Chapter Text
Chapter One: Running Is Easy
Steve was confused. He was back in the upside down but the gate was supposed to be closed. He looked around trying to figure out where exactly he was when he heard yelling. He turned to see Eddie caught in the middle of the demobat swarm, but this time Steve was too far away and Dustin was rushing in trying to get him out. Steve ran as fast as he could, the wounds at his sides burning with every stride as he tried to get to them in time. He got there just as the bats were clearing out, but he was too late.
He dropped to his knees beside Dustin to try and assess the damage. Blood was pouring out of his neck and sides and he was trying to talk to Steve but couldn’t speak past the blood pooling in his mouth. To his left, Eddie was in the same condition. Steve was screaming for Robin and Nacy to come and help him but they weren’t there. Why weren’t they there? He didn’t have time to panic about it as he tried to pull Dustin off the ground but the boy was dead weight in Steve’s arms. Struggling he got to his feet cradling the teen against his chest before turning to try and drag Eddie with him as well. He had almost made it back to the gate when Eddie went fully limp.
Steve collapsed in a heap with both boys trying to wake them to no avail.
Steve was ripped out of his nightmare by the sound of the phone ringing downstairs. He checked the time on his alarm clock, 6:50 am. He wiped a hand down his face before pulling himself out of bed.
As he walked down the stairs he kept thinking about his dream. It had been three days since Vecna was destroyed and Steve wasn’t sure if he could take it anymore. He hadn’t slept through the night since before spring break, the sound of clocks made his stomach drop to his feet, and watching stare into space for even a second too long sent him into a mental spiral. Even though everyone had made it out alive and the Byers had returned to Hawkins with Hopper in tow, Steve couldn’t relax.
He made it to the phone on the last ring.
“Hello, Harrington residence, this is Steve speaking.”
“Good morning Mr.Harrington, this is Cheif Brown. I’m with the Chicago police department,” the man paused and cleared his thought, “There’s no easy way to say this son, but your parents were in an accident last night.”
Steve inhaled sharply as panic began to build in his chest.
“A-Are they okay?” There was a pause on the other end of the line before the Cheif answered.
“I'm afraid they didn’t make it”
Steve went numb as Cheif Brown continued to talk on the other end of the line. His parents were dead. He spent a week going through hell not knowing if he was going to make it out alive and if he didn’t would they even care? Would they mourn the son they left all by himself in their big house as soon as they could? They were supposed to be home within the week before they took off on their next trip. He was supposed to see them and despite their prolonged absences he still loved them. They were his Mom and Dad, two wild people that loved to travel and should have never had a kid but they were his.
“Mr.Harrington… Are you still there?” Steve was snapped out of his trance by the sound of the Chief's voice. His own shook as he answered.
“Ye-Yeah I’m still hear. Could you, could you repeat that please?”
“I’ll need you to come to the station to identify and collect them… I can uh, I can put you in contact with a funeral home here if you’d like or you could contact one of your choosing once you identify them.” Steve took a steadying breath before he responded,
“O-okay I’ll be there tomorrow, first thing in the morning. Is that, is that okay?
“Just get here as soon as you safely can son. Ask for me when you get to the station, and I’m sorry for your loss.”
Steve heard the phone click into its receiver and the line went dead. He limply put his own back in place before sliding to the floor.
He sat there numb until he heard a knock on his front door. Sitting up straighter he checked the time, it was almost ten. There was another knock on the door, this time louder and a little impatient when he remembered he was supposed to take Dustin to visit Max and Eddie at the hospital.
Slowly Steve stood, back popping as he did, and answered the door. There on his front doorstep was Dustin. He was rocking on his toes with both hands holding the straps of the pack on his back. He gave Steve a toothy smile before launching into why he was there
“Steve! Thank god man, I thought I was gonna have to throw rocks at your window or something to wake you up!”
“Yeah…,” Steve trailed off not sure if he should tell the kid the truth or keep it to himself a little longer.
“Steve? Are you ok dude?” The teen's face had scrunched up in concern as he trailed off.
“Yeah, yeah I just lost track of the time.” Steve ran a hand through his hair as he realized he was still in his pajamas.
“Just give me like five minutes to change.” He stepped to the side to let Dustin into the house. Closing the door he started up the stairs before the teen stopped him.
“Are you sure you’re okay, Steve?” The concern was still evident on his face as his eyes scanned the older boy.
“Yes, I’m fine, Henderson, just tired. Ya know, from the whole saving the world for the fourth time thing.” He winced when his voice was harsher than intended.
“I’ll be down in five.” He turned and ran up the stairs before Dustin could question him again.
Once he was in his room he shut the door firmly behind him before his resolve broke. He slumped against the door with tears streaming down his face. The others couldn't find out about his parent's deaths, they had enough to deal with right now. Max and Eddie needed a calm environment to fully recover from their injuries and the others were already dealing with the lasting effects of spring break. Steve couldn't dump his problems on top of that. No matter what Robin said, they had too much shit to handle he wasn’t about to add to it.
Pulling himself off the ground, Steve resolved to keep this to himself until the funeral was over. He made his way to his closet and pulled a beat-up old duffle bag out of the corner. It had once served as his gym bag but it would suffice. He pulled out enough clothes to last a couple of days before dressing himself. Grabbing the bag he walked to his bathroom to gather the necessary toiletries and attempt to tame his hair. It had gotten longer than he normally let it but couldn’t find it in himself to care. It was his father that insisted he keep it short and “proper”. Sighing in defeat at the state of his appearance he closed the bag and headed back down to Dustin.
“Dude, that was more than five minutes,” the teen wined as he followed Steve out the door, “Mike and the others are gonna beat us there and I wanted to talk to Eddie about a new character idea I had.” He continued to wine all the way to the car before noticing the bag Steve was caring.
“Are you going on a trip or something?”
Steve sighed as he dropped the duffle into the trunk.
“Yes, Henderson, a family emergence came up out of town and I’m heading that way as soon as I droop you off.” He missed the hurt look on the teen's face as he slid into the driver's seat. A moment later Dustin climbed into the passenger side.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner, man? Are you ok? Do you need someone to go with you?” Dustin began to fidget as they pulled out of the driveway.
“We can always call Nancy-”
“Will you drop the Nancy thing,” Steve snapped, “I told you there’s nothing going on between us. Not anymore.”
“Okay, okay no more talking about Nancy,” Dustin held his hands up in mock surrender, “But seriously, dude, are you gonna be okay alone?”
Steve glanced to his right to see Dustin staring at him, face scrunched like he didn’t quite believe what the older boy was saying.
“I’ll be okay Dustin, I’ll call when I get in this afternoon.” He turned into the parking lot spotting the Byers vehicle and pulling up next to it.
“Let everyone know I’ll be out of town for a few days,” Steve said as he put the car in park, “I’ll call when I’m headed back so don’t let Robin or Eddie worry too much.”
Dustin gave him a disbelieving look as he clambered out of his seat.
“Okay man, you better call when you get there. Wherever there is.”
Steve gave him a tight smile as he walked into the building, letting it drop as soon as Dustin was out of his sight.
Not wanting to get caught in a spiral of grief, Steve pulled out of the lot and started the drive to Chicago.
It was dark by the time Steve found a cheap roadside motel to call home for the next few days and collapsed into bed.
Morning came too quick and too slow all at the same time. The nightmares haunted Steve through the whole drive to the station and through the entire identification process. He used the pay phone outside the station to make a call to his parent's lawyer, setting up a time to meet and go over their wills, and made a call to the funeral home to set up a time for their bodies to be picked up. Both of his parents wanted to be buried in the Harrington plot in Hawkins cemetery so he would have a small graveside service, with any friends he could contact invited.
Four days later Steve was dressed in his Sunday best as his parents were laid to rest in their too-fancy caskets. Despite having hoards of friends he was the only person in attendance on that rainy afternoon. The only other person to show up had been the paster and he had left hours ago.
Much to Steve's surprise, he had been the sole beneficiary of his parent's wealth. It really shouldn't have been so shocking, he was the only living relative of both of them. His grandparents had all died before he was old enough to walk and neither had any siblings that he knew of so Steve had been the obvious choice.
He stood there in the rain staring at the upturned dirt that now separated him from his parents and made the dumbest decision of his life. Steve said his final goodbyes, got in his car, and drove out of Hawkins without a backward glance.