𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

nine

since sam, steve, nancy and the rest of the kids weren't as close to will as his family and mike, they all waited inside the house to see what would be the outcome. will wouldn't know where he was, being in the shed, and sam hoped that maybe he'd give away some information so this would all be over soon.

sam sat on the sofa, looking at the drawing covering the whole house. steve was in front of her, swinging his bat for practice. "what were you..you and nancy talking about?" she asked, her voice breaking the silence catching steve's attention.

she messed with her hands, something she was used to doing to calm her nerves. although she wanted them to be happy, she really just wanted steve to be happy with her. she knew it was selfish, but the more time she spent with him, the more she got to know him, the more she liked him.

she was relieved when steve sent her a look, shaking his head. "we were talking about dating other people." he chuckled. "were you...jealous?"

meadow furrowed her brows. "jealous?" she scoffed.

he smiled a goofy grin in response, flipping his bat once more before sitting next to her on the couch. "i think i like your jealous side." he laughed. "i wasn't jealous." she finally defended, looking up at him, watching as he flashed a perfect smile.

"x-men?" he said, gesturing to the comic next to sam, opening it. "i didn't know king steve liked nerdy things." she teased. "well i like you." steve teased back.

she smiled to herself, looking down at her lap. steve nudging her shoulder with his again. "it's been really nice getting to know you, sam. the real you."

her face seemed to light up as she smiled up at him. "it's been really nice to get to know you, too, king steve." she said, laughing at his given label.

"hey, if we don't die tonight," he began, "would you like to go on a date somewhere, i don't know."

samantha smiled, nodding her head. "i would love to."

the two looked at each other for a moment, and sam then realized that she had been subconsciously leaning into his body for the latter half of the conversation. she forgot about everything that wasn't his eyes looking into hers, barely even noticing the way he began to lean in close.

steve's face was only a few inches from hers when the lights started flickering, sending sam immediately to her feet. steve followed her to the window, the two looking out at the shed.

"i think he's awake." he said sarcastically, stating the obvious. they watched as the lights finally settled, assuming that 'will' had calmed down.

nancy and dustin had joined them by the window when hopper, joyce, jonathan, and mike bolted back into the house. "what happened?" dustin asked as hopper sat at the table, taking out a pen and paper.

"i think he's talking, just not with words." hopper explained, writing out a series of dots and lines.

steve was confused, looking down at what seemed like scribbles. "hey, what is that?" he asked from over dustin's shoulders.

"morse code." sam, dustin, max, and lucas all replied in unison.

"h, e, r, e." hopper said as he wrote the letters out.