𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝕾𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖗 - [𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻]

𝐱. 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐄𝐍 - home sweet home

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 𝐈𝐓 𝐇𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐍 everything within Scarlet to keep herself awake when they'd all manage to stumble back into the Byers' residence. Max and Steve had aided her to the couch, their arms around her shoulders and waist, hoisting her body weight onto their forms. She had slumped the moment her body found the plush and old cushions atop the couch.

 Her legs had scarcely worked when the car had faltered to a stop — Steve had been the one driving, of course — he had pierced Max the most withering glare any of them had ever seen when she'd piped up with a wide-spread grin asking if she could drive them back.

 Steve had rushed around to Scarlet's side while Max heaved an arm over her shoulders; leaving the three young boys to haul everything from the car and unload it within the living room.

 Scarlet laid there with her eyes shut, lashes resting upon the apples of her cheeks. She had no idea what would come next, or where she would go. She had no home, no shelter or guarantee of safety; nobody to quell the unease within her gut at the mere thought of remaining within Hawkins.

 So as her fingers twitched by her side, as the bruises on her body flared painfully, Scarlet only wished her mind would fall silent. She focused on the noises around her; the shuffling of Dustin's shoes as he lugged a particularly heavy bag inside the house. The slight hop to Max's step as she kept only a pace away from Scarlet, feeling as though she were on top of the world.

 Max had even taken a moment to glare at a spot of blood Billy had left behind before scrambling from the Byers' home. If she hadn't an audience, Max would have likely flashed it her middle finger.

 Then Scarlet heard the light patter of Steve perusing his way nearer. The echo of a glass being positioned on the table behind her, and the racket of pills rattling in a pot. He let out a heaving sigh as he lifted Scarlet's feet and slumped to the couch, uncaring if the mud on her shoes spoiled his already grass-stained jeans.

 She cracked an eye open, her brow climbing further up her forehead, "Are you comfortable?"

 Steve buried his head against the back of the couch, drooping it to the side as he smiled lazily, it seemed that Steve hadn't yet recovered from his fight either, "Yeah, actually." He sniffed through his swollen nose, only to groan as water flooded into his eyes, "Shit, I think that bastard actually broke my nose."

 Scarlet had snorted. The tone in which he had spoken was nasally as he dabbed at his purple nose... yet he didn't sound hurt. His voice wasn't tightened by pain... he just sounded... quite annoyed, "You sound more offended at that than anything else."

 "Well yeah, I got my ass handed to me by a guy with a mullet."

 A small laugh echoed from the back of Scarlet's throat, causing her to wheeze as her stomach constricted, disturbing the bruises buried far beneath her skin, "Oh, so that's the problem?"