Lucas Sinclair x male oc; Steve Harrington x male oc
Almost a year after their first encounter with the Upside Down, Joyce notices that Will hasn't quite bounced back. When she calls her oldest friend for advice, she gets an answer that she wasn't e...
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When Aaren's eyes opened again, he was in a car. The destination unclear. He looked to his left and was greeted by Steve propped up against the window. His parents were sitting in the driver's and passenger's seats. His eyes drifted to his right, and was greeted with a sight that he wasn't sure he would ever want to remember.
Caleb, his baby brother, the light of his life, had the worst bruising Aaren had ever seen. Caleb's neck was black and blue, but that wasn't the worst thing about his appearance. All of the visible skin on Caleb was stained red, blood was matted in his hair, and his fingernails were stained. Blood caked around his cuticles.
A gasp escaped Aaren's mouth at the sight, his hands reaching out, desperate to find a pulse. His fingers settled on the side of Caleb's neck, his pulse strong. But his hand was soon flung backward.
"Rennie, why are you pushing on my bruises? That hurt." Caleb said with his lips drawn into a pout, his eyes still closed.
"Well, excuse me, but you looked dead." Aaren shot back.
"You would have felt me die, idiot." Caleb defended.
Aaren was about to scold Caleb when he felt a hand slip into his. He looked down and saw Steve's hand intertwined with his own. Aaren found that he enjoyed seeing Steve intertwined with himself. It was comforting.
"Ren, he's fine. Tore a bunch of those dogs apart and pulled a shit ton of people from that god-forsaken lab. We're almost to the Byers' place, so get ready to use that beautiful brain of yours."
Aaren just sank further back into his seat, ignoring his father's wink through the rearview mirror. (He also chose to ignore the snort that Caleb let out.)
They soon reached the Byers' residence. They arrived a bit later than everyone else due to Caleb refusing to leave the lab until he saved everyone he could. Johnny had to pull the boy out of the lab and carry him to the car.
It was a similar story getting him out of the car. Caleb insisted on Steve carrying him into the house, making sure to wink at Aaren over Steve's shoulder. When they finally got into the house, Lucas and Dustin were bickering about Lucas's use of metaphor instead of analogy.
"Proper grammar is important, Lu. You should listen to Dustin."
"Caleb!" All of the party members yelled.
"Hey guys, did ya miss me?" Caleb croaked out, unable to cover up his voice's coarseness anymore.
"Leb, why are you covered in blood?" Max questioned, fear creeping into her voice.
