Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

So maybe he had gone a little too far.

An honest mistake, he shouldn't have pushed Jonathan's buttons so much. He's used to a certain type of socializing and Steve's just now learning that it doesn't work with everyone. That what he said was completely off the wall and terrible. He'll get better.

But he had still made a mistake, honest as it was, and that's why he's at Jonathan's house now, knocking on his door.

He's not sure how he feels when Nancy answers. Nor when she tells him to leave.

"I messed up." He tries to explain, like she doesn't already know, but Nancy wants him to leave and he needs to apologize. He wants to continue, but his eyes catch something and he pauses, gaze drifting down to Nancy's hand.

It's wrapped in gauze, hurt from something he doesn't know. It should've taken longer for him to notice, but he always instinctively scans for injuries- always looks someone over after he hasn't seen them, scared that they were hurt while he was gone. When he couldn't help them.

He doesn't even realize he still does it, years after it's no longer needed, but he's doing it and it's come in handy, eyes glancing between Nancy's wrapped hand and her face, trying to find any strain that would make him believe she's hiding more pain. "What happened to your hand?"

Nancy's eyes widen, something like fear crossing them, at being found out. It occurs to him that he's at Jonathan's house, that she's at Jonathan's house. While he highly doubts Jonathan actually did something (Nancy's saying it was an accident, sure-) Nancy's acting too tense and wary for Steve to just leave without trying to help her.

He wasn't expecting the nail bat. Nor the gasoline. Nor anything fucking else in the room what the hell-

He's not panicking, standing in the middle of the room, looking everything over. In fact he's pretty calm, a sense of peace has washed over him, because the smell of gasoline was familiar and the weapons felt like home. A home he didn't want to go back to, but a home nonetheless.

Nancy and Jonathan are there too, watching him warily like they're waiting for him to snap, waiting for him to panic. Steve takes in an inhale, smells the gasoline and thinks of fire, of Nine, before catching Nancy's eyes again. "Nance?"

Nancy blinks, and Steve realizes she's holding a gun. "Steve, you need to leave."

Something important's going on. Steve's face feels like alcohol on a wound and Nancy's terrified for him, like she's scared something will happen to him if he stays.

It just makes him more stubborn. "Nancy, I- whatever's going on, let me help-"

"No, Steve." Nancy cuts him off, hostile. "You don't understand, and you need to leave-"

The lights start flickering, and he's reminded of white hallways and a rainbow room. He pales, breath shuttering at the unwanted memory. Nancy whips around to look at it, shock coloring her brow as Jonathan scrambles for something. The nail bat.

And then the two are in the middle of the room, back to back, and the lights are flickering so intensely that he's tempted to turn them off, blow a fuse and throw the whole house into darkness. Something is happening, though, something bad, and they're ignoring him now and Steve feels like he should be panicking.

(He used to be a good panicker, he knows. From the little childhood memory he has left he used to be excellent at panicking. That was trained out of him, though, taken away from him so harshly that he's only just gaining his old self back.)

Steve isn't panicking, though, and he probably should be, honestly. After whatever this is happens Nancy will wonder why he wasn't scared and Nancy's too smart, if he gives her an inch she'll go fifty miles and he can't let that happen.

So he takes a deep breath and yells, "What the hell is happening?!"

It's easier, faking the panic after that. Mostly because the roof starts to cave in and Steve is a screamer, he screams when he's happy, when he's sad, when he's scared, excited, horny, whatever it is he makes noise. He attributes it to the fact that he had to be near silent for years, and now that he has a voice he'll damn well use it.

But when the roof starts falling apart and something comes out of it he's suddenly lost his voice.

Then they're running, and Steve narrowly jumps over a bear trap as they sprint into a nearby room and close the door.

Then it's silent.

They're all breathing heavily, and Steve starts to panic, just a little, when he hisses out, "What the heck was that?!"

It's quiet, a harsh whisper, but both still turn around to shush him. He allows it, because honestly he should know better. He's seen enough horror movies to know better. Never talk when something's chasing you, it's horror 101.

Nancy has her gun out and Jonathan has a lighter for some reason, and they're pressed together close, too close, and both of their hands are bandaged, strangely enough, and the lights are still flickering like a B rated horror film, and Steve wished he saved his apology for the morning.

But then it's quiet and the thing is gone and like absolute idiots they leave the safety of the bedroom and hop back over the bear trap.

"Okay." He says slowly, watches his words. Breathes in through his nose, out through his mouth. Then he breaks. Panics, just a little. "It's crazy, that was crazy."

Nancy matches forward, a determination in her step that is both scary and hot. He pauses, swallows, and watches as she walks up until they're nose to nose.

"It's going to come back." Nancy says, voice stern and commanding, eyes locked on him. "So you need to leave. Right now."

Yeah, fuck that. Steve's not going to leave his girlfriend to deal with this on her own with just a gun and some guy with a nail bat. Fuck. That.

"I'm not leaving." He keeps her gaze, a silent fight breaking out between them. Nancy's scared, scared for all of them, but she's also determined and strong and Steve loves her. "I'm not, so it'd be easier to tell me what's going on."

His mind was flashing with vivid images, and he's never seen that thing before but it's familiar in a way he wished it wasn't, reminding him of memories he had repressed years ago.

Nancy opens her mouth, either to tell him off or tell him the truth, but then the lights flicker and he recognizes that, feels dread settle in his stomach. The lights go out.

Then the thing is there, knocking Jonathan over and leering down on him. The other boy screams and Nancy's firing, gun trained at the thing. Steve watches, almost shell shocked, when the thing gets up and stares at Nancy.

Then he's moving, everything in slow motion as he drops down to pick up the nail bat. It all picks up again, time snapping back to normal as his stomach clenches and he swings.

The thing wasn't prepared, probably because he wasn't there a second ago. 

The hit lands solidly and he doesn't stop, hitting the thing over and over again, and the thing would swing, would try to hit him, but then time would slow down and he'd move just a bit and when time snapped back to normal he would barely miss getting hit. It was hard, took more concentration than the monster itself, and Steve could feel the beginning of a headache starting in the back of his skull, but it did the trick and the thing fell back, getting its leg stuck in their trap.

Steve watched the thing burn, keeping his eyes on the creature until it disappeared to wherever it came from. Nancy and Jonathan were panting, obviously tired, but they weren't suspicious. They didn't see.

Which was good. He hasn't done something like that in a long time. And, as far as anyone else will ever know, he still hasn't. 

"Okay." He breaks through the silence. "What, the fuck, was that?!"

And more importantly, why was it chasing his girlfriend?

Nancy spins around, eyes wide like she didn't expect him to still be there. Once she realized he was still there, she took a heavy breath and started explaining.

Not that the explanation helped at all.

"That… that was a monster. From a different dimension." Is what she says. "It took both Will Byers and Barb, and we-"

She trails off, almost unsure, but Steve gets the point. Kill the monster and save the victims. At least, in a fairytale. He nods, just to show that he's following even though he's really not.

Nancy nods with him, continues. "There's a gate, letting this thing through, and the others went with this girl, Eleven, to-"

Wait a second.

Steve blinks, and the world goes slow even though he hasn't used his powers. Nancy's still talking, still explaining, but he barely hears because -

Did she say Eleven?

His Eleven? The Eleven he left behind?

Steve had been familiar with her, back at the lab. His closest companion was Eight and Nine, but when Nine… after that, he spent most of his time with Eight both in and out of tests and Eight loved Eleven, adored her, so he made it a point to look after her whenever they were together. Which wasn't often- he doubts she would remember him, and if she did then she would remember the fact that he left. Left her, left Eight, left them. Ran when he had the chance and left them behind.

If little Eleven remembered him, all she would remember was that Seven was a coward who ran away and left her behind.

She probably wouldn't even want to see him. Still, he owes her an apology. If she remembers.

"Sorry." He cuts Nancy off, doesn't even know how long he had been zoning out. "But where are they now? Eleven and the others?"

Nancy looks curious, puzzled, wondering why he cares. Jonathan's squinting next to her. "The middle school." She says, and stares as he grabs his keys and leaves without another word.

He'll make up a decent excuse later. He had somewhere to be now.

But it was already too late when he arrived.

Chapter Text

He expected babysitting to be easier.

Even when he was just a number, just Seven, he always imagined creating a family of his own, of little tots running around. He wanted a big family, enough kids to dominate on a field, because he had a big family too, an always growing family, but he wasn't close to a lot of them and he wanted to create a close knit tight family so some kids can have the life he didn't.

Then he got out. He got out and stayed with the Harringtons and loved them, loved them so much, but they were childless and he was alone a lot and that just made him want a big family even more.

And the fates delivered.

…not what he was expecting.

If he wants to have six kids running around (like he doesn't already-) he hopes taking care of them doesn't regularly include demodogs.

They're in a junkyard looking for Dart because he can never say no to Dustin. Lucas is there too, so is a new girl named Max. Steve liked Max, she's got a good head on her shoulders and, like the other kids, took one look at him, saw something no one else did, and claimed him as one of her own, as her babysitter, and Steve has to wonder where these guys' parents were, because he's doing their job for them.

Maybe he does have a secret third power. Maybe it has to do with the fact that each kid the Party befriends for some reason likes him and goes to him for advice. He barely even talked to them last year and suddenly they're all coming to him when they need help.

He never should've let them play D&D at his house, Nancy asking be damned. That's what started it all and now they come over all the time cause it's quiet and he has snacks and they like him and Steve didn't expect his six tots running around dream to come true so soon.

Well, four tots. Five with Max. It would've been six with Eleven, but…

No one's seen her. She disappeared.

She's okay, it's fine, focus on the present…

Anyway, he's in a junkyard protecting a worn out bus housing three kids from a baby demogorgon. Whoever said babysitting was easy… Steve wants a word with them.

"Here Dart, come here boy…" he sings, crouched low as he calls for Dustin's new pet. "Come here, hellish dimensional demon…"

Dart starts to inch out from the shadows, snarling furiously. Steve keeps his eyes on it, tenses when Lucas calls his name.

Almost has a heart attack when he sees the others.

He spins on his heels and runs, twisting away from a car and jumping over another. The demodogs hound him, he can almost feel them, feel the air rushing as they charge at him.

Then he makes it to the bus and the demodogs start clawing through the walls, piercing holes and they're trapped, they're stuck and the bus is breaking and the kids are screaming and they're going to die they're going to die and Steve won't let that happen can't they're just kids he won't-

A piece of metal shatters and he jumps in front of the kids, thrusting his arms out. There's a second of stillness, and then his stomach lurches and the world turns to molasses.

He had shut his eyes at some point, and when he opens them he sighs in relief. There's a long, drawn out sound of claws against metal, slowly scratching down a surface. The demodogs are still tearing into the bus outside. Inch by inch, piece by piece.

Except each inch now took half a minute.

"What the-" Lucas whispers behind him, and Steve thanks whatever higher power that he brought them into his little time bubble with him. It always sucked doing it after he had slowed.

"No time." He turns towards them, watches as Lucas' and Dustin's eyes snap up to the blood creeping out of his nose, watches understanding dawn in their eyes. He turns back towards the front door and shoulders it open. "Everyone out!"

Max isn't moving, none of them are, so Steve sighs and leaves to show them that it's okay. There's a headache starting behind his eyes, a strain pulling at his muscles. When he leaves the bus the demodog that was at the door is slowly falling backwards. The others are still scratching at the bus.

The kids finally get a move on, and Steve leads them towards a large mound of cars that they can hopefully hide behind.

A blood vessel threatens to burst in his throat right before he finally lets go of time, letting it snap back into place, slapping him in the process. He whips back like he had just been punched as time rightens itself, and the demodogs attack the bus for a few more seconds before finding it empty. One of them sniffs at the ground, but then they all pause and run away.

Steve frowns, bringing his sleeve up to wipe away the blood around his nose. "They're going somewhere."

He stands up, tries to get a better angle, and only just then notices the silence.

The kids are standing behind him. Dustin's arms are crossed. "Dude."

Steve… didn't want to have this conversation. "Maybe we should follow them." He suggests, even though he really rather not.

"Dude." Dustin repeats. "You have superpowers?"

"Like El?" Lucas adds, and Max looks completely baffled. Steve nods, glances away.

"Awesome!" Is Dustin's response, grinning like a maniac. "You can stop time?!"

"I can slow it." Steve corrects. "There's a difference."

"It's still time." Dustin retorts. "That's so cool. Can you do anything else?"

Steve pauses, thinks if it's a good idea and decides why not. He places his hand on a nearby light post and they watch as electricity climbs up the pole, the lights shining brighter before flickering out.

The kids gawk. Max looks overwhelmed. Dustin is starry eyed.

It takes a bit of urging to make them remember what they're doing, and they do follow the demodogs, even though Steve didn't actually want to.

The moment they actually start moving, though, Lucas turns back to him. "So you know El."

He snorts. "Just because we both have powers doesn't mean I know Eleven. But yeah, I do."

Dustin looks like he's close to bouncing. "This is so cool-" he paused, and some sobering thought turning him solemn. "Wait."

Steve sighed, because he had been waiting for one of them to connect the dots. Max frowned, head tilting.

"Did you escape from the lab too?" Dustin asks, and Lucas turns to him, wide eyed. "Were you a prisoner like El?"

Steve wonders what makes Dustin think it's like a prison. Probably the shaved heads, tattoos, and experiments. Funny thing is (he had learned this recently) normal prisons don't have any of that. He wonders if Eleven said it was like a prison or if Dustin had just come to that realization on his own.

Still, he rolls up his sleeve and holds out his arm, showcasing a blocky yet tiny tattoo on his inner wrist. 007.

They're all quiet as they walk, if only for a few seconds. "El never mentioned you."

That hurt, just a bit. "I'm not sure if she'd remember me." He admits. "I escaped almost five years ago."

Dustin sputters. "So your name isn't Steve Harrington?!"

"It's the name that matters." He pulls the sleeve back down and Max whacks Dustin over the head, not really knowing what it means but having enough common sense to figure out that it was insensitive. "Come on, pick up the pace."

"We're still processing this!" Dustin nevertheless picks up the pace. "I mean, Steve, you have superpowers. We had a session at your house. Who else knows about this?"

"No one." He spins around. "And you won't tell anyone, either."

Lucas frowns but nods. Dustin looks ready to argue. "This isn't your secret to tell, alright dipshit?"

Dustin scowls but nods. Steve spends the rest of the night worried more about his secret than the demodogs.

Chapter Text

Steve isn't blind.

Yes he may have trouble understanding social interactions, he blames his childhood, but he isn't blind. He noticed how close Jonathan and Nancy were a year ago, during the Demogorgon fiasco.

He should care, he really should. Jonathan is practically stealing his girlfriend, because she and Steve have been fighting more often and Steve can tell she likes Jonathan more then she probably should while dating someone else. If they even are still dating.

Thing is, he can't bring himself to care as much as he should. He and Nancy… they're complicated. Both together and maybe not. They love each other, they both know that, but they drift apart and together at the flick of a hat and they never called it off but they aren't the same as they were before.

(Steve had been unsure, for a moment, after that drunk Halloween conversation, but they had talked about it. She hadn't meant it. They had talked about it.)

Steve could blame that on Jonathan, but Jonathan makes Nancy smile, makes Steve smile, and when they're all together Steve feels at peace, like everything is right, and it's sweet, really sweet. Sweet when, barricaded in the Byers' house with demodogs outside, Jonathan puts himself in front of both Nancy and Steve, like they're both equally important. Like they both mean something to him.

He isn't blind. He's stupid.

Because something's going on and not only can he not tell what, but he's doing nothing to try and fix it because he can't tell if it's a bad thing yet or not.

(He wants them both to be happy. If they're happier together without him, then he's okay with it.)

…He becomes very sappy when he's waiting for his certain death by demodog hoard.

They're attacking, just like they did at the junkyard. The adults are at the front, followed by Jonathan, who stands in front of him and Nancy. Behind them are the kids, clutching whatever weapons they got.

He turns to look at them. Dustin, Lucas, and Max aren't looking at the doors. They're looking at him. Waiting for him to do something.

He doesn't get the chance to.

Mike is ecstatic when Eleven arrives, badass as usual as she practically chases the demodogs away just by looking at them sideways. He does a hop skip and jump out of the house, running to embrace El like a desert man seeing water. It was cute, Steve guesses, but he was mostly focused on the fact that El was here and that Jonathan was still protecting them, back pressed against them as he slowly lowered his guard.

He patted the man's shoulder and ignored his startled jump. Nancy smiled next to them, something small and fond.

He's too busy tracing the smile on Nancy's face to notice the eyes on him, plural.

When he finally does he sees Lucas first, who is staring him down like he's waiting for the big reveal. Next is Max, who's gotten a crash course on everything, as far as Steve knows, and is now watching with almost as much curiosity. Dustin's on the other side, looking between him and El.

El, who's looking at him.

Steve almost startles at that, because it's not a quick glance over. No, El is shoulder to shoulder with Mike, giving her two cents on their next plan of action, and her eyes haven't left him since they first got there.

She doesn't know. She couldn't, she would've said something if she did. No, she didn't know him, but there wasn't unfamiliarity there. There was some recognition in her eyes, swirling alongside curiosity and confusion. She knew him but she didn't know how.

And Steve wasn't going to be the one who tells her.

(Coward, yes, maybe he is. If Eleven doesn't remember the number who left her behind, maybe that's for the better.)

Her head cocks to the side, but she doesn't call him out, doesn't try to ask any questions. Lucas and Max had actually tuned into the conversation, but Dustin was still glancing between them, eyes darting back and forth.

Partial recognition, is what Steve should call it. It's a middle ground, and if Steve wanted her to remember he could probably help her just by showing the tattoo but if he didn't he could just go away, hide from her and never see her again. It was his choice.

That's honestly the worst part.

El stares at him the whole meeting. She never says a word to him.

He wants to go with her. Wants to help Eleven, probably the best person to help her, but the kids need someone to protect them and Steve is also the best person for that job too.

You're doing a great job, Steve thinks, pulling himself off the ground. Billy had walked right past him, was now in the house with his kids. Good job, Steve, great protector you are.

He catches Billy off guard and hits him hard, Dustin immediately cackling and cheering for him. Max grabs Lucas and pulls him over to the rest of them. Steve makes sure he gets there alright, and Billy tries to hit him while he's not looking.

He's learned since his last fight, though. Ducking under the punch, he raises his fist and hits Billy two times in quick succession. Billy stumbles back and the kids cheer, like it's a wrestling match. They're cheering for him, and he feels a bit pleased.

Billy hits the kitchen counter and groans. Steve steps forward, winding back to hopefully knock him out.

A plate slams into the side of his head.

His ears ring, throwing him off balance, and there's a shout of protest as he stumbles backwards. Billy laughs, picking himself back up, and blood is falling down Steve's face. Little pieces of ceramic slice through his skin, and he's pretty sure some get stuck, stay there.

Billy takes his disorientation and plays it to his own advantage, demeanor going rough and violent as he slams his fist into Steve's nose. His head snaps back, stars appearing in his eyes, and most of his rational thought leaves him.

He starts to panic.

Billy takes aim again, and Steve braces, throws out an arm and Billy slows, fist barrelling towards him like a feather flutters through the air. Steve blinks, thinks he's imagining it, before realizing he isn't and he pulls his hand back, the effect cutting off abruptly.

Billy stumbles, eyes wide in the same startled way people always are when he slows them. To anyone completely slowed, it looks like he just moved at hyperspeed, because he also slows down their brain functions. He hears the kids behind him, hears Mike's confused noise, and Billy's looking at him like he's grown two heads.

He switches back to angry a second later, blinking as if to forget as he forged forward, and Steve knows not to do that again but his ears are still ringing and his head isn't on quite straight, so he's not surprised when something zaps between them and Billy jerks back like he's just been shocked.

Which, to be fair, he has.

Billy swears, and Steve sees a bit of fear in his eyes before he full blown tackles Steve. His head slams into the ground, the pain of it worse then the actual body on top of him, and Steve groans and tries to cover his face, static making the hair on his arms stand.

He gets punched once more before Max is there, sticking a needle in Billy's neck. Billy slides to the ground next to him, and Max starts chewing him out as Steve gingerly picks himself up. He prods the back of his head, not surprised to find it sticky with blood.

"What the hell was that, Steve?" Mike hisses, charging at him in his small boy angry glory. Dustin and Lucas join him, giving Max and Billy a wide berth. Max has Steve's baseball bat and looks like she's about to use it.

(Max is quickly becoming his favorite. Second favorite.)

Steve tried to answer, something like 'what was what?' or 'you saw nothing' or 'this is not the number you are looking for' but all that comes out is a slurred mess. That makes Dustin worried, crouching down and tapping his cheek repeatedly with his palm. "Steve, you with us?"

Another hand touches his split lip, and Steve feels something sticky settle there. When he speaks next, it's coherent. "Small bandaid."

"It's rainbow colored." Lucas says, like that makes it better. Mike is looking between all of them, hands up in the air and obviously distressed. Steve didn't want that.

"Guys." Mike snaps, and Max looks over, Billy on the floor knocked out. "We all just saw what he did, right?"

It took Steve much too long to stitch together a sentence, so Dustin did it for him. "We'll explain on the way."

On the way? "The way?" He asked as his kids pulled him to his feet, and Max held his bat as the boys shuffled along with him, holding his weight.

Dustin doesn't seem to understand his question pertains to what way they are going, and instead rephrases. "We'll explain in the car."

Now he wants to know why they're going in the car and who's going to drive because it ain't him, but they're already out of the door, kids on a mission, and his eyes are fluttering and he can't bring himself to stop them.

Maybe after a quick nap.

Chapter Text

Steve feels when the gate closes.

It's strange, weird, something inside of him snapping shut so suddenly that even if he did know what it was he wouldn't of been able to find it anyway. He shouldn't of felt the gate close in the first place, he's not- his powers aren't-

…He doesn't know.

They're making their way back to the car, the burning heat of the tunnels fading as the knot in his stomach grows. The kids are all staring at him, waiting for him to collapse, most likely. If he looks as shitty as he feels, he doesn't blame them.

Still, these kids are his responsibility, and he's not going to let little injuries get in the way of that.

(He's pretty sure he has shards from that plate still stuck in his skin.)

Mike is staring at him, because they couldn't really talk much about what happened on the ride to the tunnels, Steve a bit to out of it to answer questions. He'd rather wait until the ground wasn't spinning to answer questions.

"You knew her." He finally asks, though it doesn't really sound like a question. "In the lab?"

"Saw her, from time to time." He answers, and the car comes into view. "Don't know if she remembers me, though."

He did know, but it felt better, letting there be a chance. A chance that Eleven didn't remember him, didn't realize that he escaped and left her and Eight and the others behind.

Mike doesn't respond, and Max pauses in front of the car, brushing against him in what might be solidarity. He doesn't know when the kids claimed him as part of their group, but he realized on the way back that they all walked around him, like a living wall. It's sweet, but it makes him feel pathetic.

They get in the car and head back to the Byer's house, Steve driving even with his injuries because he didn't want one of the kids to have to. Mike grabs the front seat and stares at him while the others pile into the back.

"Whatever you want to say kid, just say it." He finally comments a few minutes in, because Mike is still just staring. He opens his mouth, like he's going to talk, before shutting it and looking away. In the back of the car the others were drifting off, half asleep.

When they finally arrive Steve has to corral the sleepy kids inside, herding them through the door after making sure Billy had left. The place is empty and the adrenaline has finally worn off, and one by one the kids drift off waiting for the others to arrive.

A car comes up the road half an hour later, and Steve springs up from his spot near the door, only settling when Joyce is the one that opens the car door. She and Nancy come in first, followed by Jonathan holding an unconscious Will. They make a lot of noise entering the house, enough to alert the kids, who wake up in a frenzy once they see Will. After Joyce assures them that Will is okay and just needs to rest, they finally calm down enough for Jonathan to take him to his room.

That's when Nancy notices him.

"Steve-" she takes a step towards him before pausing, shock and concern written all over her face. She takes another step forward, raises a hand to his face. "What happened?"

"Billy Hargrove tried to kill him." Dustin replied helpfully, appearing next to him. Steve glared at him. "Steve was kicking his ass but then Billy hit him with a plate-"

Nancy's eyes were wide, as if that was one of the scariest things to happen today. Dustin thankfully didn't mention the slowing time or shocking Billy part of it, but did vividly recall the rest of the fight with way to much detail. By the time he finished Jonathan was back in the room next to Nancy, also looking him over and generally fretting.

It's sweet. A bit humiliating, but sweet. It's nice to have people who care, who seem to truly care. Steve smiles through his split lip and tries not to wince through the strain.

He's been through worse, but the time in between made him soft. He can barely protect his kids, how can he expect anyone to think he can protect them? It makes sense why Nancy goes to Jonathan for this and not him.

And yet, both of them stand right in front of him, worried not for each other but for him. His smile falls but something similar appears in his eyes.

They sit him on the couch and Nancy sits on one side and Jonathan takes the other as Nancy cleans the blood off his face. It's not as much as it could've been, if he hadn't had slowed time, if Max hadn't stepped in. The entire thing plays again, over and over in his mind. It wasn't the pain that got him, wasn't even the intent. He's dealt with both before, but not from another high schooler. Someone who should be more worried about what they're going to do with their life after high school, not trying to kill someone in front of their sister. He should be upset, but all he can really feel is pity.

Jonathan has a hand on his shoulder, thumb going up and down over his shoulder blade in comfort. Nancy has one hand on his cheek and the other dabbing away at his cuts with a wet rag. It's weird, he should feel weird, being in between these two, because he and Nancy are something but also aren't something just like Jonathan and Nancy are, but they're more something then not, and Steve should hate Jonathan for that, really should, but the rhymic movement of his thumb and the steely concentration in Nancy's eyes is nice. It's nice and frankly he's too tired to care much, so he leans back into Jonathan and keeps his eyes on Nancy. The kids are up and talking around them, Joyce goes from the kitchen to Will's room back to the kitchen, probably trying to get them all snacks or something after the day they've had, and Steve kind of wants to volunteer his house, which is always empty but stocked. It'd be kind of nice, letting them set up in his living room. Chasing the silence out of his home.

Then there's another car and Hopper and Eleven are coming inside.

The kids don't even wait for them to enter- Mike scrambles up and opens the door for them, running outside and barreling into El. The other kids wait by the door, enveloping them the moment they walk through the door frame, cheering and congratulating and generally being happy kids.

If Steve ignored the blood, he could believe it.

All the kids are talking now, telling their side of the story to those who weren't there, and Nancy pulls her hands away to listen. With neither her nor Jonathan paying attention, he finally looks at El.

Who's already staring back at him.

Steve looks away for a second, not knowing what else to do, but when he looks back El is still staring so he locks eyes with her and waits. There's a lot swimming in those eyes of hers, curiousity and confusion, knowledge and power, the barest trace of recognition. He wonders, briefly, if she actually remembers him, or if she only remembers the stories Eight would've told her about him. If that would be enough.

Lucas is recounting their stunt in the tunnels, and the hand that was on his cheek is now holding his own. He doesn't know if Nancy realized it, but she's squeezing his hand periodically, focused on the story but still holding onto him. He blinks, and when his eyes open El's are a bit wider than before. Like she's in shock.

He loses track of time, watching and waiting for Eleven to do something, to finally voice her silent questions. He wants her to know, of course, wants to be there for her, but his gut churns at the idea of her being mad. At her holding a grudge. At her remembering him and how he left them behind.

Mike is the one who notices. He cuts Dustin off as he speaks. "El?"

And suddenly, their quiet moment is shattered as all eyes turn to El before moving to him. Wondering what they're doing. The kids freeze, eyes wide in anticipation. Nancy looks at him, concerned, confused. He squeezes her hand but doesn't look away from El.

He smiles, a little it's okay moment between them. A little trust yourself, it really is me as El's eyes flicker back and forth, concentrating on his left eye, then his right, then his left again.

He doesn't think she'll say anything, so he speaks first, voice soft. "Hey El."

Hopper and Joyce look startled, almost curious at his tone. Nancy's frown is more confused than upset, as is Jonathan's. Dustin has stars in his eyes again.

El takes another moment. She takes a step forward, moving away from Hopper. There's wonder in her face. "Seven?" She asks, just as soft, like she thinks he'll blow away.

There's a sharp inhale of breath from Hopper, a noise of confusion and Nancy's eyes widening. The room is silent, like a bombshell's been dropped, and Steve still hasn't looked away from El. He shifts, raising the shoulder Jonathan is touching to lift his arm. He brings it out, open and relaxed, and El takes a tentative step forward, inching hesitantly closer until she can grab his arm with her hand. She pulls up his sleeve until the 007 is visible, and they ignore the deafening silence as El traces the numbers with her finger.

"Steve." He hears Hopper whisper, and while he doesn't know the man well he understands the reaction. He's the one who's been taking care of El, all this time. He probably knows the most about the lab, would know the most about what happened there. His eyes flicker up to Hopper's before landing on El's again.

"Papa said you died." Her voice is light, barely there but loud in the quiet room. Steve tenses at the name, suppresses a flinch as the others in the room jerk like they've been hit. "He said you escaped and failed."

He's not surprised, of course he would pretend he died leaving. Use it as a warning for the others still trapped at the lab. Make them think they could never get out.

El's still tracing the numbers, like she can't believe they're there. Nancy is squeezing his hand like she's trying to break it. He leans forward a bit, and El meets his eyes again. "Papa's a liar."

Something in her eyes spark and she lets go, instead lunging forward. She wraps her arms around his neck and squeezes, holding him tight like she's afraid that if she lets go he'll really die this time. The well of guilt in his stomach bubbles again, shame curling in his chest at how much she obviously missed him. He wraps his arms around her, rubs her back in a way he used to do with Eight. Around him, the kids are smiling and the adults look both shocked and vaguely horrified. 

He'll deal with their reactions later, El is more important.

Chapter Text

He was brought into the lab when he was four, and while he doesn't really remember it he remembers what happened before and Eight remembers it, so he has a pretty good recollection of the events. His parents hadn't given him up, like some of the others. He knows because he remembers the last time he saw them, can still remember fuzzy little details about them. They had loved him, and they either didn't know about his powers or they did and still didn't want to give him up. Whatever it was, Brenner had to use other methods to bring him in.

It should be a hazy memory, but he's learned that scary memories are always more vivid than other memories, just like nightmares stand out more than dreams. He remembers wandering around a building, remembers someone scaring him, remembers short circuiting the system and remembers the lights going out. He remembers someone grabbing him in the dark and taking him outside and he remembers screaming and crying for his parents until he couldn't anymore.

"Kidnapped." Hopper said, and while he never thought of it that was exactly what happened. "They kidnapped you."

He nods, shrugs, pushes the bile back down his throat.

It lines up with what Eight said (they had been picked up the same day), how she could hear him screaming even from her room, until it suddenly stopped and she thought whoever it was had died. He hadn't though, had just been drugged so he'd finally stop making a racket.

They had picked him up because they had noticed his electrokinesis, but soon after they had learned about his ability to slow time and became much more interested.

Brenner always theorized that if he could slow time then he could stop it as well, but he never could. At some points he got close, slowed time so much that a fired bullet barely moved, but he couldn't stretch that final inch without collapsing due to the strain.

Until he did.

Under extreme duress, he managed to completely freeze time, making it possible for Three and Nine-Point-Five to escape. He doesn't really understand how, he just knew she would die if he didn't and he couldn't watch someone else die.

"Someone else?" Dustin asked, and El looked confused too, eyes wide as if she was trying to remember.

"Nine-Point-Five, Marcy, was Nine's twin sister. When Nine fell into a coma she, Three, and Six tried to escape." He pauses, tries to figure out what to say next. "They had gotten passed the gate, and I was on the other side, watching. Six got shot and they were about to kill Marcy so I… I just stopped. Stopped time."

El tilts her head, a far off look in her eyes. "You disappeared." She recalls.

Steve nods, voice strained. "It almost killed me."

He only ever stopped time once, after seeing Six bleed out on the pavement, eyes empty and blank. He realized that Marcy was next, knew he could never look Nine in the eyes again if he didn't do something, and he pulled at something inside of himself and time stopped. It stopped so suddenly and harshly and the bleeding started immediately, instantly, and his lungs rattled and shook and he coughed up blood.

With some effort he was able to pull Marcy and Three into real time with him. He yelled at them, told them to go, and they did. He waited until he could no longer see them, then waited some more, lungs filling with blood and body shaking with exertion. Time snapped back into place and he collapsed with it.

He woke up with a strained diaphragm and a partially blind left eye, both of which healed within the month. He also woke up with Papa standing over him, and he knew he couldn't lie, couldn't pretend he hadn't stopped time. He's never had such a reaction to slowing time, and those he did it to always knew it was happening, it wasn't a blink and you miss it type of thing, like this time. The men blinked and Marcy and Three were gone and Steve was collapsed on the other side of the gate bleeding out of his mouth and nose and eyes.

It was easy to connect the dots.

He couldn't do it again, though. Couldn't stop time without being under extreme duress. Brenner had tried everything short of putting a gun to his or his siblings' head and pulling the trigger, yet nothing worked. All it did was wear down at Steve, slowly but surely breaking him down.

When Nine woke up she wasn't the same, and Eight was tasked with messing with her mind, making her see things that weren't there. With Six, Three, and Marcy gone and Nine completely gone he only had Eight to talk to. They were always close, usually being the test subject to each other's powers. Eight was also close to Ten and Eleven, she looked after them. She made it her responsibility, and since he cared about Eight he made it his responsibility too. He never really saw Ten, though, something about their powers clashing. Brenner had tried it once, Steve doesn't remember it. Eight said it wasn't pretty.

With Ten out of reach, he mostly hung out with Eight and Eleven. Nine soon became too unstable to talk to at all, and Eight heard whispers about Brenner getting rid of her soon.

"Did he?" El asks, and she doesn't remember. Steve grimaces.

"She attacked Eight one day." He said. "Neither of us saw her again."

He thinks it was the idea of getting thrown out due to uselessness which caused it. The panic and stress from the experiments culminated until he hit a breaking point, short circuiting the entire building with his powers, like he had done when he was little. He saw the opportunity and ran then, slowed time when needed and disappeared out the broken open gates. He's regretted that day for a long time, regretted not going out to find Eight or Eleven, leaving everyone behind. He was scared and he just ran without thinking.

And Brenner told them he had died trying to escape.

He ran until he made it to Hawkins and found the Harrington house empty and practically open for him. The first few times the Harringtons came home he hid out or just left until they were gone, but after a while the wife sniffed him out, suspicious of something he left behind or something he moved from where it was. She caught him in the act, but his ragged look and scared wide eyes must've tugged at her heartstrings enough, because she took pity and convinced her husband to let him stay. 

It wasn't like they were there often either way.

Steve liked the wife- she made him food and got him new clothes and after a few strange looks in public even started calling him son. She wasn't happy with the name Seven, for some reason, always called him Steve instead and it stuck. He liked Steve better anyway.

"Dude." Dustin snorted. "She literally just changed the n for a t and called it a day."

Jonathan makes a little noise at that and Max cracks a smile as Joyce gives Dustin a stern look. Steve just scoffs and swats at him.

She also realized that he was as dumb as a brick (uneducated, she would say, smoothing his growing hair back, you're a smart young boy, just uneducated) and took it upon herself to teach him the basics. Her husband continued to go on trips but she stayed with him until she was sure that he would be okay on his own, until she was sure that the town saw him as Steve Harrington, someone who belonged and not some random kid who appeared from nowhere.

He even got a legal identity, because rich people can do that, apparently.

He learned why she was so caring one day when listening into a conversation she was having with her husband, how she wanted kids but couldn't have any for medical reasons. He started calling her mom as a thank you, and that stuck too.

It had to end at some point, though, and she started travelling with her husband again and Steve was left alone at the Harrington house. He was more prepared now, though, enrolled in school and with a background he felt comfortable talking about. Yeah he didn't make the best of friends but he didn't know any better, he was just trying to fit in and remain hidden to those still looking for him.

His mom came home when she could, showered him in love and even the husband would ruffle his hair or play catch with him when he could. He started calling him dad because the other kids found it weird when he didn't and his mom seemed to like that too.

He never told them about his powers. He didn't use his powers at all, from the moment he escaped he stopped using them, too afraid of someone seeing and finding out. He went years hiding under the radar, trying to go unnoticed.

"You used them for us, though." Dustin grins, almost smirking, like he's smug. "You protected us."

Steve rolls his eyes, cause of course he did. They're his kids. "It was either that or being demodog food." He says, and El's eyes flash like she wants to kill the already dead monsters for attacking him, and he feels like he should be the one protecting her, not the other way around. Ignoring the fact that she's definitely the stronger one.

"Hold on a second." Hopper cuts in, eyes serious. "The Harringtons bought you a fake ID? Are you sure it's fully legal?"

The question surprises him. Hopper's a police officer, he expects him to be upset that it's fake, not upset that it might not hold up under scrutiny. "I mean, I got my license with it."

Hopper crosses his arms, unsure, and Steve had a feeling that the man would be checking it soon, making sure it's as foolproof as it could be. Or maybe he wants to know where he can get one for El.

"So yeah, that's about it." He finishes awkwardly, wiping his palms on his pants. "I don't really know much about the lab, and I know nothing about the Upside Down- if I did I would've told you earlier."

Nancy jolts then, as if remembering something. "You had acted strange, when we first told you about El, last year." She recalls, and El looks at him with wide, almost accusing eyes. "You knew then, of course."

El frowns at him, like it's his fault for not finding her sooner, which, true. "I did go looking for you." He assured. "But you had already disappeared."

Hopper winced, subtle enough that Steve didn't question it. El had squeezed between him and Jonathan, holding onto his arm like she's afraid he'll disappear. Her thumb still brushed over the tattoo, even though the raised skin had long since settled.

(She used to do that with Eight, a lot, he recalls. Used to spend hours pressed up against her side, fingers drifting over the numbers in some form of silent comfort.)

"Sorry." She murmured, like it was her fault, and Hopper winces again and if Steve was paying more attention he would be suspicious by then. Instead, he's too focused on El, his sister.

"Don't worry about it." He murmurs, feels her yawn more then sees it. She's probably exhausted, he would be in her situation. He fakes a yawn, sees most of the kids copy it. "I think we can continue this in the morning."

Hopper and Joyce jump on that, some parental instincts kicking in as they usher the kids to get ready for sleep. El's falling asleep against him, her thumb slowing down with each brush against the numbers. Jonathan's gone to check on Will and Nancy again looks determined to clean up his facial injuries. The hectic sounds of of Joyce and Hopper dealing with the kids settle around them.

It's nice.

Chapter Text

The winter exam season starts up as November changes to December, and Steve doesn't really feel like it. Doesn't feel like studying, doing the necessary work to pass and get good grades. When his mom is around he showers her in B+'s and A-'s, because she loves them and he loves making her happy, but whenever he's alone he starts to focus more on the fact that he's still running, and that his past may come back to pull him back in and that always feels more intense then doing good in school.

(Especially now, with his past actually coming back to haunt him.)

It's Nancy that gets him out of his funk, because Nancy is the best of all of them and wants both him and Jonathan to do well, because they need good grades for college and Nancy wants them to all go to the same college or at least to nearby colleges. Steve had never really planned for college, didn't think he'd make the cut or that he'd make it that far without the lab knowing, but Nancy's excited and it makes him excited too.

Even though he doesn't want to leave Hawkins, doesn't want to leave the kids to deal with the next problem. They still have time, of course, but he can't believe it's all over, even though he wants to. He can't believe it and can't leave the kids to deal with it when it inevitably happens again. Can't leave El.

And yet the kids know that and Dustin's already planning to go to whatever college he goes to and he has to set a good example, doesn't he?

So he studies. A lot. He studies by himself, with Nancy or Jonathan or both, and it's mostly chem because he sucks at chem but he brushes up on his history and English because the finals could bring his C's up to B's and his B's up to A's and he might even mail a copy of his report card to his mother if he does that good.

The first week of December consists of mostly that. He finds out that he likes history, still hates chem, and might actually enjoy music theory more than previously thought.

Every day they study somewhere different, and today it's Nancy's room. Nancy's on her bed and Jonathan has her desk and Steve's sprawled out on the ground, notes and papers everywhere because he needs to be able to see it to learn. Nancy's been helping him study as well, practically tutoring him. She's been real sweet about it too, probably because she now knows why he's so behind, and he has to admit that learning from a pretty lady is much better than the boring teachers.

(She smiles whenever he figures something out that he didn't know before. It's like shooting sugar into his veins. Then Jonathan looks at both of them, an amused tilt to his smile, and Steve feels like he just won the lottery.)

He's making his own periodic table from scratch, trying to memorize the important bits so he can make his own cheat sheet for the exam when Nancy breaks the silence. "Remember that conversation I told you about, with Dr. Owens? From the lab?"

Steve freezes, because the word lab always makes him do that unless it's prefixed with the word chem. Jonathan glances between him and Nancy, the latter of whom is biting her lip. "What about it?" His voice is a bit hoarse.

"I recorded the conversation." She admits. "I gave it to Murray, this guy we met so he could publicize it, but maybe- maybe it can shut that place down."

His mouth is hanging open, and he tries to speak but can't figure out the words. It sounds great, sounds like vengeance and justice in a way, and he wants that so badly but something about it still makes him scared.

"I should've talked to you and El, before doing it." Nancy continues, voice soft but firm. "There's nothing on it that incriminates you but still."

"Please-" he pauses, unsure where that just came from. He swallows, tries to find his voice. "I won't lie, I'm happy you did it but I'm still a bit terrified."

Terrified. Terrified of the lab finding him, terrified of the lab going after Nancy, terrified of too many things. He swallows down the fear.

Jonathan turns away from the desk, looks down to meet his eyes. "Have they been following you?" He asks, urgent and concerned. "They're trying to scare you."

He shakes his head, because he hasn't had any black cars roll up on him nor has any lab workers been blatantly following him, and that's even worse then if they were. If they were, that means he was blending in well. It means they thought he was like the others. Just because they aren't being obvious doesn't mean they aren't following him.

If they aren't being obvious though, does that mean they know?

"Before the demodogs, I hadn't used my powers in half a decade." He explains, looking down at his notes, scattered across the floor. Ignores that small time with the demogorgon. "And then I used them. Multiple times. In front of multiple people. They know I'm involved, yet they aren't trying to terrorize me?"

The rest of it goes unsaid. If there was any time for them to figure it out, it's now. Steve doubts they haven't kept at least one eye out for him since he escaped. There's a chance they know he's in the area, a chance they know he never left. He's not sure how many scientists are still alive from before, after the incident with the portal. If they survived they're probably still working for the lab, they probably still know that he's moving around just under their noses.

And it wouldn't be hard, even with his powers. He lives alone and secluded. If they caught him on a weekend when he had no plans it could take days for anyone to notice. And after they did, would they even care enough to look for him? He hopes so, knows he should expect that, but a little vicious thing inside of him doesn't want him to.

Nancy knows him, though, understands him just like she understands her textbooks. She shuffles to the edge of the bed, sliding off and landing right next to him. Two warm hands cradle his face, bringing it up until he was looking Nancy in the eyes. "Whatever they're planning-" she starts, voice sure and determined. "-we won't let it happen."

It shouldn't matter as much as it does, because honestly there's very little the two of them could do. He knows the others have protected El before, thank god, but it felt different for himself. Like he wasn't worth as much.

Still, it made him feel nice, made him feel wanted and loved.

"We won't have to worry about them again anyway." She continued, voice soft. "The press has to release the tape soon, I'm surprised they haven't already."

And that gives him a minor panic attack, thinking that something caught a hold of the tape before they were able to get it to the press. The idea that lab workers took it from this Murray guy and now knows about Nancy recording them. He shudders.

Nancy may see the panic in his eyes, because she makes some sort of sound before pulling him into a hug. He's a little confused, a little surprised, because there hasn't been as many hugs between them as there's been pressing up close on couches and beds to watch movies or share space or just be near one another. It's funny, because he's not even sure they're still dating but they're suddenly much more affectionate than before.

The hug is nice, though. It's nice.

Nancy let's him set the duration, and Steve buries his face into Nancy's neck and just stays, lives, feels her heartbeat through her shoulder and reminds himself that everyone's fine.

When he finally moves away Jonathan has taken a seat on the floor too, close but not touching, wanting to give them space but also wanting to check up on them. Check up on Nancy or Steve, he doesn't know.

He pretends it's for him, scooting over to lean against him and feel the warmth, the heat and the living being that is him. His siblings always got so cold after using their powers, besides Nine. They always felt dead, and Steve would spend too much time trying to rub life back into their limbs when they came back from a hard day.

Jonathan allows it, wraps an arm around his shoulder even. Steve would be embarrassed, a year ago. Now he wonders why it would be embarrassing.

A few more minutes pass, Nancy and Jonathan having a silent conversation as Steve thinks back on conversations with Nine, watching her use her abilities. Jonathan shifts slightly and Steve looks at him.

"Your powers." He asks after a bit, curious but calm. "Can you show us? If you want?"

Steve nods, shifting. He doesn't move to far, Jonathan's arm still around him, but he moves enough that he's facing Nancy. Grabbing a pencil, he waves it with a flourish before raising it above their heads and dropping it, his other hand pointed palm first at it.

There's the lightest tug in his gut, almost like a caress, and the pencil slows to a sluggish crawl, falling through the air a centimeter every second. They watch it slowly fall- Jonathan's arm tightens around his shoulder as they watch.

The pencil finally falls into Nancy's hand a minute later. "So you can slow objects." She concludes. "And slow time completely?"

"It's more like I can slow the world and if I focus I can also slow particular objects." Steve shrugs. "Like, mmm, when I slow time I slow everything, and then unslow everything I don't want slowed. The more stuff I let go the less energy I have to use. Stopping time, though, I have to stop everything."

"Everything." Jonathan breathes out. "As in, the whole world?"

Steve nods, and Nancy rubs her forehead. "So, when you stopped time, the whole world went with it."

He shrugs again. "I mean, it almost killed me. Sucky power honestly. I can't go back in time or see the future, or even stop time without bursting an artery."

Nancy winced, twirling the pencil in hand. "And you were born with that power?"

"Not sure." He shifts, puts his weight back on Jonathan. The other boy didn't complain, so Steve goes a step further and leans back against him, tilting his head back until it settles against Jonathan's shoulder. "I first used it when I was six or so. I'm not sure about the electrokinesis, as Papa always called it-" he choked on his own tongue. "Dr. Brenner, I mean."

The world takes pity on him, because all Nancy says is, "Electrokinesis? You control electricity?"

Steve chuckles, tilting his head towards her. The hair at the nape of his neck brushes against Jonathan as he moves. "I'd show you, but I don't think Jonathan would enjoy it to much."

Nancy takes that at face value and goes on. "So you can generate electricity and slow time. Are they related to each other?"

When she puts it that way, they do sound similar, somehow. He doesn't know how, but maybe. "They thought they could be connected- the scientists. Never figured out if it was, or they just didn't tell me if they did."

It's quiet for a while. Jonathan drags his notes onto the ground next to Steve so he didn't have to move back. Not like he really could, Steve draped against his side like a blanket. Nancy also moved down to them, and their notes made a cluttered mess of handwriting and topics.

He feels content.

It's a strange feeling, going your whole life with terrible friends and then gaining good friends and realizing just how bad you were being treated before.

Needless to say, Steve may develop a co-dependance if he isn't too careful. It reminds him of his mom, how she always cares about him, but he thought that was just a parent thing. He didn't think friends always cared for their friends too. He thought it was more like a transactional thing- he gives his friends money and jokes and they give him their time. Like paying to be at a restaurant, but the food was actually just social interaction.

Nancy and Jonathan aren't like that, though. They actively seek him out and they don't demand things from him, don't ask him to throw parties and get upset when he isn't feeling it. He doesn't have to pay for their meals when they go out (he still does, even if Nancy tries to pay herself). They're there for him, not what he can offer.

Safe to say, he's baffled and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Especially because he's always around them now, either all three of them together or just one of them, passing Steve between them like divorced parents do a child.

Maybe they're afraid. After everything that's happened with El and the lab, it wouldn't be surprising if they didn't want to leave him alone while the lab was still harassing them all. Maybe they had the same fears Steve had- maybe they're afraid that the lab does know about him and is just biding their time. El is safe, gaurded by Hopper and the Party and Joyce and Steve, especially Steve, but Steve doesn't have anyone to back him up besides Nancy and Jonathan. He wouldn't contact the Party if something happened either way, they're kids and they deserve some peace.

He's gotten closer to Hopper too, surprisingly enough. Probably because his sister now lives with the officer, and while Hopper doesn't like the kids coming over he was okay with Steve being El's guardian when Hopper couldn't be.

Which meant access to the cabin and permission to come over whenever he wanted. Not like Hopper could really stop him either way, he's been slowing bullets since he was eight. It was good for El too, because she would turn those big doe eyes on him and ask if they can go to the arcade and meet Mike and he says yes and they go and Steve chaperones the date while also watching over the third, forth, fifth, and sixth wheel.

(Sometimes it's a double date with only a fifth and sixth wheel and Steve buys Dustin and Will milkshakes because no one should have to deal with what that entails. He'll buy himself a milkshake if Nancy's there too. Doesn't know what to do when Jonathan's also there. For some reason, Dustin and Will always groans when that happens, demanding cash and disappearing to who knows where to deal with their annoyance without him. Normal people confuse him sometimes.)

He smiles to himself as the bell rings, signaling the end of class. He slings his backpack over his shoulder and exits the classroom.

He's halfway across the hallway when he notices them.

There's three men in black suits talking to two students on the other end of the hallway. They look extremely government, over the top almost, but it's the way they hold themselves that give him pause. The rigid posture, solemn, blank faces, hands clasped behind their backs-

It's like every adult he ever saw at the lab, besides Papa. He can almost imagine them in the white outfits, almost recognizes them, and he freezes in the middle of the hallway. Students push past him in waves as he stares, breathing getting quicker and quicker until the din of the school quiets, the only audible sound he can hear being his heartbeat. Anxiety and panic curl in his stomach, and he's suddenly unsure if he's slowed time or if everything is just moving that slow.

Then a hand touches his shoulder, pulls him back, and he blinks and everything rushes back to speed. The hand spins him around before disappearing, grabbing his own hand and pulling him away, the opposite way of the men. The suits don't notice a thing, their own movement hidden behind a surge of rushing bodies.

He and his savior round a corner, and the moment he can't see them anymore he takes in a deep breath, almost gasping with it. He tries to calm himself, as best as he can and when he looks up he sees Jonathan staring at him, clearly worried. About him and the men. "They have to be here for someone else." Jonathan murmurs, like he's reassuring himself. "There's no reason for them to suddenly know and then come here."

That does the opposite of what Jonathan was probably hoping for, and Steve sucks in a sharp breath at the thought of them being there for Nancy or Jonathan, them finally knowing that the recording was leaked and it was Nancy who did it.

The idea of them being looked for seems more likely to him, more real, and the idea that he was the one they wanted fizzled out until all he could think about was his friends getting hurt. Using that as courage, he steeled his frazzled nerves and gave Jonathan what must have been a terrified grin. "Stay here."

Then he turns back into the hallway, hands clenched at his side and eyes low, hair hanging over his face for an extra layer of defense. He shuffles past the men as fast as he can, skirting up behind them and straining his ears to hear what they're saying.

They're asking questions, of course. Normal sounding questions, with how relaxed the students are, but he doesn't think the questions have the answers that the men want.

He scoots a bit closer, here's the name Billy Hargrove.

Billy? They're looking for Billy? Steve hasn't really seen Billy since the whole thing with the kids, besides quick pass throughs near the corner of his eyes. Nancy and Jonathan don't really let him get close either way, more angry about it then he is.

The men thank the students and continue on, away from him. He stands still for a moment, watching them leave. They definitely look like guards for the outer parts of Hawkins Lab, he can imagine them more and more in his mind eye. That's not what's confusing him.

What do they want with Billy Hargrove?

Chapter Text

Friday nights used to include him either partying or going to sleep early, his house quiet and creaky and him trying not to feel like every groan of the house was actually a footstep coming to get him.

Now Friday nights include an apron, his cooking skills, six kids, and two other teenagers, along with a D&D session.

He doesn't know when this became normal, but at some point Steve's house became the best house for a session and now they come over every Friday for said session. Its probably also because Steve always picks up El after school on Friday, and they drive around town, getting ice cream and scaring the locals by making them think there's a ghost when they get a sugar high. El then sleeps over at Steve's and Hopper picks her up the next morning. The Party had learned about this, though, and decided that if El could stay over that night then they could too.

(No one really likes to go home after a session now, anyway. Even if Nancy or Jonathan or Steve could drive them home, they'd rather just wait till morning.)

Jonathan has a hand over his mouth as he sits at the barstool around the kitchen island, snickering into his hand. Nancy's grinning, wide and bright, and Steve glares at both of them before finishing the last grilled cheese. The kids had had dinner a few hours ago, and he knows he shouldn't feed kids after a certain time but El had looked at him with her wide puppy eyes and he had given in almost immediately. So here he was, back in the kitchen with his apron on and a stack of grilled cheese on a plate. And Nancy and Jonathan were laughing at him.

"Stop it." He says with little bite. "You're just jealous I look so good doing such menial chores. Kids!"

The kids, who were about five feet away in the connected living room, all turn to look at him. He places the plate of a dozen grilled cheeses on the kitchen island, and before they can swarm the plate is flying towards them, landing in Mike's outstretched arms with a tiny thump.

"Eleven!" Steve catches his sister's eyes, who looks far too pleased with herself. "Be careful with the plates!"

El grins, taking a sandwich and eating. The kids took a second to start eating before turning back to their session. While they were busy, Max (who always came to the sessions but never actually joined) stole a few extra sandwiches.

Jonathan is still snickering. Nancy's grin is even bigger. "None for us?"

Steve wiggles his eyebrows and opens the microwave, gesturing to the ham and cheese sandwiches waiting inside. "We deserve the best." He wiggled his fingers and Jonathan snorts. 

It's nice, sitting back and listening to the chaos. The kids are sleeping over, as are Nancy and Jonathan, most likely. The doors are locked and the windows are shut and it's safe, it's nice. They don't have to worry. It's even become a regular occurrence, they've had multiple sessions at his house by now, almost every Friday.

Steve even joins in, after several pleas from several kids. Since he told them straight up he couldn't play each time, Dustin's character, who was a warlock this time, created something called a familiar. They had named the familiar, a thunderbird, Steve, and after making him a whole character sheet he became a playable character that also doubled as Dustin's familiar whenever Steve wasn't playing. Steve only understood half of what they were saying, but they seemed really excited to tell him.

It was well past midnight when Nancy mentioned maybe making the kids go to sleep. Hopper had came by and picked El up, to her despair, but she was only half awake anyway. Steve still gave her a hug and kissed her forehead as she went, because she'd get mad if he didn't, asleep or not, and Nancy looked at him fondly when he shut the door behind them. That had been an hour ago, and El's character was thrown into a wagon to be carted around, because the kids take this game seriously.

"Come on Nance, it's Friday." He tries to defend them, sees Jonathan blinking sleepily at them. "They can stay up."

"Then you'll have grumpy kids in the morning." Nancy replies, crossing her arms. "They'll pick at your breakfast. Insult it."

Steve turns to the kids. "Bed time dipshits!"

The kids all groan. "Ten more minutes!" Mike, being the spokesperson, speaks. "We have to get to a stopping point."

Steve shrugs and allows it, turning back to Jonathan and patting his back. "Take the guest room."

Usually either he or Nancy takes the guest room, and the other either takes Steve's room or sleeps in the living room with the kids, because they can literally never be trusted. It was Nancy's turn to make sure they don't light a fire this time.

Steve hears something soft, like a far off rumbling. The crackling of rocks. He turns to the front door.

Someone's coming up the driveway.

It's not a car he recognizes, even with how dark it was. It's completely blacked out, tinted windows and everything.

Steve curses, and the others look at him, look at where he's looking.

Dustin curses. Steve levels him a look.

Nancy takes control. "Everyone, dining room, now."

The kids scramble up, leaving their game a scrambled mess of paper and figures. Someone grabs his sleeve, drags him with them, and he's struck with the fact that he won't be the one defending his own house.

(Probably for the best. He's shaking now, just the thought of who they could be terrifying him.)

There's a knock on the door. Steve peaks through the doorway, the kids behind him. Nancy and Jonathan stand by the front door.

They need to open it- he needs to, because they're coming in either way and at least this way they'll be prepared. God, do they know? Do they? Why would they be here otherwise? Oh no-

Nancy opens the door. "It's late."

"Pardon for the interruption." The voice is deep and low, clear to hear. "Is this the Harrington's residence?"

"Yes, why?" Nancy's tone is mostly irritated, slightly demanding. 

"We are detectives with the Hawkins Police Department." The man says, lies. "We have a few questions for Steve Harrington about his altercation with Billy Hargrove in October."

…What?

He blinks, tries to figure it out. Max leans against him, grabbing his arm and squeezing as if she thought he'd run out there. Which he would if he wasn't so scared. Nevertheless she looked ready to throw him behind her and protect him herself. Sweet.

Why would they be curious about that, though? They were asking about Billy Hargrove earlier, and now about their fight? Why would-

Wait. Did… did they know? Did they somehow find out that Steve had used his powers then? Did Billy tell the wrong person, say it at the wrong place, through the wrong phone line? Did they pick up on that and know that Billy wasn't just seeing things, but that Steve did actually move that fast because he had slowed time?

Shit. Fucking shit if it's true.

"Steve doesn't remember what happened with Billy." Nancy answers, voice stern. "Billy gave him a concussion. If you want another recounting, I was there when it happened."

Bold face lie. Steve wanted to strangle the air. Nancy was going to get herself hurt.

"If you can, ma'am." The man says, and Nancy reencounts the entire encounter, action for action, almost expertly leaving out any part of him using his powers. Didn't even bring up how Billy looked confused. At the end, she ended it with, "I don't understand why it's a problem, Steve didn't even press charges. Billy Hargrove's making a big deal about a nail bat when he's the one who threw a plate!"

The man sounded intrigued. "The nail bat? Mr. Hargrove said something about the nail bat?"

"He did." Nancy lies. "He was upset that we used the nail bat to stop him even though he hit Steve with a plate. Said he would've won otherwise. Kept on trying to use it as an excuse."

The men are quiet for a second. "Can we talk to Steve about what happened?"

The room's tension spiked up, and while Nancy didn't show it her voice went a little bit harsher. "He's asleep right now, and he wouldn't remember it anyway. Is that all?"

"Anything out of the ordinary?" Another voice asked, and Steve's heart skipped. "Do you recall seeing Steve or Billy doing anything strange during the fight?"

Nancy tilts her head, sounds indignant. "You mean like trying to kill someone? Yes, I saw that."

It's enough, and Steve praises her fast and sharp thinking mind. Wants to kiss her but isn't sure if he's allowed to anymore. They should talk about it.

The men leave, and no one moves until they've disappeared down the driveway.

"Well." Steve pokes his head back into the kitchen, sidles in. The kids follow like ducklings. "They definitely know."

Nancy scrunches her nose and curses. Both he and Jonathan look at her, surprised. "They probably only left because there were other people here, witnesses."

That hasn't stopped them before, but maybe the times have changed. At least El wasn't here for that. "They also need proof." He adds. "They can't just take the rich kid off of a clue, they're on thin ice." The proof would probably be just seeing him and thinking 'yep, that looks like an older Seven' but it's still something. At least some type of barrier. It's all he has.

"Well, we won't let them get that proof." Dustin says like it's easy. Steve tried for a smile, doesn't succeed. "We got this."

"We'll get Hopper and Joyce." Max adds on, but Steve won't allow that, because Hopper needs to protect El. "Tell them what's happening."

"You could stay with us in the meantime." Dustin volunteers, looking excited by the idea, which wouldn't happen.

"I'm fine here." Steve forces out a laugh and steps away from the kids, from Nancy and Jonathan. "Hey, I'll be fine. No need to worry about me. And if I disappear, you'll know where I am."

They all look at him like he's crazy. "Dude." Mike gives him a look. "El would kill us if we allowed that."

"Actually-" Will speaks up, and Steve would forget he's there by how quiet he can be. "-lets just tell El. Steve won't go against her, would you?"

Steve hates him. "Listen here, little Byers-"

"Steve can stay here if he wants to." Nancy cuts him off, looking at him. "But you will call one of us, every day, twice during the weekends. In fact-" she turns to the kids. "Got an extra walkie talkie?"

"He can use mine." Mike digs into his pocket and hands his over. "We can get another one on the way home."

"Good." Nancy looks at the whole group. "If you're going about your day and think 'I haven't heard from Steve in a while'- if Steve just happens to cross your mind, radio him."

The kids nod, solemn and serious, and Steve snorts. "Come on, that's an overreaction. Even if they did find me-" he trails off, because he doesn't actually know how to finish that.

They all look at him. Jonathan sighs. "Give us a moment." He grabs Steve by the shoulder and carts him upstairs. Steve allows it, not really in the mental state to stop much of anything.

Jonathan goes to the first door and opens it, pushing them in and closing it after them. "Heh, Jonathan-"

Jonathan raises a hand, cutting him off. "Last year, after everything had tapered off, we all got together and… and we talked. About everything. Including El, the lab, what the lab did to El…" he took a moment, collecting his thoughts and letting Steve get a hold of himself. "I get what you're trying to do, and I respect it. You don't want people worrying about you, but we know what the lab could and would do to you and we don't want that. So, please, check in, keep us in the loop."

Steve takes a heavy breath. "Jonathan, I- no one has to worry. I just- everyone needs a break and I can handle this myself."

Jonathan looked pained. "You don't have to hide anymore-"

"All I've ever done is hide, Jonathan!" Steve snaps, claws at his chest with the force of it. "I hid when they took me, hid when they wanted to do tests, hid after I escaped, I'm always hiding!" His voice cracks at the end. "I… I don't… I don't know how not to."

He slams a hand on the counter and then jerks away, surprised with himself. He stares at the counter for a moment, not knowing what to feel, and then arms wrap around him and Jonathan is hugging him.

Which, sweet. Unexpected, but sweet. Steve smiles slightly, relaxes into it.

"Let us help you." Jonathan whispers, voice catching. "Please."

And Steve… Steve just might.

The night is a mix of dark blue and violet, inky black streaking through. Stars splatter against the sky, the full moon behind him.

Silhouetted by the moon, El waves him goodbye.

Steve drives away, playing a tape and tapping away to the music. He hums the tune as he goes, pulling out onto an actual road. Time flies by, each a chord of music on the sheet playing out in his car. Steve smiles to himself and taps the steering wheel. The car behind him lights flicker.

Steve looks through the rearview again, because he's pretty sure there's a car behind him, but… why weren't their lights on?

Before he can figure it out, something hits the back of his car.

Steve shouts as his car swerves, the front wheel digging into the dirt on the side of the road. His car tilts, going on two wheels, before settling, completely off on the side of the road.

Steve groans, and the car behind him lights shine bright on his car.

Steve stares at it. The car stares at him. His hand moves over to the passenger seat, flingers brushing against the walkie talkie. He brings it up to his mouth and realizes that he truly is an idiot and really should listen to his friends more. 

"So, hey…" he starts, coughs out a weak laugh. Someone's stepping out of the car, multiple someones. "Uh… anyone there?"

A moment of silence. "Steve?"

That's Will. Steve kicks open his door, scrambles out. He stares at the men in front of him. "Ha ha, yeah, maybe-" the men raise their hands, all of which are holding guns. "Yeah you were right- shit!"

Steve throws out his hands and slows time.

The men weren't shooting- one was in the middle of telling him to come quietly, but Steve was a bit too panicked to really hear them. He turns on his heel and bolts.  

He turns into the woods and runs, feels time come back into place and hears footsteps running after him. "Steve!"

"You were right!" Steve shouts at Lucas, stumbling on the uneven terrian. "They're-" the sound of a gun firing. "fuck-!"

He stumbles, drops the radio in the dark. He hears the kids yelling, probably waking the others up, but Steve can't find it and he has to go.

Heart beating like a battering ram in his chest, he discards the radio and runs, eyes getting used to the dark as he stumbles over roots and fallen branches. There has to be somewhere nearby that he can hide, wait until they all pass him before turning back around and running the other way, right? That's if he can lose them, they ran him off the fucking road in the middle of nowhere, too far away to get to Hopper's and too far to get to town without really pushing himself.

Very real fear shoots through his chest. It's then he realizes that he's terrified.

He pushes through the woods, little scratches appearing on his arms as he runs. There's tears in his eyes, running down his face, and it's pathetic but he can't stop, even as his mind filters through the lab, the orderlies, the experiments he can't do it again-

There's the thumping of feet and someone tackles him from behind. Steve screams, full blown screams, body tensing in fear at the idea of being caught. The guy who grabbed him immediately shouts as Steve shocks him, and Steve shoves him away just for someone else to grab him. There's the sharp, familiar prick of a needle in his neck. He feels whatever was in it be injected, and his head snaps back, slamming into him before he shocks the man holding him, stumbling away. The needle falls out of his neck as he runs.

He's not letting whatever it is kick in without at least trying to escape.

There's a parade in his chest, ringing in his ears, and Steve wipes at his eyes and tries to ignore the pounding in his head, his arms and legs and everywhere. He's scared, he's so scared god please save him he doesn't want this please please please-

He stumbles, jolts to a stop and wavers. Everything goes blurry, his vision sways right when he goes left. He takes a staggered step forward, realizes what the drug in the needle was.

He takes another step and falls to the ground. Gritting his teeth, he does the first thing he can think of.

He slows the drug.

There's a tight feeling, inside his body, like a tense coil waiting to spring. The drowsiness fades though, like the drug causing it had been put on pause, and Steve scrambled to his feet and continues to run.

He doesn't know how far he goes, panting by the end of it. Every time he hears footsteps he turns the other way, lungs gasping like a fish out of water. The drug in his system makes it hard to think, hard to see, hard to breathe.

And then, he reaches a road.

Its a plain looking road, but it's a road he recognizes. He could kiss the asphalt right then, and he tries to run, really tries, but the moment he steps foot on the pavement his leg buckles and he falls.

He debates giving up right there and just dying of exhaustion and terror before realizing that that's an overreaction, instead forces himself back up onto his feet. His bloodied, shaking feet supporting his bloody, shaking body.

He hears a car before he sees it, immediately dives back into the woods and falls into a bush. A blacked out car drives by slowly, as if looking. Looking for him.

Steve waits until it's gone, waits until he's sure it's gone, before planting his hands beneath him to help himself up.

His arms don't hold his weight.

He falls to the ground, eyes blurry and head full of clouds. Everything is fuzzy, and as it gets more fuzzy his control over his powers gets worse and worse. His nose is dripping blood.

"...Steve?"

He recognized it. Jonathan kneels beside him, face full of concern. "Will started going crazy, said you were in trouble."

"Steve!" That's Will, and they can't both be here, not with them looking for him-

Steve pushes away from them, tries to get up and run because he can't be near them, not now. He can't get up, though. "Nuo-"

"Steve, please-" he keeps saying please. It sounds pretty, from him. "Tell me what's wrong?"

Steve rolls his head to the other side, revealing the injection mark on his neck, half on purpose, half accident.

Then his powers snap and he's being pulled under.

He feels more then sees a bright light shine down on him, hears something along the lines of 'there he is!' and hears Jonathan yell 'run!'. He stays limp on the ground. There's a hand around his arm, solid and strong, and did Jonathan stay? With him? He's going to get himself killed, no no no no no-

He hears the click of guns, tries to push himself up to block Jonathan but can't even get his hands underneath him. Jonathan's almost bent over him now, trying to protect him, trying to get himself killed.

No one shoots, though, and Steve's consciousness finally leaves him, the world outside of his mind fading away as he's left unknowing of his friends or his own fate.

Chapter Text

Seven wakes up in an orderly's uniform.

It's too big for him, made for an adult when he was only half their size. The cloth wasn't as comfortable as his normal gown either- it scratched against his shoulders and arms in a way he didn't like.

He was confused. Why did he wake up in a uniform?

His room door is open, which is also surprising. Seven creeps out the door, wondering if he can get away with his disguise, even though he was a mostly bald kid in a too big outfit roaming around. The other orderlies didn't say anything, though. Didn't even look at him twice.

He doesn't know what to do or where to go, so he goes to the only place that feels relatively safe. If Eight's in the rainbow room, she can help him figure this out.

He shuffles into the room, almost tripping in the extra fabric, and finds it almost empty, occupied by only Thirteen and Fourteen in the corner, murmuring to themselves. They glance up at him, but seem to think that he's another one of the orderlies.

Seven frowns and leaves the room.

Turning a corner comes Eight and Eleven, holding hands. That in itself is surprising, they don't normally come in together. Nor does Papa really approve of the hand holding outside the communal rainbow room. Maybe this was an experiment, or a test. Was Seven supposed to stay in his room? Is he going to get in trouble?

Eleven is small, smaller than Seven remembers, like she had gotten younger. She was sure footed as she walked, but not yet confident enough in herself to roam the halls alone. That was probably for the best, Seven's going to get punished for this.

"Eight!" He calls out, runs up to her. Eight looks at him curiously as he stops. "Look!"

Eight takes in his appearance, as does Eleven. Neither of them speak, looking him up and down, and Seven fidgets, feeling off.

Eight squeezes Eleven's hand and keeps walking, leaving Seven behind. Like Seven was just another orderly. Like Seven wasn't her brother. There was no trace of recognition in her, and that wasn't right. Even if this was some kind of experiment, Eight would let him know. She wouldn't make him go through it alone, she would warn him somehow.

She looked at him like he was an orderly. Like he didn't exist to her.

The hallway seems to flicker, flashes of blood splattering on the walls. Seven heard someone scream, heard his own voice telling someone to run.

He shot out of bed, leather straps catching his arms and pulling him back down. Seven took a deep breath, eyes searching the room.

Papa sat next to his bed, face kind but stern. "It's good to see you awake, Seven." He murmurs. "Eight lost control of herself, you've been asleep for quite awhile."

Seven swallows, feels it go down his dry, sore throat. He doesn't respond, doesn't ask, because why was he strapped down if this wasn't some type of punishment?

But then Papa surprises him, calling in a few orderlies to unstrap him. He's helped to his feet, wobbling as he goes, and Papa places a hand on his shoulder, guides him towards the testing rooms. Seven hasn't had a good record with slowing things, as of late. Ever since he stopped time, that side of his powers has been strange. They've been harder to use. Almost like they need recharging.

He grits his teeth as he's led into the testing room, clenching his fists and trying to squash down his fear. Papa hasn't been as kind, lately, ever since Marcy and Three escaped, since Six died. He wants Seven to stop time, really badly. He wants Seven to stop time and he wants Seven to bring Papa into the time bubble with him.

He hates bringing Papa into the time bubble, because Papa is big and it's harder to do than it is with Eight. Papa doesn't care though. Says it's going to make him better.

There's a dummy across the room. Seven watches it as Papa straps a collar around his neck.

"Firstly, I want you to generate your own electricity, without the collar's help." Papa has gone into the observation room, because it's dangerous to be in here with Seven. Seven nods, plants his feet.

Electricity sparks from his hands, circling his arms and causing his eyes to water. He pushes it out, and it arcs across the room, bouncing from floor to wall until it reaches the dummy across the way. Only a little bit reaches the dummy, Seven not good enough to send a ton of electricity at it. He glances at the observation room, sees Papa frown. "Again."

He tries again, doesn't do any better or worse. He squeezes his eyes shut, braces for it.

The collar turns on with a sharp shock, something Seven's gotten used to. It's on a low setting, because Papa likes ramping it up over time. He doesn't feel it after the first shock, his powers on and accommodating for the extra volts. "Again."

He shoots the electricity at the dummy, which visibly moves from the force this time. Seven remembers a time when any foreign electricity in his body would shock him, would hurt him, how weak he used to be. Because of Papa's training, he can now handle high levels of foreign voltage without hurting himself. It's amazing.

His next shot has even more power. Seven glances at Papa, sees him look more considering then upset. The collar switches to a medium setting and Seven tenses, body jerking with the constant stream of volts coming in through his neck. It's a bit overwhelming, and Seven waits for Papa's word. "Again."

This time the electricity looks like a bolt of lightning, hitting the dummy head on and scorching a part of it, leaving a black mark on its front. Seven grins at his handiwork, lets the electricity flow over him and does it again.

He gasps, falling to his knees. The collar is on high, his body collecting the extra voltage and shaking with it. Every other second his arm twitches, jerks forward in an unending spasm. "Again."

Seven scrambles up, his next shot sloppy with the need to expel the added energy. It clips the edge of the dummy's head, taking a chunk off with it.

Then, the unexpected happens.

Papa doesn't have him do it again. He doesn't even have him stop, like he usually does. Instead, he turns to someone else in the observation room and suddenly Seven can't breathe.

His body spasms as bolts of electricity flow through him, more than he's ever experienced before, like touching a live wire. He screams on the floor, curled over himself. His neck is blistering, red hot and burning from contact, and his body is jerking uncontrollably, his muscles tensing and relaxing without his permission.

It's too much. Too much. He needs to let it out.

He doesn't hear what Papa says, if he says anything at all. Sprawled out on the floor, he presses his hands together before pulling them apart. A ball of electricity forms in his hand, an electrical storm of yellow, pink, and blue, slowly gets bigger and bigger until it's the size of Seven's head, in between his hands. The collar doesn't stop, though, and he pushes more and more electricity into it, losing more and more control by the second.

Then, suddenly, the collar stops.

A moment later, Seven throws the sphere up at the ceiling. It shoots through the air, breaking through the roof like it was paper. 

Seven watches it climb through the sky before bursting in the clouds, lightning crackling through the cloudy day. The lights all flicker, dimming before going back to normal.

Seven's hands fall to the ground, exhausted and in pain. He breaths raggedly, body too sore to move.

He blinks and Papa's there, kneeling next to him. He coughs, voice a rasp. "P-papa-"

I did it, he wanted to say, but what did he really do? Destroy a roof? Papa was probably upset with him.

But Papa didn't frown, didn't look upset. In fact, he looked proud.

"Good job, Seven." Papa smiles at him, combing a hand through his hair, and Seven smiles back, brain fried and body shaking.

He's on something soft.

Not super soft- a cheap kind of soft. It's like his old Seven bed, but still just slightly nicer. Steve hums, buries his nose into the comforter. He recognizes that smell, too.

Steve opens his eyes and finds himself in Jonathan's room.

Light streaks in from outside, kissing his face and warming his cheeks. He blinks blearily at it, tries to remember what he was studying for that was so boring that he would've fallen asleep while doing it.

He starts to get up, feels a bit too sluggish for it to be normal, and recognizes what that means.

He's been drugged enough to know the feeling afterwards.

It comes back to him then.

Surprisingly, his first instinct is to fall back into bed and sleep it all off. There's a headache in the back of his skull and he's drowsy. Sleep sounds like a solution to him.

"How are you feeling?"

Steve turns his head the other way. Jonathan lies on the other side of the bed, about a foot or two away from him. He's on his back, head turned to watch Steve.

Steve murmurs something incomprehensible, hugging his pillow and turning to Jonathan. "How'd we-?"

"Nancy." Jonathan answers, knowing his question. "She heard from Mike what was happening, and El told us you had just left the cabin a few minutes before. Nancy figured out how far back you'd be at that point and went out to find you." Jonathan glances up at the ceiling. "Hopper found your car. Said he'd get it towed to the repair shop."

Hopefully it wouldn't need much, more for time then money. Steve has kids and friends to (totally) unwilling drive around, he can't be car-less.

Steve blinked again, still a bit out of it but also not understanding. "But… I heard… they were there."

Jonathan smiles, still looking at the ceiling. "Again, Nancy. She caused a distraction, I got you out. Mom played stupid when they asked about it."

Steve nods listlessly, not really knowing how to feel about it. Nancy was right, of course, because without the walkie talkie he would've been gone and he wouldn't be waking up here, safe.

"Mom got in touch with Murray, the guy who was supposed to send in the tape to the media." Jonathan continues, looking at him now. Concerned. "She practically made him hand deliver it. The story should be out by the end of the week."

Steve takes a deep breath, sits up and stares at his hands. Even if that didn't shut the lab down, they'd have to be more discreet, wouldn't they? He wouldn't have to worry about them doing something so noticable again, right? And that's only if the place doesn't get closed down- if it does…

He'd be free. Free.

Or it might not work at all. It might not work and he'll just leave this house and walk into the arms of the people waiting outside for him, waiting for him to come out and give himself up.

He must've been making a face, because Jonathan's sitting up too, scooching closer and hugging him. Steve's eyes widen in surprise, but he returns the hug and squeezes harder than he probably should. "We're here." Jonathan promises. "We want to help. We care. Please let us."

And Steve can't respond, because Nancy peeks through the doorway, sees Steve awake, and jumps him. Steve groans as Nancy crashes into him, half of the force hitting Jonathan instead of him. She accidentally ends up in his lap, something neither mention as Nancy takes his face in her hands and turns it every which way, scanning for injuries or pain.

"I'm okay, Nance." Steve assures, grabbing both her wrists and pulling them down to her lap. He ignores how close together they are, has to because he doesn't want to push boundaries. "Just a bit confused, but okay."

Nancy twists her wrists, moving her hands until they're the ones holding his wrists. She doesn't say anything, just looks at him like she's afraid he's going to disappear.

Steve can't handle the look for much longer. He glances away. "What time is it?"

"Almost four." Nancy murmurs. "Slept through the whole school day."

Was drugged through the whole school day. All night too. Steve doesn't mention it, doesn't really care. He's still tired and his heart aches like something had just stopped chasing him and he still thinks it's behind him. He blinks slowly, sleepily, and there's not really enough room for three of them on this bed, and if Steve wasn't tired maybe he would've noticed that too.

He doesn't though, doesn't notice much of anything. He falls back down, head hitting the mattress with a soft thump, and Jonathan scoots back over to where he lay before, like he was worried about touching him while he was asleep. It left enough room for Nancy in the middle, if she wanted to.

A hand cards through his hair, small and soft, and Steve hums at the feeling, the light pressure. He sees Nancy's smile, through the blurry lenses of his eyes. Feels her shift off of him, to the side. Something warm presses against him, bathing his side in heat, but he's too out of it to see what it is.

It's nice, the pent up fear and anxiety leaking out of him, being replaced with peace and safety. He feels relaxed underneath the exhaustion. Maybe he can hope for the best.

He falls asleep with a smile on his face.

"David!" Her voice is playful as she talks, high pitch and full of giggles. "Stop!"

David laughs along with her, pinching her side one more time before vaulting over a boulder and holding his hand out. "You love me."

The girl, Sally, rolled her eyes, still smiling. She takes his hand, and David helps her up and over the rocks. "Thank you."

"Of course." David kisses her cheek, still smiling. They continue up the hiking trail, hands brushing against each other with each step.

A few minutes later and David's groaning, leaning against a tree and waving his hands dramatically. "I give up!"

Sally laughs. "We just started." She giggles. "And we can't give up only a day in."

David pouts. "That's what we did for last year's resolution!"

"And we promised this year would be different."

"We say that every year!"

"But this year-" Sally grabs his hand, brushes her thumb over it. "-we're not doing it as boyfriend and girlfriend."

Her hand brushes over a band on his ring finger. David smiles just looking at it. He takes a second, mock thinking, before groaning. "We could be honeymooning right now!"

"That's after the wedding, David." Sally gives him a quick kiss. "Now, come on, we have another hour left of this trail."

"If we race we can cut it down to thirty." David pushes off the tree, wiggling his eyebrows. Sally snorts, and then she takes off running. "Hey!"

David sprints after her, and they run for a whole minute before Sally slows to a jog and David catches up. "Jesus Sal, never seen someone go that fast!"

"I was the track champ for a reason." Sally smiles, pleased. She looks like she's about to continue when there's a shuffling in front of them, someone else hiking through the woods. "See? Hiking on New Years Day is a good resolution."

David doesn't have time to answer, because a moment later a series of low thumps almost shake the ground, and the couple paused as the sound slowly gets louder and louder.

"Bears aren't awake this time of year." David whispers, because whatever was out there wasn't a human. Sally clutches his hand. "Let's just back away, slowly."

The thumps get louder as they slowly back away, and Sally starts holding her breath, mind running through what animal it could possibly be.

Then the creature picks up the pace, rushing through the trees and into view, and David's hand is knocked away as the monster barrels into him, smashing him to the ground and crushing him.

Sally screams.

The creature takes a second to slam David's head in one more time, making sure he's dead, and Sally turns tail and runs, tears streaming down her face. For a few seconds, all she can hear is the sound of her own heart and movement, but then the thumping is back and Sally tries to run faster.

Something slaps into her back and she hits a nearby tree hard, disorienting her to the point of blacking out. She comes to a few seconds later, one of her legs slashed and the rest of her body sluggish and unresponsive.

She does the only thing she can at that point. She plays dead.

The creature marches towards her, so she stills and keeps her eyes closed. Instead of bashing her head in like it did David, the creature grabbed her by the arm, picking her up with one hand and throwing her over it's shoulder. With her head behind it's back, she opens her eyes and gets her first real glance at the thing. 

All she sees is molted grey fur.

The thing walks back to David, picking up his mangled body and throwing it on his shoulder next to Sally. She turns her head and comes face to face with David's concaved skull, eyes popped out and bursted, lips scraped and nose smashed.

She swallows her vomit and turns away, heart beating out of her chest.

She needs to get out of here. Needs to leave and find help and get animal control on this monster.

The creature starts to walk past a river, wide and deep, and Sally silently apologizes before pushing David's body off the creature's shoulder. He hits the ground with a wet, bloody slap.

The creature pauses, bends down to pick him up. Sally wretches her arm back, elbowing it in the face with as much power as possible. The thing grunts, and Sally rolls off it's shoulder and dives into the river.

The creature bellows it's frustration, but Sally doesn't focus on that, instead swimming down and across the river, as far away from the creature as possible. Her leg burns and her lungs scream at her, but the adrenaline dulls the pain. The creature doesn't follow, and she doesn't know if it can't swim or doesn't care enough about her to swim.

She climbs out of the water on the other side and runs, completely lost but knowing that this way was away from the creature. David flashes in her mind, with his sweet smile and loving eyes, and she sobs.

There's a long, low roar in the distance, some animal she doesn't recognize. It has to be the creature, and Sally runs faster at the thought. After a few more minutes she starts to vaguely recognize her surroundings, having been in the town and surrounding areas a lot as a child. She was still far from civilization on foot, but there had to be somewhere she could hide nearby.

She finds a tiny cave that burrows into the ground like tunnels, too small for that creature to fit through but big enough for her. She wiggles inside, going further and further in until the cave opened up, revealing long tunnels under the ground, dark and barren besides her and the light from her entrance point.

There's another roar, much closer, and Sally scrambles further into the tunnel. There's a few wooden crates a few more feet in, and she dives behind them, pressing against them to hide herself.

She waits, and the world goes quiet. Nothing else roars.

Breathing out a sigh of relief, she goes to sit up when she suddenly realizes that she can't.

Frowning, Sally turns towards the boxes, or, more accurately, she cranes her neck towards the crates, unable to move away from them. The wooden crates must've had something sticky on them, because she's stuck and no matter how hard she pulls she can't move.

She grabs a nearby rock and bangs it against the crate she's stuck on, trying to dislodge herself in any way possible. It doesn't work though, and she groans in frustration and tries to tear herself away again. She could probably take off her shirt and get out, a last ditch solution.

The crate shuddered, like something was in it, and Sally froze. Slowly, the top of the crate opened.

Sally screamed.

She was pulled forward, the crate snapping close with a sickening crunch, and her scream was cut off.

Chapter Text

"Shit!"

"Max!" Steve snaps, appearing from behind the kitchen counter. "Language! Watch your fucking mouth!"

Max flips him the double birds. "I just got skewered by an ice goblin Steve!"

"An ice mephits." Dustin corrects, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "And you're not dead, yet."

"Yeah." Will assures her. "El can save you."

El nods and rolls her dice preemptively, still a bit new to the game too. Max had finally bit the bullet and joined after watching for several sessions. It was either that or watch Nancy fret over her essay.

Steve found it a little funny. Nancy's worried about an essay when she has better grades then Steve and is a year younger than him yet still is somehow taking the same classes as Steve. She knows everything, she has no reason to worry, in his opinion.

But she was and she was worrying only to him because Jonathan wasn't there and it was only the two of them watching the kids. Last week Steve's parents were there, and his mom baked a whole New Years dinner while his dad entertained the kids with stories of his youth in between session breaks. It was surprisingly nice, not awkward, and wholesome. It makes Steve smile thinking about it.

(Dustin had interrogated them, because even though Steve said they were good people Dustin didn't trust them because they were hardly ever around. Steve didn't blame them for that, though- Steve's the one who randomly set up house at their place. They never settled because they didn't have kids, or they didn't have kids because they never settled. It didn't matter to Steve, the time they did have together was wonderful. Dustin ended up approving them by the end of the night.)

Better than watching Nancy stick a pen between her lips, staring at the paper she had been spell checking for the third time. She swore this was her last copy, and Steve hoped so, because he was getting envious of a pen and that's how he knows it's gone too far.

"No!" Dustin shouts suddenly, and Steve looks over. "Come on, let me use my wizard-"

"Na uh, Dustin." Mike shakes his head, solemn. "You failed the check. You sent your familiar after the ice mephits, intending to shatter them with pure energy, but Steve isn't strong enough. The ice mephits freeze him, causing him to fall to the floor."

"Here, I'll catch him." Lucas offers, sympathetic. He fails the next skill check.

Mike frowns. "The ice shatters as it hits the ground, leaving the Thunderbird unconscious. The sound attracts a nearby yeti, who takes Steve away."

"Come on!" Dustin throws up his hands, looking genuinely upset, and Steve sits at the kitchen counter and watches. "That's my familiar!"

"He's a playable character, so he's treated like a playable character." Mike replies, and Dustin huffs and El looks a bit mad at both of them, like it's Dustin's fault for failing the skill check and Mike's fault for making the winter-themed campaign.

"Look on the bright side, Dustin." Steve calls out, making them realize that he's paying attention. "At least you aren't yeti food."

Dustin pouts like he's upset with his choices. They kill the rest of the mephits and Mike declares that they're at a stopping point, saying that they'll rescue Steve next time. It's still pretty early in the night, and Steve decides to take them all home.

He leaves El for last, planning to say hi to Hopper and stay for a few minutes, make sure the man is still healthy and in good enough shape to take care of his sister. Which he is, but it's always good to check.

Hopper's leaned over a table when he gets there, several photos scattered in front of him. They're of people Steve's never seen before. "Hey Hopper- what's this?"

Hopper scowls at the photo, giving El a side hug as she walked by. "Hikers." He says. "A couple went missing the next town over. They were on a trail that led to Hawkins, though, so now we have to look into it."

Steve looks at the picture, eyes tracing the guy and girl. "How long have they been missing?"

"They were last seen New Years day." Hopper replies, rubbing his forehead. "It's too cold for them to be out for so long. They'll freeze to death, if they haven't already."

El ducks underneath Hopper, getting a look at the photos. Her fingers trace along the faces on the print. "They're already dead."

Steve would think she's being prophetic before remembering that she's not Six and is just guessing like the rest of them. "Maybe not." He counters, optimistic. "Maybe they just got lost, or found a steamy hot spring and decided to stay there. I mean-" he glances at Hopper. "-its a couple wanting privacy."

As someone who never had privacy as a kid, he's come to treasure it as a teenager. He understands how important it is. Maybe the couple just found somewhere isolated and decided to have a fuck sesh? It's not the weirdest thing he's ever heard.

Hopper looks down at the photos, stares at them like they'll give him all the answers in the world. "I don't know." He whispers. "And I don't like it."

His New Year revolution includes taking care of his body year round. Yes he has basketball and swimming and whatever else catches his interest at the time, but a morning jog never hurt anyone, and getting into it with a walk first is good as well.

So here he is, walking with Nancy and Jonathan in the freezing cold, barely feeling it with his expensive coat and warm gloves and hat. It covered his hair, which he didn't like, because he liked his hair, but it was warm and he liked that more, even if he did like the cold more then the heat, usually.

They're walking along the edge of town, and Steve stares into the woods as he tells them about the missing hikers.

Nancy looks considering. "Where were they last seen?" She asks, humming to herself, nose red. She has an idea, a plan, and Steve doesn't know if he wants to be a part of it.

"Not sure if us looking for them is a good idea." He comments. "What if we just get lost too?"

"If we get lost." Nancy's lips tilt up, the beginning of a teasing smile starting there. "Then you can just start an electrical fire. We'll be mighty warm after that."

Fire. Steve doesn't like fire, not really. It's warm and familiar and it reminds him of home, and he doesn't like it. He likes the cold, the sharp frigidness of a winter night, the freezing wetness of a snowflake. Bundling up under the blankets when he was younger, cuddling up to Nancy just a year or so ago. The cold is different, something easier to control, something without baggage.

Fire and heat reminds him of Nine. Steve doesn't want to think about Nine.

"Ha ha." He grumbles, before ducking in and pressing his cold nose against the skin beneath her ear. She squeals and jumps away to Jonathan, who's watching the whole conversation like one would watch a sports game.

They go looking for the hikers. Ten minutes pass before it starts snowing and they head back to wait out the storm, postponing the search.

Steve is, first and foremost, a brother.

The thing is, brother is apparently synonymous with babysitter. He guesses that makes sense, given Nancy's sister status and Jonathan's brother status making them babysitters at inopportune times. Except that Steve lives alone and yet is still somehow a six person nanny.

He's doing it alone this time, with only three of the kids. People are extraordinarily busy for winter break, but to keep his kids entertained he went to the arcade and lets them run around. The three gremlins today were Lucas, Max, and of course, Dustin. Steve very graciously lost to Lucas in every game they played and then completely destroyed Dustin in every game they played. The ground was pretty even with Max, which led to multiple shouting matches and words Steve really shouldn't say to kids he's babysitting.

Oops.

He takes them to a diner afterwards for dinner, orders them all milkshakes after Max gives him puppy eyes. It's funny, because Dustin had tried the same and hadn't impressed him. Max did it just to show that she was better at it, which she was. Steve always knew he'd be the type to dote over his future daughters, but he didn't know it'd be this bad. All they have to do is widen their eyes and frown and Steve will literally kill someone if it gets them to smile again. It's a bit embarrassing, they're not even his kids.

Max just smirks and cackles at the two boys as Steve orders the milkshakes, but none of them really notice (besides Steve) that while they're waiting, Max leans against him and relaxes. It's nice, seeing Max relax. Seeing her not be afraid. Seeing her be happy. Steve allows himself a little smile and listens into their conversation.

Which is, unsurprisingly, about D&D. They're explaining the finer points of it to Max, who is still incredibly new. Max takes it all in, probably only retains half of it, but she's nodding like she's gets it, leaning more and more against him.

Their milkshakes come and Dustin takes a sip before complaining. "How am I supposed to get Steve back?!"

Steve blinks once before realizing the Steve Dustin was talking about. "You mean the ice creature things?"

"No." Dustin rolls his eyes. "Steve got picked up by a yeti and was taken back to its lair. It's going to eat him!"

"Oh." Steve takes a second, a long slurp of shake. "Just tell Steve to shock the yeti and fly out."

Lucas raises an eyebrow. "Is that what you would do?"

Steve shrugs, because it had worked last time, hadn't it?

"Won't work." Dustin sighs. "Mike said Steve was stuck upside down on the ceiling, Star Wars style, and I don't have a lightsaber to save him!"

Steve thinks about the scene, with Luke on Hoth. Then he thinks about something else and hides his grin. "Star Wars style?"

It gets the reaction he wants. Both Lucas and Dustin stare at him, dumbfounded. "You haven't watched Star Wars?"

Max shifts uncomfortably, still not moving away. "What's the big deal with it?"

"Of course you haven't either." Lucas rubs his head with his palm. He doesn't wait a second before taking out his walkie talkie. "Come in, anyone have Star Wars? Steve and Max haven't seen it."

It's quiet for a moment. Then, "We have it." That's Mike. Steve finishes his milkshake and resigns himself to a few hour marathon of movies he (admittedly very much enjoys but still) has already watched.

It's a great movie, one he pretends not to know anything about as he makes popcorn. The Wheeler house is quiet, empty except for Mike, and Steve catches him hiding a grin when the four of them come inside, the kids immediately making themselves comfortable on the couch. 

They get half way through A New Hope before Steve reveals that he has, in fact, watched Star Wars. Dustin gives him a betrayed look, but the movie's already on and Max is genuinely enjoying herself, so they finish it and watch the next one as well.

In between the two movies, Dustin turns to Mike with his hands in the air, some big idea brewing in his brain. "What if Steve just shatters the ice with electricity." He starts, not even giving Mike a second to figure out what he's talking about. Mike, to his credit, goes along with it instantly. "He'd be free to fly away and back to us, right?"

"If he uses too much power, it'd cause a cave in." Mike responses, eyebrow quirked. "And he wouldn't be able to just fly back out."

"Why not?" Dustin almost whines, and Steve listens in, intrigued too. "Come on, I just want my familiar back!"

"It won't be smooth sailing." Mike explained. "There's more than just the yeti in those caves."

Chapter Text

The January winter is frigid. Steve watches his icy breath come out in huffs as he jogs, body warm despite the cold nipping at it. He jogs early every morning, sometimes even before the sun's come up. It's harsh, cold, but it clears his head and gets him ready for the rest of the day.

(It also helps his endurance. Being able to run, run for a long time, has probably never been so important. He has to stay prepared.)

Depending on when he runs and where he runs, he might even come across Jonathan, who doesn't run everyday but decides to if he sees Steve running. That's a once a week thing, at most, though, so it's usually just him alone with his thoughts, trying to run himself ragged so he doesn't think about whatever could be coming for him at that very moment.

He's passing by a forest when there's the crack of something. Steve pauses, slows in his steps. Most creatures are hibernating right now, or at least bundled up somewhere warm. What could be-

His gaze catches red eyes, staring at him from the woods. He doesn't pause, doesn't think, he turns and runs.

He gets a good bit away before turning around, finding the road behind him empty. He's shaking, the adrenaline pumping through him, so he takes a second to take some deep breaths before thinking about what he just saw.

He's no animal expert, but he's pretty sure animals don't usually come with red eyes.

His first thought, of course, is the Upside Down. Had another gate somehow open? Let something else in? Or had he just imagined it? Either way, he needs to check. He can't just let himself go about his day when there could be a monster roaming around. What if it hurts someone? What if it hurts one of his kids?

So, steeling his nerves, he makes his way back to the area he saw the eyes, one hesitant step after another.  

The place he saw the eyes is barren of anything he had saw before. He takes a deep breath, heart thumping in his chest, and creeps into the woods.

It's funny, how different the forest can be when you expect something to grab you and when you don't expect it. Steve takes another calming breath, letting his body turn a bit more fluid as he moved through the woods. Just in case he needed to turn and run.

He walked for a long time without seeing anything. Almost prepared to just blame the eyes on his own imagination, something rancid hit his nostrils, making him gag in both disgust and surprise. It smelled of decay, of flesh and death. Some dead animal, a big one. Steve kept going forward.

He didn't recognize the carcass, at first.

It was completely mauled, almost to the point where Steve couldn't make hide nor hair of anything. The skull was half caved in, half missing, one leg was severed at the knee, the other completely gone. The torso was mangled, like something big had torn in and eaten the organs inside. The only thing that showed what it could be was the one remaining arm.

A human arm.

There's a blanket around him. It's heavy and warm and he's sitting on the back of a police cruiser. They had brought the body to the road, after he contacted them, looking it over. Steve could hear the passing words, what could've done this? and too big to be a bear. He shivers, panic creeping into his chest.

Hopper notices, makes his way to Steve and leans against the car next to him. "How're you holding up?"

Steve grunts, wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. "We both know it's not normal." He whispers, turning his head and catching his eye. 

Hopper looks down. "Yeah." He murmurs, before looking back at him. "But how are you doing? How'd you happen across the body anyway? The true story."

Steve licks his lips, eyes hitting the pavement below them. "I was jogging." He says. "Saw red eyes in the woods and went to investigate. Found the body instead of the monster."

Hopper's grimace has some sympathy in it. Steve appreciates that. "Don't go into the forest by yourself again. Not until whatever this is is gone."

Steve let out a humorless laugh. "But Hopper, how am I and half a dozen little kids supposed to stop it if we're not allowed to meet it at its lair?"

Hopper's glare was half warning, half pity. "It doesn't have to be that way, this time." He promises.

"As if we have a choice." Steve mutters, tucking his chin under the blanket. Hopper's hand lands in his hair, almost an instinctive gesture. Steve allows it.

They put out a town wide warning to stay out of the woods due to a rabid animal, and the entire place was suddenly covered in pictures of the missing hiker woman. Apparently, dental records came back.

That body was the male hiker.

Steve was still with them when they put out the official warning, in Hopper's office with the blanket still clasped around him. Hopper said he would drive him home. Told him to pick another jogging route, from now on.

"Ready, kid?" Hopper walked in, shrugging his coat on, his keys curled in his hand. Steve nodded solemnly, eyes unseeing as he stared at the wall. He had too much to think about. Hopper sees that, sighs and sits next to him in a nearby chair. "It might just be an ordinary animal."

"With red eyes?" He counters, looking up at him. "That did that to a human?"

Hopper rubs his head, groans a bit. "There's no reason to believe it's from the Upside Down. All the gates have been closed."

Steve looks around, eyes going distant again. "If it's not from there, then it's from the lab." His voice caught in his throat. "And that… might be worse."

It's quiet, at home. A quiet that he hadn't noticed he hadn't seen in a while, with the kids and Jonathan and Nancy. The latter two were there right now, and yet it was quiet. Tense.

Nancy's pacing. "It can't be from the lab." She's saying, because she also believes it can't be from the Upside Down. "That place was shut down."

"It's either that or the Upside Down." Jonathan murmurs. "Or a rabid bear-"

"It wasn't a bear." Steve snaps, and they look at him, shocked. He's tense, on edge. "Just because the government shut down the lab doesn't mean they deep cleaned it- they have to save face so they told everyone it had been shut down. Doesn't mean it still isn't doing shit in the shadows."

Jonathan frowns. "Maybe it's something from the Upside Down that can survive even with the gate closed." He suggests. "And it got out the last time and just ran."

Steve didn't want to even think about the idea of something surviving after the gate closes. It's terrifying. He rests his head in his hands and tries not to shake.

"Hey." Nancy's in front of him, holding his hands in hers. "It'll be okay. Let's not fret before we get more information."

Steve squeezes his eyes shut, and Nancy pulls his head forward, lets it rest on her chest, and it reminds him of other times. Times right after they started dating, the honeymoon phase full of innocent and pure affection, still trying to figure each other out with no hidden motives besides trying to make each other happy and comfortable.

Nancy hasn't done this in a long time. It was always secretly Steve's favorite, because he could feel the warmth of her living body and hear her heart beat in rhythmic tunes. Bump bump, bump bump, bump bump-

"The kids are going to get involved." He murmurs. "The moment those nosey little shits hear about it, they're going to try and get involved."

Jonathan wrinkled his nose, and Nancy tightened her hold on him. He continues. "They shouldn't have to deal with this, they haven't even graduated middle school yet and they've already saved the town twice."

Nancy reaches a hand up to his hair, combing her fingers through his locks. Steve sinks into it, zones into her voice. "They won't deal with whatever this is alone." She reassures, kisses the top of his head. "They have you. They have us."

Steve looks up, smiles at her. She smiles back, a star shining brightly in the night, and Jonathan suggests they watch a movie. They find themselves on Steve's couch, Jonathan in between them with a bowl of popcorn on his lap. Steve started drifting off five minutes after it started, the heat from the blanket drapes over them and the furnace that was Jonathan lulling him to sleep.

The lights are out in the lab. He leaves a trail of blood behind him, little drops splattered across the floor as he runs. Seven is terrified, Steve is just watching.

There's guards, orderlies, and Seven throws out his hands, slows them so he can run past. He makes it out the building, out the gate, towards the woods that Three and Marcy disappeared into.

He finds Eight in the woods, staring at him is anger and betrayal. "You left me." She hisses, spits. "You left me behind, in that shit hole. You left us BEHIND!"

Seven stumbles backwards, landing on his butt, and Brenner appears from the woods, gun in hand. He points it at Eight, finger on the trigger. "Well, Seven?" He asks. "Make Papa proud. Stop time, or she dies."

Everything flickers, and he's back in the lab, back in a testing room. Eight is still there, but now a random is holding the gun, someone he's never met before threatening his sister.

Seven doesn't hesitate. He reaches out an arm and slows the man's brain. He collapses in a loose limb pile, dazed and confused, unconscious.

But it's not enough. The man gets back up, as if nothing had happened to him at all. Everything flickers again and Eight's gone, Seven is Steve, and the man's pointing a gun at Jonathan's head.

"Not enough." He says, and pulls the trigger. Jonathan's body splats on the floor, and then he's gone and there's more people, all in a line. Nancy, Dustin, El, Max. A long line of people all staring at him, and the guy turns his gun towards them, aims it in a way that Steve knows will hit them all, somehow. "Make Papa proud."

Steve holds out his hand, feels blood pumping through his body, through the other man's body. Feels a heartbeat that isn't his own. Forces his hand into a fist.

Time doesn't stop, but the man's heart does.

Steve watches him collapse to the ground, feels his own blood fall to his feet. Everyone else disappears, until all that's left is Dr. Brenner, kneeling in front of him. "Good job, Seven."

Seven looks up at him, smiles. Papa smiles back. "You made me proud."

He spends a lot of time with Eleven, moreso than anyone else. He picks her up while school's been out, picks her up and drives them around. Sometimes they pick up the rest of the Party, sometimes it's just the two of them, and Steve will take her to see movies, try new food, listen to music she's never heard. He loved seeing her figure out what she did and didn't like, and he personally knew that would be important when she's finally enrolled in school (because Steve's making sure that happens). It's important to know what you like so that you can have friends with similar interests. Steve didn't know himself, and that didn't end up well.

Most of the time, though, they spend at his house, just talking and being. Hopper will drop her off in the morning, when he goes to work, and pick her up late at night after he's done for the day.

He's just popped the eggos in the toaster for an early lunch (what, he can't control El's tastes) when El asks, "How big was it? The monster?"

Steve chokes on his own saliva. How did she-? "How do you know about that?"

She shrugs. "Hopper was talking on the phone." She admits. "And maybe…" she tilts her head, eyes distant. "I can feel it."

"You can what?" Steve looks gobsmacked. "What? How?"

El shrugs again. "I'm not sure. It's… faint. I'm not sure what it is. Just that it is."

If only Brenner taught them how to effectively articulate their thoughts. Shame he barely taught them English at all. Steve would listen into the orderlies and try to figure it out using them.

Steve sighs, holds his head in his hands for a moment. "Okay." He murmurs. "Have you told anyone about it? Mike? The others?"

El looks at him, really looks at him. "You don't want me to." She says, almost accusing. Steve runs a hand through his hair.

"I'd rather the adults deal with it." Steve says.

"The adults can't handle it." She responds, and Steve knows that too. "They talk about it already. On the walkie talkie."

Which Steve keeps off almost always, after the tape was finally leaked. It felt silly, walking around with a radio to middle schoolers, especially after the danger had (maybe) passed. He should've known better. His heart falls.

"Tell me if they're about to do anything stupid." Steve tells her, serious. El tilts her head.

"But then you'll do something stupid." She protests. "And get hurt. You always get hurt."

How does she know that? Did someone snitch? He bets it was Dustin. "You don't have to worry about me, El."

El glares, and the eggos pop. Steve puts them on a plate and sets it along with syrup next to her. "You get hurt, I worry."

Oh God, she's going to be the death of him. No wonder Eight loved her so much, she's so sweet and so stubborn at the same time. He kisses the top of her head as he passes by.

"The session." She asks, half finished with her meal. "Will you join?"

Steve takes a second to think about it. The kids are coming over, per usual, but both Jonathan and Nancy aren't, meaning it'll just be him and the kids. When that happens, he usually joins in. "Yeah, I'll be playing."

El smiles brightly and finishes her eggo.

They normally arrive at five, since it gets dark relatively early. Steve orders a pizza before they arrive, and it gets there a few minutes after they've set up. Steve nibbles at a slice as Mike talks.

"The yeti wasn't able to find Steve last time, but it's still around, looking for you. What do you want to do?"

"I'll just get some high ground." Steve glances around the table. "Yeti can't get something it can't reach."

"You can't." Dustin comes in. "Your wings were frozen last time. They need to be healed before you can fly again."

Well damn. "I'll hide then. Wait for the yeti to leave before going back to the party."

There's a stealth or something skill check, which he passes somehow. He's not sure, he just rolled the dice and Mike said he was good. Dustin then convinces the rest of the crew to go help him, because he won't be able to get out himself with his noobiness, and El's completely on board as well as Max. There's a charisma throw in there, which Dustin gets a perfect or something, and they go after him.

"While walking, Mad Max catches sight of a chest in the corner of her vision. It could have something valuable in it."

Max snorts. "Okay, I'll go open it."

"Uh-" Lucas doesn't seem so key on it, but they let it happen.

"Turns out the chest was a mimic!" Mike looks a bit too pleased with himself. A little sadistic too. "Mad Max is stuck where she touched the chest, and a bludgeon comes out to start beating her!"

"Shit!" Dustin swears. "I attack it with fire!"

It takes a few different people to kill the thing. Enough time that Steve starts to get bored. "You know what? I'm going to risk it- I'll leave the cave and look for help by myself."

Mike frowns. "You get to the mouth of the cave when the yeti finally finds you. It chases you."

Steve takes a second, tries to think of what to do. Then El speaks up. "What is a mimic?"

There's a single moment of silence, and then everyone relaxes, the game silently put on pause. "A mimic is a creature that can mimic other stuff." Mike explains. "It normally turns into treasure chests, and when someone touches it it'll stick them to it and then beat them to death."

El purses her lips, eyes distant. "Like the box outside of the house?"

The room goes quiet. They all freeze.

Steve stands up. "Show me."

El gets up, and the rest scramble to follow. El walks out to the front of the house, opens the door but doesn't walk out. She points.

Right outside, a few feet away from his porch, is a brown box.

Chapter Text

It's a cloudy evening, the sun shining through the grey sky and basking the world in muted light. The box sits innocently on the grass, completely nondescript, and Steve probably wouldn't have thought anything of it if it had an address written on it. If it was a package for his parents.

But there wasn't anything written on the box. And Steve knows to trust El's intuition. "Stay here, inside."

He rushes back through the house, finds his nailbat and comes back to the front door. The kids all listened, thank god, standing by the door and window and staring at the box.

"It's just a box, El." Max was saying, looking skeptical. El shook her head.

"How do you know?" Lucas asked, glancing between her and the package outside.

"It's not a box." El said, turning to Steve as he got closer.

"Trust the psychic, guys." Steve got to the door, unlocking it and swinging it open. The box didn't move, still and looking like an ordinary box. Steve stares at it, tries to see what El sees. It looked normal, but…

Something felt wrong. Steve doesn't know what, but something did feel wrong and Steve trusts El, trusts his sister, so he goes out, ready to bash the thing if her hunch is correct.

He creeps out the door, slowly getting closer. The kids stay by the door. Dustin calls out. "Remember, mimics have sticky surfaces, like glue!"

"Remember, this is real life, not a D&D campaign." Steve replies, but still dutifully grabs a nearby stick. He gets close enough to poke it with the stick, which he does multiple times.

Nothing happens.

He tries one more time before poking it with the nailbat. Still, nothing happens.

Steve looks back at the others. "What-"

Something attaches itself to his ankle, pulling, as another thing slams into his back, knocking him over. He falls with a surprise yell.

He lands on his stomach, rolls to his back to look at his leg. The box is there, stuck to his ankle, but it doesn't look like a box anymore. It's expanding, getting larger and larger until it's the size of a dog, the top of it opening into a gaping maw. The thing has teeth, jagged teeth staring straight at him.

Steve stares, dumbfounded.

A golf sized ball of electricity forms in his hand. He throws it at the thing, but it doesn't even look like it felt it. 

Something emerges from behind it, a bulbous arm looking appendage. It flies towards him, catching his side. Steve shifts, ducking when it aims for his head.

Honestly, what the fuck is going on?

It tries again, before the arm stills, buzzing in place. The appendage hardens, material turning into wood. Steve blinks and it's suddenly a perfect copy of his nail bat, swinging down at his head.

He raises his hand and the thing slows to a crawl. He takes the extra time, tightens his grip on his own nail bat, and aims for the juncture between the arm and the rest of it.

The nails tear through it, tearing the arm off entirely.

Time snaps back and the creature releases him, backing up and going on the defensive. He scrambles up, clutching his bat and calming his breath. The arm falls to the ground and fizzles out into nothing.

He's getting ready to attack again, because physical damage obviously works better then shocking it, but El's suddenly next to him, arm raised and looking a bit murderous. The thing flies into the air, ripped and torn into shreds at El's hand. It doesn't bleed, doesn't scream, just does a creaky sounding snarl before being torn to bits.

El lets it drop to the ground in pieces, looking once again like a cardboard box they had just ripped apart. It's quiet, for a moment. Steve takes out a napkin (which he's taken to always carry one around) and wipes the blood off El's face. Doesn't notice the single drop of blood falling from his own.

Then the rest of the kids are there, swarming them.

"What was that?!" Lucas says first, going between its remains and them. 

"A mimic, dude!" Dustin exclaims. "A real live mimic!"

"Are you okay?" Will asks, and Steve nods, ruffles his hair. "That thing…"

Steve looks at the remains, takes a moment to think. "It didn't bleed." He pointed out, because it didn't. It cracked and splintered like wood, tore apart like cardboard. "It didn't move like it was alive either."

There was no fluidity in its movements. It jerked and creaked like a puppet on strings.

El nods. "I did not kill it." She says, and the others jump back, as if expecting it to come back to life. "I crushed it."

They all look at the broken pieces of it in the front yard, still and ordinary, like a dog had ripped something up. They stare, for a few minutes.

"So." Steve says after a bit. "Do you want me to take you guys home, or are you sleeping over?"

The sleepover was unanimous. Steve called Jonathan and Nancy.

School starts back up the next week. The weekend before Nancy made both him and Jonathan come over to make sure they got their winter break work finished. It’s not as much of a drag as it normally would be (if Steve even actually did it), mostly because he’s doing it with friends, and when he gets stuck on something he has two people that can help him through it.

(The gaps in his knowledge are getting smaller and smaller by the study session, but it’s still a bit embarrassing whenever a new one shows up.)

The day after the campaign Steve called Hopper over to look over the remains of the mimic in his front yard. It looks more like litter then a corpse, and Steve wonders if Hopper would’ve even believed him if El hadn’t backed up the story, along with the rest of the kids.

The older man is obviously stumped, because the mimic doesn’t really look like anything they’ve fought before, not really. There are some telling similarities, but it’s not enough to firmly put it in the Upside Down label. “It looks more like an imitation.”

Steve plants his hands on his hips and hums. “Like a bad copycat.”

“Whatever it is.” Hopper nudges it with his toe. “I don’t think it’s what killed the hiker. A nailbat wouldn’t do that type of damage. It would’ve had to be bigger, sharper.”

It also didn’t have red eyes. “It had no eyes.” He recalls, and then realizes that most Upside Down things have no eyes. “The thing in the woods had red eyes.”

“Why do you think it came here?” Hopper asks suddenly. “Out of all the places this thing could go, it came to your house.”

And out of all the people that could've found the body or seen the red eye creature, it was also Steve. He had noticed that. "Pretty sure it was just looking for food."

A raised eyebrow. "Like the thing that ate the hiker?"

An oddity, yeah. That body could definitely be considered eaten. Especially because the organs were gone, and predators have a habit of eating certain organs for nutrients (what, Steve liked animal facts, okay?). "Do Upside Down things usually eat what they hunt?"

They both knew the answer to that, not normally.  

Hopper sighs, mimicking his stance. "Like a bad copycat." Hopper murmurs.

Steve blinks, looking down at his winter assignments. He had started absentmindedly doodling the mimic at the bottom of the page, sketching out the expanding box and its bulbous nailbat arm.

He feels heat next to him and turns to see Jonathan. "Is that what it looked like?" He asked, and Steve nodded. "Weird."

Nancy slid off the desk to sit on her knees next to them. Her eyebrows furrow. "It looks normal." She sounds surprised. "Even with the arm."

"It's… vaguely Upside Down…ish." Jonathan offers, and Steve can't tell if they want it to be from the Upside Down or not. Maybe they're just expecting the worst. Or they'd rather know what it is because that means they can destroy it, rather than it be something new.

"I mean-" Steve starts, a tinge of amusement in his voice. "Mimics are known as shapeshifters. Could've been hiding what it really looked like."

Nancy's mouth tilts down in concentration. "Maybe it's not from the Upside Down, but based off it."

Steve frowns then, because what? "What?"

Nancy looks like she just had an epiphany. "Hawkins Lab was trying to create a portal to the Upside Down, right? What if, during a test, they saw the other side? What if they tried to recreate what they saw on the other side?"

He shudders at the thought. "While I was… there, I never saw anything that would make me think they're making monsters, but I wasn't really used for the Upside Down at all, not like El. It's possible, I wouldn't put anything past them."

And since the lab was closed, the experiments could have finally escaped. It's definitely a possibility they need to consider.

Nancy clicks her tongue. "We should go check."

Steve does a double take. "What?"

"We should." Jonathan's already on board, of course. "So we're prepared, in case there's more." His eyes soften when he looks at Steve. "You don't have to go with us, if you don't want to."

We'll, yeah, he really doesn't want to. Seeing that place again at all would be way too soon, even deserted as it may be. Still, he's not letting them go without him. "Like hell you're going without me." He starts packing up his notes.

Nancy places a hand on his shoulder, smile amused. "After school tomorrow." She looks fond. "It's already seven, Steve."

Steve glances out the dark window. He flushes. "After school tomorrow."

Jonathan laughs.

Chapter Text

The lab brings back bad memories, as empty as it is. Steve feels a shiver snake its way down his spine, sudden and unwanted. Even looking at it from the outside makes him want to run.

Jonathan squeezes his shoulder, whispers, "If you want to leave, we'll leave. All of us."

Steve nods, but he already knows he won't. He won't be the thing that stops them from figuring out what's happening.

The gate's wide open, the place dark besides the emergency lights. They make it to the front door, closed by an electric lock.

"Here-" Steve squeezes to the front, places his hand on the key card. A quick pulse of electricity leaves his palm, short circuiting the electric lock. There's a little click, and he removes his hand and opens the door. "Ta-da!"

He does a little bow. Jonathan laughs. Nancy smiles. He tries to hide his quivering hands.

It's eerie, inside. Steve keeps his eyes trained on the hall in front of him, willing himself away from the side doors, which he knows are full of beds, testing equipment, or training rooms. The others' eyes wander, but they don't stray from his side, either trusting him to lead the way or not wanting to leave him.

After a few minutes of silence they make it to a set of double doors. "The offices used to be behind here." He explains, testing the door. It doesn't budge, and he places his hand on the card reader. "I've never been back here, so we're going blind after this. There could be anything behind these doors."

This is a terrible idea. Anything could be behind these doors- including armed people or monsters or something that wants to hurt them. They're in their school clothes, Jesus Christ, if something happens Steve will have to protect them, because they didn't bring any weapons either. He's now even more jittery than he was before.

He shocks the key card. The thing beeps angrily at him.

It shocks him back.

He yelps, yanks back his hand and shakes it from the surprisingly sharp shock, cursing. "What the fuck?" His hisses, before something occurs to him. "Oh fuck this-"

"What just happened?" Nancy asks, and Jonathan's eyes are wide. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." He bites his shocked hand's thumb, just to get some feeling back in it. "They booby trapped this. Must've been for when I still lived here- they didn't trust me enough not to go wandering."

He never did, at least, not here. It was a strong shock too. Fuck them.

Jonathan glared at the door. "Come on, we'll find another way in."

"No." Steve has beef with this door now. "Back up."

They do as he asks, and he takes his own step back. Nancy furrows her brows. "What are you planning?"

"I'm using its defense against itself." Steve raises a hand, palm facing the key card. He sends another pulse towards the card.

It sends another shock back, this time into the thin air. Steve reaches out, grabs it before it can fizzle out into the air. He pulls it towards him, and the electricity flies to him, yellow-white volts arching through the air before hitting his palm, flying up his wrists and bouncing along his arms.

Calm down, he thinks, presses his hands together. The electricity collects in his hands, and he pulls his arms apart. A ball of energy forms in the space between his hands, cackling and sparking, and Steve adds onto it, makes it just a bit bigger.

He thrusts his hands out. The orb shoots towards the door.

It tears through the mechanical lock connecting the two doors, leaving a hole of fried circuitry. Steve steps forward, wipes away blood before they can see and pushes the door open with ease. Jonathan and Nancy stare.

He holds the door open. “After you.”

Steve’s thought a lot about what could be behind this door. Everything from normal offices to a time machine. After he left, the idea that anything super important sat behind the door never really occurred to him. It was probably just some offices.

Which is was. It was just offices. And more test rooms.

Steve can’t keep his eyes from wandering this time. More test rooms? He’s positive none of the numbers he knew were ever tested past those doors, they weren’t allowed back here. It was one of Dr. Brenner’s stricter rules. The rooms had to be for something else.

They forge on, checking through any offices they find. Most are cleared out, empty, and Steve starts to think this was for nothing.

Until the second to last office.

“Found something.” Jonathan calls, and Steve almost vaults over the desk to get to him. “It’s dated back to December, so pretty recent.”

Nancy looks over his shoulder, scans the paper. “They did have something else here.”

Steve frowns and reads, not as fast as Nancy. It’s speaking about something that almost broke out of containment, and how it’s pen needed to be reinforced. Jonathan turns the paper. The next entry is someone yelling at someone else about not reinforcing the enclosure. Apparently, whatever they had got out.

Nancy makes a frustrated noise. "There's nothing that describes whatever they had that got out." She growls. "There's no way to tell if they're talking about the mimic or not."

Jonathan stuffs the file into his backpack for later. Steve finds an old file stuffed behind a cabinet, like it had fallen and never been found. He opens it, flips through the documents. Sees other numbers there, but doesn’t read them. "Oh wow."

One's about him.

Subject: Seven - Portal Creation

While subject Seven shows promise, there has been no breakthrough in his ability of portal creation, marking him as an unviable candidate. As a last case scenario, he may be able to create a portal with the help of another promising yet unviable candidate (suggested subject - Ten). To test, follow the directions provided below:

-Have Subject Seven focus on a target and instruct him to displace the energy in the air around it. Once the atmospheric electricity around the target has reached 0 V/m, introduce Subject Ten.

-Have Subject Seven focus on a target and instruct him to stop time only at that object, creating a focal point in time in both our dimension and the other dimension. Once done, introduce Subject Ten.

*Note, neither of these procedures have ever successfully created a portal, and this method is completely theoretical. Only use as a strictly EMERGENCY last case scenario, as having both subjects' powers interact is extremely volatile and can result in permanent damage to both subjects and surrounding personnel and equipment.

Shred this, Ten completely lost it after last trial. Consider this impossible, unless you have another subject in mind? - Dean

…Huh.

Appearently they did try to use him to make a portal, it just failed. And broke Ten in the process. Steve never really saw Ten after the one time they were put together, but he just thought it was because of how bad their powers reacted to each other. Was it because Ten was actually permanently hurt by whatever they did? And he didn’t even know.

Nancy has her thinking face back on. “What was their goal here?” She whispers. “Creating the portal? Did they gather up special kids because they wanted a way to open the portal, or for some other reason?”

Steve shrugs, hands the file over. He doesn’t want to look at any other pages in it, right now. “Eight always thought they were making an army. Six said Brenner was just lonely.” He frowns. “And a creep.”

Jonathan snorts. “Creep describes him pretty well, what with the kidnapping kids.”

“Having us call him Papa.” Steve adds on. “Six hated that, probably because she came in as a teenager. Realized how weird that was from the get go.”

There’s a sad feeling in his chest. He missed her. She was always looking for a way out, always spewing hatred for the lab, so much so that she was normally in isolation. And yet still, she treated the other numbers better then anyone else did. Answered questions about the outside world even though it got them in trouble, motivated them to want freedom, made them feel loved and wanted.

And Steve had let her die.

The last office in the hall is a complete mess. The side wall is destroyed, showcasing the outside world. The way it’s destroyed is odd, though, like something just ran through it. In fact, looking at the door again- looks like something big tried to squeeze through it. The door frame is wider then it should be. 

This was obviously a room for someone important, with how big it was comparatively. The wall with the hole in it is surrounded by boxes, almost blocked off in a way. The desk is long and attached to the wall, sticking out like a kitchen island. Steve checked behind the desk first, because it was impossible to see behind it and he doesn’t trust anything in this place. 

Steve’s about to check the hole in the wall, let Nancy and Jonathan raid the desk, when Nancy touches his arm. “...do you hear that?”

Steve pauses, listens. In the hallway, the emergency light flickers.

He hears the sound of something in the woods. Something coming closer.

“Shit.” Jonathan breaths, tensing up. His eyes catch on the hallway light, still flickering. Whatever was coming, it’s not friendly. “Here!”

A hand grabs his arm, pulls him behind the desk. He’s pulled to the ground, shoulder pressed against Jonathan’s, Nancy in front of them. The noise gets louder, and they press against the corner connecting the wall and desk. From where they are, he can barely see the hallway light anymore. It’s dark besides the natural light from the moon. Steve blinks, tries to let his eyes adjust.

The sound of movement turns into the thump of feet against concrete. They all still, tense and waiting.

The barest hint of a shadow bathes the still intact side wall. Something was blocking the natural light coming in. Something big.

The creak of tiles crushing, the sound of wallpaper tearing and crumpling. Something lumbers into the room, a hulking figure Steve can just barely see over the top of the desk. Jonathan, who can see a bit more, freezes in fear, eyes wide and horrified. Steve holds his breath, heart beating wildly.

Theres another creaking step, the sound of shuffling around the room. It takes a step closer to the desk, and Steve can see a bit more of it’s head, outlined in the shadows as it is. It’s coloring is dull in the low light, he can’t see any details, but he can see it’s eyes.

Red. Just like the ones he saw in the woods.

The only thing saving them from being seen is the darkness covering the desk. Steve’s lungs hurt, burn from low oxygen. The thing pauses, sniffs the air.

It’s going to smell them. It’s going to smell them. It’s going to know they’re there.

He tries to figure out what to do- should he slow it? Shock it? It’s going to find them and if it’s the thing that mauled that hiker then he has to distract it long enough for Nancy and Jonathan to get away. God, he’s going to die-

Then the thing turns away, and Steve’s left there a bit shocked, blinking rapidly as it bends down, grabs what he suspects is one of the boxes lining the broken wall. It brings it up into the air, high enough for Steve to see.

The box crackles, expands. An arm extends from behind it, lashing out at the creature. Steve’s eyes widen.

Another mimic.

The creature makes a low groan of what sounds like annoyance, its free hand grabbing the top of the mimic. It tightens it’s hold and pulls it apart. The mimic’s arm goes limp, and the creature shoves both pieces into it’s mouth. There’s the sound of wood splintering and cracking, crunching, and not seeing might be worse then knowing what’s going on. His stomach is in his throat at just the sound of it.

The crunching stops, and the creature ducks down, grabs another box, another mimic. He hears the dull thumps of flesh hitting flesh, but the creature doesn’t eat this one. The sound of lumbering steps, slowly getting farther and farther away. Steve takes in the smallest of breaths, barely trusting himself to not bring it back.

They stay in that corner, long after the sound of the creature fades into nothing. Steve’s lightheaded, with how little air he’s taken in. Jonathan’s hand is covering his mouth, and Nancy hasn’t moved an inch since they first hid.

At least ten minutes pass before one of them speaks. “This room is full of mimics.” Nancy whispers, head turned slightly to them. Steve nods, and Nancy stands first, gingerly getting to her feet. Steve follows, helps Jonathan up after him. They all stand behind the desk, looking out the gap the creature walked out of. Boxes lay scattered around, blocking the exit.

Steve raises his hands. “When I say go, get out to the hallway. Try not to touch them.”

Nancy nods, and Jonathan moves to his side. Steve feels his gut churn, tighten. His fingers jerk, spasm. “Now.”

Time slows around them.

It occurs to him now that he’s used his powers more today then he has in six years, including the small usings against the demodogs and demogorgan. He shouldn’t be surprised when his nose instantly starts bleeding, but he is. There’s a sense of vertigo too, and he sways in place. In front of him, Nancy and Jonathan make their way across the room as quickly as possible, stepping between boxes scattered across the floor.

Except they aren’t boxes. Slowly but surely, arms extend from behind them, too slow to do anything but still trying. By the time it’s Steve’s turn they might actually be swinging. He’s losing control of the slow, arms shaking the longer he has to hold it.

But then Nancy jumps over the last bit, Jonathan steadying her on the other side, and Steve inches forward, trying to keep steady on his feet. Just because time is slowed doesn’t mean the mimics still can’t stick to him. Well, maybe it does, but Steve doesn’t want to test it.

He stumbles his way through half of it, all the way until he gets to a part that requires actual finesse. Which he does not have right now, both nostrils bleeding, dripping off his chin. His mouth tastes of copper. It makes him even more queasy.

He vaults over the last of it, hitting the other side and falling hard on the ground. Time snaps back into place and he coughs harshly, curling up into himself. His head pounds, lungs stuttering as they try to take in air.

Ah, he thinks to himself, now this place is starting to feel like home. Just like old times.

“Steve!” Someone lifts him up, and he’s suddenly leaning against a body. “Jesus, Steve-”

“M’fine.” He mumbles, sniffles. A hand comes up to wipe away the blood, but there’s too much. Just makes his entire hand bloody. “Jus’ need a nap, you know?”

He coughs again, leans heavily against Jonathan before pushing himself up onto his own feet. “M’good. Promise.”

He’ll be fine. As long as he never has to come back here again, he’ll be fine.

They go to Steve’s, because its the one house without parents (and Joyce would get so mad if she knew-), but when they arrive there’s bicycles scattered across the ground and the Party is panicking in the living room. “What are you dipshits doing here?”

“Steve!” They all turn to him, eyes wide in relief. Dustin crosses his arms. “Where the fuck were you?”

“Uh, none of your fucking business.” Steve acts like his face isn’t half covered in blood. “Don’t you guys have homework to do?”

“El radio’d us.” Will flexes his fingers, worried. “She said you were in trouble.”

Steve blinks, and his bafflement must surprise them some. “Well, not exactly.” Max presses her lips together. “Said you were scared.”

Oh, well that’s better. Not humiliating at all. It’s sweet, that the kids wanted to save him, but he also didn’t want kids to have to save him.

How can El even know that? Fuck, she's never mentioned that before- but the Party doesn't seem too surprised by it. God damnit.

“It’s justified, after what just happened.” Jonathan’s on his side, at least. He shrugs off his backpack, pulls out the files they had found. There’s a good amount, some even from the destroyed room that they couldn’t read through before the creature showed up. “These better be worth it.”

The kids don’t question it, though they do give Steve a strange look, as if wondering why he would willingly go back to the lab. Steve just stares back, because there are two obvious reasons as to why and two of the kids are related to them.

There’s just enough documents in the files for all of them to have three a piece. They scatter around the kitchen island and couch to read through them, looking for anything that could relate to the mimic and whatever the fuck that creature was.

“Found something.” Lucas stands up, jogging over to the kitchen counter and planting the paper in front of him, Dustin, and Nancy. “This mentions cultures taken from the Upside Down. Stuff that didn’t die when the portal was closed.”

Max looks over. “How is that possible?”

“Doesn’t say.” Lucas looks it over. “Maybe it’s because the stuff they took wasn’t living?”

“Cultures implies living.” Nancy scans the document. “Wait a second- Steve, take out the folder with your file in it.”

Steve might see where she’s going with this. Dustin frowns. “File?”

Steve doesn’t respond, grabs the last folder still in Jonathan’s bag. He gives it to Nancy, who flips through the first two documents and pulls out the third. “Here.”

Subject: Four - Portal Creation

Subject Four is an unexpected candidate for Portal Creation, given her powers. Unfortunately, she has little to no control over her powers, and she sustained permanent damage from accidentally creating the portal the first time. Possible fatal damage if tried again. Listed below are some methods to trigger Four’s powers in the scenario of needed portal creation.

At least we got those samples before Four passed. Shame she couldn’t open it the second time, what a wasted life. -Dean

Steve stared at the written note at the bottom of the page, just like the note on Steve’s paper. Whoever Dean was, he had obviously added his two cents to the entire folder. 

Steve hopes he’s dead.

“Samples are mentioned here- they got samples from the Upside Down when Four temporarily opened a portal. Maybe the reason they survived was because of Four's powers?” Nancy flips the page over, sees the blank back. She groans. “There’s nothing more here.”

“Here.” Will places two of his papers down in front of her. “This doesn’t mention the Upside Down, but it does talk about injecting samples into ‘containers’.” He taps the paper twice. “Says they injected the matter samples into multiple nonliving containers and one living container, almost eight years ago.”

They've been doing this experiment for eight years, Steve was still with them when they started. That explains the electric shock lock.

“Think that’s what happened with the mimics?” Steve asks aloud. “That’s why they’re Upside Down-esq but not actually?”

“It explains why they didn’t bleed when you hit it.” Will points out. “If it’s, like, a hybrid between a box and Upside Down samples. Nothing with blood in it.”

“There’s more here.” Nancy calls out. “There was a side effect- the living container always attacked the nonliving containers whenever they were put together. It would consume the nonliving ones. They hypothesized that it was because of the energy they emit. It’s spoken about indirectly, but it sounds a lot like the mimics and creature attack each other because they crave Upside Down energy, and eating each other is the only way to get it.”

Steve frowns, takes the paper and fully reads it. “Even when the Upside Down can survive outside of the Upside Down, it still wants whatever remains.”

Nancy frowns, purses her lips. She stares at Four’s document as the kids look over Will’s papers. Jonathan leans against the kitchen counter, thinking. “Could that include those who can create portals, too?”

That gets his attention, because that would mean El. “Why do you say that?”

“Why else would that mimic randomly show up at your place?” Nancy questions. “If they considered portal creators as something with Upside Down energy, then it would go after El. You too, maybe.”

Dustin does a double take. “Steve can create a portal?”

Steve shrugs. “Probably not.” Unless the reason why the numbers had powers in the first place was because of the Upside Down, then that would mean they all could open a portal, somehow. He hopes not.

Dustin gives him a look but doesn’t question it. He plucks Steve's file from the folder and glares at it hard enough that Steve's surprised it didn't catch on fire.

Mike frowns. “There’s nothing on the living container here, it’s all about the mimics.”

“It’s big.” Jonathan says, and they’ve all silently decided that the thing they saw was the living container. If it wasn’t then that meant something else was out in the woods, and Steve didn’t want to think about that. “Took a mimic with it when it left. Probably to eat for later.”

Mike sounds a bit frantic when he talks next. “If it’s attracted to portal creators, it’ll go after El again.”

“If it’s attracted to the Upside Down.” Dustin says. “It’s probably lumbering around in the tunnels.”

“We should get El first.” Mike protests. “We can’t just leave her alone!”

“She has literal superpowers, she’s the safest out of all of us!” Dustin retorts, and Steve kind of agrees. He rather her not be anywhere near this. It’d be safer the farther away she was from all this. “We’ll radio her and tell her what’s up, that good?”

Mike gave him a look that said that wasn’t good. Twenty minutes later had him driving down the road, having dropped Mike, Nancy, Jonathan, and Will at the Byer’s to get a car. He was now driving towards the tunnel with the others, going to scout and nothing more. He’s only doing it because the kids would go on their own without him, and he can’t be having that. Hopefully, Hopper will be on the way or already there by the time they get there, he asked Nancy to call him and give him the lowdown. It’d be great to have another adult there. He could’ve asked Nancy to stay with him, but he rather the person with the gun be the one helping protect El.

“It’s not like we’d all fit in a car together anyway.” Lucas mumbles, and Max crosses her arms. For how much the Party doesn’t like splitting up, they do it often. “They’re meeting us after getting El anyway.”

Dustin hums, and Steve stares off into the dark distance. They have school tomorrow. They’re doing this on a Monday night. They really don’t think things through.

Something crashes into the side of the car. Steve slams into the side of the door as it rolls. The kids scream.

The car completely flips again. His head hits the metal and it all goes black.

Chapter Text

There's another notch in the 'the numbers have powers because of the Upside Down' theory. Cause Steve can't create portals, and yet this mother fucker still won't leave him alone.

He has a killer headache, but his eyes are already adjusted to the dark when he opens them. Blearily, he blinks and looks around.

Takes him a second to realize he's upside down in a cave somewhere.

Takes him another second to realize he's been Luke Skywalker'd.

Takes him a third second to wonder if Mike's like Six, because this is like the fifth time his campaigns have mirrored real life.

He's in a cave somewhere, maybe an offshoot of the tunnels. There looks like there was a cave in at one point, cutting this place off from the rest of the tunnels and turning it into a cavern. It's freezing cold and he has on one little coat not warm enough for this weather. He's dangling upside down, feet frozen to the ceiling like Luke fucking Skywalker. Jesus, what is his life?

The place is covered in dead and shattered mimics, some completely destroyed, some half eaten, most partially or fully frozen. Steve's hanging a good five feet above the ground, but the ones still kicking are clumped underneath him, as if thinking he'll fall eventually.

So this was the creature's kitchen, basically. He remembers it bringing back a mimic to eat for later. Is that what it's doing with him?

The kids aren't here though. Thank God for that.

Or did it already eat the kids? Fuck.

He hears movement, and the mimics below him extend their arms, as if ready for war. The creature appears from somewhere behind him, and Steve can't see what it's doing. It makes his heart stutter, so he keeps still and holds his breath.

The creature (yeti, his brain supplies, because you're already following what D&D says) ambles up to him, and Steve can't hear anything over the pounding of his heart. It doesn't touch him though, and the two mimics underneath him flail wildly as giant grotesque hands crush them. They're pulled out of view, and Steve stares at where they used to be, wonders if the living container was just a random animal, or if it was a human. The fact that it brings stuff back to its cave- traps it and waits until it's hungry to kill… that shows a lot of intelligence. Yet… maybe that's the Upside Down part of it? This thing is almost definitely the thing that mauled and ate the hiker, which humans normally don't do. If this thing was an infected animal, that could explain both the heightened intelligence and it's desire to hunt and eat-

And Steve's about to die, be eaten, and here he is trying to figure out what the monster is made out of. Nancy's rubbed off on him too much.

It's eating the mimics, he can tell by the sound. It's right behind him too, so it's louder then before. His stomach clenches, queasy at just the noise. It's disgusting.

Then the noise stops. Steve holds his breath again, heart rattling.

A large hand grabs his leg, and Steve's first thought is it's going to tear it off.

He shocks it, the only thing he can do in this situation. The yeti does a startled roar, letting go and backing away. Steve can't tell if it shocked him or just startled him. Either way, it's better than the mimic's reaction to it. Means he might actually have a chance-

The creature comes into view, and he suddenly can't breathe.

It's massive, towering over him even though he's five feet off the ground. Probably eight feet tall, with shaggy brownish-grey hair covering pulsing reddish skin that reminded him vividly of the demodog's skin. Its red eyes were small and beady, narrowed in what he could only assume was anger.

The yeti swiped its hand, claws catching his chest and slicing through. Steve can't even gasp, burning pain a complete opposite from his freezing limbs.

He's going to die.

To his left, a mimic corpse twitches. The yeti whips towards it, large foot stomping it into pieces. It doesn't turn back to him after it finishes, instead making a sound vaguely similar to a burp and ambling away. He's left in the cold cavern, slowly freezing and bleeding out.

…He wishes Six could meet Mike. They could predict the future together. Have fun seeing the next new way Steve almost gets himself killed.

Shivering harshly, he brings his hand up to his unzipped coat, zipping it up. It doesn't do much, but hopefully it'll start conserving heat. And blocking the blood flow. He can already feel the sticky, hot stuff cling to his ruined shirt, feel his shirt dampen and freeze against the wound. It stings, badly, but it's a dull, distant feeling, the flesh the wound was inflicted on was already half frozen, mostly numb. He can tell it's bad, though, fatally bad. That is, if he doesn't die from hypothermia first. His fingers are already a deep red, about to go blue.

He has to get out of here.

Well, the campaign hasn't been wrong yet-

His hands are shaking too much to direct a ball of electricity, which would also be a bad idea, given how much he's used his powers today. Still, it isn't too hard to send a few volts into the ice surrounding his feet. It shatters, just like in the campaign, and Steve hits the ground hard.

He groans, unknowing if the bloody nose is from hitting the ground or from using his powers. The mimics around him stay unmoving, and he gingerly picks himself up, the pain in his chest worsening with each breath.

He's not going to make it with how heavily it's bleeding. Biting his lip, which already tastes of copper, he pulls within himself and slows the bleeding.

It works, kind of. There's blood in the back of his throat now, but the blood's been slowed, causing a blockage of the unslowed blood still in his body. Maybe, if he's lucky, it'll freeze and scab over enough to stop the flow. If he's lucky.

He picks his way through the cavern. There's two exits that he can see, so he picks the one the yeti didn't go through and starts down it, hand bracing against the wall.

Twenty minutes past in complete darkness, his eyes barely adjusted enough to see faint outlines of the ground. Another ten minutes pass before he sees light ahead, and he's under the ground, the moonlight above him, and his torso screams as he pulls himself up and out of the sliver of a hole emitting moonlight.

He's in the middle of the woods somewhere, the moon out and bright, and it's still dark, hopefully still the same night he remembers. He spits out blood, leaking into his mouth and throat from his nose. Steve keeps walking.

Hours pass, or maybe minutes. He walks in a daze, bleary from blood loss. His powers stopped working at some point, and now he trailed little drops of blood with every step.

There's light, up ahead. Yellow light that's not from the moon. Steve stops, blinks as the light shines on him. He tries to take another step forward, but he stumbles, has to lean against a tree.

"Steve, Jesus Christ-!" It's Hopper, taking him in with obvious panic. Steve tried to smile, but he's pretty sure his bloody teeth didn't help calm anyone.

"The kids?" He asks, because it's the only thing running through his mind now. Hopper takes his weight, brings his arm over his shoulder.

"They're fine. Joyce took them to the hospital, make sure they aren't hiding any injuries." Hopper starts helping him forward, and Steve's head lolls. "What happened?"

"Yeti." He slurs, taps his chest, which was completely numb by then. "Claws."

Hopper pauses, shines a light at his chest. He swears. "Steve-"

"Goodnight." He mumbles, and then he's gone again.

He wakes up in the hospital, Hopper in a chair in the corner and El sitting at the edge of the bed. He's on some type of drug, makes him feel floaty and warm. He raises his arm, grabs El's elbow. "Hug." His voice is slurred.

El almost jumps, but gives into him immediately. Steve wraps her up in his arms, kisses the top of her head. "'M sorry."

El looks confused. "Why?" In the corner, Hopper is pretending like he isn't listening in. Steve barely notices.

"I left you." He murmurs, high on drugs. "I left you and Eight with Papa. I'm sorry."

El ducks her head, resting her forehead on his shoulder. "It's okay." She assures. "I forgive you."

"It's not okay." His voice is a borderline whine. "It's not. I left you."

"Steve." Hopper decides now is the time to stop him. "Do you remember what happened?"

Steve blinks at him, because he knows the man in front of him is Hopper but at the same time who tf is Hopper? He's too high for this.

His brain, very helpfully, supplies him with a single memory. The kids were here, weren't they? This was the hospital, the kids were here- "Where are they-?"

He starts to try and get up, but a sharp sting in his chest makes him stop. "Calm down." Hopper raises a hand, puts it on his free shoulder, and El glares at Steve, a warning not to do that again. "They're in their own rooms. They're staying overnight on concussion watch."

Steve squints, looks for a window. He's thinks it's still dark outside, but he sees a sliver of light signalling dawn. How Hopper and El were able to stay with him, he doesn't know. Hopper probably flashed his police badge and El probably just ignored anyone who told her to leave.

Hopper sighs, standing up. "I'll see if they're awake."

Steve settles, and El sighs against him. The door clicks closed, and Steve lays his cheek against the top of El's hair. "Do you like it?"

El blinks, tilts her head. "Like what?"

He gestures to her head. "Having hair. It's work, but nice too."

El looks at her own hair, which has grown considerably. "It gets in my face." She says. "Max tangled it once. It was pretty."

Steve smiles. "That's called a braid, El. She braided your hair."

El considers this. "I like it." She finally decided. Then, her own hand came up to Steve's hair, touched a front peice. "I like your hair. It's… bouncy."

That made him considerably more pleased then he thought it would. "Thank you."

The door opens again, and three kids come stumbling in. "Steve!"

Dustin falls on his way to Steve's bed, causing Max to take the lead and get there first. She immediately takes the free spot on his other side, sitting down on the bed and leaning against the wall behind him. Lucas pulls a free chair up and Dustin pouts, slowly pulling himself off the floor, clearly disoriented.

Hopper looks exsperated. "I told you not to rush."

They all ignore him. "Hopper said you had to get a ton of stitches." Lucas looks him over, like he expected to see the stitches everywhere. "He also said you were high."

"He's on medicinal drugs." Hopper pulls a hand down his face. "Not high."

"Dustin can't walk straight." Max informs him solemnly. "And Lucas doesn't remember what happened. I'm fine, though."

"She damaged an eardrum." Hopper corrects, looking completely done. "Should heal in a few days or so."

Steve tried to take all of it in. Dustin makes it to the bed and practically slides onto it, uncaring of how cramped it already is. His head ends up resting half on Max's thigh and half on Steve's shoulder, and he must really be messed up, because neither Max nor Lucas mention it, would rather let it happen silently then say something or tease him and have him try to get up again.

Steve doesn't care, half high and fully drowsy. His kids are safe, and that's all that matters to him. "It's gonna be a wicked scar." He says, points to his chest. "Gonna say it was a mountain lion attack- got it while traveling. Gonna be a great ice breaker whenever I go swimming."

Max relaxes against the wall, settling in. Her head tilts, resting her cheek against Steve's own head. Lucas frowns. "Don't you have electric powers?"

Steve blinks. "Yeah?"

Lucas blinks back. He lets it go.

"What happened Steve?" Dustin speaks up, voice half muffled. "We all woke up and Hopper and Joyce were there but you were gone."

Steve takes a moment, forces himself out of his daze to remember. "Mike has superpowers." Is what he gets from his mind.

They all stare. El frowns. "What?"

"He's like Six." He tries to explain, before more comes back to him and he frowns. "Or maybe not. Can't remember right. His campaign came to life."

Dustin furrows his brows. "A yeti took you?" His eyes brighten. "Were you hung upside down?!"

"Don't sound so happy about it." Steve mumbles. "But yeah, I was."

"Awesome." Dustin murmurs. Max hits his shoulder. "Not. Not awesome."

Hopper's head has been in his hands for the last five minutes. "Everyone in this room besides El and I are drugged out of their minds." He murmurs, more to himself than anyone else. "And I have work in two hours."

Steve jumps. "School!" He doesn't move much, squished in between several bodies. "I gotta drive Nance and Jonathan to school and Dustin to school-"

Hopper groans, loudly. "I'm sure they can figure out an alternative way to school." He sounds like he's in pain. "None of you are going to school tomorrow, today. None of you are going to school today. Your parents will be here the moment guest visitation opens and they'll take you home. I'll watch over Steve."

Steve blinks, cause does that mean he's staying with Hopper and El? He looks down at his hospital gown. "There's a hole in my chest."

Hopper frowns. "Nothing worse than stitches, thankfully."

Steve blinks again, staring at his hospital gown. "Can I change?" He asks, before changing his mind. "I need to change."

Hopper's face changes from exasperation to concern. "Why?"

"I need to change." He repeats, eyes locked onto the gown. It was familiar, too familiar for comfort. El raised her head, expression puzzled. "Now. I need to change, I need to change-"

"Okay, okay." Hopper raises his hands placately, surprised and worried, because Steve was now breathing heavily, eyes wide in panic. "Your clothes are still being cleaned, but here-" he backs up to his chair, grabs the coat strung along the back of it. "Would this help?"

"Yes." El sounds like she's come to a realization. The coat flies out of Hopper's hand into El's. "Get up Dustin."

Dustin moves just enough for Steve to be free. He practically shoves his arms through the too big coat, hissing in pain as it stretches his injury. He can't breathe correctly until he's finished yanking the zipper up, hiding the hospital gown under pale browns and dark yellows. It's warm, almost uncomfortably warm, but he can't see the polka-dotted overwhite gown anymore and that was good enough for him. He runs a hand through his hair, half expecting it to be gone.

El gets it- she understands. Ducking into his vision, she grabs a lock of his hair and pulls it down in front of his eyes, allowing him to actually see it. Then, just to make it clear, she grabs a bunch of her own hair and shoves it in front of him. A frankly weird way to make him remember where he is, but it works, hitting him like a bucket of ice water.

"Fuck." He leans his head back, looks at the ceiling and feeling much more sober. Everyone's quiet, staring at him. They all just saw that. "Shit. Sorry, uh, the drugs…"

El doesn't say anything, doesn't question him, just rests back on his shoulder and grabs one of his hands, thumb reaching out to brush against the numbers hidden under his coat sleeve. The thing is, she doesn't say anything because that's how they use to comfort each other- silent motions of affection to show that they were there with them, something he and Eight did that Eleven picked up on. It was silent not because they didn't need to talk- it was silent because they couldn't talk, didn't know how. Their vocabulary was too small to bring any type of comfort, and that didn't even take into account how many words they didn't understand either. Six had that problem a lot with them, would try to comfort them and no one would understand what she was saying because they had never learned anything other than the most basics of English.

And here he is, unable to speak once again. But this time, he didn't want to, not that he couldn't. It was a strange feeling. A strange situation.

Hopper sighed, rubbed a hand over his head. He didn't look away from him, as if waiting for him to have a breakdown. There's sympathy in his eyes, and maybe he gets it. Maybe he's seen something in the lab that makes him recognize what just happened.

The kids stay quiet, even though he can practically taste the questions in the air. A few minutes pass before Lucas lets it go, leaning back against his chair and crossing his arms, looking ready to pass out right there. That made the other two let it go, and they both resumed their positions. Dustin's out a few minutes later, and Hopper's eyes switch from him to Dustin, monitoring his condition as he sleeps. Steve heard that sleeping with a concussion was dangerous, he wonders if he had medical or police training for it, to know what to do. Max falls asleep minutes later. El's thumb slows until it finally stops, her breaths calm and deep. Steve wonders how long they had all stayed up, maybe waiting for him to wake up. Just the idea of it exhausts him.

His heart still swells at the thought.

School is normal, as always. He shuffles between classes, tries to pay attention to what he's learning while ignoring the straining sting in his chest. Hopper must've spoken to his teachers, though, because they all leave him alone during the class and hand him premade notes for the days he missed and the next week, which happened to coincide with the doctor's estimate of when he can get off the pain meds.

Jonathan carries his backpack in between classes just because he can, even to the classes they don't have together. Tommy makes fun of him for it, but they both just ignore him. Steve's too tired to deal with it, and he can't even bring himself to feel embarrassed- he just thinks about what Nancy would do if she was there and the mental retort that comes to mind makes him smile.

Nancy's busy that day, having an interview with some news site for a summer job. Jonathan explained it all to him -he had applied too- and they both wanted him to apply, but he wasn't into it. Hawkins has a new mall opening up soon anyway, he'll get a summer job there.

(Something to pass the time, since he really didn't need to work, didn't really need money.)

It's just him and Jonathan today, doing their homework at the kitchen island because it'd make Nancy happy. Jonathan keeps glancing at him, causing Steve to glance back, and they both know they're doing it but neither mentions it. There's a strange tension in the air, a silent charge between them. It makes Steve's hand clammy.

He really doesn't know (yes he does) how to feel about Jonathan, about everything going on. He's a good friend, Steve loves having him around, but he's not blind. They both like the same girl, they should be fighting about it like normal teenagers their age, but…

But they're not.

Instead they're sitting in Steve's kitchen doing homework and glancing at each other like preschoolers with a puppy crush.

And that, Steve wonders while strung out on medication, means something. Something he's not sure of, had only really ever heard of in a bad light, but doesn't actually feel bad. Steve knows bad, experienced bad when he was young and lived with bad for half of his life. He's seen bad, fought bad, and this… this wasn't bad.

Scary, absolutely. Something he'd tuck into the back of his head and never speak of, totally.

There's a silent agreement between them, he thinks. A silent solidarity, the acknowledgement of something and the call to leave it unsaid. It's real, seemed to float between them, but we have bigger things to worry about.

Steve suddenly wondered what it would be like to kiss a man.

And then Jonathan's sliding out of his chair, heading to the bathroom, and the charge in the room dissipates. Steve pushes his homework out of the way, bangs his head against the counter.

Bigger things to worry about. A yeti wants to eat him.

That puts his mind on a different train of thought, and by the time Jonathan comes back, more relaxed than before, Steve is absently doodling the thing on the back of his history homework. "That's terrifying."

"Thanks." He snorts, and Jonathan smiles, just a little bit. "Think we could gank it just by unloading a few dozen bullets into it? I mean, it's just a science experiment gone wrong, not an indestructible monster from a different dimension."

Jonathan considers this for a moment. "We'd need a lot of bullets."

And Hopper wouldn't trust half of them with a gun, would he? Steve thinks. "Well, we know fire works."

Jonathan makes a focusing face. "I know how to make molotovs." He offers.

Steve gestures to the pantry. "And I have a lot of liquor."

Chapter Text

He finds himself back in the woods the next day, trying to retrace his steps while also ignoring the worsening sting in his chest, like it knows he's going back to where it originated from. He's not alone this time, though- Hopper and Nancy are both armed, Jonathan has a second nail bat, and El is here, which would honestly be enough in itself. Did Steve want her here? No. Was he grateful anyway? Yes.

It was originally supposed to be just him and Hopper, but he should've known they would never let him out of their sight again. It's endearing, if not slightly embarrassing.

The Party, at least, is blissfully unaware of what they're doing. Will and Mike have taken it upon themselves to be the newly appointed nurses (Will doesn't surprise him, given how much he cares, but Mike fretting like a mother hen is both hilarious and completely out of character for anyone other than El) for the Party, and they're all at Joyce's house making sure Dustin doesn't fall over and taking care of Max's random extreme vertigo. Lucas is also included in that, but he has a feeling he'll mostly just watch and laugh.

They'll be pissed when they find out they went without them, but they'll get over it and Steve doesn't really care- he doesn't need his kids anywhere close to this abomination. It's bad enough that El is here.

Speak of the devil, El's radio comes to life. "Hey El, is Hopper with you?"

They all pause. El unclips the radio from her belt, brings it up to her face. "He is, why?"

"Dustin's had another epiphany." It's Mike talking. "We're gonna check something out at the lab."

He fights the urge to grab the radio and tell them no, because then they would wonder why and where they are, because Steve went back to his own home this morning. 

El seems to see his discomfort. "You should wait."

"No can do." This is Dustin. "Tell Hopper to meet us there."

Then the radio turns off and they all look at each other.

Steve curses under his breath. "It's like herding cattle."

"You need to get your kids in line." Jonathan says, and no one really questions what he says, just nods as if it's firstly his fault and secondly his kids.

He can't speak on it though, because there's a rumbling nearby and Steve's heart shoots into his ears.

They're practically on top of the cave Steve climbed out of, and they watch as dirt and rocks explode out from the hole, the massive form of the yeti climbing out from under the ground, red beady eyes glancing over them all before locking onto El.

His first thought was no.

His second thought was never again.

The yeti took a gigantic step forward, faster than he expected, and Hopper already had his gun up, already fired a bullet that barely did anything. The yeti took another gigantic step and Steve flings his arms out.

It feels like a sucker punch to the leg, which promptly buckles the moment he slows the yeti. The creature is big, massive, making it harder to slow with the amount of force it's producing. Steve stumbles slightly, keeps his arms up.

Behind him, he hears the flick of a lighter.

Jonathan appears next to him, light in hand, and a molotov flies through the air, hitting the yeti square on. The first slows the moment it hits, and Steve grunts, shakes a bit as he realizes it. In a rush, the fire spreads at it's normal pace, engulfing the yeti who hasn't even started to scream, the flesh slowly burning while the fire quickly spreads.

Then the yeti pushes forward, shrieks in normal time, and time snaps back into place without his permission, broken through by sheer force alone. Steve's pushed back by it, landing flat on his back with a groan. His wound screams at him.

With time let go, the fire does it's job. The yeti shrieks, stumbling back, and El marches forward, raising her own hand. The yeti flies backwards, snapping smaller trees in half with the force before slamming against a bigger tree thirty feet back. El shouts, eyes filled with rage, and the yeti flies even further back, into the rocky outburst. The yeti flies through it, breaking through the surprisingly thin stone wall, and Steve finds himself looking at the cavern he was trapped in.

That's where it was.

The yeti skids along the ground, rolling over the corpses of mimics as it goes. His burning fire spreads to the mimics, catching the entire place ablaze. He sees a few new, living ones bat at the flames before being consumed as well.

The yeti gets up and runs, disappearing down the other tunnel he had seen before.

It's quiet beside the cackling fire and their labored breathing.

"Where does that tunnel lead?" Hopper asks, turning to him. He shrugs, gives it his best guess.

"It gets the mimics from the lab, so I'm guessing around there-" he pauses, heart dropping. "Shit, the kids are going to the lab!"

Hopper curses, and El grabs the radio. "Guys?"

"Uh-" It's Lucas. "Little busy, there's mimics everywhere!"

Steve crouches next to her, turns the radio back on. "You need to get out of there, now."

"Steve?" It's Will. "You're with El?"

"Yes I am, now get out of the lab." He barely stops himself from yelling. "The yeti is coming that way."

"Shit." Dustin murmurs, and the radio goes quiet for a moment.

"Little too late for that." Mike's voice is far from his walkie talkie. "It's already here."

Steve barely feels the pain of how fast he's moving. They practically sprinted back to the car, and Hopper tore down the road towards the lab. The tunnel the yeti took must've been a shortcut of some type, or it was just really fast, to get there that quickly.

By the time they arrive the lab's emergency lights are flickering harshly, thunderous footsteps ringing through the air. Faintly, he can hear shouting.

El practically flies out of the car, feet hitting the ground and running, going back to the place they both hate and Steve feels something in his chest tighten at her bravery- her absolute uncaring attitude about going back to a place that gives her nightmares. But then again, she learned it all from Eight.

Steve, in all fairness, didn't think twice before running after her. There's shouting, people running after them, but neither pay attention.

El tears one of the doors down and they hop through, following the sounds of destruction. The kids look haggard but okay otherwise. Max has a scratch on her arm but besides that he doesn't see any other injuries.

The yeti, on the other hand, is towering over them, arms outstretched. Steve's own chest wound stings just looking at it.

El stretches out an arm. The yeti flings into the back wall. El grunts, and blood is pouring from her nose, as if she's having more difficulty then normal.

That doesn't stop her from raising her other hand, and the yeti floats a foot into the air. She pulls her hands apart, groaning, and the yeti shakes.

It doesn't split in half, though, like Steve thought it would.

El hiccups, a bit of blood collecting at the corner of her mouth. At this point the kids had run over to them, and Hopper was standing in front of all of them. Nancy had her gun cocked and ready. "I- I can't-"

She couldn't kill it, be it being too big or too powerful or whatever it was. She sagged, arms falling, and the yeti dropped to the ground with a vicious roar, beady red eyes finding El.

And, even though literally everyone told him to take it easy, he wouldn't allow this creature to get anywhere close to El.

Due to the yeti's rampage, some of the lights had been smashed, flickering weakly with electrical cables sticking out of the ceiling. They sparked, stray voltage flying into the air behind the yeti.

"Steve-" Jonathan started the moment Steve shifted, probably sensing that he might do something unadvised. Steve ignored him, chest burning as he stepped away from El and weaved around Hopper and Nancy. He made sure not to look at their faces.

"Jesus Christ Steve-!" That was Hopper, and he felt a stray hand try to grab him as he walked forward, out of their reach. The yeti's eyes caught him from his movement, and it sniffs the air. He wonders if it recognizes the scent of his blood.

It snarls. He smiles, because there's nothing else he can really do while walking up to a giant monster.

It takes offense to it, he thinks, because the thing lunges and swipes at him.

He's surprised when everything slows, because he's not causing it. Instead, his brain is having the normal human reaction of everything going slow right before something hits him, and the burning in his chest is replaced with a rush of adrenaline.

He rolls under the swing, bouncing up to his feet behind it. The others, who were screaming, stop suddenly, almost as confused as the yeti who's ankles he practically just broke.

The yeti turns towards him, huffing. He stays facing the monster, backing up. Behind him, electricity sparks. In the background, he sees Nancy's eyes widen.

"Guys," He calls out, reached back and tenses as his hand grabs the hot electrical cable. Energy courses through him. "Hug the walls."

They all scramble to the side, out of the way, and Steve feels like he could be dying. The lab might be on auxiliary power, but this cable was connected to the main source of power, and it was all flowing into him right now.

His heart might give out, with how much he was taking in.

Almost against his will his arm jerks upward, and his nose isn't bleeding but his eyes are, bursted blood vessels siezing. But then, suddenly, he was no longer a container, but a conduit, and the pain eased as the energy left him and instead started collecting in the palm of his raised hand.

When he releases it, it's not a ball of energy, but a beam of pure power, slamming into the yeti and causing it to fly back, ten, twenty, fifty feet until it hit the far away wall and went through it, slamming into the concrete outside.

Steve grinned, a bit shocked. He released the cable, staggered, and felt blood crawl up his throat.

He waved away Jonathan when he asked. "I'm fine."

No one believed him. Outside, the yeti gave a half dead roar.

Nancy frowned. "If we can't kill it, is there a way to trap it?"

Steve thought that maybe he could kill it, but his vision was swimming and his chest was bleeding again, profusely. It wouldn't take long before someone noticed. He kept quiet.

"Trap it where?" Dustin asked. "It's gonna excape no matter where we put it-" he pauses. "Unless…"

Lucas spun around. "The Upside Down." He realized. Dustin nodded. As one, their eyes turned to El. With the attention off of him, he let himself slump, just a little.

"No." Hopper is against it, of course, Steve is against it, but he can barely keep his legs straight. "No, El will not-"

The yeti roars, rumbles forward, eyes narrowed in rage and hatred. The kids start to yell, louder and louder. Someone grabs his hand, he thinks it's Nancy.

Then El screams, raising both her hands. The yeti doesn't stop, gaining speed and charging forward.

The lights crackle. Something starts creeping up the walls. In his mind's eye, something red appears. His chest tightens before relaxing, like something was opening a door sealed shut in his soul.

The yeti ignores it all, still charging forward. Hopper shoots at it. It barely stutters.

Steve curses under his breath and slows the muscles in one of its legs.

The yeti stumbles, falls to the ground, leg laying limp behind it. Steve stayed strong, strain from his powers lighter than slowing the entire yeti would be. He sucks in a shaky breath.

In front of him, El screams again, rips her hands apart, and a hole appears in the air behind the yeti, red and black and fear fear fear fear stay away don't go in there stay away stay away fear fear fear-

He almost screams, terror creeping up his spine in a way he's never felt before. Something felt wrong, seriously wrong, and Steve didn't know why, didn't even know if the feeling was his own. In front of him El stumbled back, eyes wide and scared and it wasn't him, it was her. She was projecting.

The yeti stared at the portal, almost in wonder. It sniffed, smelled the energy, but it wasn't moving. Almost like it knew how dangerous what it wanted was.

Steve didn't want to let it figure out that it wasn't worth it, didn't want to make El hold it open for any longer. He reached up, grabbed the cable again.

His heart stopped. For five seconds, his heart didn't beat.

And then it started up again, pumping, rushing, and Steve made a gutteral noise before releasing the electricity again. It flew over the others, hitting the yeti straight in the throat.

The yeti staggard back, a hole carving out half of it's fleshy neck.

For a second, it was quiet. Shocked stillness took over the room.

The yeti kept staggering back. It started to fall, right into the portal.

The moment it went through El screamed and fell back, the portal snapping close. The yeti disappeared from view, the only thing left being half of it's lower leg, left behind when the portal closed.

The sound of labored, tense breathing filled the room. Steve blinked, red clouding his vision. Everyone was okay, he thinks. El isn't moving, swaying side to side but still standing. Hopper is looking her over, but everyone else is okay.

"He's going to fall."

Steve blinks and they're all looking at him, and he thinks maybe he had zoned out. "What, no?"

Nancy squeezes his hand, and he realizes that he still had her hand in a strong grip. "Steve, you're shaking."

Steve paused. He was shaking. He shrugged, trying not to sound half dead. "Just my heart starting back up." He assures, before realizing what he just said. "Uh, that sounds bad, not like that-"

Nancy glares and Steve stops because Nancy can tell when he lies. "What's my mom's name?"

Steve… can't remember. "Uh-"

"Did your heart actually restart?" Dustin asks, eyes wide. "Dude, you literally blasted that thing!"

Steve cracks a smile, swaying. El raised her head, looks behind them. Steve feels a prick at the edge of his consciousness, something telling him to look.

He turns around. The hallway is scattered with boxes. Somehow, he instinctively knows they aren't.

El growls, eyes locking with the creatures behind them. She doesn't move, doesn't blink, but there's a shift in the air, Steve can feel it.

She cracks her neck. The boxes explode.

Some of them scream, instinctively ducking. Steve blinks, feels debris flick against his skin. El stumbles, wavers, passes out in Hopper's arms. Something flickers out in Steve's mind, a consciousness that wasn't his own vanishing into the dark, peaceful quiet.

Around them, the lab is silent.

Without meaning to, Steve starts sliding down, butt hitting the floor and staying there. A sigh leaves his throat.

He thinks they're done.

Chapter Text

Steve corners Jonathan in the dark photo room. "This is cruel and unusual punishment." He starts, and Jonathan jumps up, startled. "And I should know, given my childhood."

Jonathan blinks, obviously confused. "W-what?"

Steve marches forward, gets into his personal space. "You-" he breathes out. "Have been avoiding the drive-in."

Jonathan blinks again. His shoulders sag. "Dude, I've been busy."

"Busy avoiding the drive-in." Steve repeated, "What, you don't like stuffing food into the trunk of cars and watching movie marathons?"

Jonathan's expression turned from serious to amused. "I've had three tests this week, dude."

He steps closer, face dead serious. "Fail them."

Jonathan laughed. "Back up," He chuckled, playful, hand on his chest, and Steve faked a hiss of pain, dramatically clutching at his heart. His face immediately turned to concern though, and Steve held up his hands.

"Just joking, it's pratically completely healed." He pulls down the collar of his shirt just to prove it. "See?"

"Am I walking in on something?"

Steve spun around, grabbed Nancy's hand and twirled her. She laughed in surprise, amused grin turning genuine. "Hello there."

"Someone's happy today." Is her response, hip checking Jonathan in greeting, still holding Steve's hand. "Did something happen?"

"I caught our renegade." He didn't know why he felt so happy, so joyful, he just was. "And he's coming with us tonight!"

Jonathan rolled his eyes. "I never agreed to it."

Nancy ignored him. "Finally, he's been avoiding the drive-in."

He flushed from the teasing. "Nancy…"

Nancy continues to ignore him, turning to Steve and placing a gentle hand on his chest, careful of his injury. She leaned in a little, a spark in her eyes and a quirk to her smile that made his neck hot. "There goes our alone time."

…She's teasing. She has to be. She whispered those words, quiet enough so Jonathan (who was busy with his photos, trying to hide his blush and back turned to them) couldn't hear. Still, she was teasing.

Which, of course, wasn't new, but she hasn't done that since they unofficially officially maybe broke up. And her smile- that spark in her eyes… she wasn't just teasing.

She was flirting.

Steve's brain stuttered like he was a freshman in high school again, when he gave an extra pencil to his first ever crush and she smiled at him. Good God, he's pathetic sometimes.

But, honestly, in his informed opinion, anyone would be when Nancy Wheeler suddenly genuinely flirts with them out of nowhere, after several months of will they won't they where it seemed to increasingly be won't. Maybe it was the fear of death which pulled her away, and now with the danger gone she was going back to how she normally acted.

And maybe Steve should respond before Nancy thinks she killed him.

(And she'd be smug about it too. She'd have a pleased little smile at his funeral.)

To save himself, Steve does what he does best- not think. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he played along. "We'll figure something out."

Jonathan, please don't turn around, please stay engrossed in your photos, good god-

(A slight feeling of guilt. Jonathan likes, maybe even loves Nancy too. He'd have to talk to her about that, at some point. Get a real answer, actually know what's going on.)

Nancy's smile lazies out a little, turns a bit cheshire. There's a mirth in her eyes, and she's having fun, she's enjoying this, she's playful. That doesn't mean, though, that she isn't being serious.

She leaned forward, enough that their faces are inches away from each other. Steve struggles to remember how to function. "Can't wait to see it."

The bell rings, signaling the end of school.

Steve pulls up in front of Dustin's house, parking the car and looking to his passenger seat. "Alright kid, see you next week."

"Wait." Dustin didn't leave. "What about tonight's session?"

He frowned. "There's no session tonight." He grinned. "I won't be home."

Dustin took the grin for only half what it meant. "My man." He laughed. "Can we still use your house?"

"And come back to a burnt down building? No thank you." He ruffles his hair. "Now scram, I'll see you next week, Henderson."

He stopped by El's next, dropping a large box full of painting supplies in her room because she needed something to do in her spare time and Steve thinks she would like art. He tested this theory a few weeks ago, and already there were canvases lining the walls of the cabin, replaced with better paintings each time El improved. Steve just kept the supplies coming.

She even had specific paintings for each one of her friends. Steve stared at his, took it in. On the canvas is a group of silhouettes, back facing them, staring at the background of a thunderstorm. Steve could tell he was the silhouette in the middle, but he couldn't tell who stood beside him- if it was Nancy and Jonathan, the Party, or Eight and Eleven. He's asked before. El never tells him.

Today, though, she lets him take it home, finally finished with it enough to let someone else take it. He's halfway out the door when El grabs his hand. "Yeah?"

She purses her lips, takes a second. "Come with me?" She asks. "To see Eight?"

Steve's hand shakes. He's sure El can feel it.

He agrees anyway.

He's tapping along to a tape while driving, periodically glancing into the back of the car, where Jonathan and Nancy have their heads together, devising a plan to sneak food into the drive-in. Steve listens in, amused, because the car had a built in secret compartment that he's yet to tell them about.

Not to mention the fact that he has enough money to pay for all of them.

He laughs in rich and wealthy. "There's a compartment below Jonathan's foot." He mentions. "Also, I can just pay for food."

Nancy pouts. "Half of the fun of a drive-in is sneaking in food."

She's right there, because not even half an hour in they ditch watching the movie and instead go on random tangents about other things. In a warmer climate, Steve would've climbed on top of his car, stared out at the stars. Impossible in the chilly cold, but a nice thought.

His thoughts wander. It takes him a bit to notice them both looking at him. "Huh?"

"What are you thinking about?" Nancy asks in a way that makes him think this is a repeat question. Steve takes a second, tries to set up a thought process.

"El and Eight- or Kali." He pauses, something like amazement flashing through him. "That's her name now, Kali. Beautiful, suits her perfectly-" he pauses. "El knows where she is. We're going to go see her, in a few days."

Nancy's face brightens, and Jonathan smiles. "That's great!" She says, "How long has it been?"

"Half a decade, at least." He scratches his scalp. "I'll miss a good bit of school, half a week at least."

Nancy waves it away. "I'm already tutoring El, I can help you catch up on what you miss." She looks at Jonathan, who nods in agreement. "Don't worry about school, you're about to go see your sister."

His sister. That's what Eight was, his sister, just like El is. And he was closer to Eight when he escaped- Eight is his sister.

He thinks about that for the rest of the first movie. By the time it's over, they've run out of prepacked snacks and have to make a run to the concession stand. They leave Jonathan in the car before making their way over. The drive-in was much less crowded now, all the parents with children only coming for the first movie before leaving after their kids fell asleep. Steve thinks about renting out a van and bringing the kids out, see how they like it.

It's well past dark, and Steve's navigating through the small lights scattered across the gravel. Both of them had left their heavier coats in the car, having taken them off due to the heat radiating from the vehicle. Now it just made them hurry towards concessions, seeking warmth.

And, like the clumsy dumbass he is, he misplaced his foot, trips and falls.

And, like an even bigger dumbass, he reaches out for something to steady him and grabs Nancy instead.

They both start to fall. Luckily, Steve's tripped into the side of a wall, the back of the concession stand, and he fixes his position in just enough time to catch Nancy before she falls.

They both stand there for a second, more startled then anything else, and even though it's freezing Steve's ears go red.

Because, of course, like the dumbass he is, he's now leaning back against the wall holding Nancy to him, who's tucked herself between his legs and is leaning lightly against his chest.

(His brain is screaming at him. His body is congratulating him for being a klutz. He fucking hates it here.)

They look at each other, a tension creeping into the air. Steve's gut twists, but for once he actually likes the feeling. It's anticipation.

There's a moment of silence, and Steve's throat goes dry, because Nancy is again looking at him with that cheshire, borderline sultry smile, and it's not fair, her just pulling this out of nowhere after nothing happening for months. It's practically torture, what's she's doing. Does she not understand how significantly whipped Steve is?

Nancy leans forward and connects their lips.

…huh, maybe she does.

It surprises him for a second, a soft gasp leaving his throat that devolves into a whine moments later, his hands coming up to Nancy's waist and holding on as he leans down. They haven't kissed in a long time, but Steve won't complain. He missed this and he was always someone who vocalized his appreciation for everything, including this.

Nancy pushes forward and Steve thumps against the wall behind him. Her hands stop him from leaning into his touch, and she has to strain up to reach him.

She doesn't act like she used to, a follower that went along with whatever Steve did. She's the one in control of this kiss now and she knows it, making a pleased sound before nipping his bottom lip, and Steve whines again because he hadn't realized how much he missed this.

Nancy pulls away, just slightly, their breaths mingling. "This okay?" She asks, breathes the words into him. Steve shudders at the sound. He doesn't mind her controlling it, either.

"Very." Steve kisses the corner of her mouth, her bottom lip, the other corner of her mouth. "Yes, very, please continue."

Nancy laughs, a little breathless, and she's forceful when she comes back in, so much different from what he remembers but so much better. Her kissing's changed just like she has, sweet but demanding, and it's almost embarrassing how quickly his first moan slips out, so sudden that he has no time to muffle it before it's already gone. Nancy smiles against his mouth, swallowing the sound, her tongue swiping against his bottom lip. He opens his mouth for her, gives into her silent demands.

After that, all Steve can do is hold on and follow along.

When she finally backs away they're both breathing hard. Steve's a panting mess, and he should be better than this, but Nancy's never really followed the rules, has she? She was smiling now, a small pleased tilt of her lips. Her hand was resting on Steve's chest, feather light but practically chaining him there. 

Nancy looked around, a single eyebrow arching. She took out a dollar bill and let it go.

It slowed the moment it left her hand.

Steve blinked at it. His hand came out, plucking the dollar from the air. It snapped back into time. "Oh."

Nancy chuckled as Steve tried to get under enough control to stop accidentally slowing time. A moment later and everything went back into place.

Steve took another deep breath and leaned against the wall he was still pressed against. "So… what the hell was that?"

Nancy bit her bottom lip, completely on purpose, and Steve's eyes darted down to them, completely distracted. "Do you want me to stop?"

"No-!" He says way too quick. Leans forward and kisses her just because he can. "Nance, it's been months. We haven't- aren't you- what about Jonathan?"

Nancy frowns. "Jonathan and I were never a thing." She looks away, sighs. "Yes, we had something, but so do you and Jonathan."

"Me and-" Steve pauses, blinks. "Uh, Nance, I don't-" he pauses again, because that wasn't probably entirely truthful. "He loves you, Nancy."

"And I love him." She says easily. "But I also love you and I am with you, not him." She looks away, something dastardly crossing her face, before she looks back and shrugs. "Now, if he wanted to join, I'd have no complaints."

Steve's brain short circuits. His throat is dry. When he speaks it comes out raspy and hoarse. "Dear god Nance-"

Nancy kisses him again, bites his lip to make him whine some more, something playful in her movements. Steve is okay with the sudden change.

He doesn't know how El knows where to go, but she does and Steve trusts her judgement. They had parked his car back at the hotel he had bought, because they couldn't find them yesterday and El was almost dead on her feet by midnight.

Today, though, El seems determined. And sure.

They're quiet as they walk, sneaking through some backway alleys that made Steve's hair stand up on his arms. He was just waiting for someone to try and rob them, even though it'd be the worst day of their life.

El perks up after a few minutes, picking up her pace as if she saw something she liked. Stave keeps up easily, a few steps behind and scanning the area. Clear and safe… hopefully.

Then they slip into an abandoned building and El's running forward, jumping and almost crushing someone in a bear hug. The person, a girl around Steve's age, laughs, holding her back.

She's much older than Steve remembers, but he wouldn't ever forget that face.

It's Eight. An older, harder Eight, but it's Eight. It's Kali.

His sister.

Eight looks up, sees him. She freezes, face paling like she's seen a ghost. There's a long flash of recognition, and Steve smiles, not knowing what else to do. He tries not to shake, holding back his absolute joy.

"Well well well." Eight's face twists into something like satisfaction. Peace. Pure unfiltered relief. "Look who dragged himself out of his own grave."

Steve smiles, because it's Eight, it's her in the flesh, older, harsher, but still cracking the same jokes. Still the same. "Long time no see."

And then one of them, both of them, someone's moving, and Steve's arms open before they collide, and by the time they've touched they've both wrapped around each other, practically daring the world to make them let go.

Chapter Text

Summer is hot and dry and itchy, setting Steve's skin alight with phantom creeping bugs and completely ruining his normal hair care routine. Time to switch to the summer version, apparently.

The annoyance of that drifts away when he learns that he got his job at Scoops Ahoy.

"That's amazing, Steve!" His mom hugged him when he told her, rushing downstairs, arms in the air. He didn't need the job, didn't need the money, but it told him a few crucial things.

One, he's responsible and well adjusted enough to get a job.

And two, his identification papers are good enough to fool the IRS. And, from Hopper's pure relief, that seems like a very good thing.

El didn't really get the point of it, but she liked the fact that she could spend the entire day at the newly built mall if she wanted to, since Steve had no problem picking her up and dropping her off. What made it even better was that Mike normally showed up too, wanting to spend time with her without Hopper seeing them.

Which, if not for Steve, would've failed a while ago. Hopper's asked him multiple times to keep them apart, but Steve's a bleeding heart and could never say no to either El or one of his kids, and it's not really hurting anyone. He's already given Mike the talk and then turned around and gave El the talk because he realized he didn't want Mike's heart getting broken either. Lucas snickered when he heard.

Steve then gave both him and Max the talk, half out of spite.

Anyway, he's told Hopper that while they're close they don't really act lovey dovey, and he's had to lie before and tell him that El holds hands with all of the Party, cause it makes her more comfortable and safe, and then El had to go dragging Dustin and Will around just to make a point. Dustin looked revolted, Will was just sad.

(Steve bought him a milkshake afterwards. When tears started to fall, Steve let him cry and explain everything. Poor kid.)

Once school ended it was a bit harder to hide it, because before they could act lovey dovey in buildings away from roaming cop cars, but with school out it's different. Before, Steve could pick El up and they could go hang out and when it was time to sleep over Nancy could come over and bring Mike and then Steve and El could pretend like the other didn't exist for the rest of the day, because no matter how much they missed each other they're still siblings and honestly it's amazing they haven't killed each other yet. Their bickering and arguments have damaged houses before, and it's only mostly El's fault.

Luckily, Steve's house was big enough and empty enough that the two couples could walk a lap around the house and not see hide nor hair of the other. It gave the semblance of being alone, but if El woke up from a nightmare and called for him Steve would be there in minutes.

That's another thing. Calling.

Ever since El trapped the yeti in the upside down, there's been something in the back of Steve's head, silent and still and almost unnoticeable until El reaches out to him, and the moment she does the thing jerks awake and suddenly Steve can feel her, feel her mental hand wrapping around his head and pulling.

He hasn't mentioned it yet, because he's an idiot.

That's all to say, everything is going good at the beginning of summer, and Steve feels like he maybe can take it easy. 

Then he meets Robin. His platonic soulmate.

Now, if you asked him five months ago if the term soulmate could be platonic, he'd say no, that it'd go against the entire meaning of the word. But, since then, he went through a little identity crisis of his own and found himself in a library with a book detailing things that would probably get him brutally bullied if anyone ever saw him with it. Still, the book was very informational and he learned that romantic love wasn't always the strongest love, learned that some people don't even feel romantic or sexual whatever and now if you asked him if platonic soulmates were a thing, he would say yes then pull Robin over and say this is mine.

Robin just thinks he has too many friends under the age of 15, and was worried about it for approximately 3 minutes before meeting them (because that was the first thing he did, Robin met his kids before she met his girlfriend-) and realizing that his kids weren't his friends, they were literally his kids, and she cracked a smile, shrugged, and said something along the lines of 'Steve the King Harrington is a mother' and they were bests of friends after that.

Mind you, this all happened within the first day. As Robin closed up shop Steve gathered all the kids roaming the mall (everyone except Dustin and El, because they had nowhere better to be and Steve was literally a free atm for them to use) and introduced them to her. They all seemed to accept her, thankfully, but they all did side eye her like they thought she might be a demogorgon in disguise waiting to jump him. Or, more seriously, someone from the (closed down) lab. If he hasn't seen her practicing in the school band for the last few years, he might've been worried about that too.

Mike full blown glared her down for a moment before relenting and turning away, as good a blessing as ever, and Max held the glare for longer before deciding that she passed and moving away too. Steve just grinned, because this was the easy part.

Dustin and El, on the other hand…

Well, he had time.

After the end of the first week Nancy came over and they both gushed about their new jobs, still in the honeymoon phase of it. He would learn later that Nancy's bosses weren't the nicest, and her bosses would learn throughout the beginning of summer that the scorching heat can have some very weird effects on their health, and they should take it easy if they don't want the world to rush around them beyond their control…

The gushing about their jobs changed into talking about their coworkers. Nancy spoke a bit about how Jonathan was doing, which is good because Steve hasn't seen him since their jobs started and then Steve started talking about Robin and twenty minutes passed before Nancy started laughing.

"What's so funny?" He asks, eyebrow quirking up in amusement.

"Sorry, it's nothing." Nancy kissed him as an apology. "Just, I haven't heard you this excited about something since that field trip needed more chaperones and Max wrote you in as hers."

Steve instinctively beams. "The kids loved it Nance- they got to choose their chaperones and so we all just got to walk around the zoo together and completely ignore the tour guide-"

Nancy laughs again, kisses him again. "You two really hit it off, I'm guessing?"

And she didn't sound jealous, not at all. Just amused, fond. Obviously approving.

Steve came into work the next day with a pep in his step, which Robin immediately shot down because the day before he had forgotten to shut the freezer correctly and some of the ice cream had melted.

"Well." Steve said, looking at the melted ice cream on the floor. "What's a little freezer burn ever done to anyone?"

Robin blinks. She smirks, twirls her scoop. "Took the words right out of my mind."

No one complained, but those who ordered Rocky Road and Mint Chocolate Chip that day did always give their ice cream a second suspicious look after the first lick.

Steve snickered, put some of his own money in the register, and made a few cones for his own waiting kids, who could get a single free cone a day.

Mike frowned at his cookies and cream. "Where's my Rocky Road?"

"Trust your mom, kid." Robin said from the back. "You don't want it this time."

Mike didn't look impressed. He frowned at it, even as the others started in on their own ice cream.

Steve sighed. "Trust me."

Mike frowned some more. Tentatively, he licked it.

Every day after that, he got cookies and cream instead. Steve knew he would, it's unarguably the best flavor there was.

Summer really starts hitting in full force. The mall closes for a few days for construction, and Steve spends the first day at the pool, studiously ignoring the lifeguard, and the next two days at home, watching over the kids who apparently decided that his place was an all inclusive luxury hotel. El was there too, leaving the odd man out being the kid at a summer camp, Dustin.

"He never does." El was saying, and he must've zoned out, because all the kids are staring at him, and the movie had stopped playing. "Not even before."

He made a half strangled noise that devolved into a "huh?"

Will smothers a little smile. "El says you never use your powers unless you have to?"

Will is sitting next to him, because Mike and El are close as are Max and Lucas, and good lord Steve feels bad for the kid. He shrugs. "Yeah, why?"

"Well…" Max starts. "El uses her powers all the time, and they don't seemed to cause as much of a strain on her as they do you."

"No offense to El, but moving things with your mind, while impressive, isn't the same as slowing time."

Lucas snorts. "You can't really use your electricity either."

"Well, that's cause I shock myself half the time." But Steve gets their point. "Why was this even brought up?"

"Maybe it would be good to know?" Will answered, a little unsure. "Like, maybe it'd be better to be prepared. So if something else comes through the portal, it won't have been several months since the last time you used your powers."

Smart, smart kids. Steve thought it over. "And how would I practice my powers? Just slow time whenever I think about it? Right before I go to sleep I slow time for a minute?"

"Sounds good to me." Mike says, and the kids nod, because they don't understand sarcasm apparently.

He groans. "Alright, okay, sure."

Lucas tries not to bounce. "Can you do it now?! With us not slowed?"

Steve looks at him. He smirks. "Catch."

He picks up the popcorn bowl and tosses it over.

The moment it leaves his hand it slows in mid air.

The kids all stare at it, amazed, even El. Everything else is still around them, but it's weirdly quiet as well. Another clue that time isn't moving at the right speed.

"How long can you do this for?" Will asks, plucking a popcorn kernel from the slowly flying bowl and eating it.

Steve shrugged. "Honestly? Dunno. Back when I was, uh-" he pauses, does finger quotes. "'being trained', I could slow time for thirty minutes, easily. Longest was three and a half hours, but I passed out after. After half a decade barely using it?" He thought about it. "Ten minutes, probably."

So they stayed there, in slowed time, because Steve was honestly curious and Max had a fun time starting a movie and letting it go between normal and slowed time just by putting her hand on the TV. They stayed for ten, twenty, thirty, forty minutes, until Steve's chest started to pulse and Mike noticed the red starting to appear below his nose. Time snapped back into place soon after.

And, honestly, it was the first time in a long time using his powers made him feel relaxed, warm. He wasn't defending himself, attacking anyone, he was just letting his kids have fun and explore.

Dustin'll be pissed he missed it, though.

Summer passed in a hot, comfortable blur. He did in fact tell those at the pool that his scars were from a mountain lion, and would conveniently ignore Nancy and Jonathan's snickering from the other side of the pool as he chats up literally anyone who would listen. This continued every time they went to the pool until one of the older women got a little handsy and Steve blinked and Nancy was there, smiling kindly with murder in her eyes.

"I didn't know." He'd pout later.

Nancy didn't hold it against him. "Her friend's been pawing at Billy Hargrove the entire summer, they're all strange."

She said it with a bit of venom, because while her mother wasn't with them today, they've all seen the middle aged women gawking at Billy, with Karen Wheeler among them. 

And, honestly, he didn't need a crowd of older ladies saying unsavory things behind his back, especially if his girlfriend's mother was with them.

Safe to say, after that, he spent his time in the water working on his swimming techniques, since he was the captain of the swim team. Or, at least, he should be, soon. He has a dumb jock role to fulfill, and handsy older ladies would not stop him.

It all came to a head when Dustin appeared at Scoops Ahoy.

Robin stared blankly. "What did I just witness?"

"Ah, Robin!" He turned towards her, slung an arm around Dustin's shoulder. "This is my last kid, Dustin!"

"Your favorite kid." Dustin corrects, and Steve makes a face.

"Don't know, Henderson. Mike's been making a startlingly big push forward, and you were already fighting Max for first-"

Dustin scowled, like that was genuinely upsetting, and Steve now knows why you shouldn't pick favorites. Luckily, at that moment, the rest of the kids showed up, just on time for their regular free cone a day.

Something was weird though, because Mike and El were looking at each other weird. 

He sighs. "Hey Rob, can you take over for five minutes?"

Robin rolls her eyes. "They can survive without you for an hour, Harrington." Steve pouts. Robin sighs. "Fine, go."

Steve grins, pulls Mike and El to the side, and gets them to spill. Apparently they weren't hiding their relationship as well as he thought, because Hopper's threatening Mike now, and it's stupid, it really is, but Steve has half a mind to go threaten Hopper because Mike's grown on him, a lot. El's mad too. Mike apologizes anyway, says they were looking for an apology present, and while the damage isn't completely undone they seem more upset with Hopper than they do each other.

(He's sure there would've been a makeup kiss or something, but Steve has a strict no pda in front of him rule, because El is still his sister, and he doesn't want nor need to see that. Holding hands and hugging is fine, but Mike is likely to catch a fist to the face if he sees him macking on his little sister. They haven't disobeyed that rule once.)

When they get back to the others Dustin is talking about some Russian transmission, but the others don't seem too interested. Or maybe they just don't want to deal with something else strange. In fact, everyone but Dustin leaves to go plan a prank of some sort on Hopper as payback, leaving Dustin at Scoops Ahoy with a transmission on his own.

"Cheer up, kid." Robin ruffles his hair, surprisingly nice about it. "I'm sure your mom will help you out."

Dustin sees nothing wrong with that sentence and beams at Steve. He rolls his eyes. "Henderson, I barely know English, why would I know Russian?"

Dustin considers this, because yes, English gets away from him often enough already, even after so long working on it. "Shit."

"Language." He chides instinctively. Then, as a bit of payback. "Ask your aunt."

To his credit, Henderson doesn't miss a beat, immediately turning to Robin with a half grin half smirk on his face. "Do you know Russian?"

Robin scowled at him, and Steve grinned back, because if he was going to be a mom here then she'd have to be a part of it too. "Show me the message."

And Steve doesn't know how, he really doesn't, but Dustin must've communicated via telepathy because the next time he sees Max the girl grins and calls them both mom and aunt, like there's an inside joke somewhere and Robin starts cackling.

He wishes he could say the rest of the summer was stupid silly things like that, but he can't.

Sadly, he can't.

El giggled in her room, grinning at Max. She held a blindfold in her hand, thumb brushing against the material. "Who else should we do?"

Max took a second to think it over. "The boys are just playing in the new arcade, right?" She asked, thinking. "How about Billy?"

El blinked. Of course she wanted to spy on Billy, it was her brother. The idea of spying on siblings made El's head pop up. "Oh, we could spy on Steve!"

Max's head snapped up. "Oh yeah! Do Steve first!"

Yeah, Steve was most likely at his job doing nothing, but still it'd be fun.

El grins, raises the blindfold, and Max helps her tie it on. After a few moments of quiet, she relaxes, pulls deep within herself.

And then, suddenly, she's at Scoops Ahoy, Steve at the counter and serving a new customer. He looks happy, carefree. El looks at his arm, where makeup hides his tattoo. She has the sudden urge to touch it.

Her fingers brush the tattoo and he flinches, head snapping up. "El?" He asks, looks around. El freezes, eyes wide.

Then his eyes find her. They freeze. Can he… can he see her?

She falls out of her trance, tearing off the blindfold. Max frowns. "Are you okay?"

She nods, even though she's a bit unsure. "I'm okay." She murmurs. "Just… it was strange…" she shakes her head, grips the blindfold. "All he's doing is scooping ice cream, let's try Billy."

Max lets it go pretty easily, but it takes a moment to even see Billy, given how fast her head is racing. El needed to talk to Steve about what just happened.

How could he tell she was there?

Chapter Text

A mini earthquake makes the ground rumble an hour or so later, enough that people start to get scared and objects start to fall over. Steve's able to save a lot of stuff behind the counter, slowing time just enough to catch any falling utensils. He's sure the only thing that saw him do it was the camera itself, but it'd be crazy to think the security would be watching Scoops Ahoy employees during an earthquake. Even if they were, they'd probably think the camera glitched.

The customers weren't so lucky, though, and ice cream was spilled across the floor, enough for it to be a problem. Robin goes to call for janitors when two arrive, already prepared, and Steve finds it a bit suspicious, paranoid over everything, but they honestly could've just been stopping by and seen the mess.

Their boss appears and tells them to take 15 off as they wait for the janitors to finish. Robin goes into the back, more interested in figuring out the transmission then she'd admit, and Steve slinks over to Dustin's claimed table and slides into the seat. "I got 15 minutes."

Dustin frowns, glances at the janitors cleaning. "That's not enough time."

His first thought is a stupid thought, and he's disappointed with how much he considered it, mostly because not having enough time to talk to Dustin wasn't the end of the world.

What is he saying, yes it was.

He ducks his head down. Time slows around them. "Don't move and be quiet when you speak." He whispers. "Time is slowed, if you do anything too loud or sudden everyone will notice."

Dustin's eyes widen. They spark. "Awesome."

He then proceeds to tell him everything about his summer camp, along with a girlfriend he only half believes is real.

Kissing is better without teeth? No way, that's half the fun of it.

That might just be a Steve-liking-hickies thing though.

He holds back a snort. "You realize we aren't going to be the American heroes when Robin's doing all the work?"

In reality, they would be, because women normally get the short end of the stick, but Steve would rather shave off his hair before letting Robin's spotlight get taken away. Dustin's too busy daydreaming about how impressed Suzie would be with him once they crack the code. Which, surprisingly, wasn't taking too long to crack. Robin was a linguist genius and it was showing, her figuring out the transmission in a language she doesn't know with an alphabet she doesn't recognize.

(He swears he'd have a crush on her if it wasn't for Nancy. He goes for the smart ones, doesn't he?)

Dustin pauses, frowns. He looks at the table, somber.

Steve doesn't like that. "What's wrong?"

He looks away, mouth pursed. "When I got back from summer camp, the first thing I did was try and contact Suzie. Then I got this transmission and came to find you." His eyes flicker to Steve before looking away. "Six hours back home and I'm at an ice cream parlor, surrounded by friends, and fifteen minutes later almost all of them ditch me. To prank Hopper."

Steve frowns, because he gets it, the feeling of being abandoned. He understands the other kids as well- he'd rather prank an adult messing with one of his friends more so than decode some random message. Rather feel normal when at any moment it can end.

Still- "Cheer up, Henderson, you got me. And Robin." He stops to consider. "And you still have your friends, even if they're not here with you."

Dustin's smile is small but genuine. "Same here." He looked a bit bashful. "We're here for you too."

Steve tried not to flush. "Anything else you wanna tell me?"

Dustin takes a second to consider. "What do you think the transmission is about?"

Steve… "I have no idea. I'm not the brains here kid. That's you."

Dustin beams at him. He releases his hold on time.

Time goes back to normal and the hair on his neck goes up. He's looking around instantly, on guard.

One of the janitors is looking at him.

He sucks in a breath, instantly worried that the man saw. They lock eyes for a couple seconds, before the man turns away like nothing happened. Steve frowns, Dustin chatters away, completely oblivious.

The man continues cleaning, stopping a minute later to whisper something in the other janitor's ear. He strains to hear it, over the din, but what he can hear doesn't sound like English.

It's late. Scoops Ahoy is closed, and he, Dustin, and Robin are wandering, talking. Steve's only half paying attention, mind wandering back to what it always does when it feels comfortable.

Something decidedly not.

"-Masking meaning of message-" Robin was saying. Steve wonders if Kali is eating enough.

"Exactly." Dustin agrees.

"-And why would they be doing that if the message they're sending wasn't sensitive?" Robin continues, and Steve knows that Kali doesn't know what nutrients her body needs as a growing teenager, parents teach kids that stuff, and she didn't have any-

"EXACTLY!"

"-Secret Russian message." Robin finishes, and Steve wonders if he should send Kali an informational pamphlet-

"Secret Russian message!" He wurls on Steve. "She's my favorite."

"Hey!" He shoves a finger at him. "No free ice cream for you!"

"Auntie's got you." Robin looked smug, and Dustin matched her smirk. "And I can't believe I'm about to agree more with this strange child but yeah, evil Russians."

They then go on to talk about a pattern, but something else catches Steve's eye.

The little horse ride a few feet ahead of them.

Dustin and Robin continue walking, but he's too busy staring at the toy horse.

"What are you doing?" Robin asks when he starts to look for a quarter. 

When he doesn't have enough he curses, and electricity flows from his feet through the ground and into the machine, starting it. Dustin sounds disapproving when he shouts "Steve!"

But the horse has started moving and the music has started. "Listen." He gets on a knee. Listens to the song. Dustin's eyes widen. "See?"

"No?" Robin replies, but Dustin gets it. He scrambles for the recording, plays it. Behind the Russian comes identical music. "Wait, so the Russians also have toy horses?"

Dustin gives her a look. "No. The transmission isn't from Russia."

Steve feels a jolt of fear. "It was from here."

The horse short circuits, giving a warbled electronic cry before sparking, dying. Steve flinches away from it, and when he looks back at the others, Dustin looks concerned. "I'm fine, but this just got a lot more serious."

"Guys, come in." Dustin speaks into the walkie talkie, in the passenger seat of Steve's car. Robin's gone home for the night. "We have a problem."

"What's up?" Lucas answers first, and he can hear Will and Mike in the back bickering. "What kind of wrong?"

"The Russian transmission I intercepted." Dustin explains. "It was recorded here. At the mall."

A grunt. Will wrestles the talkie away from Lucas. "Why would Russians be at Hawkins Starcourt Mall?"

"Why was the lab built in Hawkins?" Steve counters. "Why is any of the random shit happening happening here?"

Point proven. "Well, if we're all sharing our problems." That was Max. "El thinks something is wrong with Billy."

That wasn't what he was expecting to hear next. Dustin frowns. "How does El even know about Billy?"

"We were testing out El's powers." Max sounded slightly embarrassed. "Had her put on the blindfold and project her consciousness or whatever."

Dustin blinks. "You guys were spying."

"Yes." El has no shame. "Mike was at the arcade and Steve was scooping ice cream-"

"Wait." Steve takes a moment, frowns. "That really was you?"

El audibly perks up. "You did see me!"

"I didn't see you, I just… I knew you were there." He pauses. "Somehow."

"You can sense El?" Dustin looked fascinated. "That's- nevermind, getting back on track, there's Russians at the mall. What's wrong with Billy?"

"I'm not sure." El replies. "Something is wrong, though."

"We believe you." Steve assured. He tried to hide his dislike, bites his lip instead. "I can go check up on him-"

"No." That was literally everyone. "You're not allowed around Billy."

Steve sputters. "What- hey! I'm the adult around here, I make the decisions!"

"We overrule you." Dustin answers, voice a bit sharp. 

"He doesn't hold a grudge or anything." Max says. "But whenever I bring you up, he says you got a punchable face."

He hears either El or Mike of all people do a weird angry growl, upset. God, all of his kids were vicious little monsters. "You're all rabid."

"You love us." Will teases. "We'll meet up with the girls and check up on Billy, okay? You guys keep an eye on the mall Russians."

"Billy hates Sinclair too, remember?" Steve isn't letting this go so easily.

"He won't touch Lucas." Max assures, almost viciously, protectively. He can almost imagine Lucas flushing at it, cheeks darkening. Can imagine him getting teased relentlessly. 

"Again, rabid creatures." Steve sighs, relents. "Alright, keep us updated."

"You too." Will replies. "Keep an eye on those Russians for us."

"Stay safe." Lucas added.

"Don't die." That was Max.

Steve sighed. "I'm several years older than all of you, I'm stronger than everyone besides El, and, oh yeah, I can slow time. Stop worrying about me."

"You get hurt the most." Mike said easily, like it was fact. Which it was. "And you attract the most trouble."

"You don't worry about yourself enough." Will adds on. "So someone has to."

"And Nancy and Jonathan will kill us if we don't." Lucas adds on helpfully, and Dustin is beaming at the walkie, like he had completely forgiven his friends and was enormously proud of them.

"Oh come on." Steve protests. "They wouldn't-"

"They would." Max seems happy about the fact too- cheerful. "It's cool. We'd do the same thing too."

"Jonathan and Nancy told Will and Mike not to let you get yourself into trouble, or overdo yourself." Dustin adds on happily. "So they turned it around on them too."

Steve runs a hand down his face. "You threatened your own siblings."

"They did it first!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"Sometimes…" El speaks up again, something soft in her voice that made Steve pause. "I learned that sometimes you shouldn't have to."

And that-

And that…

Damn, he's going to cry.

"I very much appreciate it, you little dipshits." He tried to discreetly sniffle. "Sleepover at my place tomorrow. I'll order pizza."

Chapter Text

Dustin takes the binoculars the third time Steve sees someone he knows from school. "Why do you even care about school drama anymore? Aren't you an adult now?"

Steve is happy Dustin can't see him hide his blush. "I failed 8th grade first time around." He tries not to sound embarrassed. "Wasn't held back, but I didn't have all the requirements done to graduate last year."

His parents cut a deal where he was able to graduate with his age group last year, but next year he'll have to go to school the first semester and take the three classes he needs to graduate. Shouldn't really be possible, but money makes the world go 'round.

Dustin's wince is small, but Steve sees it. "One more year of that horse shit, huh?"

"And four more for you."

They find a man with a duffle bag and start following him, because duffle bag obviously means evil Russian.

Instead they find a gaggle of middle age women with leggings and a whole lotta ass and Steve yelps and looks away, slapping a hand over his eyes. "I didn't see anything, I didn't see-"

"I did." Dustin's still looking.

Steve pulls him back, face serious. "I don't tell Suzie, you don't tell Nancy. This is serious, Henderson."

Dustin salutes. He gets it.

Robin's figured it out by the time they get back, at least.

The sleepover happens as planned. El gets there without him, somehow. He gives her a look when she gets there, but she and Max just giggle, and they're closer too. Suspiciously close. Steve's gonna check his shower gel before he uses it, just in case they decide to put dye in it.

The summer heat had filtered through the bottom of the house, where his normal rich cooling system would stop it. It was broken though, and sweltering in the living room, so they soon all found them lounging around Steve's room, seeking colder air. Steve spun around in his chair as four of the six kids sprawled across his bed in weird childlike poses and the other two found their own places around the room.

(This was, he should note, done after several hours of playing Will's new campaign. Steve had forced them all to play through subtle manipulative peer pressure, because after seeing what Mike goes through to make one, he knows the amount of work and time they take, and he wants everyone to give Will's campaign the love and appreciation it deserves, the attention it deserves. And, of course, he's correct, cause everyone loves it, even Max, and they only stop because it gets too hot downstairs and they were liable to get heat stroke from how much they were shouting and breathing heavily. Will was smothering his smile the entire time, and Steve calls this a job well done. Even if his half playable character was a tiny water creature in a jar Max carried around. He had the highest wisdom out of the entire group, so beat that.)

"I know this is supposed to be fun and all-" Dustin starts. "But what do you mean Steve could sense you, El?"

El, who was sitting on his desk. He had been opposed at first, but she hadn't cared, plopping down and holding her hand out, expecting. Steve made a big deal out of giving her his hand. She was still rubbing her thumb over the now seeable numbers. "Steve could see me."

"Sense you, not see you." Steve shrugs. "And I don't know, I just- it's like whenever you walk into the room, I just know you're there."

Lucas blinks. "That's not normal."

"Well now that I think about it, of course it's not normal!" Steve flails a bit. "But it's been like that for awhile now."

"Wait." Will frowns. "It wasn't always like that?"

"No." Now Steve's frowning. "It started a few months ago, sometime around the yeti."

El winces, like something just occured to her. "Um." She starts. "It might be me."

They all turn to her, because that sounds interesting. "What?"

She bites her lip. "We… feel different, from you." She gestures to herself and Steve. "I can feel it, we do. And when I closed- when I opened and closed the portal, I've never done it with… with another number so close nearby." She retracts both of her hands, curling up on herself. Ashamed, for some reason. "I was opening it and I felt him, and I- I reached out-"

That consciousness that Steve felt- the one that he couldnt quite place. "I felt you." He realizes. "When you did that, I felt you do it. You were still there after it closed, though."

El looks at her hands. It's quiet, because no one knew what to say, still missing some key information. 

"Did she connect you guys or something?" Dustin pipes up, intrigued. "Like a two way phone line?"

Steve wrinkled his nose. "I'd be able to talk back if it was true. Or see her."

"Well, you can talk back." He retorts. "She can hear you, you can sense her."

"It was a mistake." El says before Steve can speak. "People's minds, they're closed. Protected. Defended. I opened his. It won't close anymore." El clenched her fists, not finding the words she wanted and frustrated about it. "He's open. He can sense me and others easier. But- there's no protection against others in his mind."

That… 

Steve now sees why she's upset with herself.

"Well." He shrugs, gives her a smile. "Good thing we don't know many others with mind powers."

"Mind Flayer." Will says instantly.

"Anything else in the Upside Down." Max adds on.

"Our siblings." El says finally.

Steve frowns. "Which ones?"

El opens her mouth, answer at the tip of her tongue, before frowning, closing her mouth and leaning back, perplexed. Dustin took over. "This isn't a bad thing either."

They turn to him. "Explain."

"You two are basically a telephone!" Dustin grins, yawns, and Steve realizes it's almost midnight. 

"Alright, we can talk more later. Time for bed dipshits!" A chorus of groans that he ignores. "El knows where the guest bed is." Steve murmurs, falling into the one open part of his bed before yelling. "Get off my bed!"

Several boyish giggles. Someone flops on his stomach. They're not getting off.

Steve groans. "Don't try me, you won't win."

Dustin snorts. "Have you ever won a fight, dude?"

Steve glares. "I could beat everyone in this room, even El, don't test me."

They all laugh, disbelieving. El shrugs. "True."

They all stop. "What?" Mike looks surprised. "Steve always says you're stronger, though."

"She is." Steve replies. "I'd still win. I'd just slow time before she could do anything."

El nodded. "Papa tried it once." She said, and the tone of the room shifts to something a little less fun. El doesn't notice. "It was the knockout game."

Steve, surprisingly, perks up. "I loved that game." He smirks. "I always won."

Max tilted her head. She flopped onto the dogpile, knocking the air out of his lungs. "The knockout game?"

"Imagine sumo, but almost no physical contact." He explains. "Except for me. I could push people."

El crawls over next to him. "He was one of the only ones without mind powers."

He wiggles his eyebrows. "Pa- Brenner wanted the others to be fast enough to get me before I could slow time, or be fast enough to not matter if time is slowed, and he wanted me to slow time even more than I already could."

Next question was Will's. "Why?"

He hides his grimance. "Man wanted time to completely stop. I wasn't useful unless I could do that."

"I don't know." Mike frowned. "You're pretty useful now, and you suck at using your powers."

"Hey!" Backhanded compliments man, so sweet they hurt. "Fuck off."

"He's not wrong." Someone else said, smothered in the dog pile of bodies.

Steve groans. "All of you, out!"

None of them move. Another chorus of giggles. Steve pretends to be annoyed.

Chapter Text

"I can take him out." Steve says again, staring at Dustin, willing him to get it. "I can sneak up behind him and take him out."

Dustin's not getting it. "Did you not hear the part about the massive gun?"

"Dustin." Please, get it- "I can sneak up on him."

Something shines in his eyes as it clicks. "Oh-"

The phone rings. Robin groans as she goes to answer it. "Scoops Ahoy, how can I help you?"

A second passes. She frowns. "They're both here." Another second. She turns to Steve. "Your kids are calling. Says it's urgent."

Oh, that's not good.

He goes to the phone. "What's wrong?"

"Steve." It's Mike. "We have a code red situation, and Dustin's not answering his radio!"

"He was spying on Russians." Steve digests what was said. "Wait, what do you mean a code red?"

"What?!" Dustin's running towards the phone now.

"You gotta come over, we'll explain everything." Mike continues, and Steve curses.

"I can't just-" Actually, he can. "We'll be there soon." He hangs up, turns to Robin. "Emergency, I'll give you my entire pay for today if you man the shop until I get back."

Robin looked like she might protest, but Dustin's frantic movement seemed to stop her. "You have this place's number?" Steve nods. "Keep me updated. Call me if you need anything."

Steve loves this girl. "You will be the godmother to my children!"

They run out of the store, Robin yelling, "I already am!" In the background.

He finds himself leaning against the wall in the Wheeler's basement, the kids scattered around the basement as they listen to what Will has to say. The kid himself is as pale as a sheet, shaking slightly. It makes Steve frown. Want to punch something.

The Mind Flayer is back, apparently. This is way above their pay grade. These are kids, they shouldn't have to worry about this, and yet here they all are-

The least Steve can do is try and protect them.

Suddenly and quite surprisingly, Barb's face appears in his mind. The somber expressions on her parents each time he saw them. He doesn't want any other person to look like that again. He's pretty sure he can keep that from happening.

"If Billy saw El when she was void walking, then it has to be him, right?" That was Lucas, tentatively putting it out there. "If so, we can exorcize him again."

That led to a detail discussion about how to do so, but Dustin was still very adamant on the Russians being a problem. One that he wouldn't let go of.

Steve could already tell what would happen. They'd be splitting up.

He couldn't protect both groups. If El was going to go find Billy, he'd be staying with Dustin.

He catches El's shoulder before they leave. "Be careful." He warns. "Don't overdo yourself, okay? You're not invincible."

El's eyes take on some defiance, before softening. "Okay." She hugs him. "You too."

He crouches, pulls her in for a full blown hug. None of the other kids mention it.

After a few moments he lets go, standing back up. "Okay Henderson, let's go."

They take their leave, Steve speeding back to the mall. Robin's handling her own, and they're back to how they were, only gone for an hour or so. "Everything okay?"

Steve glances at Dustin, both wanting to tell her and wanting to keep her out of it. Dustin shrugs. "Will's shit uncle is back in town."

Robin winces, as does Steve, for different reasons. He's found that he doesn't like lying to people he cares for. "That sucks. Back to the Russians, I've figured out a better way to get in."

She gestures to the vent with some flourish.

Steve stares. "We can't fit in there."

Dustin drops his backpack, determination gleaming in his eyes. "Put me in there."

Steve snorts. "What, Dustin, no-"

Dustin scrambles up the wall like a monkey, and Steve pushes the ladder under his feet so he doesn't break his neck. "I'm missing several bones, Steve, I can fit-" he pauses. "I'm stuck."

Steve lets a tiny current go through the metal, not enough to hurt but enough that Dustin yelps. "Good going Henderson."

"Fuck you!"

As he helps get Dustin back out, Robin looks towards the front of the store. "Hey Steve?"

Dustin falls out with a crash, landing on him. "Ooof, yeah?"

She moves a little so he can see. "That your kid too?"

He lifts his head. Erica's outside, waiting to be served.

He looks back at the vent, which is perfectly Erica-sized.

And that's where the problem started.

Steve… is in a predicament.

One of the utmost importance. One that could change his life as he knows it. One that could, quite literally, get him killed.

It was as normal as it could be, when your coworker is in the back translating Russian using a dictionary and words from other languages. He's a bit swamped, but Dustin's nearby somewhere and he has to look cool in front of his kids.

Then, the problem appears, and Steve's suddenly swan diving off the cliffs of insanity. He can barely breath, staring at the tiles of the bathroom he locked himself in.

And what had started this downward descent into madness?

Erica.

Erica was the source of all his worries. His problem? Was she one of his kids?

That's what he needed to find out.

First question on the quest for answers- did she qualify? Short answer- yes, she did. Long answer- there were many requirements that have to be fulfilled to be able to qualify, but Steve's done this enough times that his head blazed through them all relatively quickly:

Was she a kid? Well, unless she can time travel, or is just very good with makeup, that is a yes.

Was she different from her peers? Steve takes in the odd ones out, because he is also an odd one out and they all just gravitate towards him. While Erica seems to fit in with those her age fine, she is sassy enough to fit the category of different.

Did she immediately claim him? His first thought was no, but he then realized that the only reason she would even be talking to him would be because she already claimed him as her extra guardian.

Did she already claim Robin? New requirement added about a week ago, but just as important as the others. Jury is still out, but he's inclined to say yes for the same reasons stated before.

With a checkmark on all the requirements, his decision should be easy. Yes, obviously, Erica is one of his kids. It's as easy as that.

But that's not all that's needed to be one of his kids, that's just what it takes to qualify. El meets all the requirements, and she's not one of his kids.

Now it's time for the background check:

Was Steve related to Erica, biologically or Labwise? As far as he knows… no. If so, he needs to have a talk with Lucas.

Is Erica related to any orderlies or guards from the lab? Again, no. Again, Lucas would have some explaining to do.

Do Erica's own parents give her enough attention/care? He loves the Sinclairs, they're probably his favorite group of parents out of all the ones in Hawkins, but they're busy people and busy people work a lot to make sure their family can live comfortably. And they mostly do, it just means their parents aren't around, and that's where Steve comes in.

Anything else of Note? Relation to Lucas, younger sister. Nothing else

Again, all affirmative things that tell him that yes this child is now yours. And yet…

Lastly, he has to go over the logistics of it. Things like transportation, time, everything that goes into taking in a new child.

That's where the problems set in.

Transportation? Erica probably owns a bike, but Steve wouldn't want her biking places by herself. Lukas would be with her, though.

Time? Minor problem here. Erica normally does her own thing, Steve rarely ever sees her, and if he doesn't ever see her, he can't really say she's his child, can he?

Friends? And here was the big problem. So far, all of his kids are in the same friend group. When they hang out, they hang out together, with him. They all get along, so they stick together and go to him together and ask him about things together. That causes them all to get closer. Erica's younger, though. She has her own friends (not to mention her sassiness pisses Lucas off) and wouldn't click with the Party because of it. Without that, she'd have no reason to hang out, or her hanging out would hurt the group, not help it. It was an essential part of being one of his kids, and Erica was missing it.

Which leads to his predicament.

Erica fills out every single box for being his child except for the box that accurately predicts if it'll work out or not. Which leaves Steve with two options.

One, he ignores the sacred prediction, gains a new child and deal with the consequences later, or-

Two, he follows the sacred prediction and lets the Sinclairs raise their own daughter without him.

…sounds stupid when he puts it that way.

Still, this decision could kill him, which is why he's been staring at the bathroom wall for the entire thirty minutes of his lunch break.

His stomach growls.

He shushes it, because he has more crucial things to be worrying about, starving was very low on that list.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he makes his decision.

He'll stick with five kids and a sister for now.

Chapter Text

They get trapped in an elevator with something Steve is decently sure is Kryptonite before sneaking off to explore the rest of this Russian-base-under-an-Indiana-mall. Dustin declares that he will quite literally die for Steve and if that doesn't make him feel simultaneously warm and fuzzy inside while wanting to throw up he doesn't know what will. For once, Steve feels like the leader of the group, which rarely happens even though his groups usually consist of middle schoolers. The rest of them are scared, though, try as they might to hide it, and Steve decides to take point.

He feels someone's eyes on him for a singular moment, almost as if in passing, senses El moreso than anything else, and he does a spin, looks around the room in a half panicked frenzy.

"Dude." Dustin looks concerned, but also curious. "Subtle."

"I'm not-" He pinches the bridge of his nose. The feeling of El vanishes as fast as it was there. "Thought I sensed something."

Dustin's eyes lit up, but Steve just shook his head. The boy wilted, looking like he wanted to say more. Steve just put a finger to his lips and took point again. They're still stuck in the elevator, and once Dustin and Erica doze off and Robin looks close, he tries to shock the console into doing something. Of course, nothing happens, because when he needs his powers they're no help at all.

Robin wakes back up and they talk throughout the night, mostly about random shit that doesn't matter. They make a game of Robin speaking another language and Steve either trying to figure out what she's saying or making absurd adlibs instead. Robin talks about school, band, one of her female friends in band, and how cool it would be to have a pet owl. Steve talks about Nancy, Jonathan, and how hard it is being the single mother of six.

It's a joke, though he's not joking.

They then spend another hour trying to get out, and another after that looking for food or water. They come back empty on all fronts, and Steve hunkers away at the console, leaning against the wall next to it and reaching out, trying to get a feel for the electricity flowing underneath. He's never done something like this before, but it shouldn't be too hard to get, right? When someone swipes the card, it sends a current that allows the button to send a current. What if he just bypasses the key current and double the current the button releases?

He hasn't taken any electrical engineering courses, and it shows when that doesn't work.

Fuck.

Luckily, some Russians finally come in and they're able to hide and slip out after them.

(The kryptonite is acid, by the way.)

And then Robin brings up a good point, as they walk the however many miles of tunnel they find themselves in.

"But why here?" She asks. "I mean- Hawkins? At the very best, we're a toilet stop-"

Steve and Dustin instinctively hang back. Dustin looks at him. "You think the Russians know?"

Steve grimances. "About the…" he trails off, but it's there. About the portal, about El. "It could be."

Dustin starts. "Then it could be connected."

"Yo, dumb and dumber, got something to share with the class?" It's Robin, and Steve's head is spinning just a little too much to really understand her. What if the Russians know? Do they know about El? About him?

Dustin glances down at his wrist, towards his tattoo completely hidden by makeup. It's been over a day, though, and he really should reapply. 

The radio goes off, saving them from answering.

They almost get caught several times before Erica sees what hopefully is the comms room and they have direction. 

Which is good, because they run into someone moments later.

Some guy working behind a desk sees them and decides violence is the answer. Steve herds the kids and Robin behind him, takes up a defensive stance.

Sees a wrench leaning against the console.

The Russian goes for his gun and Steve tackles him. He ducks the first punch and leans far enough back that the next one to the gut only glances off of him. Dustin shouts encouragement as he cocks back a fist and hits the Russian square in the face, with enough force to send him back. A bit cocky now, he does it again, ducking under another swing. It puts him in range of the wrench, which he grabs and slams into the dude's leg. It buckles under him, the man half screaming in pain.

Electricity weaves between his fingers as he clenches a hand, knocking it into the guy's jaw. His head snaps to the side as his body seizes and spasms. The Russian collapses, and doesn't get back up.

It's quiet for a moment, the four of them staring at the downed man.

Dustin grins. "You're getting better at winning fights." He walks up, claps his shoulder. Leans in and whispers. "Dude, overkill."

Steve makes a face. "It's fine."

"What if there's cameras?" Dustin brings up a good point. He cuts off his own groan before backing away. "Come on."

Steve swats him. "I'm sneaky, okay?"

Robin snorts. "Sure you are." She looks around. "What are you trying to sneak now?"

Steve smirks. They climb up nearby stairs. "I'm so sneaky you don't even know."

Dustin snorts but lets him handle it. He's too busy looking at something else. "Oh shit."

Steve turns to him, sees what he's looking at. He stutter steps. "What the fuck?"

They're in a room overlooking a large machine, one currently on and pointed at the wall. Theres a great big beam shooting from it, and if Steve had to guess the beam was connected to the giant fucking portal the machine was pointed at.

A portal. A portal.

Fuck.

It's not a good portal, though, he can tell just by looking at it. It looks weak, unstable, and Steve watches it waver and lash about, almost uncontrollably. It tugs at something inside of him, but it doesn't feel right either. Normally, it feels like there's a door open, one that he'd rather keep shut. Now though, it feels like something is trying to pry that door open, tear it open with jagged, skeletal fingers. He very much doesn't like it.

Dustin looks back at him, eyes wide. "They're making a gate."

"They're fucking suicidal, is what they are." Steve almost snaps, a rush of rage flashing through him. "And they know it- don't see them doing this in Russia!"

They're creating a gate. They're creating a gate under Starcourt Mall. Steve feels a headache coming on.

They rush back down the stairs, even as Robin asks how they know what that gate was. It felt bad, being in this situation, having to reveal some of the secrets he kept from her. He didn't lie to keep them, but it kind of felt like that.

Then they went back to the comms room. The Russian was no longer there.

The alarms went off.

Several Russians appear, and the room seems to still as they all lock eyes.

"Go." Steve murmurs first, even though he can't bring himself to move yet. "Run!"

That gets them all moving, and they sprint from the room. That starts a cacophony of noise, and they're suddenly ducking and swinging around Russians as they run for their lives.

Steve really should be used to the rush of adrenaline by now.

Dustin's screaming, panicking, and they find themselves in front of the machine. Steve feels the urge to touch it- to raise his hand and press it through the beam of light. The hair on his arms stand up straight, and he finds himself lost in the glow for a single moment before remembering where they are. Who they're with. What they're doing.

He pushes people out of the way, clearing a path for the others. A group rushes towards them, and he subconsciously slows them, watches their feet take minutes to hit the floor before realizing what he's done and reversing it. No one seems to have noticed, but now the others are in the next room and he is not.

He slides into the next room and closes the door. Robin rushes to his side, helping him hold it close as Russians start banging on it from the other side, trying to force their way through.

Dustin's panicking. "We have to go!"

"We'll hold it, just go!" Robin braces herself as the door thumps behind her.

"Steve, stop it, we'll all just run!" Dustin's panicking. "Don't do this- the others will kill me if I left you!"

So don't make me leave you, goes unsaid. There's a harsher push on the door, and Steve meets Dustin's eyes. Smiles. "Robin, go with them."

Robin's wide eyes snap to him, and they don't have time for this conversation, they don't have time.

But they could.

His gut clenches as he slows time, pulling the four of them into normal time. The banging is much slower now, but besides that nothing could really give away what he just did.

"Steve, you can't hold this by yourself!" She protests, but Steve catches her eyes, and she seems to get it.

"Get them outta here, Rob." Another slow but harsh shove. Robin moves away from the door. "Protect them for me."

"Steve!"

Steve turns towards Dustin, who balks, eyes widening. Moments later, they dart down to his nose, tracking the small drip of blood coming out of it. Understanding flashes across his face. "Go Dustin. Now."

Dustin clenches his jaw, lips wobbling. Steve turns away, hiding his face from Robin and Erica.

The shuffling of steps. A creaking hinge. The slide of a moving vent piece. A tautness in his stomach, slowly getting worse the farther away they get, until it relaxes and Steve realizes they've been slowed too, too far out of range.

And then it's quiet. Very, very quiet. And lonely. Blood trails up the line of his nose, head tilted forward. A single droplet falls off the tip, slowing once it leaves his skin.

He watches it go, watches and thinks.

He's given them as much time as possible, moreso then they should've had. His eyes dart around, landing on a device in a hidden corner of the room.

A camera.

Not good. They'll check it, most definitely, and they'll question how Robin and the kids moved so quickly, but in the end it doesn't matter because they're gone. They aren't here anymore. They've either found a way out or found somewhere to hide. They're safe.

He sucks in a deep, jagged breath, lungs weak as blood climbs up his throat. He had been practicing, like his kids had asked. He can do this, he can do this.

But also, he doesn't need to anymore. He's not helping anyone by doing this. Just delaying the inevitable.

The blood droplet shines, halfway to the floor.

When he was young, still captive in the lab, right before Brenner took him in for testing, he'd slow time. He sit on his bed, staring at the floor, and slow time. He made a game of it- if he didn't move at all while time was slowed no one would ever know, cameras or not. He slowed time until hours had passed, stuck in his own head, trying to give himself a break before the worst of it started.

Back then, he was like El. He could easily slow time for an hour before the blood started. Now, he's weak.

It was reminiscent, of when he was a child. But it wasn't helping anyone anymore. It was just delaying the inevitable and giving him more anxiety as he waited for the worse to begin.

Still, Dustin and Robin and Erica were safe.

And that was enough for him.

The droplet of blood splatters against the ground. Time slings back into place, and he falls with the thump of the banging doors.

He is the best, babysitter, ever.

Chapter Text

Dustin really didn't want to have to do this. His friends are never going to trust him with this responsibility again, but they deserve to know.

They figured out a way out, made a plan to rescue Steve. Now they're just waiting for an opening that should appear within the next ten minutes. A few hours had passed, since they escaped, and the only reason he's really thinking about this is because they had been trapped in an elevator, all night, someone had to notice they were missing.

"Hey guys, anyone there?" When no one answers, he forces himself not to feel relief. Get it over with- "Do you read me?"

"Dustin?" Mike is the first one to answer, and it makes sense when he realizes they're all together, all talking over each other. "We haven't heard from you all day! What happened?"

"Where's Steve?" Is Max, because they've noticed his absence in his silence. Dustin grimances.

"We got trapped in an underground elevator last night. Just got out a few hours ago." Tear it off rip off the bandaid. "Steve's been captured by Russians."

There's a cold silence. El's anger is scarier than any Demogorgon or Demodog Dustin's ever seen- "What?"

"We're about to get him back." Dustin adds quickly. "Just thought you should know-"

There's a growl, and maybe Steve was right, they are all vicious. Lucas sighs. "We'll meet up with you after dealing with Billy."

"Roger that." Dustin turns off the radio before they can respond, because the thing has to be practically dead by now. With the hard part over, time to get go save the group designated mother.

(Though, Dustin's always seen him more as a brother.)

He doesn't enjoy being tied up.

Surprising, wow, he doesn't enjoy being held captive, what a hard thing to guess. Is it his childhood that gives that clue away?

"Harrington is a perfectly respectable American last name." He stupidly huffs at his captor. "Why would I make that up?"

The man questioning him blinks slowly. "We have no reason to believe anything that you tell us. Who sent you?"

"No one!" His voice was close to a whine. "I literally work at Scoops Ahoy! I was looking for another tub of ice cream and accidentally got trapped in the elevator all night."

One of the men behind him stepped up, a hand lacing through his hair and yanking. Pain burns up his scalp as he's forced to look up at his questioner. "You expect us to believe that?"

"I'm more curious about why you built a secret base underneath some random mall in butt-fuck Indiana." Steve does his best to shrug, because sometimes he likes the feeling of impending death. Might be some trauma, or an unhealthy coping mechanism. "But I guess we all have our secrets."

That earned him a gut punch. He doesn't think he was supposed to get hurt yet, but the man who did it seemed really annoyed. Still, he bowed his head apologetically when the interrogator glared at him.

"We all tire of this charade." The interrogator continues. "Who do you work for, and who were your comrades?"

Well, that was something they would never willingly get out of him. "I don't work for anyone. I'm not a secret agent! I was supposed to graduate this year but I'm still 17 'cause my mom enrolled me early-" because she thought he was 13 when he was actually 12- "-and I dunno how Russia works but here American spies are 18 and older."

The man huffed, backing up. The hand leaves his hair just in time for a fist to connect directly to his cheek. His mind reacts without his control -an almost instinctual thing by now, created while at the lab and unearthed after fighting the Upside Down- and the man's fist slows right before it makes contact. The moment it does, only a second later, it feels more likely a caress compared to anything else. Steve keeps his body still, makes sure he doesn't move in slowed time, and the moment the fist makes contact time speeds back up.

His head snaps from the force of it, but the initial pain of the punch is almost non-existent. Steve learned long ago that while he can't avoid violence when it came to punishments, he can learn how to dull the pain without his aggressors noticing. By slowing time when the fist connects, it changes from a punch to something more like a shove. Still a bit painful, but nowhere near as close. Steve'll still bruise too, enough to sell the act.

More punches come, and he does it subconsciously, slowing time the moment before it hits and snapping it back the moment after it hits. He does it so many times that his nose starts bleeding, but it's not really noticeable by the current state of his face.

He doesn't catch them all, either. Sometimes he'll bring time back just for another fist to crack down on him without any type of warning, coming from his other side and impossible to react to in time. Steve takes those with gritted teeth, because he's used to missing some as well, during his old punishments.

He's lying on the floor still stuck to the chair when they pause. "Will you tell us your friends' names?"

He spits out blood. "What do you think?"

A slight eyebrow twitch. "Will you tell us who you work for?"

"Scoops Ahoy. As for American agencies? As I said, no one."

The man waves his hand and he's pulled back up right. A needle sinks into his neck and his first thought is to slow whatever new drug is in his veins, but all that would do is make them inject him with even more drugs until he finally succumbs. The men wait with hands in their pockets, talking to each other in Russian and looking much more interested in their prisoner than Steve felt like they should be.

And then thinking got a lot harder, and Steve didn't know much of anything.

Shit, this was potent. Very potent.

His body screamed at him to do something. He's not sure he could slow the drug even if he wanted to, now.

"Let's try this again." The man said, voice warping as he spoke. Steve suppressed a giggle. "Who are you?"

He scowls, fighting through a hazy blanket settling over his mind. "As I said, I'm Steve Harrington. Scoops Ahoy employee. Not American spy."

Something in his gaze flashes, and Steve suddenly feels very small. "Is that all?"

Hiding his emotions when he can barely think straight is actually very hard. "Yeah."

The man grabs his hair, yanks his head up so he's facing him, neck straining. "You are hiding something from us, little American."

Steve grits his teeth, tries to think through the loopiness going through his veins. "I'm not."

"Oh?" The man cracks his neck, and another man grabs his arm, cuts the rope and yanks it in front of his face. "I recommend concealing your identification better, next time."

Because, underneath a splash of blood, was the edge of the first 0 from his tattoo.

Chapter Text

They knew.

His breath catches, because not only had they noticed it, but they knew what it meant. "No-"

"Yes!" He's released almost roughly, and his head bounces from it. "We know about your American Lab. We know about your experiments. America opened a portal before us because they had enhanced children, while we only used machines." The man's face turned sharp. "But now we also have an enhanced child, yes? And you will open up a portal for us."

Steve blinked, thrown off guard. He took a second to think.

It hit him like a brick. They didn't know.

While the Russians knew that Hawkins Lab had opened up a portal using a kid to do it, they didn't know the details. They didn't know that they had dozens of kids there with them, and out of those dozens of kids only one of them has been able to successfully open multiple portals. They probably thought all of the kids they found could do that, so when they discovered Steve they thought they hit the jackpot.

He should be scared. Instead, he's just relieved that El is still under the radar.

"No can do." He grins and laughs, and they get angry before it turns to confusion, because he's drugged right now, he shouldn't really be able to lie. Which means they knew he was telling the truth, but the way he worded it made it impossible to know why. "No can do!"

He giggles, and is promptly backhanded. He pouts at his attacker, barely feeling it, because it's honestly nothing compared to what he's dealt with before.

The hand's in his hair again, yanking it up. "Why can't you?"

Steve pouts and glares. "Stranger danger!" He sings, and the man drops him with a shout as he's shocked. That lands him a punch so harsh his chair slams to the ground with him in it. "Ow."

The first man sighs. "The dose was too high." He murmurs, and Steve cackles on the ground, playing it up now more than anything, because that was fun for some reason. "He'll choke on his own vomit before he tells us anything."

"I never choke." He says, because that sounds kind of true in his head. Then, like a dumbass, his train of thought finally clicks back into place. "I could make a portal."

He leaves out the maybe and then with Ten part, mostly because his brain was a bit too soup to include them. The men almost jump him with questions, but he's half unconscious by now, drugged out of his mind. And no matter what they do, they can't seem to rouse him again.

He wakes up maybe an hour later, and has about two minutes to collect himself before someone comes in. The drug is still settled deep in his gut, and when he's forced to stand his body lurches.

He throws up behind the man holding him.

The man doesn't even seem to notice, pushing him out of his interrogation room. Steve stumbles through the hallways, stomach still clenching and generally unhappy. He's pushed forward, the motion making him vomit again. The man waits until he's finished before pulling him along.

He finds himself back in the room with the machine portal gun. The scientists stare as he comes closer, something close to disgust sharp in their eyes.

Steve, much more lucid now, wipes his mouth. He realizes then that he's been untied. "That wasn't nice."

His interrogator is there, saying something in Russian before switching to English. "Do you remember our chat, little American?"

He can't really remember anything from the last two days. His head is still too fuzzy, filled with drugs. "Where am I?"

The man frowns. He turns to another man. "The dose was much too strong."

The other man murmurs something lowly in Russian. Steve can only stare at the shiny bright laser pointed at a strange looking portal. "What is that?"

The interrogator looks at him again. One of the scientists behind him exclaim loudly in Russian. The interrogator listens. "Do you feel the machine?"

He feels his intestines trying to leave via his esophagus. The machine, not so much. Well, if he concentrates hard enough…

There is something there, faint as it is, but Steve can't tell if it's just the electricity rolling through the machine or something more.

The interrogator seems excited by his silence. "You told us, little American, that you can create a portal."

Steve blinks, because why would he have said that? Then he remembers. "Could and can are very different, dude. I have no idea how to…" he should stop talking, but apparently the drug was still in effect. "-make a portal. I was just told that it might be possible."

The interrogator scowls. He's pushed forward, into the machine. "Try."

He clamps his mouth shut to smolder his no, because there was no way he's helping them create a portal. That would be insane.

Maybe he could destroy the portal, here and now. Override it with electricity until it breaks. Then he would most definitely die, but maybe…

He raises an arm, presses it against the machine. He can feel the hot surge of energy running through it, strong and powerful. Just as a test, he pushes a little bit of electricity into the machine.

The beam it creates is bright and scalding. The Russians rejoice a little.

Steve, on the other hand, is so keyed into the electricity that he's starting to sense it all around him- in the air, on the ground, static created by clothes and the little pulses of energy used to beat a heart.

That's when he realizes that there's three other people in the room. And that their hearts beat to a rhythm Steve is more familiar with.

He's surrounded by six or so Russians, and the last one, a little bit away, falls to the ground with a muted scream. The other Russians stare, quiet.

With their attention off him, he fully turns to the machine, grabbing the electricity running through it in a chokehold and pulling it to him. The portal beam flickers weakly as Steve absorbs as much as possible as fast as possible, trying to keep the energy away from his critical organs.

Then, he releases it.

The Russians all scream and collapse as they're electrocuted. They all spasm and jerk wildly before falling to the ground one by one, in a way Steve hopes indicates they're all merely unconscious. Steve, drained and injuried as he is, falls with them.

(Which, honestly, probably for the best, because Erica and Robin are gonna wonder what happened and at least now they won't think it's him.)

"Steve!" Dustin hisses his name as he gets closer, a ball of worry and relief as he darts forward. Steve pushes himself up, gives him a bloody smile. "Dude, it's always you."

Steve holds back a groan. "Keep this between us?"

Dustin snorts. "They already know." Then he blushes. "We have a rule to always tell each other when you get hurt."

That was… a bit humiliating. They don't trust him to take care of himself- well actually yeah, that's deserved, honestly.

Robin appears then, helps him up and winces at his face. Steve is about two seconds from throwing up again, but he manages to keep it down until they're out of danger.

He's never been so happy to see the mall before.

Robin carts him to a bathroom as Erica and Dustin do something, Steve's not really keeping track. 

He's hacked up into a toilet twice when Nancy comes to mind, her worry and fierce determination for revenge. His own worry of her being okay, with the strange happenings she's been telling him about. With that, though, comes Jonathan, and his mind is still too hazy to keep his mouth from speaking. "Can I tell you something, Rob?"

Robin, who's waiting outside the stall across the room, sitting down against the wall, hums. "Of course you can."

Steve spits into the toilet bowl and flushes just because he can. "I love Nancy. I love her a lot."

Robin laughs, though it's a bit wary. "We all can tell, Harrington."

Steve licks his lips. "But I think I love Jonathan too."

Robin doesn't reply. A strange sort of silence settles over them.

Steve continues. "It's the same way I love Nancy, I think, and if I wasn't with Nancy I'd look into it more, but… I dunno. Nancy knows about it. Jonathan probably knows about it. I feel like I have a crush or something- I like him. Like, in the same way I like Nancy and-"

"There's nothing wrong with that, Steve." Robin cuts in, because Steve was starting to ramble. "You know that, right?"

"I know, I'm just confused." Steve rests his head against the side of the stall. "Nancy likes him too. I know he likes Nancy. Why can't we have both?" He sighs. "I haven't really talked about it with anyone, not even them. Dunno, just wanted to… get that out."

It's quiet, for a long time.

"I like girls." Robin says, quick like she was tearing off a bandaid. Her voice relaxes as she continues. "So I, um, get it."

Steve, in all his wisdom, nods even though Robin can't see it. "I like girls too." He says sagely, still a bit drugged, and Robin snorts a little. "Boobs are nice. I like their hair the most, I think. And they have nice smiles, but men have nice smiles too-"

He retches and throws up again. When he finally leaves the stall Robin is smiling, relieved.

Dustin comes into the bathroom with the walkie at the ready. "Talk to them so they know you're safe."

Steve sighs and takes the radio. "You all are worrywarts."

"You got kidnapped." Mike is definitely giving his are-you-kidding-me look. "By Russians."

"I'm fine, aren't I?"

"We're on our way." Is Will, sounding a bit relieved and a tad tired. "Oh, and Nancy and Jonathan are with us."

His stomach drops a bit. "Uh, do they know-"

"That you spent the night in a Russian elevator before sacrificing yourself so the others could get away?" Oh and that was Nancy's voice, oh fuck. "Steve Harrington we are having words later."

He glances at Robin and grins. "The translates to 'I missed you and was worried sick about you!'"

Dustin snorts. "That translate to, 'I cannot leave you alone anywhere.'"

Erica ponders. "Sounds like a bit of both to me."

"Love you too." Steve says into the radio, and hears Jonathan laugh back. "See you in a few minutes."

They turn off the radio to save battery and continue on, because apparently Dustin saw Russians or something. Steve didn't really expect them to follow, but then a bullet is coming right towards them and he slows time long enough for them to dive for cover.

"Shit shit shit-" Dustin is covering his head, frantic. 

"We're gonna die!" Erica's curled into Robin, either wanting her protection or comfort. Robin ducks her own head at the spray of bullets.

Dustin turns to him. "Steve-"

"I know!" He peeks out and has to slow a bullet that would hit him in between the eyes before ducking back in. "Where would we go?!"

Dustin glances around. "Anywhere but here!!"

Steve cracks his fingers, ready to slow time, when a nearby show car creaks and groans and is thrown into the Russians, taking them all out like a ball would bowling pins. Steve jumps up. "I'd recognize that telekinesis anywhere!"

"Steve!" He hears her upstairs, runs up the stairs to greet her. She's a little worse for wear, like he is, but she's okay and that's all that really matters. She's safe. "You are hurt."

Steve smiles. "Nothing a little R&R-" then he yelps because someone (Max-?) runs into him, followed by more children, and then the others climb the stairs as well.

"So." Nancy says once the kids let go, taking his side and letting him lean on her. She's hiding her worry about as well as one hides from their shadow. Still, she's trying to keep the conversation on track. "What else did you learn down there?"

"They're trying to create a portal." Dustin says, voice serious. "But with a machine, not a person."

"And they're getting pretty close." Steve fails to mention the minor setback of him completely stealing all the machine's energy for a few minutes. "We have to get back down there and destroy it, at some point."

"Which'll be hard, given the Russians with guns." Erica crosses her arms, frazzled but still going.

"Yeah…" Dustin frowned at the ground. "That'll be hard to deal with."

"Speaking of, what happened to that car?" Robin asked, jerking her thumb back towards it.

Then Dustin just goes out and says it. "El has super powers."

Robin blinks. "I'm sorry?"

"Super powers. She threw it with her mind," Steve cuts in, tries to help but feels too tired to actually try. Teases her instead. "Come on, catch up."

Robin gives him a look, and it's the tiny things that brighten his day, he realizes.

"So does Steve, actually." Dustin points out helpfully. Robin's wide eyes turn to him.

"What?"

"He's my brother." El adds on, even more helpful.

"What?!"

"Grew up together." Steve finishes, helpfully unhelpful. "Fun place. Was experimented on. Even got these cool matching tattoos." He rubs through the makeup on his wrist just enough for a 0 and a 7 to be visible. "My real name is Seven."

"Steve." Jonathan honest-to-god chastises, like he doesn't understand Steve's sense of humor when he very much does. So yes, it may not come from the best of places, but that's what coping's for. He just hopes Eleven doesn't take after him, she already barely responds to Jane as it is. "His name is Steve, we all call him Steve, it's on his birth certificate."

"Which is fake." Dustin once again supplies helpfully, and Erica's giving him a look. 

Robin looks like she might explode. "You really didn't tell me anything about yourself."

He sent her a shameful smile. Then he remembers. "The Russians know too."

The group pauses, trying to figure out what he means. Jonathan frowns. "They know? That you're Seven?"

"They know about Hawkins' lab?" Mike asks, eyes wide. "Wait, of course they do."

Before Steve could ask why it's an of course kind of thing, Dustin explains. "If they were trying to make a gate and knew Hawkins had done it, they would've found out how too."

Steve looks at El immediately, takes a tiny step towards her. "I didn't say a thing about El, they don't know about her."

Erica cuts in. "But if they know you're 'Seven' why wouldn't they know about her?"

"Because they know one of us opened a gate." He keeps his eyes on El, suddenly wanting a hug. It's been a stressful few hours. "But they don't know which one."

The Russians had tried to open the gate using normal machinery. Brenner had opened the gate by using a super powered girl he had stolen from her family. El might be the only person in the world that can open a gate, but the Russians don’t know that. All they know is that Hawkins lab had opened a gate and they had used a kid to do it. Steve doesn’t know how they recognized him just by his tattoo, but they had and what had happened happened.

Just another nightmare to add to the list.

"Well, that's easy enough." Robin pressed her hands together. "Just shut your traps and no one will know!"

She's so good with words.

Steve can't comment on it, because he looks over at El just in time to watch her collapse.

Chapter Text

The amount of fear and raw protectiveness that coursed through him was enough to surprise even Steve. When it comes to his family, he was always the weak one- Seven was always the weak one, the one who needed help, the one with useless powers compared to the others. He never really had to stand up for his siblings, because he always went down before them. He was always too weak to stay standing.

And now he's watching El fall. It's a new experience for him, because he's still weak, but now he's also too stubborn to let that stop him.

After a night of being trapped in an elevator followed by being drugged and tortured, his body was shaking from the near constant adrenaline running through him. Still, he barely even felt the sharp protest of his body when he raised his arm and El's fall slowed to a crawl. Jonathan was quick to catch her, and Steve dropped his arm and let time speed up around her. Next to him, Robin made an 'oh' sound while Erica's eyes widen.

Then El started convulsing, screaming about something in her leg, and Steve finds himself right next to her, holding her hand and feeling the bones in it creak from the pressure of her painful hold. They were going to tear the thing out, they were going to hurt her.

"Wait!" He shouts out, and Jonathan pauses with the knife held high, even as El thrashes, holding his hand hard enough to break it. Her face is contorted in pain, blood running down from her nose. She screams, and the glass behind them shatters. "Let me-"

Steve raises a hand and slows the space around El's wound, including her leg and the creature inside it.

Time slows, stutters, and before their eyes, picks back up again. Something was fighting it, fighting time- no. It wasn't fighting time, it was fighting him. Sapping away at his powers, making them weaker.

They all look at Steve, worried. He bites his lip, apologetically extracting his other hand from El's before facing them both towards the pocket of time he wanted to control. Closing his eyes, he focused.

It's been a long while, since he's sensed time. It flowed around him the same way soundwaves and light rays do, but he can see them differently, almost like he can see electricity. It's all around them, everywhere, bending around different objects, always slightly different from other things. Not everything is affected by time the same way, and nothing has the same speed of time. Everything is different, and he stands in the middle of it, a vortex where time enters but does not leave, where time leaves but does not enter.

He sees it now, with his eyes closed. Strands of white in the black behind his eyelids, like timelines, each strand telling billions of stories, echoing the life of everything it's ever touched. He reaches out, not with his hands but his mind, and sees the strands react.

There's red, where there's never been red before. It's the creature, he knows. The little Mind Flayer piece, its own presence a wound. It was sapping at El, someway, even though Steve couldn't see how.

Blood coated the inside of his mouth. His body still felt sluggish from the drugs. Strands of time sung around him.

He reached out and pulled.

The white-red strand wrapped around the creature glowed a vicious color, almost fighting him. Around the strand, atoms buzzed. Time slowed, against the alien protest.

Keeping his focus on holding time at a barely noticeable crawl, he let his eyes blink open. Half of them were still staring at him, but the other half was watching El's leg, which had still in its movements. In fact, El herself had stilled. With the thing causing her nerves to fire slowed, the pain must be much more tolerable. Not to mention that, even though nerves send signals fast, Steve also slowed her pain nerves so much that they can't even send the signal quick enough. El's leg, at the moment, is completely shut down. The entire ten inch area around her leg is completely shut down- time locked.

"Ok." Steve ignored his own bloody nose, halving his focus and placing it on Jonathan now. "Go."

Jonathan, thankfully, doesn't waste a moment. He's immediately trusting, hands going into the area of slowed time without hesitation. They don't slow as they enter, courtesy of his focus, and the group stays almost deadly silent as Jonathan works quickly, trying his best not to cut when unnecessary while still getting the creature out. El stays completely still the entire time, watching with vague horror and intrigue, chest rising and falling steadily.

She's watching herself get carved up, and yet she can't feel a thing. Steve realizes that, when he brings time back, she could be hit with a wave of pain.

Everyone stays quiet the entire way through, allowing both Jonathan and Steve to focus. Jonathan bites his lip for a moment, narrows his eyes, before his other hand darts down, grabs the piece of the creature, and tears it out with a fling. It skids across the floor, before Nancy runs forward and smashes it with a nearby plant vase. The sound of her movement breaks the spell, and the entire group lets out a breath even as Steve continues to slow the area around El's leg. "Can someone wrap this up?"

Jonathan nods quickly, tearing off a shirt sleeve with his knife. Robin wastes no time and kneels next to him, helping him wrap the makeshift bandage around the wounds on El's leg. As they move back, Mike takes El's hand as Steve, slowly but surely, reins in his powers and lets time sink back in. El hisses harshly, squeezing Mike's hand as her nerves cut back online.

That's when Hopper shows up.

They took a break, after that. Hopper looked after El, who's eyes were fluttering like the shock of it all was just now catching up to her. Joyce switched between her and Steve, who looked like an absolute mess himself. She finally gave her full attention to El after she realized that Nancy and Jonathan weren't going to leave him alone anyway, and pairing it up worked easier that way.

Half of the kids went out to look for some food and drink to pillage, and the others went to find a place to sit. Steve, surprisingly, felt okay given what he went through. In fact, he felt kind of energized, invigorated. As the group settled down he walked six laps around them all before settling between Max and Nancy. Two seconds later he was up again, taking a quick trip to the bathroom to wash up his face because the blood was starting to feel crusty.

He was handed a cup of water when he got back, which he downed in one gulp. His stomach churned a bit, the last traces of drugs in his system, but he kept it down well enough.

Then they started to explain what was happening with the Mind Flayer, and Steve suddenly wasn't sure that he actually wasn't still high. "Melted people?"

Nancy confirms it for him, and he kinda zones out after that, because somehow he still has a line of crazy and it still keeps getting crossed.

Some guy shows up, someone Nancy and Jonathan clearly don't like, given the way they tense and scowl at the ground. That's enough for Steve, but the man doesn't even pay them any attention, instead showing Hopper the schematics to the Russian base and then getting clippy with both Erica and Dustin.

Then he hears his own name and reluctantly tunes back in.

"You two got trapped in a Russian elevator with Steve?" Hopper's tone is something Steve can't quite figure out. Steve looks over and shrugs, even though Hopper isn't looking at him.

"Yes." Erica's tone is more aggressive than a ten year old should be able to be. "That's how we know that you're gonna die."

"Hopper!" Dustin sounds like he's about to tattle on someone, cutting off Hopper's next sentence. He points at the sky before directing it at the ground. "The Russians tortured Steve!"

Both Hopper and Joyce pause at that, whirling around to stare at Steve. "What?"

Steve looks at Nancy, squeezes her hand, and then shrugs again. "Can we continue?"

"No we can't-" Hopper takes a deep breath, reins in his anger. He gives Steve a medical once over with his eyes, still not ready to drop it, even though they don't really have the time to continue the conversation.

Dustin doesn't care. "Yeah, they drugged him!"

That made everyone turn to him, cause while his bruised face was obvious no one knew about the drugs. Nancy gave him a look he really didn't like, as did Jonathan. He shrugs again. "We don't really have time for this-"

And then Dustin added the finishing touch. "They want him to open a portal using that machine because they know about him being Seven." Steve doesn't know why Dustin is outing him right now, but he has half a mind to slow him to shut him up. "We rescued him while they were trying to get him to do it!"

Steve rubs his thumb and index finger together, creating a small spark before flicking it at Dustin. It hits him in the ass, causing him to yelp and jump away. "Shut up."

Dustin looks proud of himself. The only thing it adds to the conversation is the desire of everyone to keep Steve far away from the Russian base, which while Steve kind of likes means that he can't be helpful, which is worse then it probably should be for him. Instead, as the only group of people that were able to see down below, he drives Robin, Erica, and Dustin to the radio tower.

Which, by the way, he hates. Hates with a passion, because he's leaving his kids behind, leaving his sister behind, leaving Nancy and Jonathan behind when he should be helping. Yeah they have El but El's hurt right now, what if using her powers is too much for her? What if they get hurt when he wasn't around to help them?

The Mind Flayer is after El and he's not there to help her what is he DOING-

But he has his own job as well, and the moment Dustin and Erica are at the tower (safe and far away-) he can go back and help, right? He left them there, please be okay-

They're not okay. They're not okay.

They're not answering they're not answering something's going on at the mall he left them there-

He's in the car faster than he can blink, and Robin can barely get in the car before he's driving back. He doesn't even think twice before raising an arm into the air, pulling at something deep within his gut, right next to his fear and terror. Around them, time stops.

His heart goes along with it.

He instinctively pulls back, and time starts back up, still a slow crawl. Time's at half speed now, meaning his 70mph speed is now 140mph.

He arrives as four figures run from the inside of the mall. He pulls up next to them, watches as Jonathan works on fixing whatever problem they had with their car. He doesn't even have to do a headcount to realize what's wrong. "Where are the others?!" Where's El?

"Steve!" Nancy cuts him off, points to the parking lot where there's another car reeving up, looking like it was about to drive into them. Steve couldn't see who was at the steering wheel, and he didn't really care anymore.

There's a monster in the mall and he doesn't see El.

"Robin, get in with them." He keeps the car running even as he jumps out, and Robin thankfully doesn't question him. The car is abandoned as the driver starts speeding towards them.

The abandon car stutters, its lights and engines cutting off. Electricity bounces around Steve's body, taken from the car and pulled from within himself. 

He needs to find El. They're in the way.

His muscles strain and contract as he forms a bolt in his hand, pulling back and throwing it like a javelin. The electricity arcs through the air like a bolt of lightning, hitting the speeding car in the hood.

The car short circuits, burns out from the extra voltage. It doesn't even make it halfway.

Behind him, the car turns on.

Behind the car, a monster appears from the rooftops.

Someone calls his name. He barely even hears it. "Go."

"Steve!" That's Jonathan, probably looking at him like he's crazy. On one side the guy in the car, Billy, is walking towards them. On the other side, a monster.

Where is El?

"Go!" He shouts again. "I'm not leaving without El. Go!"

They don't have much of a choice, and he thinks Will screams his name as Jonathan makes a choice and drives. The monster can't figure out who to focus on, but it makes up its mind and pounces at him.

It's ten feet away when everything slows, the world around him dripping to a stop. He studies the monster for a minute, wrinkles his nose at it. The entire world has slowed besides him, and something within him hums at the power he holds.

It's nine feet away when he stops studying it, instead running inside the mall. He imagines how the others will feel, watching him zip away almost faster than their brains can process- a blur that disappears from sight. The monster will most likely follow them the moment time speeds back up, but he could still give them a bit of an advantage. Not for long, but something.

He reaches the doors to the mall and turns around, stretching out his arm. The car and the people in it are sucked into his time, and they all pause as they take in what happened, their brains catching up to what their eyes saw. As one, they find him again, right outside the mall.

He shouts, one more time. "Go!"

There's less hesitation this time. Jonathan gets just outside of the parking lot before he's out of Steve's range. They all slow again, and Steve focuses on the monster, eyes closing and mind reaching out to the strands of time connected to it.

Red. A lot of red.

The red strands curl around his fingers as time slides back into place. Everything picks up again. The monster stays slowed.

Steve ignores the harsh jerk in his chest, the red fighting against him, and turns back into the mall. When the force starts a pressure in his chest he releases the strand. Outside, there's the sound of something heavy falling to the ground and roaring, stomping away.

He thinks about that thing for only a second longer, before it's gone from his mind. He cups his hands over his mouth and screams. "EL!"

Nothing. "ELEVEN!"

"STEVE!" It's Mike. He sounds scared. "HELP!"

He can't tell where he is, a general direction at most. They're in trouble, and he doesn't know if he can get there in time.

You can. You can get there in time. Save her. Save El. Save Eleven.

Blood drips from his nose. He barely even feels it.

As he walks away, it stays suspended in the air. There's barely any sign of movement at all.

It takes him a while, to find them. Time has come to practically a standstill around him, as he searches. Half an hour of silence has passed before he finds Max, eyes wide and scared, meer seconds away from getting hit away by Billy.

His vision, which was already getting clouded by burst blood vessels in his eyes, went red.

His hand connects with the back of Billy's head, grabbing at his hair, before slamming it into the nearby wall. Time snaps back into place and Billy crumples, completely limp and probably very injured.

It was dangerous, doing that. It's dangerous, hurting someone when slowed because, in normal time, you aren't doing something slowed down, you're doing it sped up. It increases the force and velocity, makes it deadly. If Steve punched someone in the jaw while they were slowed he could easily break their neck.

He barely remembered that in time. Stopped himself from going too far just before hand, because this was Max's brother, no matter what problems he has with the guy.

"Steve!" Max barrels into him, and he hears an echo of his name as Mike and El turn the corner. El's face turns into pure relief. "Steve!"

Seven!

Steve pulls her into a hug, kisses the top of her head quickly before pulling the other two into a hug as well. Billy groans next to them, and Steve has to let them go. "Come on."

He pulls El onto his back and they start making their way to the main part of the mall. If they're lucky, Steve can put some power back into his car and they can get the fuck outta there. They can escape. El can be safe.

Protect her, this time. Don't leave her behind. Don't make her think you're gone. Don't let her die like Six.

They make it to the main part of the mall as the monster appears, falling from above and roaring. Steve removed El from his back, pushes her and the others behind him.

The creature lashes out. He slows the fleshy tendril slashing towards them. His body, strong yet human, starts to give out.

"Go." He forces out, right before another tendril slams into his side. He's thrown five, ten, twenty feet away, hitting the side of a store and losing his breath as he goes. Someone screams his name. His vision goes blurry.

A firework hits the monster right in the face.

The monster screams and roars as it's bombarded with fireworks. Steve pushes himself to his feet, body groaning in protest. Protect El. Protect El. Don't let her die-

He wobbles, barely catching himself. The Mind Flayer is occupied, but Billy's appeared again. He's thrown Mike and Max back, and now he stood over El. He wasn't moving though, wasn't going to attack her. El was saying something, something he couldn't hear, but Billy's face switched from passive to determined.

The fireworks suddenly stopped. The Mind Flayer focused back on El.

She's going to die.

Steve tries to get up. His bones rattle in his body as he inched his way forward, wheezing. Tendrils started sliding forward, ready to strike El down.

Watch your sister die again. Again and again and again. Watch them die and be helpless.

The Mind Flayer attacked. Steve reached out a hand.

Nothing happened. Time kept going.

Billy stepped in front of her and caught the tendril.

Billy caught it. Billy was protecting her.

Like Six had protected Three and Marcy.

It occured to Steve, at that very moment, that Billy was going to die.

Just like Six. Just like before. And Steve would have to stand here and watch it. Time has passed, but nothing had changed.

He was still useless.

Billy's going to die.

The Mind Flayer almost seems surprised, for a moment. Billy holds the first tendril back, and El pushes herself backwards and away. Max and Mike help her back, and Billy glances back at Max, just for a second. It's a tiny thing, but Steve can see it, even from twenty feet away.

He's going to die.

Billy screams from exertion, keeping the Mind Flayer away from El, from Max and Mike. Protecting his sister. His kids. Steve, only now getting up, too far away to protect them.

Watch as he dies.

More of the Mind Flayer stretches out, tired of his rebellion.

Watch as he protects what you could not.

Two pieces of the Mind Flayer rush towards him.

He will die, and you will watch.

They stab into Billy from each side.

He dies, just like Six.

Max screams. Time stops.

Chapter Text

It's not like the last time.

He notices that immediately. It's different from last time, because even as his body shuts down it listens to him completely, and his mind has never been so clear.

Whereas seconds ago he struggled moving, now, in the dead silence of a still world, he walks easily. Each time he blinks he can see strands of time, behind his eyelids. He's never felt so in tune with his powers before.

The chain around his neck is gone. He's been freed from Time.

Another step forward. Blood drips down his mouth.

He raises a hand, feels his lungs catch and his heart stutter. With a twist of his wrist, he pulls the others into time with him. All of them.

They all gasp, like they've been splashed with cold water. It's different for them this time, too, almost like they can feel how this isn't like it was before. Feel their own chains wash off them like water. By the time they've come to their senses he's reached Billy, the only one he kept out of time.

He doesn't need him to bleed out sooner rather than later.

He turns to Mike and Max, ignores the others as they make their way to them. When he speaks, his voice is slurred with blood that dribbles past his chin. "Help me."

They're in shock, he knows, but Max sees Billy and snaps out of it, fast enough to run forward. She grabs a sharp piece of glass, ignoring the cuts it causes. With quick moves she cuts off the tendrils from Billy, leaving the edges of them in but him officially detached. Steve's vision clouds as the others make their way down the stairs and past the Mind Flayer.

He looks for Nancy. Finds Jonathan instead. "Steve- is this-?"

Steve nods, smiles a bloody smile. Cries red tears. Falls into Jonathan's arms.

Save them, this time. Save all of them.

His vision goes in and out, figures being replaced with strands as Steve puts all his focus into holding time still. It's fighting against him, and his body hurts in a way it's never hurt before. He's crying real tears now as well, mixed up with blood and sweat. "Hurry."

He doesn't know what he's telling them to hurry about. Vaguely, he can see Nancy and Robin pull Billy away, holding him between them. Jonathan still has him, has picked him up as his body fails him. He's talking to Steve, maybe. Telling him to hold on a little longer, saying he's doing good, saying he saved them-

Steve tries to speak and coughs up blood instead. He tries again. "I cn't hol' it-"

"Just a little longer, please Steve-"

He doesn't know who's speaking, can barely remember his own name. A hand grabs his, and it hurts, just plain old touch, and he can barely see anymore, eyes almost crusted over. Instead, he feels, feels for the person holding him and realizes its- "'Leven."

Eleven doesn't answer, squeezes his fingers and he doesn't scream because he can't, anymore. There's shuffling, they're piled into a car and they can't all possibly fit, but he can't really bring himself to consider that too much at the moment. "I cn't-"

A hand cards through his hair. Time snaps back into place with the force of a bullet tearing through flesh.

He screams.

The others do too, he thinks. Less strongly, comparatively. To them, it probably felt something like a chain settling around their body, anchoring them to something they've always been anchored to. Time was an anchor, and escaping it is like freedom- lifting their chain. When Time comes back down, it locks you back into place and what used to be normal is suddenly uncomfortable, restricting.

Steve never really had that anchor, not in the same way others did. His anchor sat wrapped around his neck, and whenever he pushed too far, tried to free himself for too long, it tightened until it strangled him.

This time, he thinks he went too far. The last time he was free from the chain he woke up two days later partially blind and barely able to breathe. Time was a cruel dictator, and it didn't like it when someone tried to escape its grasp.

It might kill him this time.

People are yelling his name, screaming it, under the din of the nothingness swimming through his ears. He can't see, but he's not sure if it's because of his powers or because of the blood covering his eyes. That's answered moments later when a hand (soft but too much too much too much-) wipes it away and he sees Nancy leaning over him, terrified in a way he's never seen her before. Her lips move, but Steve can't hear what she says.

Steve's eyes shift. He sees El. He sees Billy.

Billy, who's bleeding out. Slowly, with those things still in him, but still bleeding out-

He reaches towards time, tries to find the strands he had only recently reacquainted himself with. Time screams at him and his head pounds in misery. He might've screamed again. 

His eyes catch El once more. Wary, staring at him like he's already a ghost, already dead, but alive. Alive. They're all alive.

His lips twitch up into the smallest of smiles.

He lets Time have its way with him.

He wakes up in a hospital bed, high out of his mind and yet barely even feeling it. El's asleep next to him, though he doesn't know how she got in since Hopper's nowhere to be seen.

"Oh, you're awake."

A nurse was fiddling with something across the way. Steve blinks at her, swallows and grimances.

"Don't try to talk just yet, you've hurt your voice, sweetie." The nurse gives him a sympathetic smile, looking him over even as he starts to panic. "You must be confused, I know I would be. Your friends brought you in four days ago- you all got caught up in Starcourt when that sinkhole appeared. Your sister wouldn't leave your side, and while we normally don't allow things like that, we haven't been able to get in touch with anyone to pick her up, and…" she pauses, frowns. "Well, this is a place to heal, and for me, that means both mentally and physically, you know? I'd rather not traumatize her further, and you seemed to sleep better when she was near anyhow."

Steve really wanted to talk, wanted to ask questions, but his voice also screamed at him for water. His arm was shaky when he tried to move it, weak and sore and uncomfortable as he made a drinking motion.

"Okay, but be careful dear-" the nurse helps him drink a glass of water, which is probably the most delicious thing he has ever tasted in his entire life. He has to go slowly after he drinks too much and coughs it (and some blood) back up, but when he's done his voice is just fixed enough for him to speak. It's raspy, barely audible, but it's enough. "Where's…"

"Your friends?" The nurse finished for him, frowning disapprovingly at him speaking. "Most have gone home. Their injuries were nowhere near as severe as you and that other boy." She pauses after a moment. "And don't worry about him either. He's stable."

Steve doesn't like the word stable when it comes to injuries. Nine was considered stable, but she was kept in a drug and power induced coma for the last years Steve knew her. Stable does not mean okay.

He doesn't get to ask, though, because El wakes up and there's hugging and crying and nothing else really matters anymore.

Nancy visits next a few hours later. She had apparently been visiting every few hours for the last few days, just sitting next to him and also making sure that El took care of herself, because it was hard to get her to listen to the nurses. After her surprise and joy of him being awake wore off Steve gave her his best pout and puckered his lips.

He deserves a kiss, he feels.

He gets one, and El complains about him being allowed to have pda when she can't and Nancy is very helpful in explaining for him how that's for Mike's own safety because while Steve loves the kid he will also murder him if he hurts El. El finds it strange and Steve takes the moment to ruin his voice a bit more by calling her the pot to his kettle.

El doesn't get it. Nancy smiles. "He knows that you talked to me about not hurting him." She offers to solve her confusion. "Just like how Steve talked to Mike."

El blinks. It becomes clearer after that.

Nancy explains what he's missed while he was out, most of it not very good news. Billy is alive, but he's in a coma with no way of knowing when or if he'll ever come out of it. Steve saved his life, but it still might be too late. Max spends a lot of her time in Billy's room, just talking to him, and visits Steve frequently as well. She's messed up about it, a lot, regretting both the big and little things and blaming herself for things she couldn't control.

The other kids, while a bit worn out, are safe. Everyone made it out okay.

Everyone… except Hopper.

The nurse's words suddenly made sense to him. No one came to pick El up because there was no one there to do it. He woke up and Hopper wasn't there to let her in because Hopper was dead.

"Joyce offered to take El home." Nancy adds on. "But El wouldn't leave you."

El, who had gone back to sleep still holding his hand, sighs in her sleep. Steve stares at the ceiling and tries not to think about how, if he had gone down with Hopper, he might still be alive.

Because, if he did, El and Billy could both be dead. They could all be dead.

"Also, El…" Nancy glances at the girl, eyes sad and sympathetic. "El's having trouble with her powers."

Steve frowns, knits his brows together, because that didn't make much sense. He's never heard of that happening before.

"It was after we got that piece of the Mind Flayer out of her." Nancy continues. "She tried to move a car and it didn't work. She tried on a soda can later and it exploded, but she couldn't control it. It hasn't worked correctly since."

Her powers weren't working, and the only person who could help was stuck in a hospital bed.

They had done it. They had saved the day. Billy was alive, El was alive. They had succeeded.

And yet, it felt like they had lost.

He grabs Nancy's hand and listens as she finishes up. Robin is okay and keeping in touch. She visits once or twice a day, and has been talking to Nancy more. They seem to get along well. Dustin and Erica are fine as well, and Dustin tried to hide under his hospital bed so the nurses couldn't take him away. 

Lucas is as well as he can be. He's been spending a lot of time with Max, just giving her company. Mike joins Nancy whenever she comes, spends the time coxing El into eating and the like as well. Nancy says it's helping El as well as Mike, which is good. She hasn't really mentioned Will or Jonathan or Joyce yet, though. It's starting to worry him.

It's around then that he learns that the Byers are moving away.

Chapter Text

Steve leans against the doorframe, arms crossed and eyes leveled on El. She has her back to him, arm raised and pointed at her teddy bear. Her entire focus is on it, and the thing wobbles slightly, floats for a single moment before falling back to the ground. El groans, head tilted back. 

The rest of her room is packed up.

Steve steps forward, grabs the bear and hands it to her. "Things like this might just take time." He gives her a side hug, kisses the top of her head. Outside, Jonathan and Joyce are packing her things into the back of a truck. 

El looks towards them, looks around her empty room. "She said I could go with them."

Steve knows. "You still can."

She could start anew, fresh halfway across the country. No Hawkins, no terror, a new place in a new state. It would be good for her.

Yet, she shakes her head. Grabs his hand. "I'm not leaving you again."

Like she was the one who left the first time. A lump forms in his throat. "Well, we'll have to thank them again for helping us move everything."

El couldn't live in a cabin by herself. So, she was moving in with Steve. Something that should've been a lot harder than it was being. He expected more pushback, but there wasn't any. He called his mom, told her that El was his sister, that she had escaped from the same place he had (a place that he's never talked about to them, all these years-) and she handled the rest. She was still Jane Hopper, but she'd be officially adopted within the month, if not week. It's amazing what can happen if you throw enough money at something.

They carry out the last few boxes and pack them into the truck (well, El does. Steve's not allowed to pick up anything over five pounds just yet). Will's sitting in the back, looking thoroughly depressed and exactly like how Steve feels. He's felt grounded the last year or so, in a way he's never felt before. He felt complete, and now Jonathan was leaving, tearing off a surprisingly large cornerstone of his completeness. Not to mention taking one of his kids with him. His maternal instincts are going to go haywire, and Mike is going to have to deal with it because that's Will's best substitute.

Steve drives himself and El back to his place, the Byers following in the truck. They spend about half of hour moving everything into El's new room before Joyce kicks them out to do a fifteen minute mothering of the room. What mothers do when moving their children into new rooms, he doesn't know. All he knows is that when they're done the room will never be the same.

He takes the time they have to check on Will. "You doing okay, little Byers?"

Will looks up dejectedly. "How do you think?"

Steve sighs. It hurts his chest, but he ignores it. "Look, I know your mom has already said this, but this'll be good for you. Get out of this backwater town-"

"And leave everything I know behind." Will finishes, obviously annoyed. He crosses his arms. "And go to a place where no one will understand me or what I've been through." There's tears in his eyes now. "Where Lucas won't be to give me awful advice. Where Mike won't be to hang out. Where Dustin won't be the smartest idiot in the room. Where you can't try to cheer me up with free milkshakes and arcade trips."

Steve pulls him in for a hug and pretends not to feel the dampness on his shirt after it's over. "You have all our phone numbers. Keep track of time zones, we'll be there. And no matter what goes on between Mike and El, I know he'll be on the literal next flight to California if his mom allows it."

Will does a little snort. "He doesn't have the money."

Steve wiggles his eyebrows, devious. Will's smile is brighter, this time. "You don't have to leave this life behind to make a new life in California. We'll all still be here if you decide to come back. And if you don't, we'll go to you."

He's not sure how much his comfort does, but Will seems a bit more sure of himself afterwards, like he was afraid that they'd all forget him after he left. The moment Will turns away though, searching for El, Steve turns to Jonathan and pouts. "Jonathan, don't leave me!"

He does a great big belly laugh, like Steve's joking or something. Steve just pouts some more, makes grabby hands.

Jonathan indulges, wraps him in a hug and pats his head. "There there."

Steve won't lie. He fucking sobs.

At least Jonathan takes it seriously after that.

Joyce pulls him to the side right before they leave. "Do not be a stranger, Steve Harrington." Her voice is in mother mode. Steve bites the inside of his mouth, because honestly he's not really happy with her at the moment, and mothering him isn't making it any better. "If you have any questions, any concerns, I am one call away, okay?"

Steve nods, and it hits him at that very moment, what she's saying. Steve's taking care of another human being, now. He's practically a parent, taking care of El, and he has no clue what he's doing. 

Telling him to be a parent while she runs away.

Joyce's expression softens. "I'm not just saying this for El, either." She continues. "If you have anything you want to talk about, any worries or fears, I'm here for that too. I know you kids don't like talking about it, you don't want to be burdens, but… for you and El especially, please call. Whenever you need to. I'm here to listen, I want to."

Steve, knowing he probably wouldn't do it, nods and smiles, a fake thing.

Joyce, being a parent, sees right through it and takes another approach. "Didn't want to have to do this the hard way, but- you are now in charge of another human being, Steve. You can't let yourself waste away in any capacity, because if you fall she falls with you, got it?" Her tone is stern, clear. Steve's back straightens. "If you bottle everything up, when it all falls apart she will have to deal with the aftermath. Take care of yourself so you can take care of her, got it?"

He keeps a blank face. Lecture him about taking care of a child while, at the same time, running away from kids who need her.  

Steve nods again, this time meaning it. Joyce does a single sharp nod back. "Good."

She hugs him. It's a mother's hug, and it makes him feel warm and sick at the same time.

Like every other time something big drastically changes in their life, he finds his house full of children later that night. Children and Nancy.

It feels weird. Off. Somber in a way, because Nancy is here but Jonathan isn't and the kids are here but Will isn't. It's off in other ways, too- Max has been off the grid since Billy fell into his coma, but she showed up today, face pale and glassy but there. Everyone else is quiet, listless. Unlike the other times they fought the Upside Down and everything in it, this doesn't feel like a victory.

They just feel… lost.

The night is quiet and bleak. Steve has trouble moving around the house, sometimes. His body still doesn't want to do what he tells it to, even though he's been out of the hospital for a week, now. That leads to him stumbling, making a fool of himself and worrying the others each time he does. They treat him like glass, but he's pretty sure he's already broken.

The boys fall asleep spread across the couches, an obvious Will-shaped area left empty, like he was there, just in the bathroom or getting a drink. The girls retire to El's new room and Steve stares at the kitchen lights, Nancy sitting on a bar stool next to him. "Penny for your thoughts?"

Steve sighs, runs a hand through his hair. "It all just… feels wrong." He glances towards the living room. The boys are sleeping peacefully, something that only really happens when they sleep within proximity of each other. "Will's gone. Jonathan's gone. Hopper-" he cuts himself off, because he can't bring himself to think about it.

They almost lost Billy. They did lose Hopper. And with Hopper went the only other adult who knew. And with her, Jonathan and Will. And now El lives with him-

Nancy doesn't have an answer, it's written clearly on her face. "It's upsetting." She starts, before shaking her head. "No, I'm pissed. I'm pissed off. I'm pissed at the fact that any of this happened at all. I'm pissed at the fact that the ones who have to save the world are children, especially because one of them is my little brother. I'm pissed that, after everything, the only adult here leaves us to the wolves, even though I understand getting Will out of this place. I'm pissed that Jonathan went with them, even though I understand why."

Steve cracks a grin. The muscles in his face still hurt. Phantom blood leaks from his eyes. "It's all pretty unfair, isn't it?"

Nancy frowns at the wall. "I'm pissed at Dr. Brenner, probably most of all." She continues softly, eyes glancing towards him, catching his reaction. Steve looks away. "I'm pissed at what happened to El. I'm pissed at everything that happened to you. I'm pissed that I can't do more to help you. Help anyone."

"You do more than enough-" Steve tried to assure, but stopped after a sharp look.

"You got kidnapped by Russians, and I didn't even know until after two children saved you."

"Well." Steve places a hand over hers. That, at least, didn't hurt as much anymore. "From what I've been told, you were pretty busy at the hospital, during that time."

There's a bit of shuffling from upstairs. Max and El come plodding down, clothes ruffled and sand in their eyes. Practically half asleep, it seems. They brush against Steve as they pass, an almost subconscious gesture of something, before settling in the large open recliner in the living room, where they used to sleep during sleepovers. He watches as they curl up in the large chair, close together but still somehow comfortable, and distantly notes that it's one of those nights.

A night where they don't want to be alone.

That realization for Steve does the exact opposite.

He can't be in this room anymore. Too many people.

He does a quick lap around the room, making sure doors and windows are shut and locked before making his way upstairs. Nancy follows silently, eyes observant, and if he asked Nancy wouldn't blink twice. If he asked for her to stay in another room, she'd pick a spot in the living room or take El's bed. She wouldn't question him, wouldn't look at him twice, would just understand and leave him be.

He wants that. He doesn't want that. He wants someone to know. He never wants to tell anyone.

His body barely even feels like his own.

Nancy leaves the door open upon entering his room, finds him sitting against the foot of his bed on the ground. Slowly, easily, she sits next to him. Doesn't say anything, though Steve is sure she wants to. Neither of them are really the quiet type- her brain is always running and he's always trying to fill the void. Still, she stays quiet and still, and Steve replays her words from earlier, over and over again.

"It really isn't fair, is it?" His voice is soft, a mere whisper. "The only adult left, the one with the responsibility to protect us, the only one with the ability to leave. We can't run away- we're trapped in this fucking town and instead of helping us-"

It's harsh, cruel words. She's protecting her family, Steve can't fault her for that, not really. Still, protecting her family means that the people Steve cares about just lost one of the only people able to help them. She left, she ran with her family and left the rest of them to drown.

Nancy's hands clench and unclench in her lap. She's angry too. Pissed. Something akin to a broken laugh leaves her. "We're the oldest people that know about everything in Hawkins right now." Her eyes are dull. "Just us, Robin, and a bunch of middle schoolers."

Unfair. Completely unfair.

The weight of everything, it feels like it's all balancing on his shoulders, and Steve never wanted this. He wants his kids to be safe, wants his friends and family to be safe, but now it's so much more. Before, he could focus on protecting the kids while the adults tried to handle the situation. Now there's nothing. No adult to handle the situation- it's all in their hands. The next time something happens, because something will happen, they'll have no one. They'll be on their own. Three teenagers trying to solve the next mystery while also trying to keep a group of kids alive. A group that includes Nancy's little brother, Steve's little sister, a group with no protection because El doesn't even have her powers anymore.

The idea of it makes him almost cry, already completely emotionally spent.

It's all just-

"Unfair." He says again, laughs an empty laugh. "Feels like I'm back in the lab. I think I do my best, yet it's still not enough." He stopped time to save Billy, and yet nothing is better. His hand traces along his neck. "They used to put me in a shock collar, to test how well I conducted electricity. There'd be levels- low, medium, high -and they'd go higher each time, even though I couldn't handle it. Sometimes, if Papa wasn't there, the orderlies would crank it up too high just to see me freak out on the floor." It was a specific two orderlies that would do it- two he never learned the names of. Their feud started one day when he saw them ganging up on another orderly, and he shocked them to get them to stop. They've hated him since.

Nancy really looks pissed now. Steve doesn't stop. "The other numbers weren't bad. I considered a lot of them family, but by the time I escaped almost all the numbers before me had escaped. Or died. Papa always gave orders to shoot if they tried to escape, and he'd make me watch, whenever it happened. He wanted me to stop time again, thought that aiming guns at them would do it, like before. Didn't work though- Five took a bullet to the shoulder, Four took one to the head."

He continues before Nancy can stop him. "I think he thought that, with enough training, I could do more than just stop time. Maybe I could travel through it, too. Forwards or backwards." He shrugs, looks up at the ceiling. "I know I can't. I doubt he'd believe me, but I can't, I just know it. You know that you can't jump off a building and fly. I know I can't travel through time. Still, he was obsessed with it, for some reason. Some past regret he just couldn't let go of- whatever it was, he kept pushing and pushing and pushing-"

A hand on his shoulder. He realizes with a start that he's breathing heavily.

Nancy looks at him, eyes wide with concern. There's a flash of determination. "He's gone." She says, sure. "And if he isn't, we won't let him near you or El."

Steve laughs dryly. "As if I'd let him near any of you." It's a nice sentiment, but if Brenner shows his face he's not letting anyone but himself see it. He's not letting Brenner get to anyone else he cares for. Never again.

But, will he even have a choice in the matter? 

He laughs again. "I did it." He realizes. "I stopped time again, after all these years." His eyes drift towards the ceiling. "And Papa wasn't even around to see it."

If Brenner's still alive, he'll learn about it, no doubt. Check the hospital records and match his injuries to what happened before, or some other way. He'll find out, and it'll no longer be a fluke, a one time phenomenon. Somehow, he will find out, and Billy still might not ever wake up. He'll find out and Steve will have done it all for nothing.

Life isn't fair. It isn't fair.

Joyce's decision to leave shows that. She will go and start her new life, and she won't have to worry about the consequences of her own actions, because she left and she left them to deal with whatever comes next, left them to protect their family and friends, all alone.

Life, isn't, fair.

Nancy stands, pulls him up. They sit on the bed next, and Steve has a feeling Nancy did that just so if he happened to pass out at least he'd do it on a mattress. He's been prone to doing that, since he stopped time. Steve squeezes one of his pillows and tries not to lose his shit, tries not to lash out at everything and anything. A fiery rage has taken over, bright and powerful and uncontrollable. He wants to hit something, needs to release his anger, because it all wasn't fair.

Instead, he looks up at Nancy, feels that fire extinguish the moment a tear falls from her eye.

And then, all that's left is tears.

Chapter Text

Steve's mother throws a party when she gets back.

Less of a party, really, and more of a celebration. She's celebrating the return of her long lost daughter, and she's being loud enough that the entirety of Hawkins turns to watch.

Here's how the story goes.

The Harringtons had two children, named Steve and Jane. When Jane was young, she disappeared, thought to be kidnapped or lost or something of that variation. Her parents looked everywhere for her, but once she couldn't be found they made themselves hermits, home schooling their own son until high school and traveling the country looking for their daughter. While this was happening, Jane was found and put into the foster system. Hopper adopted her (giving her the name Jane Elena "El" Hopper) and slowly but surely she found her way back to her family. Given her closeness to Hopper, though, when she came back to her family they let her keep Hopper's name, in his remembrance. 

And that's how the story goes.

In reality, Steve's mother came back two weeks before she threw the celebration. She came back, sat Steve down, and listened as Steve finally told her everything. By the end they were both crying, but he's never seen his mother look so proud.

'Thank you for telling me. I know it must've been hard. You've been so brave.'

Then, she offered him something he never really thought of before.

Finding his biological parents.

'I didn't want to bring it up before, because I thought that you had run away from them. Now that I know that they lost you too… we can help you look for them. They can know that you're alright.'

Steve could see his parents again. See how they're doing. Know what happened afterwards. Are they still together? Did they have more kids? Are they okay?

Steve accepts, and his mother hugs him one more time before going to find El, looking to bond some more and get to know her. It didn't take long, for them to grow close. Steve's mother has always had that power, that ability to be exactly what you need to feel safe and loved.

(He finds her crying, later that night. She's crying to his dad, saying she always wanted a daughter. He sees his father smile, too.)

When the celebration happens it's in public, made to impress. Steve took El, Mike, and Nancy out to ice cream, and she shows up, sees El, and runs towards her with big gasping sobs. ' My baby girl, my baby girl, I missed you-' and El, for her part, cries and holds her just as tightly. 

And people believe.

The news writes about it, because something happened to the rich Hawkins family and that would always be news worthy. His mother makes a single statement about it and warns them not to ask her children for their own words, even though Steve is of legal age and owns himself now. Steve's perfectly fine with that, because the finer details of both being human and being in control of himself escapes him regularly. His mother also now understands that, understands why. For the few weeks before school starts, Steve finds her with El almost constantly, helping her vocabulary and filling in the blanks in her knowledge that Nancy hadn't. Steve's dad, on the other hand, immediately gets her into sports, just like he did with Steve. When Steve asked why, he explains that it's not only healthy for growing children, but that exercise is a good way to release stress and can help take someone's mind off something they don't want to think about.

Steve realizes then, years later, that his father got him into sports as his own form of therapy. Which, given that fact that he wouldn't explain where he came from or what happened to him, is very touching. He damn near cries again.

El takes to soccer (or, she takes to aggressively kicking the ball to relieve her anger and frustration) and swimming, even though she couldn't swim. Steve's ecstatic, and of course teaches her. She's pretty clumsy with both, even as she gets a better handle on them. Still, she seems to enjoy it.

Nancy and Mike come over near constantly. Nancy's still tutoring El, preparing her for school, and both her and Steve's mom feel like if they continue she'll be ready when the school year officially starts. When Dustin and Lucas find out that's where Mike's been going, they practically set up camp at Steve's house as well. Robin visits periodically, always unannounced and always a treat, for both him and everyone else.

His mother, of course, is just happy that they have friends.

Jonathan calls all the time, though it doesn't feel so often because it's split between him and Nancy. Whenever he calls when they're both together (which is pretty often) it starts a battle on their side of the phone, fighting against each other to be closer- able to hear him better and get their voice heard in return. Jonathan finds it funny. They started plotting their revenge after the first call.

Steve, slowly but surely, recovers. It went fast at first- he gained back feeling in all his limbs, got his motor controls back, the pain stopped being unbearable. That all happened within the first few days, but after those big steps he hit an impasse. His fine motor controls were shot, he could barely hold anything weighing more than an apple, and if he got too excited or emotional his lungs would just give out. This, of course, worried the fuck out of everyone, because it was still happening almost a month after he stopped time. They took him to the Wheeler's basement to get him to spill, away from everyone else, and he realizes then that he really doesn't want to explain what's happening to him to a bunch of kids. His kids, no less.

They have trouble taking no for an answer, though.

"Steve, please-" Dustin never sounds like that, and the worry on his face is new as well. "You're scaring us, man."

He thinks back to that night, when Dustin told Hopper and Joyce what happened with the Russians. He wondered how things would be different, if Hopper survived. Would Hopper have pulled him over to the side afterwards? Made sure he was okay? Would he have been there when Steve woke up in the hospital?

One thing's for sure- Steve wouldn't of had a problem telling Hopper what was wrong- it's kinda his job, and while it might be embarrassing it didn't feel wrong. Not like it did telling kids.

But, they were the only ones left. The only ones who had stuck with him. At least Nancy and Robin were also here. Maybe they'll understand his worries.

"It's just side effects from stopping time." Steve waves his worry away, tries not to look at the others. El and Max are next to him, looking just as concern (and slightly terrified, like they thought he was going to die, like he was going to leave them-) . Behind the three of them, Lucas leans against a wall, arms cross and face set. He's going for intimidating, Steve thinks- try to scare the answers out of him, maybe. Mike is sat next to Nancy, staring at him with his head tilted in a way that was unnerving. Like he was figuring him out. 

"That happened a month ago." Dustin protests. "El's never done something that effected her for that long before!"

El nods her agreement, eyes steely, and Steve might now understand how this all started. "It's not normal."

El told them. El probably told them her concerns, now that she lives with him, and she told them about the others. About the lab. About how his symptoms shouldn't have lasted this long.

She's worried. She's scared. For him.

"I take longer to recover from stopping time." He doesn't know what to say to comfort them. "It's the same as last time. It might take a while, but I'll heal."

"You didn't explain what happened last time." Mike points out, eyes narrow, suspicious. "You just said that it almost killed you."

Robin, who hadn't been there for that story, perks up. "You've stopped time before?"

Dustin speaks before he can. "Yes, he did." He turns towards him. "Why don't you retell it? You can skip what happened, but I want to hear about the aftermath."

He feels the sudden urge to run away. His fingers twitch against his pants, but he's not as distraught about it as he thought he'd be. Six has always been a sore subject, but since he saved Billy, it hasn't been… it's been…

He feels redeemed. Not completely, not ever completely, but he feels like he finally did something that Six could be proud of. That, if Six was watching over them all, she would've smiled at what he did. It would've, maybe, brought her some peace, knowing he wouldn't allow it to happen again.

"Many of the kids at Hawkins Lab didn't like it there, nor did they want to be there." He turns his focus to Robin. "So they tried to escape. Dr. Brenner, our 'papa' had the guards shoot anyone who tried to escape. At one point, Six and two others tried to escape, and I just happened to be outside when it happened, so I watched them make a run for it. Six was shot… she didn't make it. They were about to shoot the other two, and I couldn't watch them die too, so I stopped time. They escaped."

Robin gaped, trying to take it in while also obviously having so many questions she wanted answered. Surprisingly, she didn't ask them.

Dustin, though, wasn't finished. "What happened after? El said she didn't see you for weeks after that."

He doesn't do a good job hiding his flinch. "I passed out, just like this time. You all felt it, when time stopped and restarted. That feeling? That was your anchor, the thing that stabilizes you in time. When I pull you into stopped time it comes off, and when time starts back up it slams back down. And for me, it's five times worse because my own anchor doesn't really work and it takes a lot of power to not only stop time but to also take off other people's anchors. Make sense?"

Dustin crosses his arms. "You're dodging the question."

"How? I'm answering you. I almost died both times. That's what happens when I stop time."

"You're hiding the side effects." Max finally cuts in, eyes sharp. "After the first time, what did you have to deal with? How long did they last? Was it this bad last time too?"

No. No it wasn't. Steve didn't even want to think about it, much less tell them.

"He doesn't want to tell us." Mike speaks up again, voice soft. "He doesn't want us to worry."

Dustin scoffs. "We're already worried!"

"It's not the same."

"Alright." Nancy finally, finally, cut in. "We're obviously at an impasse, so here's the compromise. Steve'll tell Robin and I what's going on, all of it, and we will take care of it. If it's too much for us to handle, we'll tell you. Sounds good?"

The kids didn't really like that, all voicing protests besides Mike, who's going through a really strange brooding phase that reminds him a bit of Will. He's not sure he likes this compromise, but it's much better than the latter of telling them all.

They head up to Nancy's room while the kids turn on a movie, and Nancy puts Mike in charge of making sure there's no snooping. Surprisingly, Mike seems serious about keeping them from invading his privacy, which is kind of endearing and he kind of wants to cry.

Nancy's room always makes him feel safe, mostly because it hasn't been ruined by any Upside Down creatures and it's Nancy. Robin peaks through her desk and Nancy makes Steve lay down, which he is fine with because he gets random bouts of vertigo now to add on top of everything.

"Alright." Nancy sits next to the bed with a pen and a pad of paper. "Spill."

Steve smirks. "Never thought we'd roleplay a nurse and her patient, but-"

Robin flicks a piece of hard candy at him. It hits his forehead. "Ew. Also, terrible deflecting."

Nancy smiles her agreement. "We really should monitor this, Steve. I don't know how it worked last time, but we don't have any doctors to help you, and definitely none that understand what you're going through. Anything is better than nothing here."

Steve sighs, stares up at the ceiling. "I get vertigo if I stand for too long, but I think it's getting less common." He starts on one of the easier things. "Same with the dizzy spells. At the beginning, they were blinding, but now I can force myself through them when it happens. My endurance is trash, I get winded getting out of bed, but that happened last time and it was the last thing to fully go away then too. Um… I, uh, I get sick every other morning. Used to be every morning, and I wouldn't stop until there was nothing left in my stomach. Now it's just one and done. That good enough?"

Nancy's scribbling on her paper. She looks at him through her lashes. "Is that all of it?"

Steve grimances. "I can't really control my body." He admits. "My hands shake randomly. I tell my legs to walk and sometimes they won't. My strength is slowly coming back, but the moment I pick up something too heavy my entire body will just, like, shut down. Sometimes my tears are red, but a doctor said last time that it was just my body flushing the traces of it out of my system."

Nancy bites her lip, gaze far away for a moment. "Anything that's completely gone away already?"

"I'd go deaf if something reached too high of a volume." This was, actually, kind of therapeutic. It felt nice, telling someone else his pain. "Same with seeing. If it was too bright everything would go white and I couldn't see. My heart was stuttering too, but that all stopped after the first week."

Robin had stopped snooping and had instead settled at the foot of the bed, listening quietly. Seeing her so calm felt kind of strange, because while she wasn't an energetic person her energy was, at least to Steve. Now, it just felt attentive, solid, there to listen.

Nancy finished writing, this time biting the inside of her mouth. "And your powers? Have you used them since that happened?"

Aaaaaaand he's out. Fuck, they thought about that.

Nancy sees the look on his face. "It's okay, Steve."

"Is it?" He questions. "I mean, let's really look at this, okay? The only ones who actually had a clue about what to do are dead and gone. That leaves us with two people who have powers- yet, oh no, no it doesn't, because neither of them have working powers."

It was temporary, of course. Last time he stopped time his powers were out for four weeks. They had started coming in before that, his electricity two weeks before his time, but he couldn't use them on command until the fourth or fifth week. It was temporary, but if something happens before they come back the best Steve can do is jump in front of his family and hope that'll be enough to protect them when he knows it probably won't be.

"You don't have to carry this all on your own, you know." Robin speaks up. "I get keeping the kids outta it, but we're here too." She leans in a bit and does a stage whisper. "But seriously, your girlfriend will kill you if you keep hiding shit. She's already got a place to hide the body."

Nancy doesn't refute that, which is both terrifying and oddly reassuring. Steve nods and exhales. "I normally lose my powers after stopping time, if only having one time beforehand makes it normally. They take about a month to come back, along with all the stuff. I was more or less fine by then last time."

The rest goes by, somehow, a bit more cheerful than before. Nancy squeezes a few more answers out of him before they go downstairs and finish watching the movie with the kids. He falls asleep on the couch (should probably add fainting to that list too-) three minutes after settling down and feels the warmth of those near him.

So, that's how he's been.

El's recovery is a little bit different.

Steve didn't know that, of course. Not until the end of summer.

El's powers have been sporadic at best and non-existent at worst for the past few weeks, and it's frustrated her to no end (thus, angrily kicking the soccer ball). When it's there she can't control it and when it's not there it's like she never had it in the first place. Steve's almost gotten used to living in a powerless household when something tickles the back of his mind, a scratch that itches in such a familiar but unexpected way that he yelps when he feels it.

El. He's sensing El.

Which means she's void walking .

Steve spins around, vision doubling for a second as his vertigo hits and he tries not to lose his stomach. Either way, his senses concentrate on a place near the kitchen and he grins. "You're void walking!"

El doesn't answer, of course, but she lets out a wave of happiness that Steve feels and understands well enough.

And that leads to the last week of summer, the both of them working on what little of their powers they have. By the last day of summer they can communicate pretty well while void walking just by understanding the emotions El sends through, and Steve can control electricity again and generate very low amounts of it if he focuses. 

On the last day they're all together again, this time at Steve's. Steve's parents are still home, have been for a while making sure everything was properly and officially set up. They'll probably leave after a week or so of school has gone by. The kids are all excited and nervous because they're starting high school and Steve sniffles because they grow up so fast.

El is very nervous, though, because she's starting high school and she's never been in a school before.

"You have nothing to worry about, El." He pulls her in her a side hug, squeezes her a little because his strength is back enough to do that too. "You're going in with friends already, and you already know everything you need to. That's better than I was when I started high school."

El worries her lower lip. "I'm disappointed." She finally said. "I won't get to pay back the kids who bullied Mike."

Mike chokes on his drink. Dustin belly laughs. Robin and Nancy snort at the same time.

Lucas leans against Max and says, "I think I'm gonna join the basketball team. Not sure if I'll make tryouts, though."

Steve waves him away. "Just tell coach I sent you. I was the golden boy of the athletics department."

"Steve the King~" Robin sings.

El giggles before tilting her head. "Should I also tell people that I know you?"

Steve smothers a snort. "I'd be surprised if anyone in Hawkins didn't already know that after this summer. But yeah, if anyone gives you trouble, remind them of that fact."

He stopped being the king after he stopped hanging around Tommy, but his name still held weight.

He considers that for a second. "That goes for all of you, actually." He finally says. "I'll be around for the first semester, but after that I gotta go be a functioning adult. After that, you'll have to find Nancy."

It occurs to him then that, after this year, they're going off to college. Nancy definitely is, and Steve is going to follow her and probably drag Robin with him. The idea of heading off and leaving the kids here doesn't really sit well with him, though. Should he go to a community college nearby or just skip that all and start working? His father's already promised him a good job in his own company for when he wants to settle, so that's always a possibility. That means, though, that if Nancy doesn't go local she'll also have to leave. She'll be alone.

Steve doesn't want to think about that.

Someone throws popcorn at him. It bounced off his head and falls to the floor. He tries to grab it midair.

And completely missed, because the popcorn freezes a few inches above where he aimed for.

They all pause, looking at the slowly falling popcorn kernel. Considering it. Steve stares at it, eyes wide.

He gets giddy. "It's back!" He claps his hands together. "It's back its back it's back-"

The popcorn jerks down an inch and slows again. A few seconds later it does it again, and Steve takes the popcorn out of the air and eats it happily.

Dustin looks wary yet hopeful. "Is it… okay?"

He understands the concern, given the stuttering it just did. He smiles. "It's not gonna come back at full strength, dumbass. The fact is, I can still control time. I honestly thought for a second that it wasn't gonna come back."

That crashed the entire conversation, a collective "What?!" filling the room. Whoops, he didn't mean to say that out loud.

Either way, after everything that happened, it was a surprisingly nice way to end the summer.

Being in the same school as his kids is great, because that means he can spy on them and not look weird doing it because he also goes to that school. Score.

He only has three classes, all he needs to graduate, so for his second period and last period he has nothing to do. Normally he'll go out to get food in his second for lunch during his third period, usually surprise Nancy with something other than packed or cafeteria food. Or, when he's proud of his kids, he'll leave during the last period and buy milkshakes, bringing them back for an end of school treat. He spoils them, and they know it.

They really know it. They've all noticed that if they accomplish something and show it to Steve he's pretty liberal in handing out praise and milkshake rewards. If they plan it correctly, they can get a milkshake after school every day, and they do plan it. The longest streak they've had so far was 8 days, not counting weekends. It started with El acing a quiz to Dustin's amazing school project, going on to Mike's aced test to then Lucas making the basketball team to Max perfecting a skateboard trick and then Max getting an A on a quiz back to El making a new friend and ending with Lucas acing a test. 

It was a diary filled two weeks.

Besides the obvious spoiling and wanting to be spoiled going on, Steve not so subtlety follows them around to make sure they're doing good. No one questions how he's still at school when he graduated last year- he just says there was a mix up and he's gotta do a few more classes because of it. They all take it at face value and Steve struts around the halls, almost everyone he knows being gone but everyone still knowing him and it's kind of fun, pretending to be Steve the King again. He falls back into it easily, the golden boy jock who people either love or hate with no in between. It's kind of fun, being the popular kid when you actually don't care about it at all. Nancy and Robin seem to find it amusing, Nancy less so when the new senior girls try flirting with him.

Dustin and Mike join the school's D&D club, which is run by someone who is definitely on the 'hate Steve the King Harrington' side, and Steve watches from afar and grills the two about it when he picks them up afterwards. Dustin really likes the guy, but both he and Mike laugh about how much he, Eddie, doesn't like Steve. Dustin's apparently got a plan to fix that, but even from afar he can tell that Eddie cares for Dustin and watching Dustin go starry eyed whenever he mentions Steve is probably not gonna help his image. It'll be funny, hilarious even, but won't get him many brownie points.

(Not like Steve cares either way. Eddie's trying to take one of his kids and is getting mad at Steve like Steve wasn't there first. He can figure that out the hard way. He'll never be anything more than the cool uncle.)

El waits a while before also deciding to join the D&D club, not knowing what else to do or join. Steve talked his mom into getting El a soccer coach, because exercise really was an important stress reliever and Steve feels like she could be good at it. She enjoys it enough and knows enough about the rules that she's even thinking of joining in the spring, which Steve loves. The athletic department will recognize her name from the news and know that they got a miniature Steve on their hands.

(He feels like an evil dictator, controlling the entire school for his own pleasure. It's actually very fun.)

He stays out of sports, this semester, mostly because it feels a bit like cheating, somehow. He still uses the school's pool, though. He spends most of his second and last periods, when not preoccupied, doing laps around the pool, trying to recover his strength and endurance (which are mostly back but not at 100%). It's a good workout and it takes his mind off things. 

He's helping the basketball coach out as well, just for brownie points. Many of the games will be played after he's no longer in school, but he can help during the preseason. During tryouts he mostly just watched from the stands, until one of the freshmen who don't know him makes a loud comment about him loitering. He then proceeds to break his and the rest of the freshmen's ankles because he can and because the coach asked him to.

(He's the type to procrastinate by playing sports, and he procrastinates a lot- it's why he's so good at them.)

That leads to half of the team hating him while the other half praises him for shutting the first half up for a few minutes. 

And Lucas makes the team. He's the only freshmen who's ankles didn't break, and Steve will never tell him if it's because he went easy on him or not.

(He did for a whole two seconds before realizing that Lucas knew him and understood his tricks and thus he couldn't go easy, but then when he went hard on him Lucas still understood his tricks and now he's a bit embarrassed about it.)

The scrimmage is halfway through the first semester, and Steve helps out the coach beforehand and watches the entire thing through with Max. The others are apparently at their club, but Lucas seems fine just having Max cheer for him.

Steve is there too, acting like an overexcited mother watching their child play a sport for the first time in their life. He's giving his biases away with how loud he's cheering whenever Lucas has the ball, but he doesn't care too much. Let them know, if they're even paying attention. If they care so much, he'll just say that he's his protege. That would be even more funny, because then the rumor will be that Steve the King Harrington has named a successor and it'll be Lucas of all people.

He was thinking of doing that but with Dustin, just to throw the school into chaos while they decrown him and find a new monarch. He was also thinking of giving it to Max because she'd actually destroy the school hierarchy. So many choices, what should he choose?

They win the scrimmage and the Sinclairs barely even get a chance to congratulate their son before Steve is (respectfully) dragging him away. He takes him and Max out to eat in celebration, forgets that he has a sister to pick up, and leaves halfway through the meal to grab El (and Dustin, who is too lazy to walk home) and bring her to the restaurant with them. It's chaotic, but Lucas has a fun time and that's what matters.

Mike calls him later that night. "El's already asleep."

"I'm not calling for El." Mike says. "Can you drive me to the airport tomorrow?"

He first questions why his parents can't do it, before realizing- "Why are you going to the airport?"

"Why do you think?"

Steve smiles, something genuine. "Thank Christ, man, it's about time you visit. You both aren't the same."

While Will's feelings may be different from Mike's they are still best friends and the separation shows, very clear in Will's voice over the phone and literally everything Mike does.

"Yeah yeah, it was hard to get my parents to agree."

"Be grateful, they're footing the bill." Steve grins. "So, what time is your flight?"

"5:30am."

Steve pauses. "...what?"

Chapter Text

Taking Mike to the airport and going to school afterwards is a grumpy affair. It only gets worse when he gets there too late to see Nancy before school starts. Ugh.

He's wandering the halls when he sees them. Second period is coming up and with nowhere to go he finds himself lurking. It's what leads him to the freshmen classes, and what allows him to see what happens.

"Seriously, what kinda freak are you for hanging out with those weirdos?" El's facing three freshmen girls, all of which remind Steve of the crowds he used to run with. They all look at his sister with some form of disgust on their faces. "There's no way you're actually Steve Harrington's sister."

Good God, hearing teenagers talk about high school hierarchies like they actually matter, when Steve almost died multiple times just this summer alone was aggravating.

"He's my brother." El confirms, facing away from him but obviously annoyed just by her posture. "And they are not weirdos."

Well, they kind of are, but that just adds to their charm. 

Thinking back on it, he should probably let El deal with this herself, but he can't really just stand by and let something like this happen, especially because she was going to be late to class if this continued and Steve takes his responsibilities seriously. So, with all that in mind, he slides into view and drapes an arm over El's shoulder. "Hey guys, what are we talking about?"

The other girls gape at his sudden appearance. El flicks some of his hair out of her face, having fallen into view with how he was leaning. "I'm too much of a freak-"

"Hi!" One of the girls cuts El off, smiling much too wide. Another girl is twirling a lock of hair around her finger, and the last is beet red and flustered. Steve tried to ignore the obvious massive crush at least two of these girls had, because it was weird.

Huh, he now understands what the hot teachers have to go through every time a student tries to flirt with them. He's so happy he never did that himself. Dodged a bullet there.

"Hi." His responding smile was not kind. "As El was saying, you were calling her a freak because of who her friends were? And that I couldn't possibly be related to a freak like that?"

The girls all freeze again, just now realizing that he had heard that. 

"But-!" The hair twirling girl jumped in. "You're athletic and popular and hot- and she hangs out with the last picked kids!"

Oh no, they called them the last picked kids? Like they were the last to be picked in team dodgeball? Oh that's bad, that's embarrassing as all hell.

"Seems like they make better friends then you would." Steve gives them his best unamused look. "Now, let me reiterate. El is my sister, she can hang out with whoever she wants and be friends with whoever she wants. She doesn't need to climb up the ladder because I'm already at the top. If I catch you picking on her again, though, you'll be dropped from whatever perch you've managed to climb up to so far. Got it?"

They got it.

As far as threats go, it was complete and utter bullshit. Yeah Steve could make everyone in school see them as complete garbage- gum under their shoes, but the entire hierarchy thing was mostly made up anyway. The fact is they care so much in the first place, while Steve can't stop looking behind him waiting for orderlies to appear, even if the lab's been closed down for almost a year now. He has different priorities.

The girls scurry away to their classes, but El makes no move to duck under his arm. Instead, she just looks at him. "Would you actually do that?"

Steve shrugs. "Probably not, unless they really deserved it. And if they really deserved it, their consequences would be much worse."

El considers this. "Would you beat them up?"

Oh god, high school is already getting to her. "I can't beat up freshmen girls, El." He snorts, pauses. "But you can."

El's resulting smile is a flashing warning sign for danger.

He starts teaching her how to properly throw a punch after school that day. She catches on very quickly, and by the end of the week her knuckles are raw and just waiting to be used.

But, as Steve will learn, knowing how to throw a punch and knowing when to throw a punch are entirely different things. He figures this out when he gets a call from Hawkins' police telling him that the girl he dropped off at the arcade an hour ago is now in a jail cell for assault.

He has to throw both his charm and his money towards the girl's parents to get them to drop charges, and the car ride back was probably the worst one Steve has ever had. He had to lecture her the entire way back on not doing what she did when, in Steve's opinion, he's never been more proud.

When they get home El slams the car door shut on her way out and Steve frowns. "El."

El whirls towards him, obviously very frustrated, and probably not just at the lecture she was given. "What."

He takes a deep breath, exhales softly. "Next time you want revenge, be a little more sneaky about it."

El paused, eyes widening for a moment, surprised. Steve just shrugged, walking up to the door and unlocking their house.

El spent the next few minutes on the phone. Half an hour later Max showed up. When Steve passed El's room, he could hear them plotting.

Nothing ever lasts, sadly. Steve knew it was all coming to an end when there was a knock on his door and he opened it up to see Dr. Owens.

A few months had passed in relative ease. He finished his classes, graduated, and is now working at a music radio shop with Robin. El hasn't had any more upsets (at least, that they can pin on her) and Mike is once again back in California.

"Um." Are his first words, because he knows the man by proxy, has seen pictures of him, and did not ever expect to see him in person. In fact, with what he's connected too, he's a bit worried. "What are you doing here?"

Dr. Owens doesn't seem to recognize him, at least. Or he knows and is just really good at hiding it. "Does El live here? Jane Hopper?"

The thumping of footsteps, and El pokes her face underneath Steve's arm. "Hello."

Owens smile is warm enough to make Steve feel slightly more at ease. "Hi El. I wished we could be talking on better circumstances, but we have a problem."

This finds him sitting across from Owens on his couch, El in an armchair between them. "What's this problem about?"

Dr. Owens glances at El, like he doesn't trust Steve being here. When El just waited for him to continue, Owens sighed. "The US government thinks you were involved in the death of Chrissy Cunningham."

Oh yeah. Scratch what he said earlier, he knew it was all coming to an end when Dustin and El made him and Robin track down a traumatized D&D club organizer. Eddie still doesn't like him, which is why he's currently at home and not with the others trying to put this all together. That and they needed to go grocery shopping for Eddie and he was the one with the money. Anyways, Chrissy was killed by the Upside Down, somehow, by something Dustin is now calling Vecna. Eddie saw it happen and ran. Nancy's trying to dig into it using reporting as a way to get new answers. The Upside Down is back, and El still doesn't have any real powers besides void walking.

And now Dr. Owens is here saying that the government thinks El's at fault for-

Steve frowns. "How does the government even know about El?" It wasn't like Papa was one to share his experiments.

Owens didn't have an answer, which, honestly, suspicious, but El seemed to trust him. "That's not all I came to tell you, though." Dr. Owens takes a deep breath. "Hawkins is in terrible danger, and I fear that it'll all fall to ruin if we don't get your powers back. Luckily, I've been working on a program that I'm confident will help you gain your powers back."

Steve can't help it. The lights flicker. El frowns. "Steve-"

Steve keeps his eyes on the doctor, who's own gaze flickers to each light in the room. "You expect me, us to believe any of this?"

Owens frowns. "With all due respect, sir, you have no part in this." His tone is professional yet curt, and Steve's very close to snapping. "This decision is up to El. While I understand that you have been caring for her after Hopper's death, you don't seem to understand-"

Steve stands up as a bulb in the kitchen bursts. "I don't understand? I don't understand? Doctor, I understand perfectly well." He takes a step forward, and while Owens' eyes track him the rest of his body remains completely still. "I understand what's happening just as well as you do, probably even more since I've had to deal with this all first hand."

He takes another step forward. Dr. Owens' eyes widen when he realizes that his body isn't responding to him like normal. It's something new Steve has been trying- slowing the body, but keeping the mind. It leaves people completely aware, but also completely immobile. With his increased proficiency and use of his powers, he's been able to get it down pretty well. Still, it must be terrifying, not knowing what's happening, how it's happening.

He takes another step forward, bends down until he's eye level with the man. "You don't know who's house you walked into, do you, Doctor Owens?"

El watches this all happen, silent. Her face holds a spark of curiosity. Steve backs up, goes to sit back in his previous spot. This time, Dr. Owens' eyes don't leave him. "You never even asked me for my name. Did it not occur to you that there had to be a really good reason for El to be living with me?"

He's probably going a little too far, given the fact that he was apparently a good guy trying to help them. Still, he just feels off. Feels a bit too much like Dr. Brenner.

With a sharp exhale, he flicks his wrist and time slots back into place around Owens. He almost slumps as his body comes back into his control, but now he's looking at both of them with a new light. "You… you are-"

"I am El's older brother." Steve's smile holds venom. "My name is Steve, but to get it out of the way Dr. Brenner used to call me Seven. Now, let's start this all over again, but this time with the knowledge that I am also here and that I don't trust this little project you're speaking of whatsoever. Now, go on."

Dr. Owens takes a second to come back into himself. There's a mixture of horror and curiosity resting on his face. "I stand corrected." He admits. "And I apologize for the way I acted earlier. We are in a perilous situation, and I believe that El regaining her powers is the only way we might be able to survive it. The program I put together is completely safe, I assure you."

El shifts in her seat, glancing at him with wide, almost pleading eyes. "I want to try."

Steve knew that would be her answer. Still- "Are you sure?"

El nods, determination sweeping across her face. "I trust Dr. Owens, and I need to get my powers back. It's been months, yet nothing is working. I… I should at least try."

Dr. Owens smiles. "She will be safe there. From both the Upside Down and the US government."

Fuck, he forgot about that. He can't fight a whole government- she has to go before they decide that she's a threat. They really have no choice in the matter, do they? Steve's tempted to go with her, but he doesn't want to leave those still in Hawkins to deal with everything without him. He has the power to protect people, he should use them.

If El really trusts him…

He groans, runs a hand through his hair. "Alright." He concedes, before glaring at Owens. "I will find you if something happens, got me?"

Owens seems to barely hear the threat. "Were you here, the whole time?" He asks, somewhat amazed. "Living in Hawkins right under their noses?"

He nods, and Dr. Owens gets a far off look in his eyes, wondering about the past.

He helps El pack a few essentials, still not ready for this but knowing it was probably either this or dealing with the US government. It's a rock and a hard place, and they're just trying to struggle through.

El finishes packing and sits next to him on her bed. "I have to do this."

Steve frowns, looking at the floor. "I know." He whispers. "I just don't like it."

El leans against him. It's quiet for a few moments. "I keep seeing things." She says after a while. "Things I don't understand. Kids dead on the ground. Blood covering the rainbow room. Papa asking what I did." She squeezes her eyes shut. "And I don't remember any of it- maybe this'll help. If it can bring back my powers maybe it can…"

Steve swings an arm over her shoulders. "I hope you'll find what you're looking for." He says, words genuine. "But, if it is a trap-"

"I know." El cuts him off, shoulder checking him. "If I can't call, void walk."

"Send me some fear and I'll be on the next flight over." Steve finishes, a gentle reminder and assurance. "He didn't give me an exact address but-"

"-that's never stopped you before." El finishes with a grin, and Steve kisses the top of her head. "I'm… I'm a bit scared. Nervous."

"I would be too." Steve murmured. "Hell, I'm not even going and I'm two seconds away from crying. It's scary, but I will be there for you, if you need me. I'll call Jonathan after you leave, too. He'll be much closer, if you need something fast."

El knew Jonathan's number because it was also Will's and Joyce's number. She nods, steels herself. Stands. "Love you."

Steve stands with her. "Love you too, El."

El walks out the door and puts her packed bag in Dr. Owens' car. Steve watches from the porch as she hops into the passenger seat.

The car turns on.

Steve suddenly remembers something.

He runs up to their car right before Dr. Owens drives off. "One more thing!"

Owens rolls down the window. "Hmm?"

Steve's smile is pleasant when he speaks, though his words are anything but. "If you mess with her hair I will kill you."

El giggles as a splash of fear flashes across Owens' face. "Having better access to her scalp might be helpful during-"

"Do I look like I care?" Steve tilts his head and gives him a lopsided smile. "You're smart- work around it. Mess with her hair, and you and everyone else in this program dies. Understand?"

Owens looks at El, as if expecting help. El fingers a lock of her hair and smiles back, a perfect mimic of Steve's own smile.

He's obviously rubbed off on her, in more ways than one.

Owens finally nods his understanding, and Steve backs away. The car drives off, and Steve watches them go.

Then, he takes out Will's old radio and gets back to work.

It's around that time that Max calls him, voice soft and quiet and scared.

Chapter Text

He picks Max up before he does anything else, determined to stay by her side. If her theory is true and she could be targeted by Vecna, Steve's going to do his hardest to protect her from it.

Dustin and Lucas are incredulous when they all get together. "Max is the next target?" Dustin sounds surprised. "Because of Billy? But he's alive?"

Max frowns, expression darkening. "I wouldn't call what he's doing living."

Billy, after everything that happened, had been in a coma for months before waking up. After that, he had been unresponsive to all stimulus until El appeared and he started screaming. Now, he's under 24 hour supervision in a care home, slowly learning how to be himself again. The Mind Flayer completely destroyed his mind, and from what Max has confided in him, he's having trouble getting it back.

And she feels guilty that she didn't notice sooner. That she didn't do something sooner.

Dustin backtracks quickly, face flushing in shame. Lucas decides to hop in. "If Vecna is going after people with traumatic pasts, are you and El also in danger?"

Steve pauses. Huh, he hadn't thought about that. He should turn the conversation away before they all start worrying. "El left with Dr. Owens to regain her powers, she isn't in Hawkins anymore."

Max did a double take. "When did that happen?"

"Like two hours ago?"

"And you let her go?" Dustin looks surprised. "I didn't think you'd trust any of those scientists."

"I trust him as far as I can throw him." Steve admitted. "But El trusts him and she really wanted to do this. If Vecna is going after people the way you think he is, having her gone while she regains her powers is probably better anyway."

Max blinks, shoving several pieces of paper into her pocket. "Have you had any nightmares lately, Steve?"

Steve snorts. "I have nightmares all the time, Max. I've had them for years. Why?"

Max glances at Lucas and Dustin and Steve feels like he maybe shouldn't have said that. "What about nosebleeds? Or headaches?"

He raises an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you're not talking about power relating ones, so no, I haven't-"

He pauses, because right at that moment, as if the devil is listening, his nose starts to bleed.

The kids all stare at him like he's a dead man waiting.

"Oh my fucking god-" Irritated, he uses his sleeve to wipe it away. "It's fine guys, chill out."

They don't think it's fine. "Do you have a headache?"

"No." He lies, because there's a pressure starting up behind his eyes, making everything he sees too bright and harsh. The nosebleed won't stop, and he grabs some tissue to plug it. His irritation seems to sell his lie, and the kids relax slightly. "It's either a coincidence or unrelated. Even if it is related, Max has had way more symptoms than me. Stop bugging."

Lucas and Dustin turn back to Max, as if remembering that she's been having these symptoms for a while now and thus was probably farther along. They both look lost when Lucas asks, "what should we do?"

Steve doesn't know. He's just here to try and protect everyone. Max shifts from side to side. She pulls a paper out of her back pocket. "I want to talk to Billy."

Steve drives all of them to the place Billy is staying. He's silent when they enter, the barest traces of recognition behind his slack expression. On good days he might talk a little, maybe even remember Max, but most days he stares vacantly at the wall, as if stuck in a memory he'd rather never see again.

On this day, he turns his head when they walk in, and the others wait outside as Max reads him a letter. There's soft talking afterwards, as if Billy is actually responding, but that would be rare and if he did it wouldn't really mean anything. His entire brain was fried due to the Mind Flayer, the nurses think that, if he ever does recover from the 'brain damage sustained from the sinkhole' it'll take years of therapy for it to happen.

When Max is done she storms past them, eyes watery and gaze hard. They find her in the garden to the side of the building, currently empty but still full of flowers.

She obviously needs a minute.

Steve leans against his car, eyes half closed to block the sunlight. His nosebleed was gone but his headache was just getting worse and worse. Like someone had grabbed his head with two hands and was digging around in it. He's almost sure he felt a presence for a moment too, but it most likely was just the pain making him imagine things. "Where's Robin and Nancy?"

"Visiting this guy named Victor Creel." Dustin explains. "His family died in an eerily similar way as Chrissy and they think Vecna caused it."

"And if Victor had survived that time, then he must know a way to avoid Vecna's powers." Lucas finishes for him.

Steve sighs, closing his eyes. The pounding in his head dug into his skull with each beat, getting louder and louder and louder-

Until it stopped. Completely cut off, like it was never there. His headache disappears without a trace.

His eyes snap open. Something feels wrong.

The two kids with him look fine, so he looks over to Max. "Hey Max!"

She doesn't respond.

Lucas and Dustin look over as well. Lucas frowns. "Max?"

Still no response.

Steve's moving then, the others close behind him as they reach Max. She's completely unresponsive, and when Steve sees her eyes they're completely rolled back into her head.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck!

"Shit!" Dustin panics, and Lucas shakes Max, trying to get her to wake up. "This is what Eddie said happened to Chrissy!"