YOU BELONG WITH ME, steve harrington.

028.

NOVEMBER 4TH, 1984
📍the junkyard
19:21 PM

they'd now finished barricading the abandoned bus, and had poured a trail of gasoline to the pile of meat. their plan was to use the food to draw dart in, and then to throw a lighter towards the creature, so he lit on fire and they could kill him.

lucas sat on top of the bus, using his binoculars to look out for dart, whilst josie, steve, dustin, and max were sat in the bottom, waiting.

josie sat in the back, away from the group, her mind preoccupied with eleven. she'd gone back to the house last night, and still eleven hadn't returned. she just prayed she was okay.

"so, you really fought one of these things before?" max wondered, looking at steve who was playing with the lighter.

steve nodded. "josie's got the scars to prove it."

"and you're, like, totally, 100% sure it wasn't a bear?"

"no," steve told her. "that was our cover story."

"shit. don't be an idiot. okay? it wasn't a bear," dustin snapped. "why are you even here if you don't believe us? just go home."

"geesh. someone's cranky," max replied. "past your bedtime?" she queried, before climbing the ladder to the roof to go sit with lucas.

"that's good," steve commented once she'd gone. "just show her you don't care."

"i don't," dustin told him. steve nodded slowly, winking. "why are you winking, steve? stop."

- 🫶☁️💘 -

NOVEMBER 4TH, 1984
📍the junkyard
20:12 PM

steve approached josie, sitting down beside her at the back of the bus. "you okay? you're a little quiet."

"just worried," she told him in response.

"about this?" steve queried. "don't worry, i won't let this lizard hurt anyone. i've got our infamous demo-attacking bat if need be."

josie smiled softly, shaking her head. "no, it's not... i'm just worried about someone. but, uh, it's nothing. just forget it."

steve nodded slowly, and the two sat in quiet for a moment, their upper arms touching gently.

"i wanted to thank you," steve voiced quietly so dustin couldn't hear. "for the other night. when you drove me
home."

"don't worry about it," she responded, fiddling with her fingers nervously. "you were absolutely wasted. there was no way i could've let you drive home by yourself. you'd end up upside down in a ditch somewhere."

the boy chuckled lightly. "yeah, i was pretty drunk. i don't really remember any of it. i hope i didn't say anything embarrassing or weird.." he looked at her curiously, seeing if she would lie to him or not.

"no, you were too drunk to even form a word," josie said to him, feigning amusement. "you embarrassed yourself with your actions though. i mean, you were tripping all over the place," she laughed.

"oh, damn it," steve mumbled, burying his face in his hands. he lifted his head up and looked at her. "forget about my falls, please?"

josie furrowed her eyebrows and smiled. "what falls?"

steve grinned, his eyes gleaming with love, before he fell quiet for a minute. eventually, he let out a sigh. "jos, i lied."