𝘌𝘯𝘥 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴

002. Thinking Process

The next day, around 10:00 in the morning, Steve and Robin showed up at the Wheeler's front door. "Steve! Robin! I'm so surprised to see you again so soon. I'm sure your families missed you while you stayed here. Nancy is just around the corner in the kitchen," Karen said with a smile.

Steve and Robin glanced at each other with awkward little smiles. Even though they both wished it was true, their family lives were just complicated.

Robin's parents cared about her, but they didn't really understand her. On the other hand, Steve's parents hardly even noticed when he was gone unless he hadn't done something they'd told him to.

"Hey, Nance," Robin said with a smile as she walked into the kitchen. Nancy looked up from the paper she was writing with wide eyes, surprised to see her friends. She jumped up out of her chair and wrapped her arms around Robin. "Oh, I'm so glad you're here. I didn't know you guys were coming." She didn't hesitate to hug Steve as well, even after what he'd admitted the other day.

"We would've called, but we didn't want to wake anyone up," Steve said. Nancy nodded. "Right." Robin raised an eyebrow and quickly stretched her neck a little to see what was behind Nancy on the kitchen table. "So, uh, what are you working on? You know they canceled school for the next two weeks, right?"

Nancy's cheeks flushed into a deep rosy color. "Oh, it's nothing. Just... safety precautions to keep in mind with everything going on."

Steve gave her a suspicious look. "Yeah, right. I wouldn't believe that for a second. No offense, Nance, but you really don't know how to lie." Nancy shook her head with wide eyes. "Why would you think I'm lying?"

Steve glanced over at Robin, and they quickly pulled Nancy downstairs to the basement to talk. Little did they know, Jonathan and Will were sleeping down there and they woke them up as they stomped down the stairs.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!" Robin peeped as soon as she saw the two sleepy boys. "We didn't even know you guys were down here! If we had, we totally wouldn't have come down here! We just really need to talk to Nancy!"

Jonathan looked at her with a strange look on his face. "Who are you? Where have I seen you before?"

"This is Robin. Remember, I told you about us going into the Creel house with Steve? You saw her yesterday before we visited Max," Nancy replied. Jonathan suspiciously looked in between Robin, Nancy, and Steve. "Yeah, sure. Uh, what are you doing here so early in the morning?"

Steve shrugged. "Well, we just thought it would be better to be here with Vecna on the loose and stuff. We have to figure out what we're going to do to finish him off, and we knew El could help with that, and you guys know where she is." Will blinked his eyes over and over, trying to wake up from his drowsiness. "She's with my mom and Hopper at his cabin. I don't think they want a lot of people up there though."

Steve was taken aback. "Wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on a second. Hopper is alive? How? He died in that fight with the Russians last year. Did he, like, get stuck somewhere down there? How did he make it out if he didn't have anything to eat?"

Nancy's lips twitched into a small, supportive smile. "It's still kind of confusing from what I was told, but Joyce found out that he was still alive in Russia and went there to bring him back." Steve sighed. "Thank god. At least we have something going in our favor."

"Okay, okay, I know we're all happy that Hopper is alive and that El and the Byers are back in town and everything, but can we get back to what we were talking about?" Robin asked. She turned back to Nancy. "What were you writing about upstairs? I know it didn't have anything to do with school, and I know all you can think about is Vecna/Henry/001 right now."