fireworks - steve harrington

1.06

MONSTERS

"Ow, ow," Steve winced as Ren put a bandage over the cut in his forehead.

"Sorry." They had gone straight to Ren's house after the fight so that he could fix him up better.

"It's fine. Thanks for helping me. You didn't need to."

"I feel like I still need to make it up to you for that punch a few days ago."

Steve laughed a bit. "You've been forgiven. I'm sorry I was such a dick."

"Well, you were definitely a dick today. I don't even know what all happened, but I can assume it was not good."

He sighed, "I saw Nancy and Jonathan in her bedroom last night. I went to her house to go apologise for being such an ass the other day, but he was there. In her bed."

"That's so hard to believe. I'm not saying you're lying, but I'm not sure why she would do that. I can't imagine possibly choosing him over you."

Steve smiled but regretted it, as it hurt like a motherfucker. "Thanks."

"So, lemme guess. You're gonna run over to Nancy's house as soon as I'm done here, and you're going to try to win her back."

"No. I'm gonna apologise and break up with her. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe I'll stay with her."

"Do whatever you think is best. Honestly, I thought Nance and I were friends, but the fact that I don't know much about her life anymore is making me wonder. And it sucks, especially since Barb is gone. And Tammy's been holed up in her room most of the time just crying."

"And that's why you've been staying strong."

"I guess, yeah."

"Well, if you ever need a shoulder to cry on, I'm here." He coughed for a second and said, "I think I want to apologise to Jonathan."

~•~

"Jonathan! Are you there? It's Steve! I just want to talk!" When Nancy opened the door, he and Ren were more than a little bit shocked. "Hey, Nancy, what are you--"

"You guys need to leave."

"I'm not trying to start anything, okay?"

"I don't care about that. You need to leave."

"No, no, no. Listen, I messed up, okay? I just want to make things right. Hey, what happened to your hand?"

She ripped it away when he touched it. "It's nothing. It was an accident."

"What's going on?" Ren asked.

"Nothing."

"Wait a sec, did he do this to you?"

"No! Steve!" she yelled, but it was no use. He pushed past her and into the house where he found Jonathan on the couch. Ren followed and tried to talk to Nancy.

"You guys need to get out of here," Jonathan warned, holding Steve back.

"No! No, what is all this? What's that smell?"

Nancy cocked a gun and pointed it directly at Steve. "Get out!"

Ren slipped in front. "Nancy, what are you doing?"

"What is going on!"

"You have five seconds to get out of here. Both of you." She gave Ren the coldest look you could possibly give a person. And he couldn't say it didn't hurt.

"Put the gun down, Nancy." Ren tried to stay calm, but he was scared to death.

Suddenly, the rainbow lights on the wall started flickering. Steve started shouting and asking what was happening while Ren just stood there. The ceiling caved in right next to him, so he jumped back in fright and would have fallen if it weren't for Steve's arms catching him.

Nancy pointed the gun at the ceiling and shot it a few times before Jonathan grabbed her hand and pulled her across the room where they started running. Steve and Ren were frozen in shock as they watched a fleshy creature at least twice Ren's height drop to the floor. Jonathan pulled Steve by his arm with his other hand and Steve barely registered what was happening enough to seize Ren's hand at the last second.

Steve was screaming the whole way down the hallway until they reached a bedroom, which they ran into and locked.

"Jesus! Jesus! What the hell was that?" Steve shrieked.

"Shut up!" both Nancy and Jonathan replied.

"Nance, what do I do? I can help, just give me a weapon," Ren said slowly.

"How the fuck are you so calm right now?" Steve whispered. Ren shrugged.

Nancy frowned and ignored them as they waited in silence by the door with their weapons ready. When there was no sound on the other side of the door, they carefully stepped out, with Steve in the very back. The thing wasn't in the hall either.

They walked back into the living room and Steve continuously muttered, "This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy."

Ren placed a hand on his arm and whispered, "Steve. Calm down. I'm freaking out too, but our main priority right now is getting that thing out of here."

"It's going to come back, so you both need to leave right now!"

Steve took Ren's hand again and practically dragged him out of the house and to the car. Right before Steve got in, he glanced at the house and saw that all the lights were flickering rapidly. He rushed around to where Ren was standing and said, "Stay here."

"No, I'm going back in with you," he argued.

"Stay here." In a split-second motion, Steve grabbed Ren's face and kissed him hard on the lips. "Please."

Ren nodded, unable to do anything else, and Steve sprinted back inside.