𝐙𝐄𝐑𝐎 ★ steve harrington²

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄 : bite your tongue

𝐖𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐍𝐓 : 4.2k

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𝐎𝐖𝐄𝐍 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐋𝐀𝐖 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐘𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐅𝐈𝐆𝐔𝐑𝐄 𝐎𝐔𝐓 a good school day morning routine since Gordon left for college. He had always been the one who was ready first, which always granted him the task of rushing his two younger siblings out of the door on time. Their dad would flip if he found out how often they had been late to first period since Gordon had moved out – especially since he had been on a parenting kick recently. Both of the kids could clearly tell that he was just trying to clean up his act after getting a new girlfriend who was way out of his league.

Doug Webb's entire demeanor had shifted the moment that he had met Law's 10th grade English teacher, Diana Campbell at a mandatory parent-teacher conference. The meeting took place only a month into the school year because Law was somehow already failing Miss Campbell's class. (Apparently, 10th grade English was way harder than whatever Law had been learning in his 9th grade English class.)

Despite Law's failing grade in the class, Doug had been much more interested in getting to know Miss Campbell. And shockingly enough, Miss Campbell was just as intrigued by Law's father. According to Law, their dad and Miss Campbell had spent the entire parent-teacher conference shamelessly flirting with each other. Owen had practically gagged her way through Law's retelling of the event, not at all prepared to hear about their old man's ancient pick-up lines.

After the parent-teacher conference, the Webb kids' father and Miss Campbell had basically been attached at the hip. All three of the kids had tried to be happy about their dad's first relationship since their mom had died six years prior. However, it was proving itself to be extremely difficult due to the couple's huge age gap and Miss Campbell's proximity to Law's education.

Unsurprisingly, Gordon's wounds surrounding his mother's death were still fresh, making him the most sensitive to their father moving on like this. But at least Gordon didn't have to watch the new couple's interactions every day like his two younger siblings did. No, he had been granted some delightful ignorance about everything going on at home thanks to the distance between Hawkins and Purdue's campus.

"Come on, Law! We've gotta go," Owen called out into the family's house.

"Is the shouting really necessary, Owen? It's not even 8 o'clock yet," their father grumbled from the dining table, a hand clutched protectively over his ear. The free hand that wasn't dramatically covering his eardrums from her "unnecessary" shouting was holding the morning paper. Since meeting Diana, their dad had decided that mornings were for sipping coffee, reading the paper, and quiet contemplation. This new behavior couldn't have been more different than the half-drunk, almost-late stumbling into work he had done last year.

Owen blinked at him for a moment, her face expressionless. She still couldn't decide if she liked this new persona their dad had taken on. Sure, he looked and acted more "normal" and healthy. But god, actually having a parent around for the first time in years was a real pain in the ass.

"Right, sorry..." Owen muttered, completely lacking in genuine remorse. She was just biting her tongue to avoid being even later to first period than she was already going to be. Owen stomped back into the house in search of her younger brother, fully prepared to drag him out to the car. As she made her way down the hallway, she noticed that the bathroom door had been left ajar. This allowed for light to spill from inside, clueing her in to the younger boy's location.

Forgoing a proper knock, Owen shoved the door open further to reveal Law with a toothbrush hanging from his lips and the minty foam encircling his mouth. Completely caught off guard, his eyebrows shot straight up and his eyes widened to a comically large extent.