𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐖𝐈𝐍; steve harrington

ᵗ ʰ ⁱ ʳ ᵗ ʸ ⁻ ⁿ ⁱ ⁿ ᵉ

July 4th, 1985

ELEVEN FELL TO THE GROUND with her hand painfully clutching her leg, the bandage covering her bloody wound almost exploding as pleading screams tumbled out of her mouth. Aven was the first to see her, running up to the hurting girl and placing her head in her lap whilst yelling at the others. She softly ran her fingers through the younger teen's brown hair, gently comforting her as Jonathan dug into her leg with a knife. Mike, who was next to Aven, kept sending her worried glances.

Having enough, Eleven pushed the boy with the sharp weapon away so she could do it herself. The windows around the group shattered to the ground, Steve pulling Aven into him to block the sharp shards of glass from stabbing her open skin, whilst Eleven finally pulled the creature out of her bleeding body. 

It landed on the shiny floor of the mall a fair way away from them, the blob trying to trail even further away before Hopper squished it entirely. He was in the mall with Joyce and another man with longer hair, the trio instantly running towards the group of teens under the shining blue light of a nearby store. The Hawkins team was reunited.

"Did you find Billy at all?" Aven asked Max as she walked towards the girl, her fingers fidgeting behind her back so the redhead couldn't see.

"Yeah, he's fine." Max spoke quickly, but Aven was too grateful to catch onto her lie. She wanted to believe her twin was okay, needed to in fact, so much so that she was willing to push the falsity lacing the girl's voice behind her.

"Thank god," she sighed as she wiped a hand across her forehead. "That's one less thing to worry about."

"Yep," Max muttered, turning her head to the side subtly so she could sneak out the guilty breath of air she was painfully holding in. She hated lying, especially to the person she was closest to. Aven was that person.

"Well, just in case everything goes sideways, your birthday present is underneath my bed." She patted Max on the shoulder with a ghost of a smile, her tone joking but her expression wavering unsteadily. She really didn't know how the night was going to end. She was terrified.

"Don't say that," Max scolded with a pout. Aven's anxious frown slowly lifted into a soft smile before she pulled the girl towards her. She wrapped her bruised and battered arms around her and gently rested her chin on her head. She could feel her shaking in her grip.

"Everything will be fine, Max," she whispered. "Everything will be fine."

After participating in an extremely heated discussion with Hopper, Erica, Dustin and the sassy man called Murray, they came up with a plan. Steve, Aven, Robin, Dustin and Erica would drive up to the highest point in the small town to drop the children off at Dustin's hand-made radio device that he apparently needed, whilst Hopper, Murray and Joyce awaited their confirmation.

Before Aven could leave the almost-empty mall, a certain boy stopped her. It was Mike Wheeler.

"Come back in one piece, please," he muttered as he pulled her into a hug, his fingers intertwining behind her back as she sighed into the comforting gesture.

"Of course, Mike. I'll always come back," she whispered into the thin air. He pulled away with a forced smile, his eyes not having the usual spark of excitement she usually adored. "See you soon, kid." She ruffled his thick locks before turning on her heel and chasing after the rest of the group.

Steve was driving with Aven in the passenger, Robin and the kids sitting uncomfortably in the back. The whole ride up the hill was filled with Steve and Dustin's silly bickering, Robin's forced conversation, and Aven's worried thoughts. Steve could see into her head, the anxious thoughts running wild within her damaged brain. He caught her attention by grabbing the hand that was resting against her twitching leg, interlacing his fingers with her as she spared him a glance. He could only smile.

The car was so beaten that it couldn't even make it up the hill; the hill wasn't even that steep. The group walked the rest of the way up, flicking on the radio and beginning their communication with the Bald Eagle. It wasn't long until they got distracted, hearing the familiar growls of the Mind Flayer over the Starcourt Mall. Aven didn't even wait to make sure they were okay before she was bounding back down the hill, Steve and Robin hot on her trail. 

They drove frantically back to the mall, just in time to stop a car from driving straight into Nancy and the other's in the broken down vehicle. 

"Who was that?" Aven questioned worriedly, gripping tightly onto Steve's bicep as she gestured towards the car they just smashed into. 

"Uh, I-I don't know," he lied quickly before clambering out of the car and reaching out to her. She didn't have time to look into the destroyed vehicle across the parking lot because of the dark monster looming over them. She didn't have time to make sure her own brother was okay.

With Nancy and Jonathan in the front, the group drove throughout Hawkins to lead the shadow monster away from the mall. They kept driving and driving, until it suddenly turned around. It started galloping straight back to the mall.

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