𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥

025. Spider Nesting.

THE COUPLE came across Nancy and Steve, Nancy was pulling spiderwebs out of Steve's hair. Valerie furrows her brows, watching the pair as Robin peers out, "if there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it until it lays eggs and the babies spill out." Robin said and Valerie giggled.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve said and Val rolls her eyes, grabbing her girlfriend's hand gently as they walk past the pair. "Rob, seriously." Steve says quickly. "Val, it's not funny!" He said and Valerie just laughed as she and Robin enter the hallway leading to the staircase, looking around.

Val listens to what Steve and Nancy are talking about. "It's cool you three are, like, friends now." The Harrington tells her. "Maybe after we find Vecna, kill him, save the world and stuff, maybe we can all go out or something. You know? Me, you, Val, Robin, Jonathan, when he's back. It's not like we're dating. Me and Robin, or me and Val. Not like we're dating." He says too quickly as Val glanced over.

"Right? Val told you that? We're not?" He says quickly and Nancy nods. "Yes. She made it very clear." She says, smiling. "Platonic with a capital P." Robin chimed in as Steve nods. "Yep. Thank you." He says as Val chuckles, shaking her head and grabbing Robin's hand. "Come on." She leads her to another room.

"I mean... I would date either of them. It's just..." "they're dating." Nancy chimes in and Steve glanced at her. "Oh. Yeah. They told you?" He asked and she nods. "Okay. All better." She said, she had finished taking out all the webs and he adjusted his hair. "Great. Thanks..." He looked away and she stared at him, unsure of what to say for a moment.

"It's cool, you know, you and them. You're a really good friend and I can tell Val cares about you a lot... enough to hate me." She chuckles softly and he looks at her, shaking his head softly. "She didn't hate you, Val's not the type to hate." He says and she nods, glancing over to where she'd last seen Val and Robin. "Where'd they go?" She murmured, walking off and Steve sighs, heading the other way.

In the room they were searching, Val glanced over at Nancy in the doorway and smiled. "Everything cool?" She asked and the Wheeler nods, smiling faintly back. "Steve's hair is spiderweb-free." She says and Val raised a brow, nodding softly. "What about the spider eggs?" She asked and Nancy chuckled as they then kept looking around.

As they were looking around, the others called them down to the main floor where they stood together in the dining room, watching a chandelier flickering above the table. "It's like the Christmas lights." Nancy says quietly. "The Christmas lights?" Robin asked and Val glanced at her. "Yeah, when Will was in the Upside Down, the lights... came to life." Nancy explained to the Buckley.

"Vecna's here. In this house." Lucas said, glancing at the others. "Just on the other side." Val whispers, then the lights went out. "I think he just left the room." Robin spoke up. "Did he hear us?" Max glanced at Dustin then Steve who spoke up, "can he see us?"

"Headphones." Lucas warns Max right away who quickly slipped them back on. "Wait, wait. Everyone, turn off your flashlights and spread out." Nancy told them. "We're not gonna be able to see if we turn off our flash...lights." Steve looks around, it's too late because the others all complied with Nancy's order and spread out around the dark house.

"Jesus Christ."

They all searched around the house to find any source of Vecna, when Robin and Val enter a room together, walking around together. "I got him!" Robin shouts and Val looks over to see the flickering flashlight in her girlfriend's hand. "I got him!" She exclaims once more making everyone else rush into the room, not long after the light disappeared. "I--I had him."

Steve's flashlight flicks on next. "Oh. I think he's moving. He's moving. He's moving." He informs the others, following the light all the way out the room, up the staircase and then it went away. "Shit. I lost him." He says and Val glanced around, sighing. "No, you didn't." Max brushed between her and Steve.

She opens up the attic door, glancing back at the others before looking back inside where a light came from upstairs. They all began heading inside, following after Max. "It's an attic. Of course, it's an attic." Robin said and Val glanced back at her, holding out her hand which her girlfriend took. "Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap?" Dustin asked from the doorway, but they all ignored him. "Guys, guys. Shit, shit. Shit, shit."

The group of seven enter the attic now, finding a single light bulb in the middle flickering as they slowly walk over. "Flashlights." Dustin tells them so they all hold up their flashlights, gathering around the light bulb. "Okay, what's happening?" Steve asked and Val was wondering the same thing, her brows furrowed.

As they just watched the flickering lights, Val got an eerie feeling, a cold chill running down her spine as she glanced around at them all. On the other side was Vecna, claiming his next victim, Patrick McKinney, in front of Jason Carver and Eddie Munson. But they didn't know that as their lights just got brighter and brighter, before one by one they shatter in pieces making them all shield their faces with their hands and turning their heads away.

Once it was over, Val immediately looked around. "Is everyone okay? No one got glass in their eyes?" She asked worriedly, then turned to Robin, raising her hands to her face. "We're okay..." "yeah" and "yes"'s went all around as Val let out a small sigh, covering her hands over her face and Nancy had checked the time, looking all around at them.

"We better get going..."

authors note the fact they brought that mf papa back... 🫤🫤