My Number One (001/Henry Creel/Vecna x Reader)

Real New World

"Where were you earlier, anyway?" asked Henry once we'd finished discussing our plan to save and adopt babies.

"I was having a bath," I lied.

"I checked."

"And then I went for a walk."

Henry nodded as if he didn't believe me, but he didn't press the matter further.

*

That night, in the dim candlelight, Henry entered the living room with a basket of four sleeping babies. He placed the basket on the table and we crowded around it. "They're adorable," I whispered.

"Demogorgon took them from a hospital."

"How will I feed them?" I asked suddenly.

Henry placed a cardboard box on the table too. It was covered in slime from behind dragged through the portal. He opened it, and inside was baby milk formula, nappies, and other essentials for taking care of infants. "Got these while he was at it."

I smiled so wide. "I can't believe it."

"We're a real family," Henry murmured, lifting my chin and kissing me. "We're parents now."

"I never dreamed I'd have this life one day. I'm so lucky."

"You're not lucky. It's hard work. Our hard work paid off," said Henry.

"But I'm lucky I have you. If I didn't, I'd still be stuck in that lab."

"I'm just as lucky to have you. I can't imagine anyone else supporting me through this plan, let alone helping me with it."

I smiled. It was true. The only other people who would agree to this plan had to be psychopaths. But I wasn't. I had empathy. I was a good person. "Henry, perhaps you shouldn't have killed the other test subjects at the lab. We could have used them to elevate our power. They might have helped us. I'm sure they would have wanted to escape the lab as well, and probably get revenge on the world too."

"No," said Henry. "They would have just made it more difficult for us. Looking after a bunch of kids with superpowers, keeping them in line...at least one of them, but probably many, would have blown the plan at some point. We work better as a duo."

I nodded. "True."

*

I wondered if Mike was dead yet. Or his friends. Probably. Hawkins was almost entirely deserted now. I wondered if Eleven guessed the extent of our plan's success. I doubted it. She was probably envisioning Mike and his friends working away in his basement at a plan to counter mine and Henry's. She'd have no idea how much damage we'd already done. I'd let her keep her dreams, though. She deserved some type of hope to keep her going in that basement.

*

Another week flew by. Only ten percent of the population were still surviving. Zero percent of them were members of any government. The people had no leaders, no one to guide them. It was chaos. They knew they were all going to die. They knew that whatever force was taking them all out, wasn't going to leave any stone unturned. Wasn't going to leave behind scraps.

I entered the basement to find Eleven sitting upright, awake, staring down at the floor.

"It's almost time for you to move out of here," I said.

Eleven looked up, her expression blank, tired. "You're letting me go?"

"Not yet. Soon. I just couldn't wait to tell you."