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0. March 1987, Three Months Earlier
With the Upside Down completely gone and everyone who had died to it surprisingly back alive, the Party lays exhausted in the Harrington house living room. Steve lays with his head on Eddie’s lap, fatigued by his own wounds and just wanting a break from everything.
“Steve?” a soft voice asks from the floor.
“Yeah little Byers?” he asks without opening his eyes. “What do you need?”
“Can we watch TV?” he asks timidly.
Steve groans as he sits upright, turning his feet off the couch. He gets up and heads to the bookshelf that sits in the corner. The kids sit up, watching him closely as he pulls the paneling off of the shelf’s bottom, revealing rows and rows of movies.
“Knock yourselves out.” he says, walking back to his spot to sit down.
“Dingus, please tell me you didn’t take all of those from Family Video.” Robin says, just staring at the collection.
“Hm?” Steve hums noncommittally. “Oh, no, those are all from my brother.”
“You have a brother?” Dustin asks, everyone turning to the older boy.
“Have I never talked about my siblings before?” he says, his eyes now closed. “I love my siblings so that doesn’t sound right.”
“Haven’t mentioned it once Steven!” Robin says, smacking his arm. “Tell us about them right now!”
Steve sighs out, opening his eyes and looking around. The kids have started talking over each other loudly, giving him a migraine worse than the one he’s already had waking up.
“Guys, I’m too tired for this right now.” he says, looking over to Joyce who looks concerned. “I can tell you about all of them later but I’ll answer small questions now.”
“How many of you are there?” Max asks, moving her wheelchair closer to the couch he is sitting on.
“There’s se-six of us, six of us.” he nods, almost trying to convince himself that there are actually six. “Five biological, one adopted.”
“And where might you be in that line up Stevie?” Eddie asks, sneaking a hand secretly to his wrist so that the kids don’t see.
“Third oldest.” he answers. “Older brother, older sister, me, the twins who quite honestly don’t look like twins, St- and, uh, and Kara who is the adopted one.”
“You hesitated.” Mike snaps.
“No I didn’t.” Steve says with a straight face.
“Yes you did!” Mike yells.
“Friends don’t lie!” El says softly from her spot beside his leg.
“You totally hesitated.” Lucas says, Erica nodding.
Hopper whistles, shutting everyone up. He nods at Steve, who breathes out slowly.
“Okay, look, yes I lied.” he says, earning an outburst from the children again, who get shut up by Joyce this time. “There’s seven of us. But legally… legally I can’t talk about her.”
The kids are finally quiet when El turns to him.
“Like me?” she asks, earning looks.
Steve breathes out shakily. It seems that Max notices since she reaches to grab the hand not currently being held captive by Eddie.
“Uh…” he says. “Not… I don’t… um…”
“You don’t have to say anything Steve.” Hopper says.
“I know…” he says. “She… she’s kind of like you in the case that… she was taken from us at birth. My dad and step-mom found her right before all of this happened in ‘83. So legally, there’s six of us that can be talked about… kind of.”
“Your parents.” Joyce says, turning the boy’s attention to her. “Did they leave you here all by yourself while they went to find her?”
“Uh, not really.” he says with a shrug. “The Hagans would come over until Starcourt happened, then I was an adult so I didn’t really need them anymore.”
“The Hagans as in Tommy Hagan?” Nancy asks, the question laced in her tone.
“Yeah?” Steve says. “And Carol but she wasn’t really as often as the Hagans.”
“I thought you dropped them after the first round of the Upside Down?” Jonathan asks.
“What?” he asks before laughing. “Oh god, no. No, uh, everything to do with ‘King Steve’ was just a complete act. Carol actually helped my dad find Es- my sister.”
The Party just looks dumbfounded at him before there is a knock on the door. Hopper goes over to get it, and when the government agents walked in with all of the NDAs that needed to be signed in private rooms, the topic was completely forgotten about.
June 1987, Present Day
1. Beatrice Mae Harrington - Sunday
Steve is laying his head on the desk in the office at Family Video, trying to not actually go to bed. It doesn’t help that Robin decided to play The NeverEnding Story on repeat for the last five hours, at least that’s what it feels like.
Sundays are usually not this slow, which is what makes it weird that the store had been empty all day. So when the bell rings indicating that someone has entered the store, the duo is actually excited.
“Hi, welcome to Family Video!” Robin says, much more enthusiastically than she usually does, even on slow days.
Steve gets up from the chair, not quite going out to the main room but close enough to hear any conversation.
“Hi, I was told that Steven Harrington works here.” a, vaguely familiar, female voice says. “Is there a chance I can speak with him?”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I’ll go grab him.” Robin says, the faux smile obvious in her voice.
She opens the door to the office, turning to face Steve. He mouths a little sorry to her, gives her a small hug, then walks out of the office. As soon as he looks up he freezes, causing Robin to ram into his back.
“Holy shit, Bea!?” he laughs, a bit bewildered.
“God, you’ve grown up, kid.” ‘Bea’ laughs, holding her arms out.
“I’m two years younger than you, asshole.” he says before bolting over the counter top and tackling the girl in a hug.
Robin just watches, extremely confused at the two who are now on the ground. ‘Bea’ is laughing, without a care in the world, while Steve looks like he’s almost in tears.
“Uh, Steve?” she asks, breaking him out of it. “Not that I don’t love seeing you happy, but…”
“Right!” he says, standing up and offering the girl a hand. “Robbie, this is Beatrice. Bea, this is Robin.”
“Oh shit, sailor girl?!” Beatrice asks, getting an affectionate eye roll from Steve. “I have heard-”
“Read.” Steve corrects.
“Shut it.” she says. “I have heard so much about you!”
“I’m really sad I can’t say the same.” Robin says, giving Steve a glare.
“He’s not technically allowed to talk about us.” she says with a sad smile. “He wasn’t technically allowed to talk about any of us. Speaking of which, Steven, have you checked the mail?”
“I mean, I was called by the post office that I need to pick something up today so I will after work.” he says. “Why does my need to check the mail have to do with you being in Hawkins?”
“Steven, look at me.” she says, grabbing his head. “It’s over.”
Robin looks at them confused as Steve’s breathing stops. She’s never seen him this… she doesn’t even know how to describe the look on his face. Content? At ease? It’s like thousands of pounds have been lifted from his shoulders.
“It’s…” he says, pausing. “You’re home? For good?”
“For now at least.” she says. “Danny’s on his way, should be here soon.”
Another customer enters the store, so Robin leaves the siblings to their reunion while she goes to help the woman.
…
Yeah, she’s definitely calling Nancy about this later.
2. Daniel Atlas Harrington - Tuesday
Steve was heading to the Hopper-Byer cabin to take Will and El out for the day while Jonathan hangs out with Nancy and the adults go on their own date. He left Beatrice at the house, hoping to god that everything stays in one piece whilst she is alone.
He parks right outside of the woods where the cabin is and watches the ground as he traverses through the trees. Honestly, he’s so ready for the moment when they actually move to Loch Nora, with the help of the compensation money, so that he doesn’t have to make sure he won’t set off a gun and so that the kids could hang out with their friends more.
He walks up to the door and is about to do the special knock when it just opens. Will is standing there with a smile with El behind him, bloody nose and a blindfold hanging around her neck.
“Go get ready, you twerps, I’m taking you to the diner.” he says, the kids scattering to their rooms.
Steve shakes his head, meeting Joyce’s eyes.
“Thank you for doing this Steve.” she says.
“It’s really not a problem.” he shrugs. “Anything to hang out with my favorite kids.”
“I thought Henderson was your favorite.” Hopper chuckles, holding out twenty dollars in his hand.
“I love Henderson, but these two are my favorites out of all of the brats.” he says, pushing the man’s hand away. “Don’t need to pay me to hang out with them.”
“Then let me pay for the heathens’ lunch.” he says, holding the bill back out.
“You’re not going to let me say no, are you?” Steve sighs.
“Oh, not even a little bit darling.” Joyce smiles.
“Take it kid, let me pay for this.” Hopper says.
Steve reluctantly takes the bill, shoving it in his wallet just as Will and El walk out of their rooms, fully ready to go.
“Okay, so Ellie’s Jane in public?” he asks Hopper, getting a nod. “Got it, so we’ll go to the diner for lunch and then I’ll drop them off at the Wheelers for the night.”
“Thank you again Steve.” Joyce says.
“Not a problem Ms. Byers.” he says before turning to the kids. “Alright, let’s get walking Wonder Twins.”
The trio makes conversation the entire walk to the Beemer. Neither fight over the front seat, just content to sit in the back together. He drives over to a much more upscale diner than the two would be used to, parking in a close to the door space.
“Alright, here’s the plan.” he says, turning towards the two after he turns off the car. “When we walk inside, you two go and find a booth immediately while I go and grab the menus.”
“Waffles?” El asks.
“The best waffles.” he says with a smile.
“Friends don’t lie.” she says.
“I wouldn’t lie about their waffles, Ellie.” he laughs, grabbing his keys.
“Jane.” Will says.
“Thank you Will.” he says, opening the door. “Alright, let’s do this.”
They walk into the building, the kids immediately run to the empty booth in the front corner while Steve walks up to the counter.
“Second time this week Steve.” the waitress laughs. “You must really like us.”
“Haha, yeah, I really must.” he says with a smile. “There’s three of us today, in the corner booth.”
“Well here you go.” she says, handing him the menus. “I will be over in a few minutes to take your orders.”
“Thanks Tiff.” he says, walking over to the table they are at. “Here you kids go.”
“Thanks Steve!” the two say in unison.
“Still so creepy…” he mumbles, finding the food he wants as soon as he looks at the menu.
After a few minutes, Tiffany takes their orders, takes their menus from them, and leaves them their drinks before going to put their tickets on the rack. Steve asks them about their latest campaign with Eddie that they play every Wednesday. Will starts talking and both Steve and El are content to just listen to him.
The door opens but none of them pay it any mind. That is, until a little girl rams herself into Steve’s side.
“Uncle Steve!” the little girl yells.
Steve looks down at the girl then laughs, standing up from the booth and spinning her around, earning many little giggles from her.
“Lilypad!” he laughs out after putting her on the ground. “What are you doing here sweetheart?”
“Auntie Bea called daddy yesterday.” a woman who looks just a bit older than Steve himself says. “Lily, baby, why don’t we go find a booth? Daddy’s gonna want to talk to Uncle Steve in private.”
“Okay mommy!” Lily says before waving. “Bye Uncle Steve!”
“Good seeing you again Steve.” the woman says.
“You too Alice.” Steve says, sitting back down.
“Uh, Steve?” Will asks, said boy turning his attention to him. “Who was that?”
“That’s my niece.” he explains, turning to El. “She’s my older brother’s daughter. Which means…”
“That I’m right behind you twerp.” a man says, making Will jump a bit.
“Hey Danny.” Steve laughs, standing up to give him a hug.
“Hey Steve.” he says, wrapping him in a bear hug. “God, it’s been too long man.”
“It was for the best Dan.” Steve says, sitting back down. “Place turned to shit after the last time we saw each other. I’m glad you didn’t put Lily through it.”
“Yeah, but you had to go through it Stevie.” Danny says. “Listen, we’ll catch up later since you need to… you know… but for now, who are these two?”
“Oh, yeah.” Steve laughs. “Danny, these are two of the kids I babysit, Will and Jane. Wonder Twins, this is my older brother Daniel.”
Will gives him a soft smile while El tilts her head.
“He is a good person.” she states.
“Yeah, he is.” Steve smiles before he takes out his key chain. “Hey, I gotta head somewhere with the kids before I head home. You can take my house keys before I go, just let me in when I get home.”
“I’m assuming Bea is already there?” he asks, taking the keys from his younger brother.
“Oh yeah, and I’m terrified if she destroyed my house or not.” Steve laughs.
“Right, we’ll see you tonight kid.” Danny says before walking over to where his wife and daughter are.
El and Will exchange a look, nod to each other, and then start eating their food as soon as it hits the table. Steve looks at them confused for a moment before starting to eat his own food himself.
After they finish their food, Steve heads up to the counter to pay while the two start scheming about something he doesn’t even try to figure out. He gives Lily a little wave before walking the two members of the Party out of the diner and to his car.
The two are almost completely silent the entire ride to the Wheeler’s house, only whispering a bit to themselves, but Steve pays them no mind. They rush out of his car as soon as they get to the house, sparing him a little goodbye before running inside.
Steve just shrugs it off. He backs out of the driveway and heads to the Munson household before he goes home.
…
He doesn’t see the entire Party staring at him through the window.
“That’s two down.” Lucas says, closing the curtain as soon as their babysitter gets out of sight.
“Do you think all of his siblings are coming to Hawkins now?” Dustin asks rhetorically.
“Really strong possibility of that, I guess.” Max shrugs, wheeling herself away to the living room.
3. Gareth Henry Emerson - Wednesday
Eddie doesn’t think that he will ever be used to this life he now has. Demon world right underneath Hawkins? Okay, that was a thing. Super creepy experiment dude killing two people right in front of him? Sure, that happened. Dying himself and then being brought back to life along with several others? Yeah, okay, that’s really strange.
So why is the most impossible thing to his brain the fact that Steve Harrington isn’t straight and that King Steve fucking Harrington likes him and wants to actually date him? It shouldn’t seem that impossible to him anymore since the first thing Steve did when he was brought back was kiss him. On the lips. In front of Billy fucking Hargrove, who ran out of Hawkins as soon as he got that chance.
Jeff knocks him out of his thoughts, throwing a D20 at him. He had to move the Hellfire meeting, which now that he is graduated they just do whenever they want, to the Wednesday that the regular Party does their campaign because Jeff is going to New York until next Thursday. Right now, it is just the original Hellfire members, long before the little sheep ever showed up, who are in the Wheeler’s basement as the kids were trying to convince Steve to get them snacks.
“Dude, what’s going on with you?” Doug asks. “You’re so spacey lately.”
Eddie looks up the stairs, making sure none of the kids are there before turning towards the three of them again.
“Okay, what I am about to say to you is not allowed to leave this room, got it?” he says.
Gareth salutes him off, not exactly paying attention to the conversation and just wanting to take a sip of his soda, Doug nods, and Jeff holds up his hands jokingly.
“I’m dating Steve Harrington.” Eddie says.
Gareth spits out his drink, coughing a bit.
“Dude!” Jeff says. “What about the whole Munson Doctrine?!”
“I know, I know!” he starts to defend himself. “But you didn’t see him down there man. Pulled an Ozzie and everything.”
“Ugh, la la la la la la laaaaaaa.” Gareth says while covering his ears. “I don’t want to hear about thisssss.”
“Dude, you talk about you and Will all the time.” Doug says, turning to him.
“This is so much different than me and Will, man.” he groans, banging his head against the table.
“How?” Jeff laughs.
Gareth pauses.
“I, uh, I can’t-” he clears his throat. “The Munson Doctrine man. We were literally shit talking him right before spring break happened.”
“There’s more to this, isn’t there?” Eddie asks before the basement door opens.
“Just wait up there, you little shits!” Steve yells before shutting the door and walking down the stairs, something in his hands.
“Hey babe, I told them.” Eddie says when he gets closer.
“Cool, cool.” he says walking over to him. “Did you scar Gareth?”
Gareth gives him a look that confuses Eddie. Steve then throws the thing he was holding onto the table in front of him. It’s a yellow envelope that has the word ‘Classified’ stamped over it.
Steve then hands him a normal piece of notebook paper with a lot of writing on it before leaning over and giving Eddie a kiss then leaving back up the stairs. Eddie guesses that Gareth finishes the note quickly because he pushes himself away from the table and follows behind him, leaving it behind.
“Should we…” Doug says, about to lean over to read the letter himself.
“Don’t.” Eddie says, grabbing both the envelope and letter to put it behind his DM screen. “It’s classified for a reason.”
“You already took a peak, didn’t you?” Jeff sighs.
“Nope.” he says.
He lied. But all that he saw was the words ‘it’s over’ and ‘dad’ which was all he needed to see. There’s number three.
The Party heads down the stairs before Gareth comes back, which distracts the rest of them from what just happened. Gareth comes back downstairs a few minutes later, eyes red, seemingly from crying. He sits back down at his seat, panics a bit before Eddie hands over the envelope and paper. He nods towards the younger before clearing his throat, starting the session.
…
“Robin, you’ll never guess who Steve’s third sibling is.”
4. Chrissy Ruth Cunningham - Thursday
Steve, Robin, Eddie, and Nancy are sitting on the Beemer outside of the arcade while Jonathan is inside trying his best to wrangle the kids outside, high out of his mind. Steve is just about to hit the blunt that is being passed around when someone calls his name from the pizza place next door.
“Steve Harrington, just the person I was looking for.” a man says.
“Mr. Cunningham.” Steve says, putting on his parent charming smile that Nancy despises so much while throwing the blunt behind his back to Eddie. “How can I help you?”
“Dad, leave him alone.” Chrissy shouts from behind him, getting closer. “Sorry about this Steve.”
“I have a feeling I know what it’s about.” he shrugs, taking out his keys to grab something from the back of his car.
“So it is real?” Mr. Cunningham asks, putting a manilla folder on the hood of the car.
“Yes sir, it is.” Steve responds before slamming the trunk shut. “Cris, this is for you.”
Eddie recognizes the yellow envelope immediately, the red ‘classified’ stamp shown vaguely under Steve’s hand. He elbows Robin a bit then grabs Nancy to start dragging her away.
“Eddie, what the hell are you doing?” Nancy hisses out once the three of them are inside the arcade.
“Look, this is going to sound insane but-”
“Why are you guys inside?” Max asks, scaring all three of them. “And where’s Steve?”
Nancy turns and finds the whole Party, including Erica, behind them with their arms crossed.
“As I was saying.” Eddie says. “Steve gave that exact same envelope to Gareth last night.”
“You don’t think…” Robin trails off, going back to staring out the window.
“Gareth and Chrissy would have to be the twins then.” Eddie says. “Which, love them both, but I don’t know if they are twin-like at all.”
“Steve did say they don’t actually look like twins.” Robin points out.
“Pause!” Dustin says loudly. “Since when is Gareth one of Steve’s siblings?”
“Since I found out last night.” Eddie shrugs. “I called Robin about it, thought she would’ve relaid it back to you guys.”
“Channel seven.” Lucas says. “We made sure to use a channel Steve never uses to try and figure it out.”
“Guys, shut up.” Robin says, not taking her eyes off the window.
They all clamor over to the window, watching the scene unfold in front of them. Chrissy’s dad is signing whatever was in the manilla folder whilst Chrissy is jumping up and down in excitement, Steve watching with what looks like just pure happiness. She then proceeds to jump into his arms when the folder closes. Steve laughs, they know he’s laughing his big laugh even if they can’t hear it, and spins her around. Mr. Cunningham gives him a slight nod, says something that none of them can understand, then walks to his car.
Steve’s smile is huge as he just listens to the girl talk, before turning to face the arcade, spotting the Party. He shakes his head and waves them over. The kids rush out the door, the older members and Max behind them.
“Chrissy?” Robin calls out.
The girl just smiles and rushes over to her.
“Hi.” she says with a huge smile before hugging her.
“Hi?” Robin says, hesitating in the hug back. “Can I ask what’s going on?”
“Not yet Robbie.” Steve says. “Not until Es- not until she is home safe in Hawkins.”
“Your mystery sister that you can’t talk about?” Dustin asks.
“Steve, you told them!?” Chrissy says, turning to face him.
“Not everything!” he says back with his hands up. “I just said that I have six siblings.”
“You were supposed to say five though Steven.” she groans.
“Under technicality, I wasn’t supposed to say anything.” he shrugs. “They only found out because I was medically drugged out of my mind and showed them Danny’s movie collection.”
He then tries to change the subject, and succeeds, by saying the kids need to get home before Hop finds out they took El for a few hours. The kids scramble into the three different cars, Chrissy taking Robin’s spot in the Beemer. The kids don’t bring it up again during the drive.
…
Steve is pulling out of the Wheeler’s driveway with Chrissy in the passenger seat.
“What is it, two more we need to find?” Eddie says, closing the curtain after the Bemmer is out of sight.
“We still have a movie night with him tomorrow, maybe they’ll be there?” Lucas says.
“He was talking to Chrissy about his dad traveling home today so they could all be there when we show up.” Mike says.
“Alright, let’s mentally prepare for the entire Harrington family then.” Eddie says.
Though, he was more concerned about himself than the rest of the Party for that matter.
5. Kara Jane Harrington - Friday (morning)
“I’m sure the kid has everything under control for the night, Joyce.” Hopper sighs as Joyce is grabbing things off the shelf. “He always does.”
“I don’t know Hop.” she responds. “Will seems more nervous this time, like the Party needs to make a good impression for something.”
“Jane has been acting a little weird I guess.” he hums. “Those kids are hiding something from us.”
“Exactly, which is why I am getting things for baking cookies.” she says with a triumphant smile. “Will likes to stress bake and he asked me to pick up some ingredients for him and Jane.”
“Since when does he bake?” Hopper asks, grabbing the eggs they pass it.
“Since Steve taught them.” Joyce answers.
She is about to start telling him about the time Steve came over while he was on patrol but stops when she spots a little girl all by herself in the aisle. She nudges Hopper a bit, causing the man to look up and see her to.
“Hi honey, are you lost?” he asks, going over to her.
The girl nods a little bit, a bottle of Coca-Cola clutched in her hands.
“Alright, that’s okay.” he says, crouching down to her level. “What’s your name so I can help?”
“Kara.” the little girl says in a quiet voice.
“Kara what, sweetie?” Joyce asks, coming closer.
“Harrington.”
The adults exchange a look, now they know why the Party is nervous. Steve’s family is in town and he still wants to host movie night for the group.
“Are you here with your parents or are you with your brother?” Hopper asks.
Kara squints her eyes at him for a moment before they light up.
“You are the chief!” she says with a huge smile. “Stevie told me about you!”
“Oh?” he says, a soft smile coming to his face.
“Yeah, he told us about-”
“Kara?” a woman yells down the aisle before running to the girl and picking her up. “Oh Kara, you know you can’t run off like that.”
“Sorry mom.” she says sheepishly. “Mom, it’s Chief Hop!”
The woman looks up and smiles, putting her down and putting out her hand.
“Thank you for taking care of Steven, he really looks up to you two.” she says as Hopper shakes her hand. “I’m Melissa, I’m his step-mom. And you must be Joyce.”
Joyce smiles and gives her a little wave.
“Well, Richard and I are very excited to meet Steven’s family tonight.” she says, going to take Kara’s hand. “From what we’ve read in his letters, you all have been very good to him while we’ve been away.”
“He’s a good kid.” Hopper nods. “Little rough in high school, but a good kid.”
Melissa smiles, waves, then starts to walk back to where she came from. Kara waves as well before turning her attention back to her mom.
“We’re going to need a lot of cookies.” Joyce says, turning the cart around to get more supplies.
…
“So you met the little one?” Will asks as his mother is helping them in the kitchen.
“Still no sign of the mystery sister.” Mike sighs.
The whole Party except Eddie came over to help, which is how everyone was getting caught up on the siblings.
“Guess that’s what tonight is for.” Nancy says, grabbing some chocolate chips out of the bag and sharing it with Jonathan.
+1. The Party and The Harringtons - Friday (night)
Dustin pushes Robin to the front of the group, meaning that she would have to be the one that knocks first. She glares at him, breathes in for a second, then knocks on the door. The Party hears shuffling on the other end of the door before it opens.
“Robin.” Beatrice smiles, nodding at the group behind her. “Little people, come in, come in!”
“Steven should be back in about ten minutes.” Melissa says coming down the stairs as the group piles inside. “He and his boyfriend took his sister out shopping so she could decorate her bedroom.”
Dustin mouths ‘boyfriend?’ to Lucas, who just shrugs and rolls Max further down the hall. The teens freeze for a moment when they get to the dining room, Will cranes his neck to see why.
“All of his NDAs get voided because of PSN but I can not figure out how to get rid of 1985’s for the life of me.” a girl’s voice says.
“Is there not a probable cause to get rid of it?” Beatrice asks, walking in front of them to the girl.
“Nothing, doesn’t even mention the underworld at all.” she says, raising her voice. “It’s just… UGH!”
“Carol, breathe.” another voice says, which some of the kids can recognize a little bit.
“I can’t breathe Tommy!” Carol says. “I need to void this contract for him! It’s not an easy fix since he wasn’t a minor anymore either.”
“Have you checked for any discrepancies on his end?” a man that the Party can only assume is Steve’s father says, walking out of the kitchen.
“Of course I did-” Carol starts to say before Tommy holds his hand up to stop her.
“That’s not Steve’s signature.” he says, pointing to the name on the dotted line. “The only time Steve isn’t able to do his signature…”
“Is when he’s high!” Carol says, standing up. “Tommy, you’re a genius!”
“Nah, leave that title to Steve, I don’t want it.” he laughs.
“Okay, that’s great and all but there’s rules to drugs voiding an NDA Cara.” Beatrice says. “Depends on if it was an oral or injection drug, if it was forced, and if it was out of his system by the time he signed the paper.”
Carol slumps back down in her seat in defeat before Robin steps forward a bit, raising her hand.
“Injection that was forced.” she says quietly. “But we threw it up in the bathroom before the final fight.”
Beatrice blinks at her, looking over to Carol who is also gaping.
“How old were you?” she asks, shaking her head.
“Uh, seventeen?” Robin answers. “Why?”
“Did you have your legal guardian present when you signed the contract?” Tommy asks this time.
“They separate us from everyone else when we sign anything.” Nancy answers for Robin.
Carol and Beatrice exchange a look, Tommy lets out a little ‘bingo,’ all while Mr. and Mrs. Harrington looked pissed.
“Tell us what happened.” Carol says, sitting her down at the table.
Melissa Harrington leads the rest of the Party away from the conversation to the living room, where Daniel and his wife are already waiting.
“We weren’t sure how you work your movie nights but you have full access to Daniel’s collection for the night.” she explains. “The only thing that we would say is off the table is anything horror wise. Other than that, you have free reign.”
She leaves them in the living room and heads back to the dining room to stand with her husband. Max finally takes her attention off of the woman to see El having a staring contest with Steve’s brother.
“Uh, El?” she asks, turning the whole Party’s attention towards her. “What are you doing?”
She doesn’t respond, just tilting her head a bit to the left. Daniel matches her movement, not breaking eye contact when he starts speaking.
“El is short for Eleven, yes?” he asks, earning a smack on the arm from his wife.
“It was.” she responds. “Project SuperNova?”
That breaks Daniel’s focus, who’s eyes dart to the left where Beatrice just entered the room.
“How do you know about that?” she asks cautiously.
“Saved me.” El nods. “Thank her.”
“Uh, you can once Steve brings her home.” Daniel answers, standing up. “I’m, uh, I’m gonna go grab Gareth and Chrissy…”
“The hell is Project SuperNova El?” Dustin whispers to her.
“The secret sister.” she nods. “She is like me.”
Robin finally enters the room, eyes red which concerns the kids almost immediately. She waves them off, only Erica and Dustin know what happened in the bunker and even then, they don’t know everything. And these kids don’t deserve that in their consciousness.
The rest of the, currently in the house, Harringtons, plus Carol and Tommy, enter a few seconds after her. Gareth goes to sit right next to Will, nearly picking him up and placing him on his lap, while Chrissy walks over to sit on the arm of the chair Robin is in. The two Party members look wary before Carol plops herself right beside Beatrice and kisses her.
“If you were worried about us not being supportive of our children, you don’t have to worry about that.” Richard Harrington snorts.
“You kinda have to be.” Gareth says.
“Seeing as all of us-” Beatrice starts to say.
“Except Danny!” Chrissy interrupts.
“Except Danny,” she smiles. “Are at least a little bit gay.”
Robin and Will, and Max but no one sees, relax a bit more after hearing that. Then it clicks for Dustin.
“Wait, Steve’s gay?!” he says with surprise. “And you Robin?!”
“Steven’s bi.” Beatrice says, sitting up a bit straighter. “Is that an issue?”
“No, not at all.” he responds. “That just makes more sense why they wouldn’t date.”
“Yeah, and also Steve’s ex and current boyfriend would be a factor in that.” Max says, fixing her glasses up on her face.
“Who’s Steve’s boyfriend?” Lucas asks at the same time Mike says, “What do you mean ex boyfriend?”
“I don’t know who his current boyfriend is but he was dating Billy for a little while before he died.” she shrugs.
“I know who it is.” Gareth laughs, earning a glare from his own boyfriend. “Who’s the one person who’s not Steve that isn’t here right now?”
The Party breaks in a lot of noise until they hear the garage door open, ABBA blasting on the speakers. They all shut up and wait until they hear the door that leads into the house open.
“We’re home!” Steve yells out.
“Living room!” Richard yells back.
As soon as he steps into view, the kids bombard him with questions. They don’t spare Eddie either, who gives Gareth the dirtiest glare he could muster. They don’t shut up until something glass smashes against the back wall. Steve turns down the hallway they just walked through.
“Really?” he says to someone who is just laughing. “You’re cleaning that up.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever asshole.” a girl’s voice says. “I’m gonna put everything upstairs.”
“Gareth, what did you not understand by ‘not allowed to leave this room?’” Eddie asks with a groan.
“Melissa already called you his boyfriend, I just hinted to them in the direction that you were the only one not here.” the younger says, resting his head on Will’s shoulder.
Steve walks into the room and just collapses into the middle of the floor. Eddie joins him, looking at the kids expectantly, who soon join them both.
“Who’s turn is it?” Steve asks, lifting his head up a bit.
“Oh, are we actually going to watch a movie?” Max asks. “Thought you were going to introduce us to everybody.”
He groans, sitting up and scooching over to lean against the fireplace.
“I’ll start with the Harringtons first I guess since there are less of us.” he says before gesturing to his dad and step-mom. “That’s my dad, Richard, and my step-mom, Melissa.”
He then gestures over to the family of three on the couch closest to the window.
“That’s my eldest brother Daniel, his wife Alice, and their seven year old Lily.”
He points to the girl beside Alice.
“That’s Beatrice Mae, or just Bea.” he says, before gesturing beside her. “That’s Carol Perkins, one of my childhood best friends and Bea’s girlfriend, and Tommy Hagan, my other childhood best friend.”
“You guys already know Gareth and Chrissy,” he says. “Gare from Hellfire or Will and Chris from being Vecna’s first victim.”
“And the little one is Kara.” he says, pointing to the little girl who is currently passed out against Daniel’s leg.
He quickly does introductions for the entire Party as well, then leans back against Eddie. Before Max turns to look at him anyways.
“What about the mystery sister?” she asks.
Steve groans and stands up.
“She’s taking too long up there anyways, I’ll go grab her.” he says.
“I’m right here asshole.” the girl says, walking into the living room.
Max freezes, she knows her. She used to live in California up until right before the end of her sixth grade year. And also, you know, her first girlfriend ever.
“Wait, shut the fuck up.” she says. “Estella?!”
The girl’s eyes widen when she looks over.
“Max?” she says. “The hell happened?”
“Ah, you know, got attacked by an interdimensional demon man who also killed your sister.” she shrugs.
“Okay, so when I said ‘call if anything happens’ Steven, how did you take that?” Estella asks sarcastically before holding out her hand. “Knife?”
“Stell…” he says, hesitating to grab his pocket knife.
“I already saved your boyfriend and Max already knows what I can do.” she groans, grabbing the knife from his back pocket.
She walks over to the red head and sits on the floor in front of her.
“Hey Maxie.” she whispers, getting a smile. “Remember how to do this?”
“Good luck in there Ella.” Max whispers back, holding her hand out.
“Uh, Steve, what’s going on?” Nancy asks.
“Just watch and wait.” Steve sighs, sitting back down. “Cause after she sees what happened, everyone in this room is getting this treatment.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m already out Steven.” Estella says before turning her attention back to Max. “Ready?”
“Do it.” she nods.
Estella switches the blade out, taps on the top of Max’s palm, then while she is breathing out, cuts down on her hand. Some members of the Party gasp, and Steve has to hold Lucas back from tackling his sister, before Estella covers the cut with her own hand and falls forward.
“Steve?!” Dustin questions.
“Project SuperNova.” El nods. “She heals.”
“That’s what you meant by she saved you?” Beatrice asks.
El nods and watches Estella as she starts to wake up. Max blinks her eyes a few times, takes off her glasses, then stands up, pushing the wheelchair to the side.
“Steven.” Estella says quietly.
“Fuck.”
He runs out of the house, Estella hot on his tail, out into the woods.
…
Max lays against Estella after everyone in the Party has been fully healed, including Steve. The Harrington girl puts her head in the crook of her neck, turning her head to her.
“You happy?” she asks the red head.
“Very.” she smiles. “Glad you’re back.”
“I’m glad I’m back too.”