𝖕𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖔𝖗𝖒𝖆𝖑 || 𝘀. 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘁𝗼𝗻

S2E4: Will the Wise

✶

"And then the Mentos release..." Steve's voice drowns out in my head.

We finally have our chance to work on our project, but after all that happened I can't seem to get my mind to focus on school now. It seems much less important. I'd rather be with the kids, drilling them on what's going on with Will.

He waves his hand in front of my face. "Y/l/n..."

"Hm?" I snap out of my thoughts.

"Just making sure that freaky thing with Byers wasn't happening to you." He narrows his eyes at me, not convinced that I was only thinking.

"Oh, no. I was just thinking."

"About Byers," he guesses.

"Yeah. It was so weird. Like he was... possessed or under a spell or something."

"You know what I think?" He straightens his back and stretches. "I think we've been working on this for an hour and need a break."

I set my pencil down and look at my work sheet that I haven't even filled out yet, despite the fact I've been working on this for an hour. "I hate to say this, Harrington, but I think you're right for once." I stand up and stretch, my bones cracking. "There're some snacks in the kitchen. Are you hungry?"

He cocks a brow. "Are you being nice to me?"

"I'm nice to the people I like," I answer. "You're just not one of them."

He walks over to my doorframe and leans against it with his arms crossed. "Then why are you being nice to me now?"

"Because we're stuck being partners. I have to be, duh. So are you hungry or not?"

He shrugs. "I could eat."

I walk into the kitchen and start going through the cabinets. There's a half eaten can of Pringles, a stale bag of cereal, and some granola bars. I open the fridge, seeing if we have any good leftovers, but mom had sent them with dad for lunch.

Steve leans against the counter. "Jeez, do you guys even eat?"

I shut the fridge door and turn to face him with a deadpan look. "No, we don't. We're secretly robots disguised as humans."

The truth is, mom just hasn't gotten any groceries lately. It's also nearing supper time and she is somewhere with a friend, I think; and dad will be working late. So it doesn't look like supper will be happening tonight.

"Maybe we should go to a restaurant?" Steve suggests. He pulls his car keys out of his pocket and holds them up.

My stomach growls. I don't want to go with him and get food, but if he paid for it, then that is free food, and one should never turn down free food. "You're buying."

After a good fifteen minutes of fighting over where we want to eat, we decide on KFC. Besides, it's not like there are that many restaurants in Hawkins. We didn't have that much of a selection.

After ordering some fried chicken, potatoes and gravy, and biscuits, Steve parks the car over looking a creek while we eat. Hooked on a Feeling plays on the radio in the background, filling the otherwise silent scene.

"All the good love
When we're all alone
Keep it up girl
Yeah, you turn me on"

Steve digs through the bags and hands me my food. I dip my fried chicken into some sauce and bite into it. I'd never, ever, admit it to Steve, but getting KFC was a good call.

"I'm hooked on a feeling
I'm high on believing
That you're in love with me"

"What was that 'Truth Sight' those kids were talking about?" Steve asks through his mouthful of chicken.

"Mm." I take a sip of my drink. "True Sight is when you make a connection with something through the mind, enabling you to sense its emotions, see what it sees, and maybe even read its mind. It's like you posses the thing to spy on it. I guess they think Will is spying on something, or vice versa."

He mewls over this for a moment. "You're meaning something from the Upside Down?"

I pick at my container of potatoes and gravy with my fork. "I mean... why not? It'd make sense. I wouldn't think the Demogorgon has powers like that... so..."

"You think there's something else out there."

I lift my head to meet his eyes. "It would be the only explanation."

"But all that's over. Right? The dem-demi—"

"Demogorgon," I offer.

"Yeah, that. It's gone. Eleven banished it or whatever."

I tuck my leg under me and re-position in my seat to face him. "But that's just it. She got rid of the monster. That was all she got rid of. We already know the gate in Hawkins lab is still open. They told us not to worry about it, that they have it completely contained."

"But..." he starts for me, somehow knowing that I have more theories.

"But..." I begin, "even though it's 'contained' it still doesn't cut off our world from the Upside Down. So what if, until we cut all ties from that place, things never go back to normal?"

He slowly brings his chicken leg to his mouth and takes a bite, his eyes trained on me. He chews, thinking for a moment before speaking. "Maybe we should just focus on what's going on right now, before trying to figure out the future."

I slump back down in the seat. "Yeah. Yeah, of course."

"And right now, we have a school project due soon." He holds up the worksheets he had brought.

My brows raise, surprised that he's caring so much about school right now. "Really? I didn't know you cared about grades."

"Well, I mean, I do have to make passing grades. Otherwise I'd be kicked from the basketball team." He hands me my paper.

Focus on the now, I tell myself, flattening the paper on the dashboard and getting to work on it. Pretend that nothing supernatural is going on, pretend Will isn't possessing something or being possessed. It's just me and Steve Harrington, alone in a car doing homework while we eat KFC.

Yeah, definitely nothing strange about that.