Don't You Want Me? ✵ Steve Harrington

Chapter 76

Kimberly Henderson was probably the person least thrilled by the Hawkins quarantine. Just when she was about to get out of this hell hole of a town and go to Purdue for college... boom, military occupation. She had never liked rules or authority so the troops that had overtaken Hawkins were public enemy number one in Kim's mind. On top of the pigs watching the citizens of Hawkins every move, they also wanted to kill her dear friend, Eleven. Double whammy for Kimberly Henderson's hatred. Don't mess with her friends.

Over the last lovely eightteen months of captivity, a lot had changed in Kim's world. For starters, she and Steve were living together (very exciting, very grown up). Steve's parents had been out of Hawkins for one of Mr. Harrington's numerous business trips when the massive gate to the Upside Down had open and split it's way across Hawkins. When the quarantine had started, they had still been out of town. Much to Steve's parents dismay, no one was allowed in or out of Hawkins except for supply delivery -- even if you were mega rich and had connections.

Too bad, so sad, Mr. and Mrs. Harrington.

The summer after Kim had graduated from high school -- a few short months after the gate had opened -- Steve had asked Kim to official move into his childhood home. She spent practically every night there anyway. Kim loved living with Steve. She loved falling asleep in his arms every night and waking up with their bodies intertwined every morning. She loved cooking meals with him and how the two of them could make even something as mundane and boring as cleaning the house fun. They'd put on a record and end up dancing together while he vacuumed and she attempted to dust. It was all very domestic. Kim would rather die than admitted it out loud, but that life Steve had mentioned about the two of them and their six little nuggets... it sounded pretty appealing. Okay, maybe not six. Six would be a lot. Maybe more like two or three. Maybe four depending on how much either of them could control themselves.

Her relationship with her mom, which had always been tense, had even improved since Kim had moved out of the house. Apparently, all they needed was a little space to keep them from butting heads so much.

On a less positive note, Kim and Dustin's tight bond had started to unravel shortly after Eddie's death. Persistent as always, Kim reached out to her little brother and made frequent attempt to be there for him, but Dustin had just pushed both her and Steve away. The three of them had planned on having weekly Thursday night dinner and movie night at Kim and Steve's house after she moved out, but Dustin had started bailing on those pretty quickly. Even when the couple tried to ask him to reschedule or pick a different day, Dustin always had some excuse for why he couldn't. When he did spend time with Kimmy or Steve, the younger boys was curt and not his usual self. Not only had Eddie died in Dustin's arms, but the whole town still thought he was a murderer. Dustin resented anyone who tired to slander Eddie's good name. It was hard for both the young adult to watch the once happy-go-lucky kids turn so sullen and moody.

It had been nearly two years since the gate had opened and Max was still at Hawkins General in a coma. It had taken a little while for Kim to get over her fear of going back into a hospital (it all just looked so much like the lab and the vision Vecna had shown her) but eventually she started going with Lucas to visit the ginger girl. Every time they went they played Kate Bush on a loop in hopes that it would stir Max, bring her back to them. It never did. There was one time that Kim could have sworn she felt Max's presence in the room with them but that didn't make any sense. The doctors all said the girl still hadn't made any progress. Kim had heard Running Up That Hill so many times that she practically heard it in her sleep, the notes punctuated by the beeping of hospital machinery.

Kimberly Henderson wanted Vecna's head on a plater.

Not just for what he had done to Max and Eddie but for what he had done to all of them. Hopper and El were forced to travel using the old Upside Down tunnels the Mind Flayer had dug through Hawkins a few years ago. The two of them couldn't be seen in public without putting Eleven at serious risk. Dustin was a completely different person since Eddie's death, Lucas spent every available second of his day at the hospital to be with Max, Robin was constantly having to lie and bail on her girlfriend, Vickie (Kim was over the moon when they finally both realized they liked each other), and Kim had become paranoid. She woke screaming from nightmares constantly because of what Vecna had shown her. Luckily, Steve was there to comfort her but she could tell her night terrors were putting a strain on her boyfriend. Nancy and Jonathan seemed more distant from each other than normal, their "shared trauma" pushing them further away from each other instead of bringing them together. And Mike and Will... well Mike and Will actually seemed to be doing okay, all things considered. Both boys had finally gotten better hair cuts.

Even though they were all a little broken, in the last eighteen months, everyone who knew about the Upside Down had become like a well oiled machine. Hopper had been right when he said they'd be prepared next time they fought Vecna. They did frequent "crawls" of the Upside Down where Hopper would sneak into the back of a military tank when they went to drop supplies off at their "flipped" base. Once Hopper was in the Upside Down, Dustin and Steve would track his progress while the former chief of police surveyed the designated area for any signs of Demogorgans or Vecna. They had tunnels and codes and secret meeting places and their own supply truck (courtesy of Murray). All they needed were some grappling hooks and they'd practically be their very own James Bond movie set in lil ol' Hawkins.

The sun had risen over the military base of a town. Even with all the disruptions, people still went to work, kids still went to school, the Earth kept spinning. People were resilient in that way.

Kim snuggled into Steve's shoulder, hitting snooze on her alarm for the day. She pressed a gentle kiss to her boyfriend's warm skin before letting her eyelids droop close again. The rest of their messed up world could wait; Kim was very content in her bed.

A.N. yay!!! first official chapter of season 5! guys i'm so excited and have so many ideas. i can't wait to share them all with you. how do we feel about a smut chapter🙈 please let me know your thoughts on that! anyway part 1 was literally so good i love this show so so much.

thank you all for the 2.81mil reads! that's actually insane and mind bending. make sure to like, vote, and comment! thank you all xoxo