HAVEN - stranger things.

xv. ALWAYS.

xv. steve is a liar!

lover's lake—dustin's compass had brought the group of eight to lover's lake.
"there's a gate in lover's lake?" max mayfield questioned.

"whenever the demogorgon attacked, it always left an opening. maybe vecna's the same way." nancy wheeler looked back, wendy carmichael was on her left.
"yeah, only one way to find out." steve answered.

wendy knew that the only way for them to find if there was a gate in the lake was to dive into it and see it firsthand. after they had made their way over to a large object, she realized that her suspicion was correct once eddie pulled the tarp off of the boat.

watching eddie and steve ease the boat into the water, wendy grew uneasy. robin was the first to go in, then eddie, eddie helped nancy get in. steve harrington held his hand out to his girlfriend.

"c'mon wen." steve motioned with his outstretched arm.

wendy looked back at dustin, lucas, and max before sighing. she was just being paranoid. turning back to steve, she accepted his hand and climbed into the boat with them.

dustin henderson tried to get on, but eddie shoved him back lightly.
"hey, hey, hey, you tryna sink us? this many people aren't supposed to be on here in the first place." eddie dismissed.

"it's better this way, okay? you guys stay here with max. keep an eye out for trouble." nancy tried to reassure dustin.
"you keep an eye out," dustin scoffed. nancy was taken aback. "it's my goddamn theory." dustin was annoyed.

"you heard nance." robin looked towards dustin.
"who put her in charge?" dustin asked.
"i did." robin answered.

nancy held out her hand, waiting for dustin to hand her the compass. annoyed, dustin handed the compass to her. steve eased the boat into the water before joining in.
"what?!" dustin groaned.
"sorry." steve said, no trace of sincerity in his voice as the boat drifted into the lake.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

eddie and robin stopped paddling once nancy noticed that the compass needles were moving rapidly. steve illuminated the compass as he sat next to nancy, wendy's eyes lingered on them as she remembered when they dated—she wondered if steve ever missed being with nancy wheeler.

shaking the thought from her head, wendy leaned down, watching the needles spin out of control.

"whoa." steve gasped.

wendy's attention was caught by her boyfriend pulling off his socks and her eyes widened once she realized. he was going to dive into the lake.
"steve." she warned.

"steve, what are you doing?" nancy looked towards steve harrington.
"somebody's gotta go down there and check this thing out. plus, if one of you four can top being a hawkins high swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then...it's gotta be me. no complaints, alright?" steve stood after setting his socks to the side.

"steve! those were pools, this is a lake and we don't know what's down there. you're not going down there." wendy scolded, she didn't want anything to happen to her boyfriend.
"hey, i'm not complaining. i do not wanna go down there." eddie munson stated, earning an eye roll from wendy.