𝗜𝗻 𝗛𝗶𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗯𝘁

𝗖𝗛. 𝟭: 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝘂𝗳𝗳𝗲𝘂𝗿

June 10, 1985, in Hawkins, Indiana.

    In a small town like Hawkins, nothing much happened at all. Especially during summer. Sure, there were parties, and pools, and pool parties—but that was about as exciting as it got. You either stayed in town doing basically nothing or went on a vacation to the city.

    So, on this particularly boring day in June, two friends were busying themselves with restocking the shelves of Family Video. Lucky for them, the shop was equipped with fans to prevent the tapes (and them) from melting in the sweltering heat.

It was 10 am; way too early for Steve's liking. His and Robin's shifts were mainly in the afternoon. Mornings were slow—even on the weekends—so there was no one to bother Steve. The bell to Family Video chimed but Steve didn't turn. He silently hoped it was a customer who knew what they were doing. Unfortunately for him, that was not the case.

"Steve, you have to take me to Hellfire tonight," Dustin demanded while slamming his hands onto the counter.

Steve answered without looking up. "It's not happening, Henderson."

"Uh, yes it is," Dustin snapped back.

Steve swung around and put his hands on his hips like a stern parent. "Uh, no. It's not," Steve replied.

"Look. We had a deal. I keep your embarrassing little secret, and you become my personal chauffeur."

As Steve opened his mouth to speak, he was promptly cut off by the curly-haired boy.

"Oh— and by the way, it's at Eddie's tonight."

Dustin sprinted out of the shop. "See you at seven!"

"Damnit, that stupid little— I don't know where Eddie lives! Dustin?!" Steve yelled, but the boy was long gone. With a defeated sigh, Steve turned back to the pile of tapes waiting to be put back on the shelves.

"What's this embarrassing secret I'm hearing about? And why am I not aware of it?" Robin called out from the back of the shop, giggling.

"Nothing, Robin. Nothing." Steve grumbled, grabbing a handful of tapes.

~*:･ﾟ✧ﾟ･:*~

Steve pulled up to Dustin's house blasting Madonna's "Material Girl", earning his fair share of dirty looks. Four bikes lay scattered in the front yard. As soon as Steve was parked in the driveway, four kids came running out the front door and to his car.

"Hey, wait a second! Dustin, I agreed to pick you up, not your entire gang of nerds!" Steve exclaimed.

"Sorry man, change of plans. Hope ya don't mind." Dustin slid into the passenger seat. "Now, get moving! We're gonna be late, dude!"

Steve groaned. "Okay, okay! Just, shut up."

Steve sped out of the neighborhood and followed Dustin's yelled directions to Eddie's house. He turned the corner and drove down the dirt road leading into a trailer park. He was taken aback by how sketchy the meeting place was. Did he really trust this 'Eddie' dude? He'd heard many not-so-nice things about him. Would the kids be safe? Should he stay with them? His stomach twisted in anxiety but he continued anyway.

Dustin reached to turn down the volume as they pulled into the driveway of a rusted blue trailer. Steve considered smacking his hand away but realized it was pointless if they were already parked. He could hear Ozzy Osbourne's "Shot in the Dark" blasting inside the trailer.

    The four kids jumped out of the car, leaving him behind. Before Dustin could leave, Steve grabbed his arm.

"Be careful, Dustin," he said, eyebrows knit together. "And look after the others. I'll be back at ten, sharp. You better be done by then."

"Yeah, whatever. Eddie's chill, ya know? Go home." Dustin scoffed and yanked his arm away, running to catch up with the others.

Steve sighed and started up his car again. He said something to piss Dustin off, but what was it? Instead of returning to his not-so-humble abode, he decided to aimlessly drive around while being six feet deep in his thoughts.

  ~*:･ﾟ✧ﾟ･:*~

Once the surprisingly short three hours passed, Steve drove back towards the secluded trailer park. The music he heard earlier was now soft and muffled. Steve walked through the uneven lawn to the front door when a series of shrieks rang out from inside. Terrified, he burst through the door to find four shocked children staring at him. Oh, and one Eddie Munson standing atop a gold-lined throne. A few awkward moments of silence passed before the dark-haired man crashed to the floor. Dustin screamed.

"Oh. My. God. IS HE DEAD??!!"

A/N: Hey guys, @salmonsoup here :) Just wanted to let yall know that we do have a discord server (https://discord.gg/pXnguus77F) and if you join, you can dm me or SheTheysAndTheGays to potentially become a beta reader! There are a few conditions to becoming a beta reader though—you must be active on discord and be able to read + provide feedback on chapters released to you within 48 hours. Since school started for us, we'll probably be a little more lenient about this, but previous beta readers didn't do their jobs properly and it stressed me out a little lol. 

Anyways, hopefully the first chapter got you hooked! We're planning on doing weekly updates to give us time to make sure the chapters are good quality, but because of school, that is subject to change. Plus, upload schedules also stress me out :')  We're doing our absolute best to heal everyone's broken hearts through a lovely, most-definitely-not-gonna-happen fanfic. Happy Steddie fangirl/person/boying!

- @salmonsoup (^^ゞ