••••• "Don't don't you want me? / You know I can't believe it when you say that you don't need me" •••••
"This might be the stupidest thing I've ever gotten myself involved in, but I'm in."
In which Steve Harrington and Kimberly Henderson go from be...
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That night there was a tap at Kim's unlocked window before Steve climbed in and flopped down on her bed next to her.
"Hey, you okay?" Kim asked, feeling bad after what had happened between him and Nancy.
"Oh yeah," he scoffed, staring up at her ceiling. "Being bullshit feels great."
"Steve, I don't think she meant it," Kim tried to reassure him. "She was drunk. I'm sure you've said some pretty stupid stuff while drunk."
"Yeah, okay, maybe I have," Steve said, finally looking over at the girl next to him. "And I could have forgiven everything that happened last night, but when I asked her this morning if she loved me, she couldn't say it."
Kim pressed her lips together, wanting to make Steve feel better, but not wanting to bash Nancy. "Yeah, I don't know what to say to that," she finally sighed, feeling defeated that she couldn't come up with something reassuring to say.
"I just, I don't know," Steve muttered, running a hand over his face. "I knew it wasn't going to last forever, but I didn't think it would end like this."
"Well, did either of you actually say 'I'm dumping you' or 'we're done'?" Kim asked him.
"No, but I'm pretty sure her saying she never loved me got the point across," Steve replied. After both friends being quiet for a minute, Steve spoke up again. "Wait, where's Mews, she always loves it when I'm here?"
•••••
"Kimmy, I need your help!" Dustin said, rushing into his sister's room without knocking. It was later that night, and Steve had left feeling just as shitty as he had before.
"Dust, can you just leave me alone?" Kim asked, not looking up from her history textbook. "Mom's gonna kill me if I don't start boosting my grades, you know that."
"This is a lot more important that your stupid homework!" Dustin exclaimed, still panting in her doorway.
She finally looked up, wondering if it could be a real emergency. "What is it?"
"It's about Mews," Dustin answered.
Kim rolled her eyes as she looked back down at her homework. "No, it's your turn to clean the litter box, Dust. I'm not doing your chores for you, especially if you're not going to actually pay me."
"Kim!" Dustin yelled in exasperation. "I think I adopted a baby demogorgon and it ate our cat!"
Kim slowly looked back up, her jaw nearly hitting her book. "Excuse me? Please, tell me I miss-heard you."
Dustin quickly explained about how he had found Dart, Will's strange Upside Down flashbacks, and how he had discovered Dart eating their cat.
"Your stupid pet ate my cat!" Kim yelled.
"Hey, technically it's our cat that my stupid pet ate," Dustin said defensively.
"That doesn't make it any better!" Kim yelled back, starting to totally panic. "What if Dart ate you, or Mom?"
"Can you just help me!" Dustin exclaimed, starting to panic even more than before.
•••••
"Dusty, baby, you're sure she's not in your room?" Mrs. Henderson asked after looking outside for their cat.
Dustin held up a hand as he pretended to talk on the phone. "Thank you so much, Mr. McCorkle. Thank you so much. You are a true lifesaver. Alright, this was great. Thank you, alright. Have a good one," he hung up the phone and turned back to his mom. "Alright, great news."
"They found her?" Mrs. Henderson asked hopefully.
"No," Dustin sighed. "But they saw her wandering around Loch Nora."
"How did the poor baby get all the way out there?" Mrs. Henderson asked.
"I don't know. Lost, I guess," Dustin shrugged. "But they're gonna look for her. And Kim and I will stay here in case they call again. And you're gonna go help look? Yeah? Give me a hug. Now, go get her.You're gonna find her."
"Okay," Mrs. Henderson nodded, starting to walk to the door.
"We can find her," Dustin added, giving his mom a thumbs up.
"We can find her," Mrs. Henderson agreed as she walked out the door.
Kim rolled her eyes as she leaned against the wall. "So we're just never gonna tell her what happened? Cool, great."
"What? You want to be the one to tell her that a monster from a different dimension ate the family cat?"
•••••
"I'm sorry, you ate my cat," Dustin panted, laying on top of the storm cellar doors. The siblings had trapped the baby Demogorgan, Dart, but they both knew it was only a temporary solution.
Kim and her little brother panted as they both stood up. "Dude, we're gonna need some backup. This isn't a two person job," Kim said, hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath.
