Chapter Text
It was just another dull day for everyone in Hawkins, Indiana. A day filled with your typical daily routines.
A dull day in a dull, small town where nothing ever happened…Right?
Hawkins School was bustling with students, the hallways filled to the brim as everyone gathered in groups for a chit chat before the beginning of the next period, exchanging notes, makeup, whatever you can think of that teenagers of the 80’s do during recess.
“I swear to God Steve, I’m sick and tired of your little minions,” you grumbled as you opened your locker a bit more sharply than you intended to, making the boy in question cringe.
“You know that I can’t ditch Tommy. He’s been my friend since I can remember myself,” sighed Steve and you rolled your eyes as you hastily grabbed your biology books and notebooks before shoving the locker closed.
“If he calls my brother a freak one more time, I won’t hesitate to beat him up... I’m only holding back because you’re my frien-“
“Stop trying to lick his balls, Byers,” called out a voice from behind you. “This whole ‘Oh, I’m doing this because you’re my friend’ and ‘I’m doing that because I cherish you’-” the tone heightened mockingly before dropping back to its low, condescending baritone “- bullshit isn’t going to soften up King Steve and make him crawl into your bed. He fancies Nancy Wheeler,” Tommy strolled casually past you, lowering himself a bit, annoyingly entering your personal space just so he could bite out the last words into your ear before he went to stand next to Steve and throw you a mischievous grin. The grip on your books tightened so much you thought it would break through the hard covers and wrinkle the pages.
“Funny, for a moment there it seemed as if you were describing yourself,” you smiled tightly and his face fell. Before he could utter another scathing remark you pushed past him, knocking him a bit into Steve as you briskly walked down the hallway and towards your next period classroom.
“You know, you don’t always have to be a dick,” frowned Steve but Tommy just shook his head.
“And I don’t understand why you always take her side. You became friends with her since we started high school. But you’ve been friends with me since before. I’ve always had your back but you’re beginning to annoy me… “King” Steve,” spat out Tommy as he draped an arm over his girlfriend’s shoulder and began walking towards the classroom. Steve stood there, one hand rubbing the bridge of his nose as he wondered what he was supposed to do with the two of you before Tommy’s voice snapped him out of his mulling. “You coming or what?”
“Didn’t you hear what I just said, nerds?” spat out James as he shoved Mike’s shoulder. “I’m feeling like having extra lunch today, so empty. your. pockets!” he accentuated each word, accompanying it with more shoves. They have been at it for quite some time now, impishly pestering the group of four, having cut off their way at the entrance of the school.
“Why do you always gotta be like that, man? Leave us alone,” groaned Dustin as he took a step forward to try and stop the boy but Troy got in his way instead and pushed him back.
“Who asked you to speak? We can’t understand a word you’re saying, toothless!”
“You know very well that this is cleidocranial dysplasia!” raised his voice the boy and Troy rolled his eyes as he grabbed Dustin’s jacket and brought him face to face.
“Oh yeah? Open your mouth then!” when Dustin tried pulling away, the two boys got into a tug war situation until Dusting managed to shake off Troy, making him stumble a bit into James. Dustin’s eyes widened when the two glared and growled before they lunged at him. Mike, Will and Lucas cringed and tensed as they saw their friend getting attacked and immediately went to pull him and the others away from each other. “What the hell is going on here?” a male voice boomed and everyone snapped their heads to look at a group of older guys approaching them. It was Troy’s brother and a couple of his friends – all Juniors/11th graders.
Troy and James smirked as they backed away and let their brothers and older friends come closer.
“So you are the little nerds who are trying to pick fights with my brother,” huffed the boy as he dropped his backpack on the ground and strolled closer to the group of four.
“Y-you got it all wrong…sir!” Mike raised his hands in defense.
“With all due r-respect but we were simply trying to defend ourselves. Maybe we can forget about it all and be on our way,” decided to reason Lucas.
“Oh, shut up, kid,” huffed the boy as he pushed Lucas. Dustin was able to catch him before he hit the ground while Mike and Will stood in front of them protectively. As brave as they were, they weren’t able to do much against their bigger opponents. One guy shoved Mike, sending him to the ground, and another closed in on Will, looking him up and down.
“You look familiar,” he said as he hit the boy’s shoulder roughly. “I’ve seen you hang around with someone. Can’t put my finger on who though,” he tilted his head pensively before pushing him again.
Just before he was about to push Will for the third time, he felt two hands latch onto his shoulders, shoving him so hard that his body hit the wall, head bouncing off painfully. The others turned to face the intruder who did it and their eyes widened.
“With me…you’ve seen him hang out…with me,” you drawled as one hand went to take the cigarette from between your lips, eyes glaring into the soul of the guy you just pushed before you shifted them to glare at the rest.
“B-Byers? This is your brother?” stuttered one of them and you closed your eyes, lowering your head and nodding as you exhaled the smoke, your foot drawing patterns on the floor before tapping twice on it.
“Do you remember the fantastic beating you received two years ago for bullying my other brother?” you asked with squinted eyes as you took a drag. When the boy’s friends, who were helping him get off the ground, nodded, you sent them a tight smile, exhaling the smoke through your nose. “Here’s what’s gonna happen… Unless you want to become my personal ash trays for the rest of the year, you’re gonna leave my brothers and their friends…alone,” you chirped sweetly as you drew closer and closer to the group with each word, staring them down menacingly. “Do we have a deal?”
They muttered their agreements before taking off as if the devil himself was putting hot coals under their feet.
You took a final drag of your cigar before putting it out and throwing it in the nearby bin before you turned around to face your brother and his companions. They looked at you with the most adorable, starstruck expressions and you couldn’t help but smile widely, eyes filling with adoration as you neared them and crouched down in front of Will who immediately wrapped his arms around your neck.
“Why didn’t you tell me anything?” you whispered as you hugged him tightly and placed a soft kiss on the crown of his head before pulling away just slightly in order to look at him.
“I didn’t want to bother you,” he muttered and you caressed his cheek, brushing away his bangs before pinching his cheek lightly, leaving your hand to rest there.
“I’m your big sister, Will. I shouldn’t find out about things like that in such a way. You should always tell me when something…or someone…is bothering you. Who am I if I can’t protect you, hm?” you smiled gently at him and he returned it before hugging you again.
You outstretched your arm and beckoned in the other three and they gladly joined the warm hug.
“The same goes for you, ok? The three musketeers,” you nodded and threw them a knowing look as you ruffled Dustin’s curls, squished Mike’s cheeks and bopped Lucas’ nose, making them all giggle before the bell rang, interrupting the moment.
“Now go. Don’t be late for class,” you stood up as you grabbed the backpack you had discarded on the floor.
“What about you? Are you skipping last period?” asked Will and you hummed.
“It’s history. You know I’m the top student and my knowledge on history is far above the material we’re studying at school. Even Mrs. Click knows that. She doesn’t get worked up when I skip classes. I promised Amy I’d go to work earlier today because she needs help at the diner so… here we are,” you explained.
“If you’re starting work early… it means you’ll get home early too…right?” asked Will expectantly and your face fell, shoulders sagging. The trio looked at you and at their best friend and decided to give you some space so they began walking slowly down the hallway.
“Listen, I’ll be staying until the diner closes,” you said and Will looked dejectedly at the floor. “I told Jonathan to pick you up if he finishes work early but if he doesn’t make it on time, will you be ok to ride the bike home on your own?”
“Yeah…”
“Hey…heey, listen baby, I know that…me, mom and Jonathan haven’t been…spending much time home these past months but,” you shook your head as you squeezed his shoulders. “We are trying our best. Please…I know I’m asking a lot but…be patient with us just for a little while more, ok?” you asked gently and he nodded. “Besides, you have three amazing companions who are always with you! In fact, don’t you have a DnD campaign to go through today after school? I’m sure that’s gonna be a lot of fun!” you nudged him and shot him a grin and were happy when he smiled at you.
“Yeah! We’ll be at Mike’s house. We’ve been preparing for a long time.”
“And you’ll tell me all about it when I get home, ok?” you ruffled his hair before bidding him goodbye. You watched with a smile how he ran to catch up with his friends and your mind drifted to Steve and Tommy, smile faltering.
You had to admit that sometimes you got jealous with how Will had such smooth friendships, no drama whatsoever surrounding them. Meanwhile you couldn’t even begin describing the mess that were yours.
Everything began when you were fourteen of age, just beginning high school. People were familiar with you since before high school, aware of your troublemaking reputation, so they strayed away from you. But you weren’t exactly a troublemaker. The only thing you would do was protect your brother from bullies. They would attack him and you would simply attack back. What goes around comes around right? But many didn’t see it that way, especially because you ended up at the police station on a couple occasions, so they avoided you, thinking you were some kind of bloodthirsty gal who looked to pick a fight when in fact you were actually a sweet and caring person who simply got overprotective sometimes.
Besides, after going to the stations a couple of times, Hopper got tired of you and decided to sort of take you under his wing and teach you some basic ways to disarm an opponent without actually hurting them seriously so you don’t end up in the station ever again.
And it worked.
But as I said, people tend to stick with certain perception of others and don’t bother trying to leave their comfort zone and learn the truth. And so, you were alone. The only person you had by your side since the first day at school was Jonathan. A couple of girls like Chrissy, Nancy, Barb treated you decently. They didn’t actually believe you were a barbarian but you weren’t sure if you could call them friends just because you had a couple of pleasant interactions with them. Jonathan was your rock and you didn’t mind him being the only person you could truly count on.
Then one day, things changed. You had been cornered by a group of guys, angry at you for beating up their friends or brothers before, who wanted to get back at you. You really didn’t want to fight them. When it came to defending your brothers, your protective nature immediately kicked in and you didn’t hesitate to throw the first punch. But when it came to defending yourself you were kind of…lost.
It may be because you never cared too much about yourself or because when it came to you, you simply showed more tolerance and patience to insults and people hurting you before you lashed out. You didn’t fight back right away. You let them push you around, telling yourself that you would retaliate after another push…and another push…and another push.
Until someone else did it instead of you.
You were shocked to say the least. Not only because someone cared enough to stand up for you but because it was Steve Harrington himself – a boy who had quickly become popular, was athletic and handsome, who seemed to be kind of arrogant and sometimes had a brutish sense of humor but at the same time didn’t give off the vibes of a shitty person like many other jocks did.
Since that moment, Steve kind of began spending more time with you, coaxing you into conversations, sharing things about himself and prompting you to share things about yourself. And before you knew it, you were friends. Sometimes he acted like a jerk and you berated him for it. You knew he had his issues that brought out the worst in him and you tried your best to help him realize that and work on himself. But there was a factor in his life that prevented him from doing that and always managed to reverse the work you’ve done – Tommy Hagan and by extension his girlfriend and the crowd of people who came along.
Unbeknownst to you, Steve liked you. He liked you since the moment he laid eyes on you during your first class together. You were pretty, you were smart, you didn’t really follow the trends, never stuck to specific aesthetics or style, you made your own trends, your own rules, your own aesthetics – a bit of everything.
He wanted to get to know you but didn’t know how to approach you. He thought that if he appeared out of the blue and asked to be your friend, you would think he was dared to do it and brush him off. So when he saw those brutes ganging up on you, he half wanted to not intervene and watch if you would really beat them up like the rumors said, and half wanted to immediately rush to your help and use this as an opportunity to start a friendship with you.
The second one won.
From then on he began spending more time with you which always led to him learning new things about you, like how you absolutely loved history, how some of your favorite movies were the Indiana Jones ones because of the amazing adventures he would go through as a historian and archeology professor, how much you wanted to be just like him which is why you always studied extra hard – history in particular, or how you loved sketching impressive historical artifacts and Egyptian drawings in your notebook during a class that was boring, or how you could listen to rock one minute and then switch to bubblegum pop the next. He loved observing the way you would be focused on doing something, all peaceful and quiet, and then would look at him and give him a wide smile or a teasing wink, throwing in a joke here and there. You were…different…unique…complicated…multilayered…flexible…Even for your age.
He was smitten.
And you happily allowed him to worm his way into your life.
Tommy was another story altogether. He had been incredibly annoyed when he found out that Steve was infatuated with a “weirdo” like you but he didn’t intervene when Steve became your friend. He begrudgingly accepted it at first but with time things began getting worse and worse.
You disliked Tommy’s personality; you disliked him as a person. He infuriated you the majority of the time. Especially when he bullied others, your brother Jonathan included. He loved showing dominance and spitting on others who he believed to be weak and unworthy. It was disgusting.
He, in turn, disliked you because you weren’t the typical girl he was used to being surrounded with and that was irritating and confusing him. He also took you for a party pooper because you didn’t drink, make out with boys or participate in stupid games. Most of all, he disliked you because you always called him out on his behavior, insulted him when he was “messing around” with the nerds, and you were an “insufarable know-it-all”.
And just like that, he didn’t want you to hang out with them anymore but he also didn’t want to talk to Steve about it because he knew how much he liked you. Surprisingly, this was the only time you shared the same sentiment with the bully – you didn’t want him to hang out with you and Steve anymore but at the same time you didn’t feel like you had the right to kick him out of the group considering he was friends with Steve long before you were. On another hand you were thinking if it was really worth it for Steve to keep being friends with a horrible person like that just for the sake of “I know you since childhood”. But you knew that one day Steve would be shaken and would have to make a choice. So you just kept quiet and tolerated Tommy and his… horrible girlfriend.
There were times when it all became too much though, so you would just ditch them and go take a breath by yourself. You found comfort in a place not far from school, on an abandoned picnic table next to the forest – a place where nobody went to. Or that’s what you thought until one day you were eating your lunch there and felt presence behind you, making you turn around in alarm only for you to come face to face with a boy who you’ve seen getting bullied – Eddie Munson.
That was last year, your Sophomore/10th grade.
You would occasionally meet after that and over time you became friends, bonding over rock and metal and fantasy books and board games. He was…just as complicated a person as Steve. Sure, he was very funny and outgoing and sweet – a total golden retriever. But you knew that deep down he struggled with trauma. And you didn’t know what to do to help him which sometimes gave you anxiety. Even on the few occasions when you managed to put some of his bullies in their place you still didn’t believe that it changed anything because the whole school thought he was a freak and hated him and you couldn’t possibly beat up the entire school as much as you wanted to. This precious boy did not deserve the treatment he was getting. That was the first time in your life when you truly felt weak and powerless and the guilt of not being able to do anything to help was eating at you. Bless him, he was just happy to even have you, Gareth and Jeff in his life.
You let out a sigh as you finally stopped in front of the cozy 50’s style diner where you worked at. You were so lost in thought that you didn’t even realize your feet had carried you all the way to your work.
If you had to be honest with yourself…you didn’t want to work. You wanted to focus on history, Egyptology and other languages. You wanted to study because next year one of the most prestigious universities in USA was going to launch a competition for young adults – a competition where you would be able to participate in multiple tests to prove what knowledge you possess which would then determine if you’d be able to be a part of an extremely exclusive and intensive program that would allow you to study and train under some of the most prestigious teachers – which for history and archeology were Professor David Brion Davis, Gordon Willey and Robert John Braidwood – for a whole summer. And depending on your performance you could be given the chance to get an instant spot in the university and a stipend. All in a chosen of you field. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity that you didn’t want to miss.
But you were the oldest sibling and you had to take care of your family.
Family always comes first is what you told yourself every time you felt the familiar dread of the possibility of never accomplishing your dream filling you.
Jonathan seemed to have picked it up too because he wasn’t even thinking about getting in college or participating in programs or courses. You fully believed it was your fault that he developed this kind of mindset and you hated it because you were ready to give up all your desires to send him to college before you so he could get a great education, a great job, and have that white-picket-fence apple pie life he deserved.
“Good afternoon, sweetie! Ready for work?” asked Amy – the elderly, sweet woman who owned the diner – and you gave her a bright smile.
“More than ever!”
“Shit,” you whispered as your eyes constantly flickered between the road and your watch. It was late. Very late. You had stayed up later than you thought you would but you couldn’t really help it, it was a busy day today, filled to the brim with people, surprisingly for the small town you lived in, and half of them had been rowdy teenagers who made an absolute mess that you were stuck cleaning until now.
You just wanted to go back home and rest because your back and legs were killing you. No, scratch that, your whole body was killing you. You hoped that Will was still awake because you promised him you’d see him before bed to hear of his day. You hated breaking your promises, especially to him. He was a sweet, gentle child who was smart beyond his age and way too considered than he should be. He showed an astonishing patience and understanding when it came to you, Jonathan and your mom being absent more than usual this past year – something that many kids his age lacked.
You were just about to park your car when you saw Jonathan exiting his. He sent you a two finger salute and you smiled at him as you parked and got out as well, giving him a hug and exhaling deeply.
“Long day?”
“You’ve no idea,” you grumbled in his shoulder before releasing him and both of you walked in the house.
A strange sensation washed over you, making you shiver. For a second you felt unsafe in your own home. The unsettling sensation disappeared the moment you heard your brother opening the fridge and you rushed to get one of the sandwiches you had made this morning. Both of you simultaneously let out a moan after biting and chewing. You had been so hungry. Without even having the strength to wash the dishes you plopped on the coach, immediately drifting off. Jonathan smiled sadly before he grabbed the nearby blanket and covered your form with it, lowering himself to give you a kiss on the forehead before dragging his tired self towards his room.
None of you were looking forward to the next day.