𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

011. Hunt The Freak.

THE NEXT morning as Robin and Val retreated from upstairs, Steve standing near the doorway with his hands on his hips. "I don't even wanna know..." He says quietly at how their hair looked. "Shit." Val mumbled, quickly brushing her hands through her hair as Robin adjusted hers to make it look unmessy. The girls hadn't even slept, not a wink, all night.

"Did you wash the clothes Val wore from Eddie then?" Steve asked because Valerie was in a completely different outfit, Robin's button up from yesterday and her jeans from the clothes they usually leave behind here. "Yeah." Robin raised the bag of clothes, she was also in different clothes, a wool sweater and her dark jean jacket with pins that she had left behind here before as Val wore another jacket of hers which was a brown bomber jacket.

"Let's go then, Henderson's called like three times all morning, said it was urgent. Max is already over at his place, said she walked." He said then the three girls followed him out the door, Valerie taking the front passenger seat this time as Robin got into the backseat.

On the drive, Val started out the window and once parked outside the Henderson home, the two younger teens came rushing out, hopping into the backseat with Robin. Then on the way back to Reefer Rick's, Dustin filled them in on what they overheard on the Hawkins PD radio. "So, yes, basically Eddie is a suspect number one, but only him, Val wasn't named or anything, and if it stays that way, she isn't a fugitive. Thankfully." Dustin nods.

"But still, I--I should stay out of public's eye, right? What if someone saw me leave with Chrissy? Or saw me with her at Eddie's like Max did?" Val turns back to the others in the backseat. "Yeah, I mean, to stay in the clear, that'd be best..." Dustin nods.

"I do feel bad for Eddie, though... he's gonna get so many fingers pointed at him once it's released to the public." Val sighs as she turns to face the front of the vehicle, frowning. Upon arrival at Reefer Rick's, the five teens all got out of the vehicle and headed to the boathouse where Dustin and Val lead the group inside. "Jesus!" Eddie shouted, raising his broken beer bottle at them. "Delivery service." Dustin smiles, raising the bag as Valerie waves. "Good morning." She says as Eddie just sighs.

He looks at them, seeing the awkward smiles on Robin and Max's faces as Steve waved at him, wiggling his fingers which Val noticed, furrowing her eyebrows together slightly.

Robin and Val now stood together beside Max, the brunette's arm around the curly haired girl's waist as the redhead sat on a container beside Val. Across from them, Dustin is seated on a chair as Steve is beside him. In the boat, Eddie is loudly munching on Honeycomb while Steve is staring at him. Valerie sent the Harrington a look which he clearly sensed because he immediately glanced up, then quickly looked away, rubbing the back of his neck.

"So, we got, uh, some good news and some bad news." Dustin spoke up so Eddie glanced over at him. "How do you prefer it?" The Henderson asked as Val was once again watching Steve Harrington who's literally staring at Eddie Munson. "Bad news first, always." Eddie said then took a sip from the Yoohoo he's holding in the arm clutching the box of Honeycomb cereal as anyone would take it.

"Alright. Bad news. We tapped into the Hawkins PD dispatch with our Cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you." He says as Eddie glanced down. "Also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed Chrissy." The curly headed boy added so Eddie looks at him. "Like, 100% kind of convinced." Max spoke up so the boy looks over at the redhead next. "And the good news?" Eddie says, hopeful.

"Well, Val's not included on any of it, no mention of her whatsoever." Steve spoke first as he pointed at the girl who looked at Eddie. "If only we can swap spots, Eddie, I'd do it in a heartbeat." She says sympathetically and the boy just smiled softly at her. "And also, your name hasn't gone public yet!" Val says, smiling a bit too widely at the Munson boy.

"But if we found out about you, it's a matter of time before others do." Robin said from beside Val who's smile slowly fades, glancing at her girlfriend. "And once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you." At the realization, Val's heart drops as she glanced over at Eddie.

"Hunt the freak, right?" He asked before glancing up at the pair. "Exactly." Robin says as Val sighs. "Shit." He looks away. "So, before that happens, we're gonna find Vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence." Dustin tells him. "That's all, Dustin? That's all?" He asked and the boy nods. "Yeah, no, that's pretty much it." He says and Eddie looks away, pursing his lips.

"Listen, Eddie," Robin lets go of Val for a moment to go and lean against the rope holding up the boat, "I know everything Dustin's saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before. I mean, they have..." Robin glanced at Val then the others. "A few time." She added.

Val squints her eyes a bit when she noticed Eddie look at Steve for confirmation who nods softly, staring at the Munson with soft eyes. "And I have once. Mine was more human-flesh-based, theirs was more smoke-related, but bottom line is, collectively, I really feel we got this." Robin says, smiling and Val nods, smiling as well as Steve spoke up, "yeah, you see," he says making Eddie glance over.

"We usually rely on this girl who has superpowers." He says in a nonchalant tone as Eddie stared at him. "But, uh, those went bye-bye, so..." He says as Dustin nodded. "So, we're technically in more of the--" "brainstorming phase." Max says, nodding as she glanced up at Robin and Val who agree, nodding as well and Steve snaps his fingers.

"Brainstorming." He smiles. "There--there's nothing to worry about." Dustin says but his voice gets high pitched and squeaky a bit. Steve scoff-laughs, nodding as he smiles at Eddie who tilted his head a bit, looking at Val who just nodded, sending the boy a smile.

Sirens wailing in the distance alarm them, "tarp." Val pointed. "Tarp, tarp." Robin says quickly and the boy doesn't hesitate to hide quickly as the others rush to the window by the door where they spot multiple police cars and an ambulance speeding on by on the road.

authors note val watching stancy rekindle their "flame":

(she's a firm believer in Steve Deserves Better (And A New Love Interest))
i love nancy, i really do and she's amazing, but like... if you don't love steve at his worst, do you really deserve him at his best, girly 😕😕