THATS SO 80s - Steve Harrington

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Six

We had brought all our stuff before jumping into the RV parked out the back.

"What happened?" Lucas questioned, turning to us.

"We gotta go." Steve quickly said.

"Your old friends are here," Erica spoke to Lucas as we all rushed into the RV. I take my spot in the passenger seat as Steve takes the wheel.

"Shit!"

"Let's go! Let's go!" Eddie exclaimed loudly.

"I'm going! I'm going! Sit down!" Steve snapped back before speeding off once everyone had sat down. I held my shotgun tightly, biting my lower lip anxiously.

After about an hour of driving, we had made it to a field. I sat with Nancy and Max, Nancy and I had a brilliant idea where we would cut the end of our shotguns off, so it's shorter range. Dustin and Eddie were making shields.

"Is this legal?" Max questioned us as she held down one of the shotguns.

"Actually, I think it's a felony," Nancy tells her.

"Definitely a felony." I breathe under my breath.

"Right." Max pressed a smile.

"But, it guarantees one thing." Nancy continues to saw off the shotgun. "We won't miss." She breaks the shotgun, and I hand her mine. "This shouldn't take too long."

"Hopefully not," I say, and Max holds it down as Nancy begins to saw it off. I looked over and saw Eddie and Dustin fighting playfully; I smiled a little. I looked over and saw that Erica and Lucas were making spares. Nancy had finished my gun, and we both practised aiming and pointing. "Should be a piece of cake."

"Your Dad would be proud of you," Nancy told me softly, smiling at me.

"I know he would," I murmur. "I'm not only doing this to save the world, but I'm doing this for him. He needs justice."

"Yeah, he does." Max agreed. I smiled at her.

︾

Night time had rolled around at Hawkins, and we were in the van, forming a plan. "Okay. I wanna run through it one more time." Nancy informed us. "Phase one."

"We meet Erica at the playground." Robin recited. "She'll signel Max and Lucas when we're ready."

"Phase two." Nancy looked around at us.

"Max baits Vecna." Steve continued. "He'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance."

"Phase three?" Nancy asked.

"Me and Eddie draw the bats away." Dustin gestured towards Eddie, who hovered behind him.

"Four. We head into Vecna's newly bat-free lair, and... Flambe." Robin shakes her Vodka liquor. I could definitely use a drink right now.

"Nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied." Nancy finished. "Nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. Got it?"

I nod numbly. This all felt so surreal. "Got it." Everyone spoke but me, I just stood there like a statue. Frozen. Scared. Scared of all the possibilities that could go wrong. We've had successful outcomes before, sure, but how often until something bad happens?

︾

We all moved outside, walking through a patch of woods with our gear to the trailer park, heading towards Eddie's trailer.

Breaking into jogs, we quietly ran to the Munson's trailer and went inside. Steve walks in first, everyone else following behind him. Steve switches on a light, and we all gather around the knotted sheet hanging from the riffed-in ceiling.

"Be careful," Dustin tells us.

"Thanks, buddy." Steve claps a hand on the back of Dustin's shoulder. He inhales. "Here goes nothing."

Steve climbs his way up; after he has successfully entered the Upside Down, he gives us a shrug. "Ooh, what does he want us to do, give him an applaud?" Robin asked Nancy and I under her breath. Steve had gathered the old mattress, and we used it as a landing pad.

"All right, let's go." Steve tells us quickly. Shivers go down my spine once I enter and fall onto the mattress. Steve helped me up. "Gotcha." We share a long look, our faces inches apart. "You okay?"

"Hmhm," I respond, pulling away.

"You're doing that thing when you're nervous; you get quiet," Steve whispered as Nancy came through.

"No, I'm fine." I lied. "Don't worry about me." Two bags fall onto the mattress of our gear, followed by Eddie. A shield comes next, and we pulled that out of the way, then Robin. She yelped and got helped up by Eddie and Steve. More weapons come through then Dustin.

Once all the members that are supposed to be through Nancy open the door, we venture into the Upside Down. Steve turns back to Dustin and Eddie. "Hey, guys, listen. If things go south, I mean, at all, you abort. Okay? Draw the attention of the bats. Keep 'em busy for a minute or two. We'll take care of Vecna. Don't try to be cute or be a hero or something. Okay? You guys just—"

"Decoys." Steve and Dustin spoke in sync together.

"Don't worry; you can be the hero, Steve," Dustin added.

"Absolutely. I mean, look at us." Eddie continued. "We are not heroes." Eddie pressed a smile. Steve starts to walk away. "Hey, Steve?" Steve turns to Eddie. "Make him pay."

︾

We walked through the forest, my heart beating rapidly. Steve and I were just behind Nancy and Robin, who led the way.

"Uh... I don't mean to freak anyone out, but I swear I've seen this tree before." Robin points her flashlight to a tree. I rolled my eyes.

"Ro, they all look the same," I comment, stepping carefully over the vines.

"That's impossible," Nancy spoke.

"That would suck, right?" Robin questioned. "If Vecna destroyed the world because... 'cause we got lost in the woods?"

"We're not lost, Robin," I tell her. Robin chuckles. "Robin, hey! Nance, make sure she doesn't step on the vines! Hive mind, remember?"

"Thank you!" Robin called out, walking further ahead with Nancy.

"I've got her!" Nancy responded, her voice getting farther away.

"Uh, don't worry about her," Steve tells me, stepping in sync with me. "She's just stressed. You know, scared."

"Heh, makes two of us," I mumbled. "But she's like, a total..."

"Super klutzs?" Steve asked.

I smiled. "Yeah. I thought I was clumsy until I met her."

"Oh, no, you're just as clumsy." Steve smiled back teasingly, and I chuckled.

"She once told me it took her longer to walk than babies," I remembered our brief conversation.

Steve chuckled. "I shouldn't laugh. When I was a baby, I actually crawled backwards."

I frowned. "Crawled backwards?"

"You know, I'd push with my hands like this. Beep, beep. Always in reverse, you know?" Steve tells me. "Come on; it makes sense. You push to move, right?"

"Not really; it doesn't make that much sense." I giggled, trying to imagine a baby Steve crawling backwards.

"Well, it did to my tiny little Harrington brain." Steve shrugged. "That is, of course, until I reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumped my head really good. Yeah."

"Oh, my God, now that explains so much." I grinned.

"Yeah, I think it kind of does." Steve agreed. "I think, like, right out of the gate, like I'm super confident, you know. But I'm also, like, an idiot. Which is just... I mean, it's a brutal combination. But, I mean, the good news is, I get a big enough thump of my head, I can change, you know? I can learn. I can crawl forward. Listen, what I guess I'm trying to say in a really stupid, roundabout way is, um... Thank you."

We stopped to turn to each other. I looked at him with bewilderment. "Thank me?"

"Yeah."

"For...?"

"For giving my head the biggest thump of its life when I met you," Steve tells me. "You've changed my life, Juno Hopper. The moment you stepped in and called me out on all my bullshit." He continued to walk, and I followed him. "And now I'm crawling forward. Slowly. I just wonder sometimes... you know, if some other girl had given me a proper thump on the head before we'd met, would things have been different? Like, if we're meeting each other for the first right time now, part of me..." he turns to me. "I dunno, part of me thinks we would've made it."

"Steve, I..."

"Remember the dream I told you about?" Steve questioned. "About the Winnebago? About seeing the country with my six lil' nuggets?" I grinned. "It's all true. Every last word. But I left one part out. It's the most important part. You're there." I looked up into his eyes, I could feel tears starting to come. "You've always been there."

I gulped, feeling pain in my throat. "You know, I came here, worried that you had moved on. But I'm glad that I was wrong." I smiled tearfully at him. "I still l—"

"Hey, guys!" Robin yelled out, cutting me off from my sentence. Robin and Nancy come sprinting back. "You guys! Awesome news! Looks like we weren't going the wrong way after all. Come on." Steve jerks his head in Robin's direction and begins walking, with Nancy standing there and staring at me. "Let's go!"

"Okay." Steve called back, following and Nancy walked over to me, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Everything okay?" Nancy questioned softly.

I nodded, looking back at Steve as he walked. "Yeah, I think everything will work out."

A/N 

Hey guys, I'm so sorry for the very late post. Just had to have a break lmao. Anyways, thank you guys so much for 15K+! That's insane. Thank you guys, seriously. I love you all. xxx