𝐦𝐢𝐱𝐭𝐚𝐩𝐞 - 𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐱 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

sick of pretending

        As I slowly wake up, I can hear the clatter of things in the kitchen. I wonder why I'm in my bedroom, but everything that happened slowly comes back to me. I look around at the curtains. It was dark-- it wasn't morning, fortunately. I would be very angry if I'd slept that long.

         I slowly get up out of habit, examining Peter. Then I jump. He's staring at me, smiling. Once he knows I've noticed he's awake, he starts laughing.

        "Peter!" I say, jumping back on top of him and hugging him. He's no longer cold or warm, just regular old Peter. 

       He grunts at the force, but smiles into my hair and kisses my forehead. More clattering comes from the kitchen as everyone rushes into the room, noticing him. 

      "You're awake!" El screams, running over to him and hugging him. I know she doesn't even understand that he's not bad and he didn't actually try to kill her, but I'm proud of her for not caring about that anyway.

        "Ow," Peter grunts and clenches his jaw.

        "Well then that's done," Hopper sighs as everyone spills out of the room. Eleven, Mike, and Will leave the room, too, so now it's just Peter and me.

         "So," he says, grabbing my hand and locking our fingers together.

         "So," I mock. I dig my head further into his chest, smelling the cologne on his clothes. He hums. "How long have you been awake?"

Silence.

      "Peter?" I call. I look up to meet his eyes which are still glaring at me.

       "An hour." He admits, looking away from me.

       I laugh and slap his arm. "You've been watching me sleep? You're such a freak." 

       "You look so peaceful when you do, I'm sorry." 

        I sigh. After crying my eyes out multiple times in the past two days, I'd say it's worth it. "What time is it?"

         He glances at the clock. "11:00, darling."

         I hum. "We should get up, we have work to do." I say, starting to prop myself up on my elbows when he pushes me back down against him.

         "Please," he pleads, making me look up at him with hooking his finger under my chin.

         "No. Let's go, baby. I'm serious. We have to get up." He grunts but loosens his grip on my waist and helps me up, straightening out his shirt as he does so.

         As we strut out into the hallway, noises become louder. Nancy and Jonathan are watching Bob's old video tapes on the TV, Hopper and Mom are dancing in the kitchen, and Mike and Will are teaching El how to play D & D. 

        "Are you okay?" I whisper to Peter as we take a seat on the couch. He nods and I lean against him.

          "So what was it that we had to do?" He asks, stroking my hair. I hum.

         "We still have to like... Kill Brenner. Save those kids--" I start but he interrupts me.

         "Let's just fucking leave 002," he groans, throwing his head back on the couch as I brush a cut of his. 

           "No," I reply. I laugh. "We have to make sure that monster bitch doesn't go into anyone else... There's a lot to do."

            He sighs. "Why did we have to get involved with all of this shit?"