Hidden Within the Shadows

finding a family

Adrian was stuck in Pittsburgh. Could've been worse, he could've been found by the labcoats after him. He was making ends meet, though he knew he was starting to smell a little ripe. He wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. He felt like he was flying by the seat of his pants. He had barely any money, and he was struggling to get some food.

He was currently in an abandoned house, in a rougher area of Pittsburgh. He's stolen a walkie from some construction crew and used it mostly for white noise for when he went into the Void.

He'd expected things to be OK, having settled down in Hawkins, but then Eleven contacted him. Her voice came through the walkie one night, and Adrian was quick to join her in their Voids. It was easy to join their Voids, their mind spaces, since they were so similar and had an understanding as to how it all worked.

Her hair had gotten longer, a curly mess, and she was wearing clothes that wouldn't fit Adrian never mind her. But she looked good, healthier than when Adrian had last seen her.

"Hey," Adrian said softly, walking over to her. "You look ... better," he said. Eleven nodded and then she was pushing forwards, arms going around his middle. "I missed you," he said, putting his arms around her, resting his head atop hers. They'd been treated as some form of siblings, but the doctors forgot how siblings could bond. Adrian cared for Eleven and worried about her. She was as much a sister to him as Nancy had been.

Nancy. He couldn't think about her, not now anyway.

"You too," she said, voice stilted, still unsure of the words. "Clothes," she said as she pulled away from him.

Adrian nodded, looking down at his clothes - stolen in Columbus. "Yeah. I got away from the lab. You did too didn't you, before me?"

Eleven nodded. "I ... found people. Mike. W- Will, Lucas and-and Dustin,"

It felt like his world had been flipped. Eleven had found his younger brother and his idiot friends. "El, Mike is my brother,"

She looked at him, eyes narrowed like she was trying to see any similarities in their faces. "Oh. He ... he called you Nin,"

"Yeah. Uh, I had to tell him I'm a boy, and my name was Nin back then. But it's Adrian now. Adrian Miller,"

Eleven stared at him in that certain way of hers. "Suits you."

"Thanks," he said, huffing a laugh. "Where are you?"

"Chief Hopper. Took me in," she told him. "Homey."

"Homey. Chief Jim Hopper took you in? Does Mike or anyone else know?"

Eleven shook her head. "Not safe yet. Mike calls me every night. Mentions you sometimes."

"Oh," he said, feeling lost and upset. "Let's not get sad, OK? What've you been doing?" he said, desperate for something else to talk about.

So Eleven told him about the Demogorgon. The creature that they'd first seen in the Void. It had infiltrated their world from the Upside Down. It took a long time full of unsure words before Adrian understood what the Upside Down was - from what he could tell, it was some fucked up dimension full of monsters like the Demogorgon that was like their world. He found out that Mike had named it the Demogorgon, after the D&D creature. It made sense, to them at least.

"I was in the Upside Down," Eleven told him. "I got out ... Hopper found me not long ago," she said slowly, unsure of the words. "Where are you?"

"Pittsburgh. Far away," he added when he saw the confusion on her face. "I ran away too, but they moved me from the lab. I got out and ... well, I kept running. Hopper's smart keeping you safe. They're after both of us."