Chapter Text
It's exactly one week before Christmas and the local elementary schoolers have put together their own versions of a wintertime play. It's not exactly freezing cold today, but a light snow is starting to pepper down on everything and everyone.
Two preteen girls were sitting next to each other in one of the many rows of chairs arranged outside the city hall's lawn. One had shoulder length brown hair, pulled into a herringbone braid, under a knitted hat. The other had long, wavy red hair pulled up into a high ponytail. They started to huddle up to each other and hold each other's arms, intertwined through their puffy down jackets. Girls give, share, and express their love for each other so easily at this age.
Nancy then reached her arm out towards her friend's hair, gave the large scrunchie holding it all together a gentle tug and straightened it for her.
"If you lose your favorite one again, I might not be able to track it down a second time." she said warmly and smiled at her best friend.
"Trust me, I'll be keeping my eye on it all day. This is the first time I've actually even worn it out since then." Barb said as she squeezed Nancy's arm.
"Won't it be a little hard to keep your eye on it? You know, with it being located on the top of your head?"
They both giggled, then immediately stopped and bit their lips when an old couple seated in front of them cleared their throats and looked at them with sour faces.
"Maybe we should sit somewhere else?" Barb whispered as she looked back and forth at the empty seats still available.
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind being up closer to the show. It'd be nice to see Mike, and his friends faces, when he inevitably forgets his lines." Nancy said as she stood up and shook the snow from her bright red corduroy skirt.
They walked together through the row of chairs until a leg, lazily hanging from the chair across the row, stopped them.
"Excuse us, we need to get through." Nancy said. Polite as usual. Cheery, too.
No answer.
"Uh... Hello? We can't pass until you clear the aisle."
The teenaged boy, slouching in his chair, lifted his other leg up and laid it across his already obtrusive leg. He was wearing a hooded jacket, along with a hooded sweater, with both hoods up, blocking his face. He never looked at either of them or acknowledged their existence. Nancy could see that he was wearing headphones, as the cord trailed down into his pocket.
"I know that you can hear me or else you wouldn't have done what you just did. Now, please, let us through."
She was less polite and slightly annoyed, but still. Kinda polite. She was using the "Nancy's serious business voice", as Barb would often tease her with.
The boy lazily reached up and pulled his headphones off. She still couldn't see his face. He sighed and made a raspy sound with his voice at the end.
"So? Just go around to the other side.... and leave through there. Problem. Solved."
Nancy could feel her anger starting to boil over. She let go of Barb's arm and went up to him.
"Uhm. No, we can't. It's blocked off with the giant speaker system they set up, and besides, you're being incredibly rude and hostile for absolutely no reason." she said this calmly, but internally, she was fuming. She wanted to rip the hoods off his face, to look him in the eye as she explained the Law of Conservation of Mass to him.
"Then you should've thought about that before you sat down." he says with a slight shrug as he puts his headphones back on.
"Nance, maybe we should just go sit back down." Barb's voice whispers in her ear.
She turns to her best friend and smiles.
She then reaches down and picks up enough snow in her hands to form a large ball. She throws it quickly, as hard as she can against the side of his head. It lands with a sploosh, and ends up all over him. He jumps up from the chair, scrubbing the watery mess off of his jeans and jacket with his bare hands. It soaks through, anyway.
"HEY!" he angrily yells at the two girls as they run past him. They make a sharp turn as they giggle and laugh happily, free from their chair prison, the warden covered in icy water making that freedom ever so much more delicious.
He looks around as he stands there, soaking wet and angry. Did anyone see that? It's still early and there aren't many people here yet. It's probably fine, there's a lot of old people just sitting around at the moment, right?
His eyes land right in the sightline of another teenaged boy. He looks entertained. He's leaning back in his chair with his arms laid out, and he's just sitting there, with a big smile on his face as he stares at him. This guy is really pissing him off.
He stares back at him with a scowl. It would be stupid to pick a fight with him. He looks quite a bit older, decked out in weird clothes despite the icy winter season. Plus, his head is shaved down to his skull.... Troublemakers like him always have their hair, wait, lack of it, in this style. Probably means that they've been to boot camp, or spent time in juvie.
The guy is still fucking staring at him with that stupid. Fuckin.' Smile. If he gets his ass kicked, it'll be worth it as long as he can throw a few punches into that face.
"What! What are you lookin' at!" he yells as he throws his hands up in the air.
"Well, Harrington, I've seen you play dodgeball. Never thought a little girl would be the one to take you out of the game."
He didn't recognize him sitting there, with his freshly-shaved head, but now that he's heard his voice, he knows exactly who he's dealing with. The way he said that, with way too much amusement. It pisses him off even more.
"Oh, fuck off, Munson. You, and those freaks you call friends aren't exactly lining up to become star athletes. Probably just end up in prison, like your old man." he spits at him from across the lawn.
The guy still hasn't moved, he's still amused and the remark does nothing to sway him.
"Eh, we're not there because we want to be. We're required by law." he says with a smirk, as he waves one hand slightly, to brush him off like a little moth. Dusty, bothersome, lame. Harmless, despite all of the fluttering.
Before Steve has a chance to say another word, to even formulate the emotions that this brings front and center in his chest, he feels a hand land hard against the back of his jacket.
"How is my favorite swim team captain doing today!? Missing his time in the water, I see." the man standing next to him laughed heartily.
"Oh, uh, hi, Coach Sanders." Steve said, as relaxed and confident as he could muster.
"Are you here to watch the play? Got any kid sisters or brothers in it? We'll cheer extra loud for 'em!" Coach Sanders was a really nice guy, but he's also the most forgetful person he's ever met.
"Uh, no, sir. I don't have any. It's just me. I'm here for my Dad, actually.... His business is sponsoring one of the schools and he told me to be here. To watch it." he scratched at the back of his head, feeling slightly self conscious.
"Your pop, he's a great guy! And, if he trusts you to report back to him, about all of the Christmas cheer he's bringing forth, then I'll leave you to it." his coach said with a smile and then saluted towards him as he walked away whistling.
Steve stood there for a moment, as he looked down at the spot where his coach had been standing. Now he's thinking about the morning he'd had with his father. Before they'd even had breakfast, he was not only demoralized, but this time his father made sure to get the picture painted clearly for a dumbass like him. Right across the back of his head.
He felt his stomach drop and the pain at the nape of his neck returned, bright and harsh, front and center. Great. So much for ignoring that. His father just had to grab him there again right before they left the house, didn't he? He wants that tight grip to always be there, to be felt even when he's not around. Thank god it's cold again. Scarves, hoods, turtlenecks, the real wintertime saviors.
"You alright there, buddy? You look like you've just seen a ghost. Maybe a mean one, by the looks of it." he hears from behind him.
Oh, right. The freak is still here.
"Didn't I already tell you to fuck off? How many more times am I gonna have to say it before you finally put two and two together? Haven't you failed school enough to at least learn that lesson by now?"
He didn't sound or even feel as angry as he did before, but he still wanted someone else to feel his hurt. At school, with his teammates, it was easy to get them riled up. Bring up an insecurity, something they want but can't have, or toss them a dirty look. They'll always fight back.
Munson just stood up like he had finished watching a movie at the cineplex, and shrugged his shoulders.
"Fine, I'll get outta your hair, but, man, you should realllllly get around to talking to someone about those anger issues you've got brewing around in there." he said with his hands making circling motions towards him, as he walked away.
Then he stopped. He looked back at him, while looking him up and down he said one more thing.
"That shit will eat you up from the inside, leaving you a hollow and ugly shell, and you're not that far gone, yet, Harrington. By the looks of it, anyway.
Don't let the Oblex get you, man."