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What if the Red Room had a gate? What if Yelena Belova was assigned to a mission through that gate?
What if it went wrong?
Yelena went through the gate found by the Red Ro...
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- INEBRIATE -
STEVE DIDN'T KNOW whether to take Yelena straight to her house and surprise Chief Hopper with his drunk 'niece', or take her back to his place and call Hopper to give him a heads up. He ended up deciding on the second choice, feeling that Yelena might get in a little less trouble if Hopper knew what he was in for instead of just surprising him with it.
He pulled up outside his house and let out a long sigh. His eyes trailed over to Yelena. Her head was tilted to the side and her hair was over her face. Steve smiled a little, leaning over to gently push her hair out of her face. She really was beautiful. From her breathing, he was pretty sure she was just asleep now and now passed out.
Steve climbed out of the car and went around to Yelena's side and opened her door. He leant over her and undid her seatbelt before carefully placing one of her arms over his shoulder and slipping his around her waist. As he gently pulled her up, her head lolled back, waking her up. She let out a groan and let her head fall forwards.
"S-Steve?" She questioned.
"I'm here." He said, shutting the car door.
"O-okay, good. I w-was just making sure." She rambled. The water and her nap had probably helped sober her up a little. Not a lot, but she was now more coherent than she was at the party.
Steve walked with her up to his front door and carefully opened it with one hand, knowing his parents would already be in bed and fast asleep by now. He closed the door behind him and lead Yelena through to the living room where he helped her onto the couch where she immediately laid down. Steve crouched besides her and chuckled when she gave him a lopsided grin.
"I'm gonna go get you some more water and make a quick phone call, and then I'll be right back, okay?" Steve said and Yelena nodded, closing her eyes and snuggling into the warm couch. She didn't like being alone though. She just that phone call Steve had to make would be quick. It was probably the alcohol making her thoughts spiral, but she couldn't stop her mind from trailing back to the Red Room. Sometimes she thinks she's going to wake up and be back there. That all of this was just one big dream. And that scared her.
Yelena just kept getting flashbacks of the things they did to her and the things they made her do. Hurt other girls in the same situation as her. Use real people for target practice. The graduation ceremony - sterilisation.
She jumped and shakily sat up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't even noticed Steve come back into the room and sit besides her. That's when she felt the wet tears falling down her face and noticed her rapid breathing too.
"Hey, hey, hey, what's wrong? What happened?" Steve asked with a very concerned expression.
"I... I j-just remembered..." Yelena sniffled, having trouble getting her words out. "R-red room. Th-the Red r-room."
"Yelena, look at me." Steve said and Yelena looked at him, still crying. "You're okay. You're safe." He told her and she nodded with a gulp. Steve placed his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into his embrace. "What happened? What's the Red Room?" Steve asked, wanting to know what had gotten her so worked up.
"I-it's... i-it's a bad place." Yelena replied, her voice barely above a whisper. Steve couldn't tell whether it was more drunk rambling or whether it was actually true. He had a gut feeling that what she was saying had truth to it, though, because of how she was crying and how on edge she seemed at the thought of this 'Red Room'. He knew Yelena Belova had been through something tough, but he was still trying to figure out what.
***
Hopper wasn't mad at Yelena. Irritated that she'd gotten herself into such a state - yes. But not mad. Every teenager was going to try things like that. And this was probably Yelena's first time experiencing a normal teenage party. He was more mad at himself for being late home to Eleven.
But Hopper was very thankful for Steve. He took Yelena home, made sure she was alright, called him to to let him know that Yelena was with him and safe but very intoxicated. He knew he could've gotten into trouble for going to a party where there was underage drinking. Hopper had let him off the hook. Who knows what would've happened if he hadn't been there for Yelena. Steve was a good kid.
Hopper had the aspirin already on the kitchen counter ready for when Yelena woke up. She was going to be very hung over - and she had school. He made her and El some toast and El sat at the small table eating hers when Yelena emerged. She was disoriented and still looked asleep. She rubbed her eyes at the bright light and let out a groan.
"What year is it?" She asked, groggily.
"1984." Eleven answered and Yelena took a moment to process before she nodded and carried on making her way towards the aspirin and toast. Hopper was in the kitchen sipping some juice and Yelena could feel his eyes on her. She turned to him and pursed her lips.
"I'm sorry." She apologised.
"S'alright, kid. You don't have to apologise. All teenagers do it at some point." He said. "But, Yelena, what I was worried about is what you'd say to Steve."
"Hm?" Yelena cocked a brow, confused. "What did I say?"
"Last night, when I picked you up from Steve's, he said you'd gotten yourself all worked up when you started thinking about something called the 'Red Room'." He explained and Yelena's face fell.
"What did I tell him?" She questioned, worriedly.
"Just that it was a bad place, and he said that you seemed scared." Hopper said and Yelena let out a sigh of relief. She was surprised at how much she'd trusted Steve. At what she'd told him. It wasn't much, but she'd felt comfortable and safe enough to even tell him just a small fraction of what she was thinking.
Yelena just hoped she hadn't scared Steve away. He was really starting to grow on her.
