Talking in Your Sleep || Closed

Evie hummed. She didn’t believe him, not really. “You not risking your life for something and you not being a coward aren’t mutually exclusive, you know,” she said as she bumped her shoulder against his in response. It was warm where her shoulder had touched his, but only for a moment. The wind had just enough of a cool bite to it that it drew her attention to it, which was nice. It was safer to focus on being a little chilly than focusing on the tone of his voice, how it dipped and caused her stomach to twist pleasantly.

It was difficult to know how to respond. On one hand, it was flattering to hear those things. The last time a guy had hit on her had been at some party a few towns over during the summer. It had been hot out and the guy had been flattering enough, but he’d leaned in too close and something about the whole matter just made her stomach churn. This, though, was different. Billy, while he may not have come across as entirely genuine, had a way of saying this and fixing her with looks that made it difficult to remember why they were walking towards the junkyard.

On the other hand, though, it was Billy. The line between where she trusted him and where she didn’t was blurry. She knew that he wasn’t a monster, knew that he’d help them out with Dart. But as a person, as a guy who was interested in girls… she wasn’t as sure. How many other girls in Hawkins had he used similar lines on? She wanted to ask what made her different, what made her so special, but she refused to sound needy. So instead, she ducked her head when he said that he got to spend more time with her. Christ, what a line. “So how come you never talked to me at school before today?”

She hadn’t really thought about it before then, but once she did, the question got stuck in her head a little. What were the odds that the day he decided to approach her, they end up in the middle of this mess? If only he’d waited a few days, then this would have (most likely) already been dealt with. Or, had he waited a few days, it may have been too late because the lot of them could end up as Demogorgon food. She didn’t like that thought.

Her stomach swooped as he looked down at her mouth. Not for the first time, the image of him backing her up against a tree before kissing her senseless flashed through her mind as an unbidden fantasy. “Different, huh? Well, I –” Her words were interrupted as she heard Kate gasp. Her blood went cold and she immediately jumped closer to Billy, almost pressed up against him. She watched, realizing after a second or two that it was a false alarm. “Fuck,” she mumbled as she started forward, trying to somehow force her pulse to relax. It was fine, just some little animal. It was fine.

---

Kate was cute in the cold. Steve could admit that. That was an objective observation. He rolled his shoulders, in part to nudge the strap on his left shoulder over a little and in part to try to get some more warmth circulating. It was the kind of weather that reminded him that the weather would soon give way to snow. “You know, I don’t really appreciate that tone, Kate.” His smirk shifted into more of a grin to let her know that he was kidding.

Steve had to clamp a hand over his mouth as Dustin started tripping over his words at Kate’s indignation. “I didn’t mean like old, old. Just—”

“Oh, it sure sounded like old to me,” Steve chimed in. Dustin scowled and started to try to take back what he’d said before. Steve was laughing too hard to catch all of it, but it dealt with ”too old for him” and you’re putting words in my mouth” and even a ”Steve Harrington, I will end you if you keep laughing that hard.” Steve had just grinned and laughed harder. Until Kate jumped.

While Steve didn’t gasp, it felt as though his internal organs froze at once when Kate jumped. This was it, he’d thought to himself. Here we go. He’d swallowed, awaiting the same terror that had gripped the Byers house the year before to be unleashed. But no, just some small animal. Shit. He was jumpier than he’d realized. He glanced over to Dustin first, then Kate, concern etched across his features. “You good?” He asked, trying to keep his voice low. He didn’t want to embarrass her or anything. Normally, he would have called back to the two stragglers to tell them that everything was fine, but he figured that they’d manage to get that. His primary concern at that moment was Kate.

He watched her, regret filling him. What had he been thinking, letting her come along? This was dangerous. At least Dustin and Evie knew what they were getting into. Kate – and as much as he hated to admit it, Billy too – didn’t deserve to get dragged along to the horror show when they didn’t even know what was going on. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, when she asked Dustin to hang back a little. It only took him a moment to realize what she was doing. Anyone with half a brain would be able to figure out that she wanted more answers.

Steve sucked in a deep breath, holding it in for a beat before exhaling slowly through his mouth. “I don’t know if I can really understate how much danger we’re in.” He pressed his lips together, biting down on the inside of his lips as he thought over just how to answer. “Last year, when we… dealt with this, we almost died. It was luck that we survived.” The flashing lights in the Byers house, the way that thing just lumbered down the hall. The weight of the bat in his hands as he took a swing at it. Those memories stuck with him, whether or not he acknowledged them. “Kate, no one’s going to judge you if you turn around. I’d walk you back, but…” he trailed off as he glanced back in Dustin’s direction. “I can’t leave the kid to deal with this on his own.”

Billy’s brow fell low over his eyes as Evie spoke, a low hum of thought leaving him as he studied her for a few moments before turning his attention to the forest around them. “Yeah, I get that,” he started, wishing she’d pressed her shoulder to his for a bit longer. Was he that starved for affection? Jesus, that was an odd thought to him. “But like I also said before, it ain’t fair for you to handle all this yourself.” The cool wind ruffled his hair a bit, a single curl draping over his forehead as he looked back over to her with a determined sort of look.

“I guess…what I’m trying to say is that something is seriously wrong with that thing…and that I probably won’t be able to get a decent night’s rest until I know it’s dead,” he murmured, flicking the butt of his cigarette to the ground. There. He explained himself enough without outright saying that he was terrified by whatever they were chasing down. Or could be chasing them, his mind sourly supplied. Maybe this was some sort of divine payback for him being such a dick to Maxine and not hanging around to pick her up from school this afternoon.

He honestly had more questions than answers about this thing, but Evie, Dustin, and Steve had been pretty tight-lipped about the whole thing. He doubted they’d be open with him anyways because of who he was. Still, as long as Billy saw “Dart” dead, he’d be okay with never knowing where it came from or why Evie’s nerdy brother had it as a pet. While the whole thing screamed ‘danger’ to him, they were more of them than it. Surely, they’d be able to take one of those things on if they worked together, right?

His attention was easily redirected when Evie ducked her head at his comment and he grinned crookedly over at her. Sure, she may have still thought he was a dick, but he couldn’t help but feel like he was slowly winning her over. The weirdest thing of it was, out of all of it, was that he was being honest—a rarity for him. He gave another shrug at her question. “The timing always was off,” he answered, bumping his shoulder against hers once more. “I’ve wanted to before now, sure, but…nothing felt right until today.”

The animal that started the five of them affected him more than it should have. The sound got him first, then it was the gasp that left Kate, then it was the realization that something really could be chasing them, and finally it was Evie stepping closer to them. As if on instinct, he went to step around her, blocking her only partially before realizing there was nothing to be scared of. Not yet, at least. “Son of a bitch,” he spat almost silently through gritted teeth. Clenching his jaw, he glared at the disturbed leaves before turning to Evie, falling in stride with her once more. Billy pressed his luck as he took her wrist in his hand, rough fingertips sliding over her wrist to feel her racing pulse before wrapping his hand around hers to grasp it in as warm of a gesture that could come from Billy Hargrove. “You alright?”

---

Was it supposed to be this cold this soon? If so, Kate really wasn’t looking forward to the fact all she had was a bike to get around. Yeah, Steve had offered to give her rides to school—which she was definitely considering—but if that meant awkwardly sitting in the back seat while he and Nancy Wheeler chatted, she might pass. The smirk that slid into a grin made her momentarily forget about Nancy. “Oh yeah? What’re you gonna do about it, tough guy?” She shot back at him, matching his grin.

For all the worry that had welled up in Kate about potentially being old, it was worth it to see Dustin trip over his words. But what brought her the most joy was the kick that Steve was getting out of it. Well, that was one way to teach him how not to talk to girls, if that’s what he was worried about.

Kate should have been more prepared for this. The cold. The secret experiments of the government. The fact that she had to pretend she didn’t know they’d all gone through something completely unnatural last year when she did. There was this big chunk—a big chunk that may or may not mean injury or death to any one of them—they’d neglected to tell her and, beyond her anxiety and fear of what was going on, she was pissed. Oh, she was going to give them hell when she got them on the phone. She had been eyeing the spot on the ground where the animal had been when she heard Steve’s question. “Y-yeah, sorry,” she responded quietly, something flipping uneasily in her stomach at how he was looking at her. She didn’t see a look like that directed at her often and it warmed her just a bit. “Guess I’m an easier startle than I thought.”

She knew she wasn’t going to like his answer; whether it be from him lying or from the truth, she didn’t know. Her stomach dropped when he first started talking, a whisper of an ‘oh’ leaving her as the word “understate” sunk in. She didn’t think it could get worse until he continued speaking. Her eyes widened dramatically and, without even thinking, she reached out and placed her hand on his arm in some sort of gesture of comfort. “Steve,” she started, “I…I uh…” She didn’t even know how to follow up to that and her hand tightened slightly on his bicep before she let her hand fall away. “I’m sorry.” She winced a bit at how dumb that sounded. It was all she could think to say, as shitty as it felt saying. Two words wouldn’t take away what he experienced or make anything better.

“No, no, I’m not turning around,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m just…I feel like I’m at a disadvantage here, since I haven’t seen exactly what it is that’s out there. Not that I want to, that is.” Carding a hand through her hair, she sighed heavily, eyeing the steadily darkening sky before looking ahead. There may have been a clearing coming up, but she wasn’t sure. Licking her lips, she shot a sidelong glance to Steve, a small smile on her lips. “And I think the fact you won’t leave Dustin behind is really brave. Not many guys I’ve known would do that all things considered.” She paused for a moment. “I guess that means you’re a pretty cool guy, Harrington.”

The right word to describe Billy was harder to pinpoint than Evie had initially thought. Yesterday, the potential words would have included “dick,” “pompous,” “asshole,” or “prick.” But slowly, as they walked, they felt as though they fit less and less. Or rather, that her understanding of him – limited as it was – had to expand to include more words. “Steadfast” was not a word she would normally use to describe him, but his refusal to leave had struck something within her. It was nice to have someone refuse to leave. She shook her head as she tried to back a smile (she was failing). “You know, that almost sounds chivalrous.” Her gaze met his and something in her chest flipped. She decided to go out on a limb. “It’s not a bad look on you.”

She bobbed her head in agreement, understanding where he was coming from. It had taken her weeks to start getting anywhere near a decent amount of sleep. Just because it had disappeared hadn’t meant that it was dead, a sentiment that Dustin had shared as well back then. “Hopefully we get it dealt with,” she replied, matching his tone. Something deep in her told her otherwise. It was the same sort of gut feeling she’d had waiting for the Demogorgon to come out of the wall.

Evie hummed in response. The timing was always off. Huh. She supposed that it made some sense. A girl’s car not working was the prime excuse for any guy to waltz on over and try to offer his help as well as to just happen to introduce himself. It was probably easier than during school, as well. In the hallways, she could just walk away. “Well, uh,” she began, bumping her shoulder against his. “Thanks for the ride.” She chuckled a little at the lame joke., averting her gaze the ground.

It wasn’t anxiety that was coursing through her, or nerves. She knew what those felt like. They made her jittery, made her pulse race and her breathing get a little haggard, and made her heart feel as though it would beat so hard that it would burst. This was different. This was the tendrils of dread, the kind that she’d felt a year ago in the Byers’ house. So caught up in her own thoughts, it took her a few seconds to compute Billy’s reaction. She would never admit it to him, or even to anyone aloud, but she felt safer with him there, and him almost trying to block her cemented that thought in her mind. She blinked owlishly as she felt his fingers wrap around her wrist, his skin rough against hers. Evie looked up at him, mouth parting as she blinked again. He had really pretty eyes. “I—yeah,” she said, mouth still parted open. She shook her head a little, getting her bearings. “Yeah, you?”

She had a sudden, horrifying thought that she was going to kiss him. Not then, but later, in the future. If you don’t die, her brain unhelpfully piped up. Okay, fine. If she didn’t die in the next however many hours, she was going to kiss him. Part of her was embarrassed, annoyed that she’d changed her mind so fast. But setting her pride aside, how was she not going to kiss him? He was refusing to leave, and the way he was gripping her wrist made her stomach flip. Shit. Steve would never let her live this down.

---

Looking back on it, Steve would feel a little guilty. Because deep down, in a place where he refused to let himself dwell, he knew that he and Nancy were inevitably going to end. But then, at that moment, they were still together (he thought – he still wasn’t entirely sure on that). He forgot about it, though, as Kate grinned at him. Not even realizing he was doing this, shifting into something a little more flirtatious, his smirk deepened as his tongue darted out to briefly wet his lips. “Keep it up, Young. See what happens.”

Steve grimaced when she said that she was an easier startle than she thought. What was she going to do when they ran into ‘Dart?’ She wasn’t prepared for this. Hell, none of them were. But at least he, Dustin, and Evie had some experience with it. Then again, that didn’t make them prepared. It just made them slightly more experienced in not dying when facing up against an inter-dimensional monster, or whatever the hell it was. Concern was etched across his face as he rearranged his features into something that was less of a grimace. “You don’t have to apologize for that.” If anything, he should be the one apologizing for accidentally dragging her into this.

While he didn’t particularly like consciously thinking that he was good with women, he knew that he was. Or rather, he usually was. Because when Kate put her hand on his arm, he almost stumbled; Steve Harrington almost tripped because a pretty girl put her hand on his arm. Not only put it there, but let it there for longer than a second. He swallowed, shoving back every single thought he was having because he did not have time to go through any of it. “Thanks,” he said, eventually mustering up a small, tense smile.

His arm was still warm where she’d touched it.

“I’m not going to lie to you, we’re all kind of at a disadvantage here. It’s… Not great.” He wanted to tell her, warn that it had already killed someone their age and that if she died, he’d have to lie about her death too. He’d have to look her parents in the face and say some lame thing that the government told him to say. His chest ached. Her words struck him and he almost felt sad. He wasn’t cool or brave, he didn’t deserve any compliments for this. The kid would get himself killed; he was doing his basic duty. But instead, he didn’t get into any of that. “You know, the same could go for you,” he replied, dodging acknowledging her statement. “You’re sticking around too, you know.”

Billy peered ahead in the dusty evening light, straining to see this junkyard they were setting off to. Unable to see past Harrington and that pink-haired punk, he glanced back to Evie, his thoughts immediately redirected to the smile on her lips. She was heartbreakingly beautiful, but something about viewing her in this light, in the leaf-bare woods, made him ache to hold her close. Then she was speaking, calling him chivalrous and he couldn’t help but to openly smile over at her in return. Chivalrous was the last thing he cared about being, if he was honest, but something about hearing her say that…it sounded good. Billy quickly found himself again and he shot her a sidelong look, his grin turning more crooked. “I think you’d be hard-pressed to find something that didn’t look good on me, sweetheart,” he murmured, shooting her a wink. “But thanks…it’s nice to hear.”

But then it was back to the reason they were out here in the first place. The moment and his thoughts dissolving into mental images of that thing tearing bricks out of the wall. He took a cursory glance around them, making sure nothing was quietly following them, before looking back over to her. “We will if I have any say in it,” he told her, his tone quiet, but dead serious. Even if it took them all weekend to get rid of it, he’d see it through.

He directed his gaze at the back of Dustin’s head, silently blaming the little shit for the situation they found themselves in. Billy couldn’t blame him completely, but it didn’t stop him from holding a little bit of a grudge against him. Then Evie was bumping her shoulder against his once more and he softened a bit. Had this not happened, he probably wouldn’t be getting to spend any time with Evie. They’d have their date and she’d probably say something like she’d upheld her end of their deal and that’d be that. Biting his bottom lip as he tried to think of something to reply with, he let his gaze slip over her features. “Pleasure’s mine, Evie,” he retorted, bumping his shoulder against hers in return and stepping just a bit closer to her. “Hopefully it’ll be the first of many.”

Maybe he was distracting himself from danger by focusing on the way Evie’s mouth dropped open or the way she blinked up at him. Or the feel of her pulse point thumping against the pads of his fingertips. His own mirrored hers, whether it was the rush of seeing her surprised or what had just happened, Billy wasn’t exactly sure. He kept his sights on her, watching her closely. There was a slight comfort in knowing she was as scared as he was, but there was also a cold terror that came with that. She’d dealt with something like this before and was still just as scared. His gaze flickered over her pretty features before he nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m good,” he murmured.

Holding onto her wrist for a moment or two longer, he slowly let go, relishing the slide of her soft skin against the callouses on his fingertips before the cold took the leftover warmth of her away. A crooked grin pulled at his lips for a moment as he vaguely wondered if the rest of her skin was that soft before nipping that train of thought in the bud. Those were thoughts for a different, safer location, one where he might be able to feel said skin for himself. “How much farther until we reach the junkyard?” He questioned, glancing over at Evie for a moment.

---

God, Kate was going to get into so much trouble. She knew he potentially still had a girlfriend but all she found herself wanting to do was to grab him by the front of his trendy Member’s Only jacket and kiss him until they couldn’t breathe. She wanted to muss that perfect hair of his or cause his insides to do hellish things like her’s had when his tongue had peeked out to wet his lips. Despite this, she managed to externally keep her cool, eyes focusing on his lips for a moment before she looked up at him with an impish sort of gleam in her eyes. “Looking forward to it, Harrington,” she shot back with a smirk of her own.

Kate Young was not an easy scare, by any means. She’d seen shit most of these Indiana kids would run home to their mommies about. Being raised in a not-so-affluent and not-so-nice part of New York City did that to a person. She’s seen the damage someone can cause to another human with things no one would even think of using as a weapon. She’s experienced things she couldn’t necessarily explain. She’s had close calls with almost dying before. But this…this was way out of even her realm of experience. Part of her wanted to believe they were overreacting. It was easier than to dwell on everything. “No, I do,” she murmured, “I freaked everyone out over a damn rabbit or something. I feel bad.”

A cold wind pressed against them, blowing her mess of hair into her eyes for a moment. She gave a short huff of frustration, pushing her hair back from her face and sinking into her jacket a little more. She was not going to think about the what-ifs of this situation they found themselves in or if she’d maybe made Steve uncomfortable. And she wasn’t going to think about how solid Steve’s arm felt under her fingertips, even through layers of fabric. Instead, she smiled softly over at him, shaking her head a bit. “And I’m sorry that you’re having to kinda relive that now. Fucking adults should have to take care of this. Not us. Not you.”

The more Steve tried to tell her about how bad this situation was, the more she wanted him to stop. She knew he was trying to be logical, to impose upon her just how serious this was, but all it did was made her not want to leave. Her parents weren’t home. Going home to an empty, dark house didn’t sit right with her. Shock registered on her features as Steve spoke, mouth falling open slightly and eyes widening. She’d not thought that way about it, but she was far from being brave. “I’m only sticking around because I’m too chicken shit to be by myself right now,”she explained with a humorless sort of laugh. “And I feel safe with-” Her brain miraculously cut off her mouth before she could continue that sentence. Saying she felt safe with Steve felt like a step too far, even if it was the truth.

Her cheeks felt flushed and hot and her pulse had ticked up a bit. Then, to add to it all, the toe of her Chuck Taylor caught on one of the railroad ties and she stumbled forward a bit before she caught herself. “With people. I feel safe with people,” she spat out hurriedly. She risked a glance at Steve, to gauge his reaction. “And your spiky bat,” she added, with a wry grin. “In terms of weapons, it’s pretty high up there in terms of effectiveness. Especially with someone like you swinging it. Push comes to shove, if you don’t kill it, it’d probably give it tetanus or something.”

For a split second, it felt as though her world stopped when he smiled at her. It wasn’t a cocky smirk; it wasn’t some arrogance-filled grin. This was just a smile. A smile that managed to bypass any coherent thoughts she was having and just lodged itself into her mind, burning its place in her memory. His smile shifted into more a grin and the spell was broken. “Christ,” she said, laughing. Despite her best efforts, her cheeks flushed when he winked at her. “You know, I bet modesty would look good on you too,” she teased.

Evie didn’t want to be negative, but Billy had no idea what they were dealing with. How could she convey to him what was going on without going into detail? If she started to tell him what they were really dealing with, he’d start asking more and more questions. Questions about if anyone had died from it, if anything else had happened. Where did her being concerned about violating orders [i[from the government shift into the guilt, the shame that she held for what happened to Barb? All she could muster up in response was a nod.

Her thoughts, as they always did when she thought about Barb, shifted to the curly-haired kid walking in front of her. She watched as he pretended to look to his left, maybe acting as though he were staring at a tree, but then his eyes shifted just a little to get a good look at her and Billy. The kid was going to give her so much shit about this. And you know what? She wouldn’t complain. Sure, she’d put up a front and argue with him, but she wouldn’t complain. She’d relish every single second of their arguing if it meant that they got to argue, that they made it through this and had the chance to argue. She shifted her attention back to Billy, finding herself swaying a little closer to him as they walked. She didn’t move away. “I mean, I’ll hold you to that if I can’t get my car door open,” she replied.

She let her gaze flit over his features unabashedly, only because she wasn’t really aware that she was doing it. Her pulse was still pounding in her ears, a reminder of the anxiety that was coursing through her for more reasons than one. His grip on her wrist felt nice, reassuring, grounding. He was there and they were currently still standing. It was just some animal, nothing else. They were safe, for now, with him holding her wrist. She nodded her head once, bobbing it slowly as her gaze settled on his. “Good,” she replied, matching his quiet volume.

For a split second, she was disappointed that he hadn’t slid his fingers down her wrist to intertwine their fingers together. But she tempered that thought relatively quickly. Billy didn’t seem like the type to hold hands. She shook her head just a little, clearing her mind enough to focus on the task at hand. “Not far, it’s just around that bend right there,” she said, motioning to where the path curved just a little.

Up ahead, Dustin almost tripped over his feet as he started to grapple for his walkie-talkie. Evie looked towards her younger brother, watching as he was talking animatedly into it. He was too far away to really hear what he was saying, but it wasn’t difficult to figure it out that it was Lucas. “Dusty, what’s up?” She called, urging him to speak up so they could know what was going on.

---

“Yeah?” The words came out of his mouth faster than Steve could really process what he was saying. It was automatic, a reflex almost. Pretty girl is flirting with him. Steve is maybe, possibly single and maybe (definitely) is attracted to pretty girl. Flirting was a reflex. His smirk shifted a little, dropping into something more muted as it settled in that he was definitely flirting with her. Maybe, possibly single does not mean actually single. What if Nancy hadn’t really meant it? What if this was just a fight? What if he was being a dick right now? And not just to Nancy, but to Kate too. What if he was leading her on? Shit.

Steve hummed a little and just shook his head. “I don’t think you can freak everyone out when we’re already pretty freaked out as is. And no one’s going to blame you for being jumpy anyway.” In the scheme of things, they were going to be pretty damn lucky if the jumpiest part of their day was getting startled by some small animal. His insides turned sour at the thought of what they’d eventually run into at the junkyard. Christ, he wasn’t looking forward to this.

His gaze followed her movements as she pushed her hair back, distantly wondering if she wasn’t as used to the cold as he was. New York got cold though, right? He was pretty positive that it was. Steve shrugged his shoulders, unsure of how to respond. The frustration, the anger that licked at the bottom of his consciousness whenever he thought about it like that flickered a little. So he just never thought about it. “Some adults helped,” he said vaguely as he shrugged his shoulders again. “Shit happens, I guess.”

He had to think about it for a second, look at all of this from her point of view. He could sort of see where she was coming from, with being afraid of being alone. But that didn’t make that much sense, not really. “Yeah, but the odds of you not]/i] running into that thing are way lower at your house than out here with us.” But then again, he got it. He could remember the nights when his parents would be away on some work trip for his dad’s job, him home alone and avoiding going anywhere near the side of the house with the pool. How he’d jumped at every sound. He blinked as she cut herself off, curious as to what she was going to say.

Oh. With people. Huh. For a second, he’d been hoping that she’d say that she felt safe with him. “Right, right,” he said, bobbing his head a little too much. “Yeah, the bat’s a must with these kinda things.” He stopped for a second to really think it over. “Is tetanus just a thing that people get, or can animals get it too? Could it even get tetanus?” He paused for a second, going to continue when he heard Dustin behind him. He stopped walking and turned around just as Evie yelled to Dustin.

“Shut up, Evie, let me – Yeah, yeah. Okay, yeah,” Dustin said, hurriedly talking into the walkie-talkie. Steve couldn’t make out who was on the other side, but he figured that it was one of the kid’s friends. “We’ll meet you there. I just gotta get these people to walk faster.” Dustin shoved the walkie-talkie back onto the clip on his belt and looked to the rest of them. “Alright, gang, we gotta move faster. Lucas and…” he trailed off, side-eyeing Billy. “… is already at the junkyard.”

The sound of Evie laughing at him warmed him more than it should have. He didn’t particularly think himself a funny person, but the way her features lit up as she laughed could make him change his mind. His first idea for a response to her was something that may have made her blush more—something about how things look good off of him too, but that was, again, a conversation for a different time. “But if I were modest, I wouldn’t get you to blush like that,” he returned, eyes slipping over her features.

Billy knew there was stuff that Evie, Harrington, and “Dusty” weren’t telling him. They’d been far too close-lipped. It didn’t deter him at all from following up with it though. Something about all of it needled at him, got under his skin. Fucking small town America. Shit like this would never fly under the radar in California. Too many people to notice odd shit like monsters with too many teeth digging underground. As much as he wanted to just leave Evie, her brother, Harrington, and the chick that was following him around to deal with it, he just couldn’t drop it.

Were they really in as much danger as they said? Billy doubted it. He’d seen and experienced worse from his own father. His jaw worked for a moment, determined to change where his mind was going and the floods of anger that usually followed with it. Why he was determined to show some restraint now when in the past he hadn’t, he wasn’t sure. Maybe some small part of him knew that he really was in danger and getting angry would mean that he could potentially face whatever it was they were up against alone. His gaze darted over to Evie as she stepped a little closer to him and the anger—at least the anger toward his father—evaporated like a vapor. “I could fix your door. If you wanted me to,” he offered quietly with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “Not that I want to if it means I get you in my passenger seat.”

He shot her a look and another one of those grins of his. Truth be told, despite everything, he felt pretty damn luck to have gotten Evie Henderson’s attention. He wouldn’t ever admit that out loud, but she was a catch. This stupid, potentially dangerous situation had the upside of her, at least. It meant that he both was and wasn’t eager to get to this junkyard they were talking about. Taking their time meant he could pretend it was just the two of them for a little longer, but it also delayed him taking care of the situation as well.

“Good,” he murmured, eyes darting to where Evie had motioned to for a moment. He vaguely wondered how many times she’d wandered this path to know exactly where the junkyard was. Billy figured it was another question for a different day. His attention was diverted when he picked up on the crackle of the walkie-talkie at Dustin’s hip and the drone of a voice coming through. He didn’t know what he was saying, but he could tell that Dustin seemed to be panicked or irritated—the emotion seemed to read similarly on the kid. It wasn’t until Dustin was saying they had to move faster and giving him a look he didn’t like that he spoke up again.

“What was that look for?” Billy asked, a hardness creeping into the edge of his tone. “Who’s at the junkyard with Lucas?” He spat out the name, gaze narrowing slightly as Dustin merely waved him off, picking up the pace to round Harrington and Kate. Billy let out a sharp exhale, glaring at Dustin’s back. His jaw worked again, stemming the complaint he wanted to sling at Evie about her twerp of a younger brother.

---

A soft hum left Kate as she studied Steve for a moment, a small smile playing around her mouth. “Definitely,” she replied without a second thought. Or at least she didn’t have any second thoughts until she watched his playful expression slide into something a little more neutral. Her stomach suddenly felt like it had turned to lead. He was still potentially dating someone and here she was flirting shamelessly. Beyond that, once all this was over and the information they wanted had been given to them, she’d be gone. Forming any sort of relationship, even just friendship, would be frowned on, she was sure.

Then again, she felt like they’d tossed her into a den of hungry lions and her information on everything was certainly lacking. Maybe forming bonds beyond her…whatever it was she could call the arrangement she had with the big old them…would be the biggest “fuck you” she could give them. Or she could dig her feet in and refuse to move after this was all over. “Right,” she offered before pulling her lips in and biting them. Hearing the fact that they were all freaked out both reassured her but also terrified her. So, she decided she’d joke around. At least until they were faced with real danger. “If word gets out at school that I’m a jumpy wimp, I’m busting that pretty face of yours,” she threatened playfully. “I very clearly have a reputation to uphold.”

Her jesting attitude flew out the window at what he said next. “By ‘some adults’, I’m guessing you mean adults who aren’t the reason this is happening to begin with,” she told him, failing to keep the bite of fury out of her tone. “And yeah, shit happens, but not this shit. Flunking an algebra test and getting grounded? Sure. This? This just doesn’t happen.” She let out a sharp sigh, cheeks flushed with anger. “Fuck,” she breathed, shaking her head slowly. “I feel like I’ve just barely skimmed the surface and I’m furious. I don’t know how you shrug it off like this.”

A sigh left her as she looked up at Steve, lips twisting to the side for a moment as she spoke. “I see your point,” she murmured. “I just…I know I barely know you or anyone here, but it wouldn’t sit right if anything happened to you while I was hiding out at home. It’d probably haunt me for the rest of my life.” She paused for a moment, studying him for a moment or two before looking away. “Guess you’re stuck with me, whether I’m brave or not.” Her shoulders lifted in a small shrug as a small grin tugged at her lips.

Maybe she should have said she felt safe with him. Was that the sort of thing that bolstered a guy’s ego? Kate never really had to do much of that before. A short laugh left her at what Steve said about that bat, a smile curling her lips broadly despite herself. “I still stand by what I said early, it’s pretty badass that you’ve just had that in the back of your trunk.” She paused when he did, brows lifting slightly at his question. “Fuck if I know,” she murmured with a shrug, “I’m an art nerd, not a doctor or vet.” Her attention was diverted when she heard Dustin and Evie talking, frowning dramatically when Dustin mentioned them not walking fast enough. Her gaze darted to Steve for a moment as the curly-haired middle school stepped around them.

Once they got to the junkyard, Kate’s nerves amplified tenfold. Something about the cover of the forest felt a little safer, though easier to get lost in, than the scattered collection of metal, junky cars, and tires. There were a few watch lights scattered about, but she knew as the sun set, there’d be large dark spots in the yard. Her brows lifted slightly as she studied the bus, paying no mind to Lucas Sinclair and the redhead with him that stood off to the side. “Do we have a game plan?” She asked no one in particular, crossing her arms over her chest.

[I went ahead and skipped to the junkyard, but feel free to completely ignore the last paragraph if you didn’t want to skip!]

She scoffed, pressing her lips together in a vain attempt to hold back the grin at his words. “Christ,” was all she could come up with in response. She’d never been the best when guys had flirted with her, but Billy was another level of flirting. And – if she was being honest with herself – no guy had ever flirted with her had been as attractive as Billy was. That added an entire second layer to things as well. “You’re a menace,” she replied, eventually letting the grin come out in full force as she glanced at him.

She hummed as she thought it over. Clearly, she wanted him to fix her door. From a purely economic perspective, free labor was free labor. Sure, the thought of Billy working on her car may have been attractive. Had it been summer, even more so. “Just because my car door works, that doesn’t mean I couldn’t occasionally be in your passenger seat.” The words slipped out without her really thinking them over. “If you fix my car door, you may even get a second date.”

What was she thinking, saying that? A second date? Seriously? They hadn’t even been on a first date and here she was, already promising him a second one. She was losing it, clearly. She shoved the thoughts away as Dustin yelled back to her, bristling when he told her to shut up. “You shut up,” she mumbled under her breath, huffing out a sigh. The little shit.

Evie furrowed her brow as Dustin hesitated when he spoke, glancing back at Billy. Suddenly his reputation was slamming back into her and she swallowed. What did she think she was doing? Starting to simper over him just because he was ridiculously attractive and had stepped in front of her at the sight of danger? She wasn’t that kind of person, to just fall over a guy because he was showing her attention, was she? Dustin was dramatic, but there was real hesitation there, a reluctance. She knew her brother better than anyone else. Whoever the other person was, he didn’t want Billy to know.

And clearly, Billy picked up on that as well. She stiffened at the way his tone grew hard, swaying away from him without even realizing it. “Billy,” she warned, her voice sharp. She watched as he glared at Dustin’s back. She sighed as they got close to the junkyard, her gaze shifting from him to Steve and Kate. “You good?” She wasn’t sure if she was asking if he was really okay, or if he’d be able to keep whatever issue he had to himself while he was there. She didn’t like how he’d sounded when talking to her brother and if he decided to do something stupid when shit hit the fan… They just really didn’t need that to happen.

---

Definitely. Definitely. Keep your eyes away from her mouth, Harrington. He swallowed, a sudden mess of conflicting emotions, one piling onto the other. Guilt, shame, interest, attraction; all a swirling mess that rumbled around his chest. Shit. Steve had never had to deal with this before. He was always a one-track mind when it came to dating. He had his reputation of being a lady’s man, sure, but he was monogamous. He was faithful. He wasn’t an asshole. Or at least, he hadn’t been an asshole. Until maybe now. Shit.

It shouldn’t have been as easy as it was to push those thoughts and concerns aside when she decided to threaten him. Christ, was he into that? He was, he realized, as the corners of his mouth twisted up without him even wanting them to. “Oh trust me, I’m not saying shit to anyone,” he replied. The tension that he’d been feeling dissipated. Not entirely, but enough that he could ignore it and focus on the here, the now. Even if the here and now was him slowly realizing that he was very much into someone who was much more intimidating than he was.

(Was this really a surprise for him, though? The image of Nancy trying to shove him out of the door while her hand bled, of her holding a gun and aiming it at the Demogorgon, of her determined expression even if the face of horrors beyond belief; all of them flitted through his head.

This was not surprising.)

He shrugged. “Yeah, no, I mean… Adults that were kind of dragged into this and didn’t suck.” How was he supposed to explain that one? He shrugged again, biting the inside of his cheek as he thought over her words. She was furious at the situation, which surprised him a little. Not that he didn’t think it was fucked up, but she was very frustrated with this. “I… Honestly, I haven’t thought about it since it happened.” That was a lie. “There was nothing to really do about it, you know?”

A small, soft smile spread across his lips at her words. “I appreciate it, you know. You sticking around.” He bumped his shoulder against hers. That was a friend thing. He was allowed to do that. “Trust me, you’re plenty brave. Maybe a little… not dumb, but impulsive? For sticking around, but definitely brave.” Warmth spread through him. It was nice, having someone stick around even when things got tough.

“If I’m being honest,” he dropped his voice at this point, making sure that Billy wouldn’t hear anything he said. “I was pretty grateful to have it in my trunk when Billy moved to town.” He chuckled, playing it off as a joke more than anything else. Not that he’d ever actually use it against the guy, but something about Billy just rubbed him the wrong way. He resisted the urge to look back at Billy and Evie, instead making a mental note to talk to Evie later about whatever was going on with her and Billy.

His grip tightened on the bat as they stood there, swallowing a little as the nerves officially made their permanent residence in his stomach. His gaze flickered from Lucas to the girl, and back to Dustin, who was anxiously glancing behind him as he waited for Billy and Evie to catch up. Eventually, the kid sighed. “Clearly, we lured Dart here and take him out when he gets here.”

[That’s fine! I figured that we can have Steve and Kate at the junkyard and then Billy and Evie catch up in a response or two since they were at the back of the group anyway.]

Billy was really enjoying Evie’s reactions to him far too much. Sure, they’d always been something he’d fed off of with other girls in the past, but it was different with her. For whatever reason, it was just different. Heat flared within him at the fact she’d called him a menace. There was something about that word that he liked. Menace. If he was honest, it fit him pretty well. He shot her a glance, taking in the grin that was spreading across her face, and he let out a low hum as a toothy grin of his own pulled at his lips. “I think you like that I’m a menace,” he drawled slowly.

Maybe he shouldn’t have offered to fix the door after all. Maybe she’d just used him up to this point and would use him to get what she wanted then treat him like she always had. It was worth the shot though. Then she was speaking again and all those doubts slipped from his mind. His tongue darted out of the corner of his mouth for a moment as he watched her. “Just when you need to get somewhere fast, right?” Billy was pretty sure there was a hidden innuendo somewhere in that question, but he wasn’t going to push it too hard. Evie seemed to blush at the drop of the hat and that might be a step too much. “May get a second date,” he repeated with a soft laugh.

Did she truly know what she did to him with that? Most girls had attempted it in the past, to play hard to get in an effort to get him interested, but he typically saw right through them. Evie was different than them though. It could be the fact that no one in this little group of theirs seemed to like him and she seemed to value their opinions…even if she was warming up to him slowly. “I guess that means when I get the chance, your door’s as good as fixed, Evie,” he told her.

He really wanted to laugh at the quiet mumble that had left Evie, directed at Dustin. Sure, if Maxine had said anything like that to him, he would have flown off the handle, but on the outside, he was sure it could be funny…in some instances. Though, he barely knew the brat—didn’t care to know the brat, honesty. For a vague moment, he wondered what it would be like, to actually have a sibling he could stand to look at for longer than five seconds before remembering that they weren’t related by blood and that no matter what he did, she was never coming back.

Then he was suddenly back to the anger that had spiked so suddenly in him at the idea that Dustin had purposefully not told her whoever else was there. Billy, while he might not have done the best in schoolwork, wasn’t dumb. He had a gut feeling he already knew who would be waiting for them in the junkyard. Then Evie was snapping his name and he turned to her, nostrils flaring slightly. That tone. “I’m fine,” was all he managed to get out through his tight jaw. “I just don’t fucking appreciate not being told things that I clearly am involved in.” He sighed heavily—a blowing off of steam—and shook his head as he turned his focus ahead. The junkyard and clearing was growing closer and he was able to pick out details of old cars and an abandoned bus.

---

As quiet fell over the two of them, Kate couldn’t help but be sucked back into her own thoughts. Wasn’t this the guy who’d asked if she’d be cool with him stopping by to get flowers for his girlfriend Nancy? He was still very clearly with her, maybe even in love with her, and here she was complicating things by shamelessly flirting with him. Sure, this may have been a bitch move she would have pulled had either Steve or Nancy deserved it, but they didn’t. And she felt incredibly guilty for it. Maybe it was because he was the first guy that’d actually given her an ounce of attention since she’d started at Hawkins High. He even fucking knew her name. Without her even giving it to him. That was more than she’d even gotten, NYC or Hawkins.

Kate smiled at the sight of the one that he wore. Jesus, when was the last time she’d genuinely smiled this much? “Smart move,” she murmured, eyes flickering over his features before she glanced down to the railroad tracks and ties beneath her feet. She distracted herself with them enough that she wasn’t thinking about how guilty she was feeling or the fear that lingered just below that at this entire situation. Then Steve was talking again about everything that’d had happened and the adults and how he hadn’t give it all much thought. And that there’s not much they could do.

It hit too close to home with her situation and the bright-hot flash of anger she’d felt so intensely before was snuffed out and replaced with an emotion that she couldn’t quite put a name to. “You’re right,” she said softly, shaking her head as she curled her lips in and bit them hard for a moment. “Who’d actually listen to us kids anyways?” She added wryly.

Her eyes found his as he spoke again and his words served as a bit of a salve to what she’d been feeling just moments earlier. The guilt. The weight of the situation they were in. It was a little easier to handle all of it with him saying things like she was brave and smiling at her like that. Then his shoulder was hitting hers and a quiet laugh left her. “I am very much impulsive,” she agreed. “Not dumb, you jerk,” she shot back, playfully punching his arm. “But, hey, as crazy as it sounds…it feels like I was…meant to be here. It’s this--” She paused, licking her lips before shrugging. “It’s this dumb, impulsive, gut intuition thing. It feels right. Me sticking around.”

Kate was really trying to not laugh at what Steve had said about that spiky bat from hell and Billy Hargrove, but her head was tilting back and she was letting out a loud, resounding ‘ha’ before she could stop it. That one laugh was followed by a few more as she looked up at him. “He’s an asshole. And if, for whatever reason, he ends up knocked out or unconscious at any point in this whole…‘party business’ thing, I’m taking my pocket knife to that god-awful haircut of his after the shit he’s said about my hair.”

So, they didn’t really have a plan, Kate surmised. Not a really clear one either. There was a lack of weapons for most, if not all of them, and there were very few places they could safely hide. “So…we take him out with one weapon?” Her gaze shifted to Steve then to Dustin.

“Two,” Lucas supplied, waving his wrist rocket around. Kate sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose for a moment that shifted into her rubbing her forehead. God, this was dumb. So, so dumb. She was stemming the comments she wanted to voice about how this was so dumb for the sake of morale.

“Two weapons for…seven people,” she murmured, dropping her hand away from her face and shoving it into her pocket. “We’re gonna need to get creative, find what we can to improvise weapons, and potentially…build something that would be relatively safe in case…” She paused. She didn’t want to think of any one of them getting injured, but it was a possibility. And if one of them got hurt with the actual weapons, they’d be screwed. “Just in case.”