Chapter Text
It all happened too fast.
The plan was working.
Until it didn't.
Next thing Finney knows, he is frozen in place, staring at his bestfriends lifeless body. Robins skin pale, blood pooling around him, his body going cold, his chest still.
Finney felt his heart stop at that moment, his eyes fixed on the body like it was all a dream.
He doesnt know how, or when it happened, but he woke up in a hospital. Pristine white sheets, lights too bright for the eyes, and horrible food in-front of him. It was like he had been on autopilot, because he had no idea what happened between those two events. His eyes wandered around the room, a dull harsh throbbing pain behind his eyes. He looked down at himself seeing bandages, and that led to even more confusion, because he wasn't harmed from what he remembered. But it must've happened when he was frozen in place.
He swallowed hard, his throat feeling dry. His eyes slowly adjusted to the new setting, then landed on the small girl next to him, with braided hair. He blinked slowly, before speaking.
”Gwen…?” His own eyes widened at his voice, it was hoarse, and sounded like he just swallowed 20 sponges to suck up all the moisture. The girls head snapped up so fast he thought she would get whiplash, her eyes wide and tearful. He cleared his throat, grunting in pain at how sore it was.
He felt her stare at him for a long minute, before she jumped up finally finding her voice, ”Finney!” She shrieked, her voice filled with excitement, but her eyes filled with pity, or was it guilt? Maybe even relief.
He sat up slowly, the movement instantly regretted when his head started pounding even worse. ”fuck..” he grunted. ”what happened to my head..?” He muttered, mostly to himself.
Vance POV
He was in a similar situation to Finney, except nobody was there to visit him. His father was a good-for-nothing alcoholic. And his mother had fled, leaving Vance behind with that asshole.
He grit his teeth, trying to ground himself from whatever nightmare he was in. He hated hospitals, he especially hated police. Which isnt a great thing considering the police will be asking what happened.
Vance already was planning to refuse to tell them anything, why do they deserve to know the torture he went through just to put it on the news?
He wondered if anyone else lived, he had been the one to see every single hit the grabber got on each of them. Even Finney, although Finney looked too out of it to most likely remember.
but vance remembers. Too well. He remembers picking finney up, after seeing he was still breathing. Carrying him up those basement stairs. Having blood dripping on his shoulder from the gash, where the grabber hit Finney.
he remembers people swarming him, asking what happened, whilst all he wanted to do was get the last of his friends to safety, to be able to survive, so he wouldnt be the only one that survived, so he didnt have to say he lost all of them.
It was a rarity to see Vance hopper cry, but his eyes began to well up with tears just at the thought of it. He roughly wiped his eyes, not wanting to shed anymore tears where someone could see him. He had embarrassed himself enough by sobbing his heart out once he left that basement.
But he just couldnt help it, he couldnt do anything but cry. He saw four of his friends die, one was actively dying in his arms, people were swarming him, he was bleeding too. It was all too much for him. And he was only a teenage boy after all.
But in his head, although it was embarrassing, it felt right. It was the only thing he could do after everything the grabber did to them. How dirty he made them feel, how broken he made them.
It was relieving to cry, after having bottled everything up so he could look strong infront of the five others. Bottling things up infront of his father because ‘men dont cry’.
He jumped, and froze up when a police officer came in.
Vance stared at the officer with disdain, distrust, and recognition.
it was the officer who always had to deal with Vances bullshit, the fighting, the talking back. He gave Vance a curt nod, who in return snarled.
The officer sighed, ”Look, kid. I know we've had our difficulties in the past, but i need to talk to you about this.”
Vance looked away, his jaw tightening imperceptibly. ”Fuck off.” He managed to get out after a tense silence.
The officer just stared at him with pity, ”We need to know the details, Vance.”
Vance didnt respond, and once the officer figured this out he began to speak again. ”You and one other kid were the only survivors, we have to know this information for safety. And to add onto that, your father… you wont be going back to him. We called your uncle, who is willing to take you in.”
Vance froze. His uncle? Like the cop one he started resenting for being a better person than his father? A muscle ticked in his jaw. ”No.” He growled out, he wouldnt willingly go there.
Hopper had just gotten off of the phone and sighed, ”dammit..” he muttered to himself. Joyce seemed to have heard and looked at him from the kitchen. ”Everything all right Hop?” She asked, her voice filled with as much warmth as ever.
Hopper softened at the sound of her, and shook his head. ”My nephew needs to live with us. Well… for a bit at least.” He grumbled, joyce raised an eyebrow. ”Hm? You dont sound too happy? How come he has to come here anyways,”
His rubbed the bridge of his nose, ”ofcourse im not happy. The kids a delinquent. No surprise there though with the father he grew up with.” He looked at her, ”But i have no idea why, the police wont tell me a thing. God. I dont want him to live with us…who knows how he’ll react around El?”
Joyce let out a small humming sound, ”Hop, maybe he just needs some help. Theres always a root of where the problem starts.” She pondered, and hopper took that into consideration.
”Maybe..” he mumbled; ”i dont get why the police wont tell me a thing. Theyre handing him over to me but because im not his guardian yet they wont tell me shit?! I gotta know what the fuck happened.” His voice rose, his irritation spiking.
”hopper,” Joyce said, her voice firm. ”He has still been through something. No matter what that is we should take him in anyways. I dont want a child, after being traumatised not to have a home to go to.”
Hopper paused, stared at her for a few minutes, then looked at the ground. ”well… yeah… true..”
That was all he could muster out.
Joyce began to speak again, ”Ill make sure the kids know about whats going-” before she got interrupted by Will, Mike and El.
Will spoke first, ”whats going on?” He looked between the two adults, a confusion etched on his face. A similar one to the other two kids next to him.
Joyce looked at them, then realised she didnt really know how to word it. She pursed her lips, ”well… uh, about that.” She didnt speak for a long minute, leaving the kitchen in relative silence.
”Hoppers nephew has to come stay with us,” she managed to get out. ”Me and Hop will be going to get him tomorrow. Could you two- three, maybe help get a room set up for him?” She smiled, a warm look on her face. Which is the reason the three cant say no. Why would they ever say no when this terrifying woman is so kind to them.
The two boys were healing slowly, although their wounds still felt like they were forcibly putting them in ice water. Or fire for that matter.
But now it was the next day, Joyce and Hopper had arrived at the hospital.
They found out what room Vance was in and quickly headed over. Hopper couldnt bring himself to go in first, he hadnt seen Vance for over 7 years. Joyce had noticed, and put a comforting hand on his arm before opening the door and stepping inside.
Vance didnt even look at the newcomers, he just stared at the floor, his hair was matted, the curls he cared about so much were now ruined from blood and being in the grabbers basement for 3 years.
His eyes were blank, but as they looked at Jim they held resentment in them, and hatred. He didnt know who the other woman was. But he didnt need to as far as he was concerned. He hated Jim for being a cop, and for not getting him out of that fucking house.
A muscle ticked in his jaw, and he turned away again. Before he decided, he was gonna go see Finn. Well hopefully. He was going to walk around until he found which room he was in.
Its comforting knowing hes not the only one who survived. He slowly stood, his legs a bit weak from not being used. Before he got stopped by Jim. ”fuckin' move.” He snarled.
Jim just shook his head, ”You’re coming home with us kid.” He muttered, looking down at Vance. He remembers how much Vance cared about keeping his curls nice, but now you could barely make out a curl. It lingered on his mind, what exactly happened to this kid for him to stop the one thing he cared about most?
”no fuckin' way.” He hissed out, before pushing past Hopper roughly. He made it out of the room, and looked around. He was in a hallway. He turned and began walking in one direction hoping to find Finns room.
The two adults followed him, he could hear his uncles voice. ”Vance! This isnt the way out.”
Vance just rolled his eyes. ”so what?” His voice raised, ” ‘m not looking for a way out.” His eyes kept peering through the glass of the rooms. Looking for one person in particular.
Then, he finally saw it. A kid with fluffy brown hair, matted with blood just like his, brown eyes, and a light frame. He stopped walking, leaving Joyce and Hopper confused behind him.
They quickly caught up to him just as he pushed open the door and walked in, ”Vance you cant just go into someones room,” Hoppers voice held a hint of irritation.
Which, ofcourse Vance ignored him. His steps were slow and heavy. His eyes met the person, and he knew it was him. Relief flooded his veins, he wasnt the only one who survived.
”Vance…?” Finney questioned, looking at the blond. His voice still sounded like his vocal chords got ran over by a ten ton truck, but it was better now he had some water.
”Yeah.” Is all he responded with, his gaze was unusually soft. He looked relieved, his posture less tense.
”shouldnt you be resting?” Finney said, slowly swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. It took a lot out of him. But he did it. Vance slowly shook his head, ”no.” He mumbled.
But, Hopper placed a hand on his shoulder. ”yes you should be kid.” And all of a sudden Vances gaze wasnt soft anymore. ”You dont get to tell me what to do.” He growled.
Finney shook his head slowly, ”no… Vance he’s right. You should be resting… your injuries-” he got cut off with another growl and he let out a little squeak instantly pressing his lips together.
”Somebody tell me why we’re doing this again?” Dustin asked. Will, Mike and El had decided if they have to fix up a room, the entire party has to help.
By helping they mean, Dustin asking a million questions, Lucas complaining constantly, and Max unwillingly doing it.
Will sighed, ”because i dont know. You’re here now so help, please?”
He ran a hand down his face, but the room was slowly coming to life. It was kind of bland but they had figured Vance would like to decorate the room himself.
The walls were a grey colour, the bed was simple with a black duvet, and there were a few drawers around.
”see? Was it really that hard?” Will asked, getting a bunch of groaned ‘yes’s in response. ”you’re all dramatic.” He sighed.
The sun was starting to set, when they heard the front door open. Each of them pushed out the room and peeked down the stairs. Thats when they saw them. Joyce looking as kind as ever, Hopper looking irritated, and Vance looking like he was being dragged to the underworld.
”dude he looks fucked up.” Dustin whispered, earning a smack over the head from lucas, ”shutup.. they might see us!” He whispered back.
But Dustin was right. Vances hair was all matted, the blood having been washed out with a struggle from the nurses, bandages around his arms, and neck. His nose having a cut over it that was healing faster than the others. They were all too busy staring at Vance to have realised Joyce was staring right back at them.
Mike was the first one to notice. ”stop staring! We’ve been caught! Abort mission! Abort!” He whisper shouted to the group, who all followed his gaze. Then there was a lot of stumbling to Wills room. Everyone tripping over eachother and pushing eachother. Which had caused Vances attention to go to them. He stared at them, annoyed and kind of dumbfounded.
His mind had one question, who were these dweebs? And did he really HAVE to stay here.