Ally Harrington, the adoptive little sister of the famous Steve Harrington, wasn't anything like her brother.
Other than the small tattoo on her wrist that she'd somehow managed to hide since the day she was adopted, unlike Steve, Ally was not at al...
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𝐀 𝐅𝐄𝐖 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐇𝐒 𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐑
"Ally?" Will questioned hesitantly from his end of the little makeshift reading nook that he and Ally had fashioned earlier on that day.
"Yeah, Will?" She answered, as she had so many many times before.
"Can I ask you something? Something... personal?" He asked sheepishly.
"Of course," she agreed without hesitation.
A beat of silence passed by as Will gathered the courage to speak.
"How do you do it?"
Ally was confused. The pair were simply hanging out peacefully, each sat with their noses buried in some form of literature. For Will, it was the X-Men comic book he'd won off Dustin, and for Ally, it was a book she'd found entitled The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. A book that she was absolutely loving. So, as you could imagine, the sudden, ambiance-severing question would understandably throw Ally off a little.
"Do what?" She asked, cocking her head to the side as she put her book down.
Will sighed, discarding his comic book and shuffling forward.
"How are you always so... so..." He trailed off, sighing as he struggled to find the right words, "I mean, I... I saw what you did... the other day,"
Will's soft brown eyes trailed down to the bright purple and red bruises that stained Ally's knuckles, the girl subconsciously covering her hands as she noticed the boy do so.
"Those guys were at least twice your size and..."
Ally furrowed her brows.
"And? They were bullies who were picking on you, Will. They deserved what they got," She defended, not understanding why he had such a problem with what she did.
Will sighed, his stomach knotting uncomfortably and his throat tightening at the thought of what he was about to say.
"It's just... guys like them, who are really popular and..." Will swallowed harshly, "And who- who like you, they were your friends at some point. You were popular... just like them,"
"What're you trying to say Will?" Ally questioned, feeling discomfort around the turn the conversation had taken.
Will sighed once more, eyes glued to his hands as he fiddled with his fingers.
"Why would you throw all that away just because they said something mean?"
Ally stood up abruptly, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning her weight onto one of her legs. There was something about the way she looked right then. Maybe it was the sternness of her gaze or the element of sass in her stance but it commanded attention, making Will lift his gaze to meet hers.
"Will Byers, how could you even ask that?" She demanded, her brows furrowing and entire face scrunching in outrage, "Those assholes weren't just "being mean", they were being mean to you. And I don't care who they are or what they used to be to me, nobody picks on my best friend and gets away with it," She declared with an indignant huff.
Will's heart soared, his chest blazing with an intoxicating warmth that he couldn't quite understand. The boy was well aware of the feelings he harboured for the fierce Harrington girl but, even after all this time, the ways she could made him feel - whether it be with the mere flicker of her brilliant blue gaze in his direction, or her words of passion and her endearing idiosyncrasies - they were something that took his breath away every time he thought about it.
"I don't get it," Will muttered, adoration guiltlessly sparkling in his eyes, "How are you so... brave?"
Ally didn't know what it was but there was something about the way that he was looking at her - like she held everything his soul thirsted for - that made her head spin, and it simply would not allow her to look away. With a heart that fluttered like a butterfly's wings, the corner of Ally's lips twitched into a smile and her gaze was cast to the ground.
"I'm not brave, Will. I'm really not," she admitted, her hesitant gaze slowly climbing its way back up to his, "I just have something worth fighting for,"
Their gazes lingered.
The air was thick with the remnants of a moment shared between two young souls, a moment so tender and intimate that the sound of their racing hearts, beating for one another, was the only thing that one could perceive in the silence that settled in the room.
But sometimes, a love as pure and true as theirs, could bring about the surfacing of such deep-seated insecurities that even the most defiant of spirits could not find themselves immune to. And it was those - and only those - so deeply ingrained vulnerabilities that forced Ally to unwillingly rip her gaze away from that which made her feel more safe and peaceful than any other ever could.
"And, I guess, the superpowers can be a bit of perk sometimes," she remarked, chuckling awkwardly as her cheeks burned red.
Will, with a great disappointment that he chose to push away, looked away from her, his reactive laugh equally as awkward as Ally's but his smile was as true and full as ever.
"Yeah, those might just come in handy," he joked in return.
Although they had made themselves move past that moment, the knowledge of Ally's bravery lingered on Will's mind and sparked an inspiration within him. An inspiration to be better, to rise above the memories of harrowing experiences that invaded his mind. And Will hoped that, maybe one day, he could be half as brave as the blue-eyed beauty he called his best friend.
And, it was with that inspiration of Ally's bravery, that months from that moment, Will Byers would find himself at a crossroads: he could either run away from the monstrous creature, born of pure evil, that threatened to seize control of his mind... or he could stand his ground and punch back with a fist full of bravery and defiance, just as his friend would do.
It's such a shame to think that that bravery alone wouldn't be enough to save him and that, maybe, the boy should've just kept running.
A/N:
Super short chapter, I know. But it was really just a spur-of-the-moment choice to add this cute little scene in there to wrap up the episode. So... yeah. Hope you enjoyed!<3
