HAVEN - stranger things.

xx. WENDY'S PURPOSE.

xx. making a deal with eddie!

walking into war zone, the group set off in different directions to look for weapons. nancy had warned them to be fast and they could only agree with her.

wendy carmichael trailed behind steve as he found new clothes.
"hey," wendy knew that steve was going to object to what she had to say. he gave back a 'hmm' as he hid in a corner, tugging a shirt onto his badly beaten body. "i think...i think i should stay with max. i don't....look, i just have to be there in case anything bad happens to her." wendy said.

steve slowly stopped moving—he had been lifting a jacket in the air to put it on. for once in his life, steve thought before he spoke. he recalled back to the summer where they fought against billy and the flayed, wendy was able to survive through that without being teamed up with him. maybe she could survive this too. steve harrington looked towards his girlfriend, and he saw it.

wendy was strong, she was strong before he dragged her into all of his mess, but all of it made her stronger. he watched as her expression fell and her lips dropped into a frown, she wanted steve to have faith in her. and he did, but steve's greatest fear was having to live with the guilt that would come in the event of wendy's death.

"fine," steve saw confusion strike wendy's face. "on one condition." he held up a finger towards his girlfriend.

"what?" wendy asked. she was thoroughly shocked that steve didn't put up a fight.

steve looked around the aisle that they had moved to, he found exactly what he needed. he snatched down a pack of batteries before turning back towards wendy. steve stepped towards her, looking down at her. he held them out.
"freddie mercury. always. not one second of silence through that walkman. okay?" he whispered to her.

with her hazel eyes searching steve's face for any uncertainty, she nodded.
"but...but what about max? what if something goes wrong, what if ve—" steve shook his head as he interrupted wendy.

"nothing's going to go wrong. we're gonna kill this creep, for you, for max."

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

wendy carmichael sat with dustin henderson and eddie munson, helping them hammer nails into trash can lids.
"you, uh, do you need help?" eddie spoke, looking towards wendy.

"oh! um, no, i don't think so, but thank you." wendy glanced from eddie to the lid while shaking her head.

"i never got to apologize." eddie put down his lid and turned towards wendy.
"for what?" confusion lingered in wendy's voice.
"being a shitty boyfriend...breaking up with you in ninth grade..." eddie continued.

wendy laughed a bit before turning towards him.
"eddie, you were fourteen, every girl's boyfriend was shitty back then and plus...corroded coffin was getting pretty popular, you were a busy man." she joked, shrugging her shoulders.

eddie laughed that time, a smile lingered on his face.
"yeah, that was probably our peak...how about," eddie glanced towards steve and robin across the field. "how about we all hang out after all of this is over. you, me, harrington, robin, nancy." eddie's brown eyes stared into wendy's.

a smile tugged at wendy's lips as she nodded.
"sure, munson. you've got a deal." she confirmed.

eddie continued smiling as he turned back to his trash can lid, lifting it into the air.
"how's she feeling?" dustin called out, wendy had completely forgotten that he was there.

dustin refused to comment on the matters of wendy carmichael's love life—he, like everyone, knew that she would only pick steve in the end. wendy was brave, she was caring, and she had just enough attitude to humble steve. they were almost like two sides of the same coin. however, dustin felt that wendy was a bit different from eddie to where their differences could make something great. plus, he knew that eddie had had a crush on wendy for years.

"light. but durable," eddie turned the lid before thrusting it in the air again. "deadly, but reliable..." wendy heard eddie begin as she set down her finished lid and walked through the grass towards robin and steve.

wendy felt bad—she, robin, and steve had seen robin's crush, vickie, with a boy while they were at war zone and wendy could practically see the hurt on robin's face when it happened.

from the expression on steve's face, wendy could see that whatever they had been talking about must've been pretty bad as the two looked out on the group as they practiced using their weapons.

"how are those molotov cocktails coming along?" wendy asked.
"pretty...good, i'd like to think." robin looked down at the ones they had already made, wendy could still hear pessimism edged in her words.

wendy sat down on the grass, she watched as steve and robin continued. she didn't know what they were getting into, let alone what was bound to happen, but for a brief moment, wendy felt calm. perhaps it was the phenomenon of 'the calm before the storm' or maybe it was just sitting in the company of her dearest friends, but wendy felt a tinge of optimism tug on her heart.

she didn't know how she was supposed to go back to finish out her spring semester of college after saving her hometown, she didn't know how she was supposed to look death in the eyes and just leave her friends only to go back to illinois and pretend none of this ever happened. would it be like that every year? fight monsters and creatures on the weekend only to go back to classes on monday?

"wen, what's on your mind?" steve nodded his head towards wendy.
"nothing, nothing." wendy shook her head.

wendy looked back, seeing everyone goof around. she felt a tear prick at her right eye, wendy knew that she belonged in hawkins. she felt as if her heart had been split in two—she wanted college, she really did. getting her degree to be an elementary school teacher was the only thing to give wendy carmichael a sense of normality. her studies had taken up the space in her mind where thoughts about billy hargrove used to be. yet as she sat in the field preparing to battle henry creel, wendy felt like she had a purpose.

she didn't know if that purpose was protecting the kids, saving hawkins, or just being with her friends, but she didn't care. she knew what she wanted, and that was to remain in hawkins.