𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐈𝐍 𝐇𝐀𝐖𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐒

fourty-seven

after steve, nancy, sam, and robin left, dustin and eddie immediately set to work on the trailer. "third time is the charm?" sam said once the adrenaline of death had worn off, and it sent her into a fit of awkward jokes to spill.

"yeah. for sure." steve muttered, looking back to sam. "you know, you look very hot in battle mode." sam smirked, earning a wink from steve.

"okay. as much as...i uh, appreciate that your humor is back...we basically have a suicidal wish...walking back here. so, stay focused?" robin rambled, earning a salute from sam as she grasped onto steve's hand.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

it was like as soon as sam was back in the woods behind the creel house, her serious demeanor was back. her heart was in her throat, the beating filling her eardrums. it became officially real again. her sister was baiting herself, and she was marching into battle with a super-demon.

"uh...i don't mean to freak anyone out, but i swear we've seen this tree before." robin spoke, pausing to shine her flashlight on it.

"that's impossible." nancy inquired. "that would suck, right? if vecna destroyed the world because...cause we got lost in the woods?"

sam's heart thumped harder against her ribcage, robin's stress rambling causing steve to reach over and intertwine sam's hand with his own. he squeezed it a couple of times, following behind nancy and robin.

"we're not lost, robin." nancy spoke, as she nervously chuckled. "robin, hey. watch out for the vines! hive mind. remember?" she warned, running after the girl. a distant thank you, and the rest of their conversation moving as sam and steve trailed behind.

"don't worry about her. she's just stressed. you know, scared." steve began.

"yeah. yeah. i...i know." sam replied. "its just..."

"she's a super klutz?"

"no...well yes, but i've known that." sam chuckled along with steve.

"it's not her fault though, she did mention to me how it took her longer to walk than most babies." sam smiled.

"i shouldn't laugh. i actually crawled backwards." steve spoke.

"crawled backwards?"

"you know, i'd push with my hands like this. beep. beep. always in reverse, you know?" he demonstrated. sam letting a small smile rest on her face.

"come on, it makes sense. you push to move, right?"

"no, no, it doesn't make sense."

"well, it did to my tiny little harrington brain. that is, until i reversed my baby butt down a flight of stairs and thumbed my head really good." sam bursting into a fit of laughter.

"i'm sorry. it's not funny, but it kind of is."

"yeah. laugh it up."

"wow. that explains so much."

"yeah. i think it kinda does. i think, like, right out of the gate, like i'm super confident. 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 on my head, i can change, you know? i can learn. i can...crawl forward." steve began, taking pauses to shine his flashlight around at vines and trees. sam trying to search his eyes whenever he looked to her.