Chapter Text
Steve Harrington sat on a bench not far from Hawk Theatre. His head was pounding from the punches he took from Jonathan and the coke Tommy had bought him was no longer cold.
Guilt was coursing through his veins. What he did to Nancy and what he said to Jonathan, it was all wrong. All of it. But he did it anyways.
“Are you…okay?” He looked over to see that Eddie Munson was hesitantly walking up to him with a joint between his fingers. Eddie Munson. The guy who never talked to him and he never talked to. He had a bit of a reputation at Hawkins High. He ran the Hellfire Club that was called a cult, he dealt drugs to half the school and was a target for the jocks. They sent a lot of hate his way but he never seemed to be affected by it and continued his life riddled with confidence.
The two were never friends, always existing in different social circles. Steve’s social standing was set up for him the day he was born with the Harrington name slapped on his birth certificate. That last name meant he had a reputation to uphold and he did his best to do that, like his parents wanted.
“Yeah. I’m fine” Steve answered coldly, not exactly looking to have a conversation at the moment.
“You look like you just got your shit rocked” Eddie didn’t really take the hint and sat down next to him, passing him the joint. Steve took a hit without a second thought and handed it back.
“I was an asshole. I deserved it.” He crossed his arms and looked at the ground.
“I can’t really argue with you there. Does this have anything to do with your girlfriend's name on the marquee over there?” Eddie pointed to the theatre down the road and Steve nodded, sighing. The pain from the punches was radiating in his head, the medication Tommy had bought him seemingly doing nothing. He felt his eyes flutter and his head pound. Eddie seemed to notice his state and immediately shot up.
“Shit are you gonna pass out? Don’t pass out please. I’ll be right back. Shit!” Eddie took off and before Steve could even fully register he was gone, he came sprinting back with an ice pack and a bottle of water in his hands. He handed Steve the water bottle and gently held the ice pack on Steve’s cut next to his eye. Steve blinked a few times, the coldness from the ice pack helping him gain some consciousness back, and took a sip of the water. He was never the nicest to Eddie. He knew that he was a total jerk to him at school and had called him a few things before. But he still did something nice just because. Steve took off from Eddie, going to the theatre without saying anything else. There was a theatre worker outside on a ladder, scrubbing at the spray paint.
“Need a hand?” Steve asked him.
“Did you have something to do with this?” The guy seemed pissed off. Which he had the right to be.
“I just… I wanna help” Steve responded.
“All yours” He got down from the ladder, handing Steve his rag and spray before going inside.
Steve climbed up and began scrubbing.
"Steve Harrington fixing his problems? It is an absolute miracle" Eddie walked up to the bottom of the latter. He placed Steve’s ice pack and water on the ground. Steve kept scrubbing, glancing down for a second to acknowledge the others presence.
“Thank you… for the ice pack and water” Steve looked down at Eddie standing there.
“You needed it man. I wouldn’t have just left you there, passed out. I mean I could have and maybe I would have but I didn't” Eddie looked up at Steve. He didn’t get why Eddie didn’t just leave him there. Steve was nothing but an asshole to Eddie.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” Steve scrubbed off the remaining spray paint.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Eddie shrugged, his eyes moving from Steve to the ground below him.
“I’ve been nothing but an asshole to you since like forever” Steve made his way down the ladder, hanging the cloth on one of the steps.
“Because I’m not an asshole. And I don’t think you’re as much of a dick as you seem to think you are. Sure, you're a total jerk like 90 percent of the time but I don’t know if you want to be. Now, Tommy on the other hand is a different story.” Eddie shrugged. This flipped some switch in Steve’s mind. Before even thinking, Steve took off to his car.
“Glad we had that talk, Steve. It was a great conversation!” Eddie shouted as he watched him run off.
He drove straight to the Byers house. It wasn’t far from his own and it was smaller and looked significantly more lived in.
“Jonathan? Are you there, man? It’s… it’s Steve! Listen, I just want to talk” He said loudly, hoping his voice carried through the house for Jonathan to hear. He banged on the door a few more times before it opened. Rather than a Byers looking through the crack, it was Nancy.
“Steve, listen to me?” Nancy's voice was rough sounding.
“Hey– Nancy what?” He was mildly confused as to why Nancy was there.
“You need to leave,” Nancy told him harshly.
“I’m not trying to start anything, okay?” Steve told her, his voice cracking a little as he tried to get his brain together.
“I don’t care about that. You need to leave” Nancy repeated herself.
“No, no, no. Listen, I messed up, okay? I messed… I messed up. Okay? Really please. I just want to make things right. Okay, please? Please?” Steve just wanted to apologize, Eddie’s words circling through his mind. “Hey, what happened to your hand? Is that blood?” He noticed her hand that was wrapped in gauze, a small bit of blood reaching its surface.
“Nothing. It was an accident” She pulled her wrapped hand away from the door.
“What’s going on? Wait a sec, did he do this to you?” His confusion shifted to worry.
“Nothing. No.” She was stern in her tone.
“Nancy let me in” He managed to push past Nancy into the house.
“No, no, no. Steve” She tried to get him back out but it didn’t work.
“What is what the…” He looked around the house. There were Christmas lights hung up all over the walls and ceiling, weapons on the coffee table, blood on the carpet. The place was a bit of a disaster to say the least.
“You need to get out of here” Jonathan was standing in the middle of the living room.
“Whoa. What is all–” Steve's eyes darted around the house.
“Listen to me. I’m not asking you, I’m telling you” Jonathan tried to push him out, his hand also wrapped like Nancy’s.
“What is that smell? Is that gasoline?” The pungent smell hit Steve, making his pre-existing headache significantly worse.
“Steve. Get out.” Nancy held a gun up, pointing it directly at him.
“Wait. What? What is going on?” He put his hands up out of fear. Was his girlfriend actually going to shoot him? What a way to go.
“You have five seconds to get out of here” Nancy didn’t move an inch, the gun still pointed at him.
“Okay, is this a joke? Stop. Put the gun down” He backed up a little.
“I’m doing this for you” Nancy's finger shifted to the trigger.
“Wait, is this a… what is this?” Steve was too distracted by his girlfriend pointing a gun at him to notice that the lights had begun to flicker. Jonathan muttered Nancy’s name a few times.
“Three. Two” She began counting down.
“No, no, no! No, no!” Steve yelled, hoping that she wouldn't pull the trigger.
“Nancy. The lights. It's here” Jonathan practically yelled, getting Nancy to look away from Steve.
“Wait, what’s here? Where is what? Woah easy with that!” Steve watched as Jonathan picked up a baseball bat with nails hammered into it.
“Where is it?” Nancy immediately went up beside Jonathan, the gun still glued to her hands.
“I don’t know I don’t see it” The two circled around the room.
“Where is what? Hello?? Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going–” Steve’s freak out was interrupted by the ceiling bursting open. Something began to crawl its way through the hole as Nancy shot at it a few times. As it made its way further out, Jonathan pulled Nancy away and down the hallway, grabbing Steve’s hand on the way.
“Jump!” Jonathan yelled as they ran.
“Oh my god! Oh my god” Steve screamed as he jumped over the bear trap strategically placed in the middle of the hall. They ran into a bedroom, slamming the door closed once Steve was inside.
“Jesus! Jesus. What the hell was that? What the hell was that?” Steve screamed at the other two, all his composure lost.
“Shut up!” Both Jonathan and Nancy said it sync, turning their attention to the roars outside the door. Jonathan had his bat in one hand and a lighter in the other. Nancy had her gun pointed towards the door and then there was Steve with nothing. Roars got closer to them but suddenly stopped. All the flickering lights cut out.
“Do you hear anything?” Jonathan looked over at Nancy.
“No,” she replied. The teens carefully made their way out of the room, looking down the hall for the monster. There seemed to be nothing. They cautiously made their way towards the living room, Jonathan and his bat leading the way.
“This is crazy!” He repeated getting louder and more frantic each time. He ran towards the phone next to him on the wall. He began to hit buttons frantically, doing his best to dial 911. Nancy walked up to him, took the phone and threw it across the room. “What are you doing? Are you insane” His voice cracked.
“It’s going to come back. So you need to leave. Right now” Nancy looked him dead in the eyes.
Steve ran out of the house and straight to his car, fiddling with his keys as he tried to unlock the door. Just as he got in unlocked, the lights inside the Byers house began to flicker again. He stood there for a moment and without much thought, ran back to the front door. When he opened it, Jonathan was lying on the ground and the monster was making its way towards Nancy. Steve saw the nailed bat on the ground, picked it up and whacked the monster straight in the stomach. It tried to swing at Steve but he ducked and hit it again. With a few more hits, he had managed to get it to back up into the bear trap in the hall.
“He’s in the trap! He’s stuck!” Steve yelled once the monster's foot closed the trap.
“Jonathan, now!” Nancy stood behind Steve. Jonathan scrambled his way off the floor and ran to the group with a lighter in his hand. He lit it and threw it on the ground, the monster going up in flames. Jonathan came in with a fire extinguisher and put out the flames after it seemed like the monster had been burning long enough. Smoke filled the house.
“Where’d it go?” Nancy asked as the group slowly walked closer to the now empty bear trap.
“It has to be dead. It has to be” The trap was closed and there was strange goo covering it and the floor surrounding it. The Christmas lights overhead began to flicker a few at a time. Steve held out the bat just in case but nothing seemed to be happening. They flickered down the hall and into the living room, the group following them.
“Mom,” Jonathan said quietly. Lights continued to go up and out towards the front door. Jonathan went outside and the others followed. The streetlight in the driveway lit up.
“Where’s it going?” Nancy asked him.
“I don’t think that’s the monster,” Jonathan answered.
“Well if it's not the monster then what is it?” Steve still held the nailed bat in a tight grip. Nancy and Jonathan looked at each other, silently communicating about something.
“Is anyone gonna tell me what the hell is actually going on here?” His voice raised again, the stress from earlier returning. Clicks from a radio were heard and Jonathan ran inside. Nancy stayed outside with Steve.
“There’s this other… dimension. And that’s where Will went missing and Barb. That monster was from there. It's like Hawkins but so dark and gross" She tried to explain, stumbling over her words. There were more details she shared, telling Steve about the past week and everything that occurred that she knew about.
Steve’s jaw dropped. That's why Jonathan was in her room that night, that's why she seemed distant. She wasn't cheating on him. Never in a million years did he think that something like that could happen in Hawkins.
“That’s just… that’s just great isn’t it” Steve ran his batless hand through his hair. All he wanted to do was apologize. He should have stayed with Eddie.
“They’re at the hospital. With everyone. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, your parents. And Will. He’s safe. My mom and Hop, they went to find him. The lights, that was them” Jonathan ran back outside, looking on the verge of tears.
“Lets go then” Nancy went inside and put her gun on the coffee table then returned back outside to Steve. Jonathan followed her in but didn’t come right out. He came out a few minutes later with a box.
“I’ll drive you guys.” Steve offered, still frazzled from whatever just happened, and the new found information he had just received from Nancy. They loaded into Steve’s car, him throwing the nailed bat into the backseat, and drove straight to the hospital.
***
When they arrived, everyone else was already there. They walked into a filled waiting room. There was Nancy’s little brother and some other kids, Nancy’s parents and Chief Jim Hopper. Steve sat down in one of the empty chairs next to Nancy’s dad, Ted while Nancy sat next to her mom.
His mind was racing at 100 miles an hour in that waiting room that he really didn’t need to be in.
He just wanted to apologize to Jonathan and ended up fighting a monster and being forced to sign an NDA, swearing himself to secrecy. Even the kids were forced to tell their story and sign the same papers. Whatever was happening in Hawkins was fucked up and he was involved in it all.
At some point, Jonathan's little brother had woken up and all the kids ran back to see him. Steve couldn’t help but think if it happened to him, would his friends react like that? Or would they have just given up the moment he went missing?
The Wheelers left first and they had to practically pry Mike away from the hospital. The kid was given some bribe and seemed to be ok after that. Nancy gave Steve a small hug before following them out.
*The Sinclairs were next, saying something about another kid being left in the car. The Chief made his way out after that, leaving just Steve and one other kid in that waiting room.
“Are your parents coming to get you?” He looked at the only kid left sitting there. He was pretty sure his name was Dustin or Derek or something. He was a Henderson and Steve knew that for a fact.
“My mom works here so I was just going to hang out until she was off” The kid shrugged.
“Let me take you home. That way she won’t have to worry about you” Steve wasn’t exactly sure why he was offering to drive the kid home. Maybe it was the fear that the monster was going to come back or maybe Eddie’s words were still taking up his mind. Why were they still stuck? Why was he thinking about Eddie still?
A woman came into the waiting room dressed in scrubs and ran up to the kid immediately. It was Claudia Henderson.
“Dustin, are you ok?” She placed her hands on the side of his face. Steve silently celebrated his guess of the kids name being correct.
“Yes mom I’m ok” He attempted to pull her hands off his face but she just engulfed him in a hug.
“It is too late, you are not walking home” She did not let go of him.
“I was just gonna stay here until you got off” Dustin eventually succumbed to the hug and wrapped his arms around her.
“I can take him home if you want, Mrs. Henderson” Steve stood there awkwardly, just watching the family.
“Oh that would be amazing” She finally let go of Dustin and looked at Steve. “Be good for Steve Harrington, ok?” She made eye contact with Dustin before leaving the room, presumably returning to work.
Steve led the way out, ushering Dustin to follow him. They made their way to the parking lot and into his car. The ride was quiet, Dustin looking too scared to say anything until he looked into the backseat.
“Holy shit, where’d you get that bat?” His eyes were glued to Jonathan’s nailed bat that laid on the seats.
“Oh um… it was Jonathan’s” Steve had forgotten he took the bat with him, just in case.
“Were you with Nancy and Jonathan? Did you see that thing? The demogorgon?” Dustin questioned.
“The demo- what now?” Steve glanced at the kid while still keeping a tight grasp on his steering wheel.
“It’s what we decided to call the monster. It’s from D&D, " Dustin explained to him.
Steve knew nothing about that game. He was told it was satanic by his parents and their friends. Steve never really believed in that crap though.
“Ok sure yeah… demogorgon. And yeah, I did see it” Steve chose to just go along with Dustin.
“Me too. It was cool but...” Dustin slumped down in his seat. Steve pulled into the Henderson’s driveway and Dustin climbed out of the car.
“Thanks for the ride, Steve” Dustin gave him a smile before closing the door. Steve watched him as he walked into his house and shut the door behind him. He drove to his own house and went straight to his bedroom, not falling asleep but just laying in his bed. How was he supposed to? It was the weirdest day he could have possibly had. He got beat up by Jonathan, yelled at Tommy, hung out with Eddie Munson and fought a fucking monster.
What the fuck.