night sky and adding,“ We should probably get some sleep about now, right?”
“Yeah, probably.” Steve agreed, getting to his feet and finding himself at the door to their room alone. Eddie hadn't even stood up from the steps. “Aren't you coming in?”
“Not yet. Just a few more minutes.” Eddie answered over his shoulder.
“Fine, but don't forget it's your turn on the wheel first thing in the morning.”
“Oh, sure. Because Hop is totally going to respect the rotation and not demand he's in charge of dealing with the inner-city roads.”
“Yeah, you're probably right. Night.”
“Night.”
And Steve was gone. And so was Eddie. Gone in two different ways.
Shit. He was going to get himself in trouble. Eddie Munson cannot like Steve Harrington. He just can't.
Maybe he could have a year before, but now they were friends. And for some people, that would help something like a silly little crush. But for Eddie, it just meant torture. Briefly, he wondered if Steve knowing he was gay made it worse or easier. He guessed it depended on how a person looked at it. But either way, he was setting himself up for failure. And heartbreak. And awkwardness.
Look at what happened when a boy and a girl didn't get together simply enough. Everyone got a taste of the drama. What kind of bomb would drop if Eddie started acting stupid?
The man smacked himself on both cheeks and commanded himself to get it together.
Eddie Munson cannot like Steve Harrington. He just can't. And yet, he had a feeling he was going to have some trouble getting that one through his thick skull.
By nine o'clock the next morning, they were in Seattle. A shining, shimmering city full of people, and they needed to track down one of them specifically. El was doing most of the leading in a delightfully cheery mood after she won their second wager upon passing the city limits. Both Steve and Eddie looked between themselves like they were questioning all over again what exactly the scope of her power was. But her second win meant that she had full control of the music and could demand it be changed at any time to her satisfaction. Anyway, they found themselves going downtown to the tune of Belinda Carlisle's "Heaven Is A Place On Earth," when she said the feeling was sharper and more clear. So they ditched the van in a public parking lot and started heading out on foot.
They were still in a pretty nice part of town, there were lots of little boutiques and cafes all around, but they were looking for something a little more… rundown. Not exactly dilapidated, or abandoned, but overlooked by most. El mentioned the building looked sort of like that. With little pop-up shops that ran out of the ground level, she felt like that was where Kali would be.
So, they kept their heads on a swivel. Carefully looking around as they paced down sidewalks, following the unknowable pull only El could speak to. But, before they set their sights on what they were looking for, they were spotted by someone.
Across the street, a shriek broke out from a pair of ornate glass doors. As everyone outside seemed to instantly turn and look at the source of such a sudden high-pitched sound, Steve Harrington's eyes found his mother, surrounded by a gaggle of other middle-aged women, looking right at him. Yeah. What were those fucking odds again?
“Oh my goodness- Stephen!”
Before he could even get his head around the fact that she was there, she was giddily running through the crosswalk. Long strides that clicked with each step of her pointy high heels, the sway of multiple shopping bags hanging off her arms, the slim fit of her white dress, the wind pushing back her artificially brightened blonde hair, she moved like a movie star. She always did, but the backdrop fit her better in Seattle than Hawkins.
She squealed with delighted surprise as she grabbed him by the shoulders, pulling him down and into her quick peck on the cheek while her recent purchases caged him in on both sides. Immediately, as if the kiss was all the attention she really wanted to spend on him, she turned back around to her personal circle of onlookers. Quick to show him off, she glowed with pride and combed back the sides of his hair with her long fingernails.
The compliments started falling around him before any of the people he'd actually gone on the trip with could even get a word in.
“This is my darling Stephen! I know, I know. I did a good job with this one, right, girls? Oh, he's always been so very handsome.” She leaned in with a wink and whispered,” And I got the figure back right afterward too, you should see the baby pictures.”
Each of the strangers started to chime in with the usual agreements and comments that a flock of bored housewives with way too much money did when they gathered around his mom. She was like a beacon to them. The perfect example.
Steve tried to be polite behind embarrassed smiles and terse thank-you's. He wanted to get out of there so badly, but she just put him on a pedestal to be gawked at. And suddenly she was asking him if his father had called him.
“I know, I know. He's just my sweet little boy.” She gasped,” Awe, sweetheart, did your dad ask you to fly in and surprise me? I didn't think it was Mother's Day. And I didn't miss my own birthday or anniversary, did I?”
Steve blinked to himself before he told her,” No, Mom. The four of us drove up for something else, and we're not sticking around for long.”
But she kept her eyes right on his hair, not listening very well. He made a motion behind him to the three of them, to which all the women that descended upon him seemed to notice he wasn't there alone for the very first time. And while they took in the sight of the band of heroes, they didn't spare any particularly approving looks.
His mother just sort of dismissed her attention from them and set it back on her son. “Oh, come on. Making the trip all the way from Hawkins and you aren't planning on staying in town? That's such a waste! I- I'm sure you and the other boys could find some fun.”
He closed his eyes and bit the inside of his lip, trying to stamp down his frustration with her,“ Mom. Three of us are adults, and Jane is a girl.”
Her eyes returned to look at El, taking in more details than she had on the first scan over her. “Oh, of course. Sorry, sweetie, I was just thrown off by the-” she waved her hand around her own head,” Short hair. No, no, it's nice. Almost chic, you know. If you maybe just grew a little bit more out in the front and did a little something- You see it, right, ladies?”
“Of course.” “Really, very pretty.” “Just needs a little something to work with. Or imagine her in a nice black slip.” “Oh, yes, she'd look so nice in something like that, don't you think?” “Definitely.” “Those flapper girls in the '20s were boyish and still very pretty-”
“Mom-”
“Anyway, you should have fun while you visit!” she insisted. “There's always something happening at the Kingdome, and bowling is a bit of a big thing here for some people, your father's always trying to find something classic at Tower Records, and there's the obvious at the Space Needle. I don't know how busy your father is at the office today, and the girls and I are headed to an appointment at the day spa, but-”
He put his hand over hers where it was holding onto his shoulder, stilling her,“ I appreciate it, Mom. It's okay. We have some plans we need to get to ourselves, we're trying to go meet up with someone.”
There was a chip in her expression. Just for a fraction of a second, like she let herself catch the undercurrent of the rejection. But, just as quickly as her face betrayed her picture-perfect facade, it was remade.
“Oh, okay. Well, call the office and tell Jessica, she's the secretary, where you're staying. Leave a number or something, and we'll make plans after we're all freed up.”
He wasn't going to call. He wondered if she knew that and was saying it anyway.
“Got it. Have a fun at the spa.”
“Oh, we definitely will. These facials are the most expensive in the city, and they do a full top-to-bottom service, massages, nail care, all the goodies.”
“Sounds great. Don't want to be late.”
“Course not. Buh-Bye.”
And she was sent flowing down the boardwalk without another second to waste.
And the stiff air of a clumsy interaction hung around them in the silence that followed. Like all the humidity was stolen away, it felt too stuffy and dry to breathe. Steve just watched after her, quietly frozen in place, tension too taut to break. At least, too much for him to break himself.
Hop was the one to step forward and speak up,“ Sorry, we won't really have time for you to visit with your folks-”
But Steve just quickly sniffed his nose and shook his head,“ It's fine. She'll probably down enough bubbly at the spa she all but forgets she caught me. Might even dismiss it as a daydream.” He huffed and turned around to face them,” Whatever. Where are we going, El?”
“This way.” She pointed across the intersection.
In a different direction than Steve's mother was. A fact he tried not to notice. “Okay, let's go.”
It took a little bit of wandering, but they eventually found themselves going down a somewhat busy street called Alaskan Way. There were a few dozen people busting around, a new business moving in to set up shop, workers unpacking boxes and talking about numbers. But the four of them walked right on by, following El's guiding stride as they went up the rest of the street and around the back so they could get started climbing the fire escape.
When they got a few floors up, El paused by a window with a broken latch. Torn and dusty curtains wrapped over the outside, fluttering pitifully in a bitter gust of wind. Eddie leaned in to peek through the glass, but she moved them along. Kept them climbing up. Until they reached the roof.
“Kali,” El said after they came over the edge; after she saw the girl she considered a sister perched on the corner on the other side of the roof.
The dark head of hair whipped around to look at her. Confusion painted her face, but it instantly melted into a warm and recognizing joy. Kali planted her hands into the red-brown brick and swung her legs back off the ledge. She approached cautiously like she couldn't believe her eyes and she was waiting for the image to wilt away.
“Jane?”
The girl stepped forward and nodded.
Kali instantly closed the distance, springing forward quickly and wrapping her arms around El's smaller frame. She felt safe there. El was bigger than she'd been the last time she saw Kali and the circumstances of that last look were complicated, but the girl still made her feel little and cared for.
She let her eyes shut to soak up the moment, and Kali spoke softly right against her ear,” What- What are you doing here?”
“You,” she answered honestly,” I came looking for you.”
And El felt Kali relax against her to hear it and then squeeze around her harder. It made El's heart swell.
Eventually, Kali let go of her, and they stepped back to look at each other again. Kali made a mental note of her freshly cut hair. Her fingers moved from El's shoulder to the base of her neck to touch it, and the way El's eyebrows knit told her she didn't like the short length. She'd grown up a little, yet still seemed stuck.
But before Kali could start asking about how the younger girl had been over the last eighteen months, Eddie was poking in.
“Is she the one that taught you ‘bitchin’?” he asked, a kind of snarky tone to the question as a result of taking in Kali's clear punk stylings.
But she didn't even really pay him much mind, she instead became a little touched as she turned to El and asked herself,“ You still say that?”
Rosey cheeks started to bloom as El bashfully admitted,“ Yeah. I do.”
“Practically her favorite word from what I hear,” Eddie added.
Hop set it more certainly,“ It is.”
“It’s good to see you again, Jane,” Kali said. “Are you… good?”
In truth, she started,“ Things have been…” but she didn't want to focus on that part. Instead, she wanted to assure Kali that she was okay. “Yeah, I am. And this is-”
“Your policeman?” Kali correctly guessed.
El gave a little giggle and gently corrected her,“ My dad. Hop.”
Which made Kali happy to hear. She smiled a little stronger and held her hand out to shake it. “Well, Hello, Mr. Hop.” While she might've been a strict non-fan of policemen, she was willing to make a certain kind of exception in his case.
“Technically, it’s Jim Hopper, and technically he's retired. But, yeah, most folks call me Hop.”
Steve and Eddie made quick comments of their own names, feeling sort of like spare bodyguards while the three of them were having their far more personal greetings.
Kali returned her attention to her sister,“ Well, I am glad to see you again, Jane. I’m sorry about before we split off. We needed to do different things with our rage, we were in different places, and that’s fine. I wanted to tell you that when- Well when we got in the van, but then you didn’t come with us.” She dropped her hand to hold El's. “So I’m glad you found your dad. And I’m glad you tracked me down again so I could tell you so now.”
It warmed the sweet girl's heart so much. Kali wasn't mad at her. She hadn't really ever been.
“Yeah. And you’ve been…?” she asked.
“Better,” Kali answered earnestly,” I think you were a bit of a wake-up call for us. We, erm, we’ve shifted focus since back then. We’ve thrown away our list of people who’ve scorned us. Raging less against the parts at the bottom of the chain and more against the machine itself. We're still the same people, but different. And it’s been better.”
“Yeah?”
“I think we used to torture ourselves with it. Keeping the anger alive because it was easier to have a face to blame. It’s been hard, but better in the time since then.”
And it was a lovely conversation they were having. An important one. They were sharing things they'd been dying to say to each other for months, but they were on a mission. And they didn't have forever to waste with lovely conversations if they wanted a future to look forward to.
Hop interrupted them with a small regret,“ Yeah, yeah, and all that sounds good, kid- But, uh, we didn’t really come by just to make a house call and have a cute reunion for you two.”
Kali's expression dipped, and she regathered herself. “So, then why are you here?” she carefully asked.
El squeezed her hand,“ I need your help. We need your help.”
“My help?”
She leaned into Kali a little bit closer,“ Do you remember… an orderly? Pale, thin, blonde, blue eyes. Always quiet, but always watching. Sometimes it felt like he was watching too much? And if he spoke to you… it was slow. Careful. Calculated. Measured.”
Kali seemed to nod and remember it with her. “Did he look like…” she started. Her voice stopped as she looked a few feet away and, with a quick move of her hand, conjured a vision of the man from her memories.
He stood right there next to them. Like he'd been frozen in time and left there waiting since 1978. Everyone else jumped back at the sudden display of Kali's power, but El flinched away for another reason. She took a nervous step backward and closer to Eddie, to which he immediately put a hand on her shoulder to steady her.
“El?” he asked, trying to check in.
This vision slipped away like a wisp of fog as Kali's focus shifted. “El?” she echoed, having up until then not heard the nickname herself.
“We usually go with El. Not Jane.” Steve answered.
Kali was quick to understand where it came from. El was short for Eleven. But she didn't like it. Kali liked her better as Jane. The girl she was named as before she was born and the world had a chance to mess with her life. Jane, further away from her numerical assignment in a mad doctor's experiment, and closer to who she deserved the chance to be.
Kali ignored the information, deciding for herself that she'd only change her mind if Jane asked her to.
“Jane? You okay?”
“Yes.” El took a breath and was back to herself shortly after the image of Henry Creel was gone. She put a hand on Eddie's, quietly telling him she was okay and he could let go. Let her step away and back onto her own two feet to tell them,“ And yes, that was him.”
Kali nodded. “Yeah, I remember him. He, erm, kind of floated around me sometimes. Watching, like you said. I wasn’t like the other kids. You know, you all made things move. Sometimes there was other stuff, like seeing into different rooms. You all talked about those sorts of things. But me? I never did that. It was always… just the illusions for me.” She remembered,” There was this week though, I think, where he was fixated on making me do something else. Like he believed there was more the conjures could do, but- one day he seemed to just accept that they couldn’t. He just looked at me with this hollow disappointment and told me that I ‘might as well leave if I couldn’t do anything useful’. I mean, he gave me a shove to try and actually get out, but it still felt so cold. What of it?”
“He was not just an orderly,” El began to explain.
“What?” she asked, just confused.
“He was…” El pushed Kali’s sleeve up and pressed her fingertips into her number tattoo,” One.”
The second time Kali asked “What?” she almost shuttered around the word.
Hop continued further,“ He was the first of the experiments. A kid from back in Indiana who just happened to have powers. All on his own. Dr. Brenner found him, and it’s… it's what led to all of it. Him wanting to figure out how it happened and how to recreate the results and-”
“It’s his fault?” Kali's voice turned sour,” He was the first? He was the reason my mother was toyed with by scientists until he got his hands on me?”
“He didn’t start it himself…” Hop noted the distinction,“ But, had Dr. Brenner not stumbled upon him killing his family? He probably never would’ve gotten the government funding, the lab, the ability to have tried to replicate what happened to Henry, running the LSD experiments on expectant mothers, removing the children from them after birth…”
Kali was already upset. She just found out that some kid who killed his own family led to her entire life being twisted around. But she still needed to know,“ And why are you asking about him? Now? What do you need me for?”
“He killed almost everybody in that lab a long time ago. Except for the doctor and El. And now he’s killing people back in Hawkins again and trying to…” Hop took a deep breath,” To put it simply, destroy the world and take over whatever’s left. Like he wants to be a god ruling over the ashes. So… that's where we are, and El said you might be able to help her put a stop to him.”
“Will you?” El asked her, clinging tightly.
It was a lot to ask. To beg a young twenty-something to abandon whatever life she's been able to build for herself these last few years and charge into the front lines of a possible suicide mission. She had a million reasons to say no and get as far away from all of them as possible. And yet, she wouldn't.
“Considering he’s about half the reason my life was ruined? Considering I live in the world he wants to end? Yeah. Yeah, I want to help.” Kali agreed.
She agreed.
“Are you sure?” El wondered,” It's… going back. And it's bad.”
“I'm not happy about it. Didn't plan to ever go back after I left. Haven't taken one step in Indiana at all since I got out a decade ago,” she admitted. “But now that I know? I need this. To bury it myself. I survived that town once, I'll do it again.”
“Okay,” Steve spoke with relief,” So we need to get back to Hawkins. ASAP. Do you need to…?”
“I’ll need to say goodbye to my friends, yes. This isn’t their fight to face, but they need to know I’m heading off and plan to be back. We've been living out of this place, so I'll just sneak down, tell them what’s happening, and grab a pack.”
“Alright. We parked the car just a few minutes away, we'll run and bring it around and head out.” Hop decided.
And yet, almost thirty minutes later, they found themselves still waiting on the street with no Kali in sight. Hopper sat in the driver's seat, foot tapping with impatient anticipation while Eddie sat bored beside him.
“It's been a while. You don't think she's ditching us, right?” he thought for a second.
El quickly opposed,“ Not ditching.”
“Oh-” he turned to look at her,” Not trying to say your long lost sister is a flake, El. Just-”
“Being antsy,” she finished for him with a look.
“Sue me. Our big, important quest was a success, and I'd like us to be on our way back already. Sooner we're out of Seattle, sooner I can get out of my van for more than a few minutes at a time.”
“Imagine how excited we are,” Jim grumbled while he wafted a hand passed his nose like he was shoo-ing away B.O. Which resulted in a barely covered giggle from the girl in the backseat.
Then, all of a sudden, a beat-up white van squealed around a tight corner and rolled up the street next to them. A woman El recognized to be Mac was at the wheel driving, and Axel was the one sitting on the passenger side with the window rolled down. As soon as the van pulled to a stop, the snarky punk hung his head through the frame and set his eyes on Jim Hopper's hard face.
“Kali tried to tell us she was going on a mission alone,” he started, almost sneering at the idea.
That very guest of honor tried to argue from the back,“ I wouldn’t be alone-”
But Axel kept on talking,“ Tried to tell us it wasn’t our responsibility to help her with. But we all told her that’s stupid and we’re going with her whether she likes it or not because that’s how this works. She’s always helped us deal with our shit, we’re coming with to deal with hers. So that's the new arrangement. Any of you people got a problem with that?”
“Axel, do you really need to be an asshole to every new person we meet?” Mac asked him, already annoyed and wondering if she was going to kill him before they got out of Washington.
Axel just rolled his eyes and stuck her the finger while Hop cautioned them.
“Do you kids know what you’re getting into?”
“Doesn’t matter,” Axel announced. “Kali’s our girl, so you don’t get to take her back to Bumfuck, Indiana without us to watch her back. And we aren’t kids, Old Timer. You should worry about yourself, 'cause I’d bet good money that with Funshine, we'll get by just fine.”
“Funshine?” Hop asked, half sure that was the name of a Care-Bear he couldn't remember the color of.
“You want to spend an hour introducing us all to each other and trading icebreakers, or do you want to hit the road?”
Jim shook his head at the very… distinct personalities they were collecting. But, it takes a village, and they needed an army. Wasn't exactly time to start getting picky.
“Can you catch a ball, son?” he asked.
“Your point, dad?” Axel challenged, earning a sharp kick to his seat.
Hop grabbed the walkie-talkie from the cup holder, and once Axel realized he was serious, he put both hands through the window. Thankfully, catching it just fine.
“Anything doesn't go to plan, turn that on and talk to someone back home.” Hop set the rules,“ Let’s get a move on. We travel together and will stop at the same gas stations to refuel. Nobody does anything stupid or goes off on their own until we hit Hawkins. Got it?”
“Good choice. We'll hit the station by the highway before we take off. Come on, Mac, let’s gooo!” Axel howled and banged the flat of his hand against the windowsill until their driver got the hint and hit the gas.
Hop sighed and rubbed his eyes, but followed suit. Once they'd started heading out of town he looked in the mirror. “Funshine?” he asked,” El, what’s a Funshine?”
“Funshine’s the big teddy bear that looks scary,” she said simply. Smiling as she looked out the window and remembered his kind demeanor from the first time they met. No one else knew exactly what to imagine, but they'd get the chance to meet him at the first stop.
“Alright, kid,” he huffed,” Two days. Give us two days to get everyone home.”