my girl, forever and always || steve harrington

the spy

lydia's brain felt like it had never been busier. between processing all the emotions and trauma she had been through in the past year and the current threat of her brothers pet demogorgan on the loose, she felt as though her brain was a forest fire.

"okay so right now he's trapped in my room, and i need to find a way to lure him out before mom comes back." dustin's pacing worsened her migraine and his incoherent mumbling was starting to get on her nerves.

"dust. stop pacing, you're making my eyes hurt. let's just lock him in the storm cellar. it's separate from the house but we'll still be able to keep him close until we can figure out what to do with him." she suggested. dustin turned to her in awe and tackled her in a hug.

"this is why you're my favorite sister."

"im your only sister so shut up and let's get this fucker out of my house." she tightened her grip on him and smiled into his shoulder.

~

with the assistance of a package of bologna and some old hockey gear, the siblings were prepared to lure dart out of the house. lydia stood in the shed with her chicken-wire wrapped hockey stick and her gun in the back of her pants, while dustin was in charge of getting dart out of his room.

peering through the gaps in the shed, lydia tried to take deep breaths to calm her nerves. over the course of the year, reoccurring nightmares of the demogorgan plagued her dreams. once again, her nightmares were reality.

she gripped the hockey stick to steady her hands and she opened the door when she saw her brother waddling out of the house like an astronaut.

"hopefully he takes the bait." he whispered. she covered his mouth and pointed at the small creature steadily eating the lunch meat that lead to the cellar.

the two watched in silence with bated breaths as he stood at the edge of the stairs.

"come on, dart." lydia whispered. but that was enough to get his attention and suddenly he began to skulk toward the shed. "fuckfuckfuckfuck." the siblings pressed themselves against the wall to avoid suspicion before dustin mustered up courage and let out a warrior cry and burst through the shed door.

"dustin, wait!" but it was too late. he had successfully gotten the demogorgan in the cellar and lay on top of the metal doors in sheer exasperation.

"i'm sorry, you ate our cat."

~

"i'm gonna go and try and get mike to help us. i'll be back soon with reinforcements," dustin was halfway out the door when he looked back and saw lydia on the floor with her back against the couch. her expression  devoid of all emotion. it hurt his hurt heart and he knew he couldn't leave her in this state. "lydi. it's gonna work out. it always does. i know i really fucked this one up, but i'm gonna do everything in my power to make it better. okay?"

lydia looked up at him and the look in her eyes nearly broke him. dustin had never seen his sister look so empty. even when she was having the worst days she always found a way to look at him with that warm light in her eyes, but today there was nothing. and all that she had the energy for in that moment was a whispered, "okay."