Chapter Text
In the supernatural world, there are all kinds of creatures. Witches, wizards, werewolves, and so much more. The creatures and supernatural are different everywhere you go, most ‘myths’ and ‘legends’ are rooted in truth after all and the folklore and tales of old all speak at least of some truth. Any story you might have heard, you can be sure the hero, the villain or the animal it speaks of are real or did actually exist once upon a time.
But despite the differences all around the world, there are some types of supernatural beings you can find everywhere around the world. Mostly, because they are either the most powerful kinds, or because they can blend into human society seamlessly as only a handful of supernaturals can. Those are mainly the dragons and half-dragons along with magic users and shapeshifters of many kinds.
Most normal people are unaware of the world of the supernatural, those that are confronted with it often don’t tend to survive or are sworn to secrecy if they have the luck of stumbling upon one of the friendlier parts of the supernatural world. Of course, you also have the supernatural hunters, they are small groups of normal humans who tend to act like the supernatural police, protecting normal people from supernatural threats all around the world.
Steve mostly tends to stay away from those hunters as much as possible, his mother always warned him when he was young that some hunters still hunt every kind of supernatural and not only the ones who kill humans. Even though his kind and many other supernaturals have lived peacefully among the humans for millennia. Witches, wizards and other kinds of magic users were always the biggest victims in the past right along with other creatures who had weaknesses that were exposed to the hunters early on and didn’t want to fight back against the hunters.
Steve also tends to try not to get tangled up in anything supernatural, avoiding the woods on full moons and never going towards the lay line junctions during twilight or the solstices. If the others don’t bother him, he won’t bother them. He knows there’s a pack of werewolves living in the next town over and that a witch lives somewhere in Hawkins, he’s accidentally bumped into her once when she was gathering herbs for her potions. They both just nodded at each other and moved on with their lives.
But despite all his trying not to get tangled up in supernatural happenings, he still got caught up with whatever mess the Upside Down is. He fought a petal-faced monster in the Byers’ house and then heard all about a girl with superpowers and a mirror dimension where monsters roam.
To be fair, Steve doesn’t have a clue what in Fernyiges’ name is going on, he’s never heard of any of this happening before. But he’s still young, practically a toddler in his kind’s eyes so he doesn’t know all that much. Of course, he didn’t tell anyone about the supernatural after everything was over, he just went home and started researching. He went into his basement, grabbed all the books and tomes his parents have and he thought could help and started reading.
He didn’t manage to find much so he eventually gave up halfway through March the next year since nothing happened anymore.
But still, something nagged at Steve, so he went to search for the only other person he could think to go to in this backwater town he lives in. The witch. So now here he is, trudging through the woods around twilight, following a lay line towards where he thinks the witch might have an altar. And since the Vernal equinox is today, she might be there, performing a ritual. Steve might not know much, but when he found out there was a witch living close to him, he did his research about her, just in case he would ever need her help.
As Steve walks, he listens closely for any kind of unsettling noise he’s been listening paranoidly for since last November, the ominous clicking, growling and other tell-tale noises of the Demogorgon. Luckily, he doesn’t hear much besides the usual forest noises like birds, squirrels, the wind and the leaves crunching under his feet. But as he gets closer to where he thinks the altar could be, he starts hearing a soft singing chant. He perks up with a smile, he found her. But as he draws nearer, he hears a second voice, a younger voice, singing along. Oh, the witch must have a child then. Nice, more people he can ask for information from.
Steve happily trudges towards the junction of the lay lines, keeping his steps light and almost inaudible. He tries not to make too much noise or disturbances as he draws near, he knows that the magic rituals people perform are delicate and shouldn’t be interrupted unless life-threatening. But nothing life-threatening is happening (yet), so Steve keeps his distance and just watches from afar once he spots the two. He notices a ward was made around the two to keep anything not-supernatural from noticing them. Luckily, Steve does not count and can see and hear them just fine.
To be honest, he’s kind of mesmerized by the magic and the chanting. It’s almost as pretty as when his parents transform or use their own magic and powers. Green, light blue and yellow lights dance around the two witches as they sing and dance. The light flows and moves with them as if helping them move. The nature around them looks more alive and as if it’s swaying and dancing with them, the wind even sounds like it’s singing with them.
But sadly, it all comes to a stop all too soon and the two witches release their magic, finish the chant and end the ritual. Steve only notices his magic started coming out when the area around him stays alight with dark red magic that is radiating from himself. He quickly draws it back in, hoping the two witches didn’t notice.
He silently watches from afar as the older witch, the one he saw before kisses the forehead of who Steve assumes is her daughter. His chest pangs slightly, he misses his own parents. But they were needed elsewhere and won’t be back for a while. It’s frustrating, but being who they are, the supernatural world often needs their kind to keep everything as it should be. Their kind often symbolizes the ultimate power in the supernatural, the ‘upper class’ as some say. And it’s not because they’re rich, it’s because they have power and because they can communicate with magic, because beings like Steve aren’t easy to kill.
Steve quickly shakes the feeling off and starts approaching the two witches. They are packing up their things and cleaning the altar. But once Steve gets close, they both snap up to look in his direction, alarmed by his presence.
“Who goes there?” The witch bellows, power behind her words. Steve lifts his arms up as a sign he doesn’t mean harm and carefully steps into view.
“Sorry about showing up so suddenly, ma’am, but I might need your help and I didn’t know where else to find you,” Steve explains calmly, letting his power show through his eyes to show them he’s supernatural and they don’t need to fear.
“Oh, it’s you. You’re the Harrington’s boy, aren’t you? My name is Melissa Buckley and this is my daughter, Robin. How can we help you?” The witch calms down once she recognizes Steve and lays a calming hand on her daughter’s shoulder. The now-named Robin looks a bit sceptical and glares at Steve, but he ignores it. He knows she’s in his school, but has never talked to her before.
“Are your wards still up?” Steve asks before proceeding. Melissa smiles and nods, her light brown hair framing her face and getting in her eyes slightly. Steve relaxes at the confirmation and drops his hands. “Something’s been happening in Hawkins and I don’t know what. My parents aren’t in the county at the moment and I don’t want to bother them with this problem. But I thought you might be able to help me though,” Steve explains.
“Robin, could you finish packing up while I speak to Steve here?” Melissa asks her daughter softly before stepping closer to Steve with a serious expression. “So you’ve felt it too, huh? There’s this ominous energy hanging around the town.” Steve shudders at the mention of the aura of the Upside Down, it still clings to Hawkins like a shadow feeding off of the natural aura of nature.
“I didn’t just feel it, ma’am. I saw it,” Steve tells the witch with conviction. “And whatever it is, it’s not anything that’s described in the books and tomes my parents keep. So I was hoping that you could help find a way to drive this evil out of Hawkins,” Steve informs her. Melissa smiles softly again and chuckles.
“A Harrington, asking for my help,” she puts her hands on her hips, “how could I ever refuse, kid?”
Steve sighs as he arrives at school the next morning, he ended up going home with Melissa and Robin, met the father, Richard, and explained everything that he knows to Melissa. But it got late and now Steve only got around 4 hours of sleep.
“Hey, dingus,” a now familiar voice greets Steve as walks towards his locker. Steve turns to find Robin standing there, hands on her hips and a disgruntled expression on her face. “We need to talk,” she says firmly. Steve lifts an eyebrow at her and she just rolls her eyes and proceeds to drag Steve off to a calm spot so they can talk undisturbed.
“What’s this about?” Steve asks carefully as Robin starts examining him, walking in a circle around him and rubbing her hand on her chin.
“Well, I’m trying to figure out what you are, of course,” Robin replies as if it’s just a normal thing to do first thing in the morning. “My mum just laughed at me when I asked and told me I should ask you myself. I may be new in the world of magic and supernatural things, in fact, I only discovered I have magic, like, six months ago, but I can still feel the power radiating from you. Well, I felt it yesterday, but I can’t feel it anymore today, which is weird because how do you hide an aura that big? Unless, of course, yo—” Steve shuts her rambling up by taking her by the shoulders with a sigh, stopping her pacing too.
“Robin, we barely know each other, I’m not just going to tell you what I am.” Steve lets go of her shoulders again when he feels how tense she is under his touch. “Besides, my business is with your mother, you said it yourself, you’re still new to this so you can’t help me,” he explains calmly, letting a slight bit of his magic seep out to come off as more authoritative. Unfortunately, it does the opposite.
“There it was again! Your aura! And what do you mean you won’t tell me? You know what I am, why can’t I know what you are?” she says, putting her hands back on her hips. Steve gives her an unimpressed look, a bit put off by the fact that his intimidation tactic didn’t work. It always works! Well, Robin doesn’t know what he is so that could explain why she isn’t in the least bit afraid of his magic.
“Look, Robin,” Steve crosses his arms in front of his chest, “I’m not comfortable sharing what I am with just everyone. Maybe to people I know well and trust, but I barely know you.” Robin pouts and sighs in exasperation.
“Fine, keep your secrets then,” Robin gives in. “But one day, I will find out!” She then proceeds to walk off with an attitude and Steve watches her with a tired look. He isn’t sure if that was a threat or a promise.
The next time Steve and Melissa meet, Robin is lurking in the other room of their house, watching them carefully. Steve pointedly ignores her, just focusing on the books and scrolls Melissa brings out to help him research.
They don’t end up finding anything and Melissa apologizes to Steve for not being able to help him any further. Steve dismisses her apology and promises he owes her a favour now and that she can ask him for help anytime. Melissa waves Steve off with a smile and Robin glares from behind her mother, sticking her tongue out at Steve. Probably because she’s salty that she didn’t find out anything more.
So that’s when Robin decides to take another route.
Steve is eating with Nancy and Jonathan at school, sitting at his usual table and ignoring the fact that his relationship with Nancy is becoming strained. And all of a sudden, a fourth tray is set down beside Jonathan and Robin sits down across Steve with a mischievous smile on her face.
“Hello~, I’m Robin, I met Steve a couple of days ago and figured I’d come say hi,” she greets the other two at the table as Steve sighs.
“Oh, well, nice to meet you, I’m Nancy and that’s Jonathan,” Nancy greets the younger girl happily. Jonathan looks at Steve with a lifted eyebrow and Steve just shrugs at him.
“So, Robin, aren’t you in my year?” Nancy asks curiously as they continue eating.
“Yup! I share some classes with you and share history with Steve, that’s actually how we met.”
“That must not have been a pleasant meeting then, Steve sucks at history,” Jonathan blatantly disses Steve. Steve glares at Jonathan as the girls both laugh at his expense.
From that week on, Robin often comes to sit at their table. Steve doesn’t really mind her, she’s nice to talk to and actually quite funny. Not that he’ll ever admit that to her. He’s made it a game to keep his identity hidden, only dropping hints to her every now and then. Robin, of course, the curious person she is, takes up everything he gives her like a sponge. She’s had a few guesses, who were mostly all wrong, like werewolf or wizard. The game continuous well into the summer vacation.
“So, Stevie, what do you think of garlic?” Robin asks not-so-subtly as she eyes Steve sitting in the shade. Steve doesn’t bother hiding his glee and stretches his legs out into the sun.
“My mother’s Italian, Robin, I love garlic,” Steve replies with a smirk. He then quickly looks to see if Nancy and Jonathan are far enough away before saying, “besides, you’ve seen me walk in the sun, idiot.” Robin just groans and flops back in her lounging chair. Steve laughs again and just takes her arm to go drag her towards his pool so they can go swim with Nancy and Jonathan.
Steve didn’t dare to use his pool for a long time after what happened with Barbara, but talking with his parents about it really helped him overcome that trauma. Nancy doesn’t have the luxury of having supernatural parents though and it still clearly bothers her, she avoids the springboard and only gets her feet in the water, claiming it’s just too cold.
Steve tried bringing it up to her, to help her, but she just shuts him off. Steve can feel how the rift between them gets bigger with each week. He hates it, but everything he does just seems to make it worse. Nancy has already asked for a break in their relationship and Steve doesn’t think the break will ever stop.
“We’re here!” a child’s voice suddenly announces as the rascals arrive at Steve’s house, swimming trunks on and towels around their necks. After school ended, Will asked if they could use Steve’s pool once, but now they’re here almost every day. It makes Steve happy to see those kids happy, God knows they need it after last November. It also helps fix the tear in his heart that his troubles with Nancy have left behind.
“Cannon Ball!” Dustin yells as he takes a giant leap before making a big splash. Steve laughs as Jonathan gets soaked completely.
“Hey, careful!” Steve warns as the other three boys follow Dustin with their own spectacular jumps. But even though he scolds the kids, he feels joy bloom in his chest. It’s a joy he barely felt before meeting all of the people who are now swimming in his pool. He used to feel that joy with Tommy and Carol before high school, but something in their friendship bond just—broke during high school. They became obsessed with popularity and Steve didn’t. He stayed with them, missing the old times and silently hoping they would come back, but they didn’t. And then he met Nancy and Steve didn’t mourn the bond he lost anymore.
“Do you kids want any snacks or drinks?” Steve’s mother yells from the patio and most of the kids immediately yell an affirmation. Steve smiles broadly at his mum. She winks back.
“I am still so salty even your parents are not telling me what you are,” Robin says softly as she comes to stand right beside him, her head just above the water. It’s a deep enough pool that even Steve barely comes above the water when he stands on his feet flat, he has to stand on his tippy toes, as do most people. “But I’m getting closer, the list is thinning.” Steve laughs and looks at the younger girl.
“What’s on the top of the list now?” he asks.
Robin grins broadly before shrugging and quickly getting away while yelling, “not telling!” Steve laughs again, knowing his parents like messing with her just as much as he does now. To be truthful, if she wasn’t so adamant to know, he might have told her already. She’s a witch and at his house frequently enough that at this point both his parents and he would be comfortable to show her casual shows of magic and powers. But just to mess with her, they don’t.
“Man, if I knew finding herbs was so easy with you there, I would have invited you so much earlier already,” Robin laughs as they pluck some blessed thistles. Steve just hums. Truth is, with his good senses, Steve can locate herbs a lot easier than Robin can.
“What else is on the list for your mother’s healing potion?” Steve asks Robin as they finish plucking enough thistle. Robin looks at her little written list.
“Well, we still have enough burdock at home, we grow that ourselves since it’s not a native American species and we don’t want to introduce it into the environment. So the only thing left to find is some celandine,” Robin informs him. Steve knows that plant too luckily so it will be easily found. Thank his unnecessary knowledge of potions and balms even though he can’t make them as well and powerful as magic users like witches and druids can.
“Aren’t both thistles and celandine also non-native plants here in North America?” Steve wonders as he locates a bunch of the plants not too far and starts walking. Robin huffs and looks at him with a surprised look in her eyes.
“How come you know so much about this, Stevie? But you would be right, they were introduced and just haven’t really left since but since they already grow near here, some plants are okay since they don’t pose a threat, they’re just non-native plants but don’t harm the environment. My mum says we should pluck as much of the invasive ones as we can though, they do pose a threat and can disrupt the ecosystem, so if we can remove them from the environment a bit, we should,” the young witch informs Steve with a bit of pride in her voice for her mother.
“Maybe we should organize a plant hunt with the kids and let them clean up the invasive plants a bit? I think they could have some fun with that, like a treasure hunt,” Steve proposes and Robin laughs at the idea.
“No! They would end up pulling out the wrong plants, those little dorks wouldn’t be able to see the difference between a thistle and knapweed even if they knew what to look for.” The two of them laugh, knowing it’s true.
“Well, maybe Will might though,” Steve pipes up, the celandine coming into view. Robin chuckles and kneels to start plucking what she needs. The two of them are silent for the rest of the plucking. Robin is humming a soft melody and Steve is just enjoying nature. Until that peace is interrupted.
“And I’m telling you this is pointless.”
“This is not pointless!”
“What about this is not pointless?!”
“You are so annoying!”
Both Robin and Steve look in the direction of the loud voices to find the four rascals they were just talking about trudging through the woods, dressed for the occasion and with a map of the woods in their hands. That is until they see Robin and Steve.
“Steve! Thank God you’re here, will you please tell this meat head here that being here is idiotic?” Dustin immediately runs towards them, the rest following with Will at the back looking a bit tired and exasperated.
“Dude, you’re asking that of a person who’s also in the woods,” Lucas looks at the basket Robin is holding, “plucking flowers. Why are you plucking flowers?” Steve and Robin don’t even get a chance to answer before Mike pipes up.
“It doesn’t matter! We need to keep looking,” the youngest Wheeler sounds desperate and angry. Steve knows they’re probably out here searching for El. But Steve knows they won’t find her here. He’s been keeping on eye on the girl from the distance and he knows that she’s living with Hopper now. And if Hopper hadn’t taken her in, he would have convinced his parents to, the girl deserves a good home.
“For the millionth time, we’re not going to find anything,” Dustin complains right back. Steve looks at Robin and she gives him a very concerned look. Steve then looks to Will and sees how miserable the boy looks.
“Alright, knock it off!” Steve uses a slight bit of his magic to make sure the message is clear and that the pressure will pull their attention to him. Robin eyes the invisible magic, but doesn’t say anything. As a witch she can see what the kids can’t. “First of all, do your parents you’re trudging around the woods?” Steve questions sternly, looking at the four of them. Lucas, Mike and Dustin look away guiltily, telling him the answer.
“No, we snuck out,” Will replies truthfully, confirming it. “Guys, can we just go home?” he then asks, finally having the chance to be heard without shouting.
“But we still have so much ground to cover!” Mike immediately protests.
“Then I’ll decide for you shitheads, the answer is ‘yes, we are going home’. The woods are dangerous and you four should know that of all people. Plus, Ms Byers already worries enough, no need to add more stress on her load,” Steve cuts in before they can start arguing loudly again.
“That’s a bit hypocritical since you’re out here too,” Mike points out saltily. Robin chuckles as a response.
“He got you there, Stevie,” she retorts. Steve gives her a look.
“Not helping,” he says to her before looking back towards the kids. “Also, I’m older and I’m allowed to be here unlike you four,” he then says to the kids. Mike groans in annoyance and Will chuckles and smiles thankfully at Steve for helping him. Steve winks at the boy.
“Come on, you dorks. We’re done picking flowers, you can walk back to your bikes with us,” Robin proposes, closing her basket.
“Fine,” Mike pouts.
“Fine-ally,” Dustin corrects sarcastically. Steve shakes his head and ruffles Will’s hair as the other three boys walk ahead with Robin.
“Thanks, Steve. They’ve been arguing all the way through the woods and I was kind of getting sick of it,” Will admits softly.
“No problem, mini-Byers. Those three idiots can be a lot.” Will laughs at that and quickly runs to catch up with his friends. But as the kid runs, a stray wind blows his scent into Steve’s path, making him freeze. The kid’s scent is tinged with something foul. Something smelling faintly of rotting flesh and mucus. Something smelling like the Demogorgon.
Steve frowns as he watches Will. Nothing seems to be wrong though so he shrugs it off and just jogs after the group who is now arguing with Robin about wildflowers.
The school year starts again as normal and Steve feels a bit melancholic about the fact that he’s in his last year along with Jonathan but most of his friends still have at least another year to go. But he doesn’t let it drag him down and just focuses on getting through the year without failing any subjects. The subjects aren’t working with him though.
“What are you going to do for Halloween?” Robin asks him as they sit alone at their table for lunch, Jonathan and Nancy are busy with some school paper project. Steve hums in thought.
“Tina is throwing that party, but I don’t think I’m going,” he thinks out loud.
“Really? You used to love parties,” Robin says disbelievingly. Steve snorts, glancing towards Billy Hargrove who is lounging around with Tommy Hagan on the other side of the room.
“Yeah, back when I still hung around a crowd that I didn’t belong in. I don’t know, I just feel like watching some horror films and eating shitty fast food, you wanna join?” Robin is only silent for a little bit before smiling.
“Sure, why not.”
Halloween is not as peaceful as Steve hoped it would be and before he knows it, he’s trudging along an abandoned train track with Dustin, hunting for a slug-dog-thing. Another thing he’s going to research once he gets home. But something tells Steve that this thing will not be in the books either.
And the whole way there, the smell of rot and mucus stings in Steve’s nose. But the upside of being him, he can blow smoke out of his nose. So every time Dustin isn’t looking, Steve blows the putrid smell out of his nose with his smoke, getting the familiar scent of smoke to stay in his nose for at least a little bit.
“So let me get this straight, you kept a slug to impress a girl?” Steve asks the kid, throwing some raw meat aggressively on the ground.
“In interdimensional slug! That’s way more cool and fascinating,” Dustin corrects, glaring at Steve a bit. Steve rolls his eyes and just grabs another piece of raw meat.
“But still it—I just—I think it’s a bit—you know,” Steve doesn’t really want to call the kid stupid because he’s not, but he did do something stupid.
“Look, she’s just not any girl, alright. And we all can’t have hair like you,” Dustin defensively grumbles. Steve sighs and pauses for a second before continuing his walk beside Dustin.
“Look, Dustin, love is—complicated. And slugs—they’re not the way to a girl’s heart. You just have to wait for the moment,” Steve tries to explain, but fails. Dustin looks at him with a raised brow, it almost disappears under his thick curls and the cap.
“The moment?”
“Yeah, it’s like—a feeling you get. Like when a thunderstorm is coming, this—electricity, you know?” Steve tries to put his feelings into words, but it’s more difficult than he thought. Truly.
“Oh, like in the electromagnetic field when the clouds in the atmosphere—” Dustin trails off and Steve immediately shakes his head.
“No, no, no, no. Like a—like a sexual electricity,” Steve clarifies.
“Oh,” is the eloquent answer the kid gives. Steve just flumps down more raw meat on the ground, blowing out smoke behind him when Dustin looks away, that rotten stench really annoys him.
“You feel that and then you make your move,” Steve continues explaining now that the kid is following.
“So that’s when you kiss her?” the kid asks shamelessly. Steve grimaces, thinking of how the kid could possibly have been just smashing his lips to random girls’ mouths with that thinking. Dear God.
“Whoa, whoa, slow down, Romeo.” Another slap of wet meat on the ground.
“Sorry,” Dustin quickly apologizes. Steve sighs and looks in front of them.
“Sure, some girls might like an aggressive approach, but some girls won’t and they’ll be angry with you for it. You have to always be respectful of boundaries and be careful with your advances. You’ve got to make sure the attention is wanted before you do any physical moves, I was talking about just getting closer and taking the conversation in a more ‘intense’ direction,” Steve explains, knowing how important consent is.
“What type was Nancy?” Dustin asks curiously, not realizing the soft spot he just hit in Steve’s emotions.
“Nancy—Nancy was different, she wasn’t like the usual girl. Mostly because she was one of the first girlfriends I stayed with for her and not just the image or the—“ Steve hesitates—“Sex.” Dustin looks at him with a bit of a puzzled look before shrugging. The conversation turns a bit silent and Dustin looks a bit dejected. Steve takes pity on the little dude and smacks down some meat before sighing.
“Fabergé,” he speaks up, making Dustin pause.
“What?” Dustin looks genuinely confused so Steve points at his hair and continues.
“It’s Fabergé Organics. Use the shampoo and the conditioner, and when your hair’s damp—” Steve pauses to point at Dustin to make sure he gets the instructions well—“it’s not wet, okay? When it’s damp.”
“Damp,” the kid dutifully mumbles.
“You do four puffs of the Farah Fawcett spray,” Steve finishes, slightly ashamed of his hair routine and slapping down his meat a bit too harshly. Dustin is silent for a second before speaking up, disbelief and amusement clear in his voice.
“Farah Fawcett spray?”
“Yeah, Farah Fawcett. You tell anyone I just told you that and I am taking away your pool privileges for all of next year, do you understand, Henderson?” Steve leans a bit closer to look the kid in the eye. To Dustin’s credit, he doesn’t flinch away, he just swallows and looks serious.
“Loud and clear.” Steve takes the answer and they continue their walk.
By the time the two of them reach the junkyard, Steve is feeling really uneasy, like he’s being watched. So he makes sure the kids work well on barricading the bus, to keep them safe. As the kids are busy stacking the tires they found on the top of the bus for shelter, Steve walks around the area, silently setting a small perimeter, if anything comes inside the perimeter, he will know immediately. He can’t put up wards like Robin and Melissa can unfortunately or he would have. At least on the bus.
By the time it’s dark, Steve’s nerves have gone sky-high and he’s nervously looking everywhere, using his night vision to keep a keen eye on the environment. He ignores the tension between the kids, he needs to focus. He listens to the red-headed girl—Max—opening up on the roof about her family situation and tries not to listen, but with his keen ears, he can’t help but to.
“My stepfather’s always been a dick—but now he’s just angry… all the time.” As those words leave Max’ lips, Steve feels a sort of anger towards this random man, he knows Billy and now he knows why Billy is the way he is. “Well, he can’t take it out on my mom, so—” and that sentence makes Steve’s blood boil, but he tries to keep his cool, he has kids to protect, that problem can be addressed later.
The touching moment up on the bus gets interrupted by the bellow of one of the slug-dog-things and Steve immediately jumps up, on high alert. The alarm of his perimeter spell is going off in his head now too, making his anxiety spike up even more. He peaks through the gaps in the reinforcements of the bus intensely, not even caring if his eyes glow.
“Lucas! What’s the situation?” Dustin yells loudly.
“I’ve got eyes! Ten o’clock, ten o’clock!” the other boy yells back, but Steve already has his eyes trained on the thing. It’s definitely dog-shaped now. Or vaguely dog shaped at least. And it’s not alone. His perimeter spell is still going off, there’s at least three—no, four. The things don’t approach though. And Steve is frustrated, their trap isn’t working.
“He isn’t taking the bait. Why isn’t he taking the bait?” Steve frustratedly whispers to Dustin who is looking through the same gap as him, his face practically smooched to Steve’s.
“Maybe he’s not hungry,” Dustin comments absently. Steve sighs and feels frustrated.
“Or maybe it's sick of cow,” he states before taking a step back and making a decision. Dustin looks at Steve as he steps back, confusion clear on his face. Steve ignores it and turns towards where he left the bat by the door.
“Steve? Steve, what are you doing?” the kid’s voice is now turning concerned and afraid. He doesn’t reply though, he just grabs his bat and braces himself for what he’s going to do.
“Steve.”
Steve now finally turns around with a big sigh, handing the lighter over to Dustin. Dustin looks scared, but Steve keeps his expression clear of emotions.
“Just get ready.” And then he throws the lighter, the kid catches it. It’s silent as Steve pulls the door open, but he convinces himself, ‘better him than the kids’. Steve can handle it, he has supernatural powers, but the kids don’t. Steve heals quickly, the kids don’t.
He eyes the surroundings as he steps out, carefully setting his feet down on the ground, clenching the bat tightly in his hands, but he knows that when it comes down to it, he won’t be using his bat. Steve immediately knows where all the things are, he can hear them, smell them and even see two of them. There are four in total. As he steps closer to the things, he’s aware of them circling him, but he carefully monitors them and assesses their strength by how they move.
The things don’t move much though, so Steve whistles through his teeth, ready to keep the attention on him and not the kids.
“Come on, buddy.”
Steve steps closer, waving the mist away a bit, using a slight bit of his magic to clear the area slightly.
“Come on. Dinner time.”
Steve braces himself, as do the things.
“Human,” and isn’t that the irony, “tastes better than cat, I promise.”
Steve eyes down the one he thinks is Dart, with the pattern Dustin described. But he still keeps his ears and nose focused on the other three. They are closing in from his right, thinking they’ll get the drop on him.
“Steve! Watch out!” Lucas yells in alarm. Steve doesn’t look though, he knows what he’s doing. Somewhat.
“A little busy here!”
They get bold and growl as they come closer now.
“Three o’clock!” Lucas yells desperately. Steve still doesn’t look. He keeps his eyes focused on Dart. If he doesn’t show the things he knows where they are, he can take them by surprise.
“Steve! Steve! Abort!” Dustin yells, opening the door of the bus. Still, Steve ignores the kids.
“No!” Steve yells. And that’s when the creatures attack.
The kids scream in terror as they watch the things launch at Steve. But Steve is prepared. He jumps out of the way of the three coming from his right and smashes Dart right into an abandoned car.
“Steve!”
He can hear another jump right at him and turns, swinging the bat wide and getting the creature right in the head, sending it careening away into the distance, further than any normal human could ever hit it.
“Steve! Run!”
The other two take their chance and Steve jumps up on the hood of a car to get higher. One jumps and Steve smashes it down to the ground with all the might he has behind his arms, the thing splatters on the ground with a loud squelch and crunch, never to stand up again.
“Steve!”
The other then jumps too and Steve sends that one right into the quarry, its body flying limply over the edge of the cliff and far, far away. But Steve forgot about the one he sent flying into the car. Dart.
“Steve!”
This time the kids yell not for his safety, but for their own. Anger wells up in Steve’s chest. Dart is now running straight for the bus. Its door wide open and the three kids sitting pretty for dinner. And human Steve will never make it in time to stop the monster. But he won’t allow it.
In a flash, Steve feels his power engulf him, change him, show the world his true self. Once the power has taken hold, Steve roars.