steve harrington hadn't lived in hawkins his whole life, he had wanted to leave who he was and what he did behind him, long forgotten- everything was going fine until a few people of his past came knocking and steve was left to face the same devil t...
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Trigger warnings for this chapter - weapons, implied physical/emotional/verbal abuse, guilt..
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Everyone stood watching silently as El and Mike hugged straight away before Ezrae ran over and hugged McKenzie like her life depended on it.
Gator didn't take his eyes off the woman, he couldn't take his eyes off Nadine, it had felt much longer then it had been from running away from North Dakota.
"Is that.." Max asked subtly as both Lucas and Dustin nodded at her question. "I never gave up on you" Gator could hear Mike tell El but he was too focused on Nadine to be bothered to listen to more.
Gator's breath picked up slightly at the sight of her. Nadine was looking back at Gator in equal shock as she said a soft "Gator...".
"Nadine?" Gator spoke up a bit in the American accent as he was stood behind the group now.
Nadine froze in place for a second as she looked at Gator with a look of confusion at the accent before she took a few steps towards Gator as her eyes roamed his face and the new look he had as Gator just stood there awkwardly.
Nadine's expression changed from one of confusion and disbelief to one of anger as she took a few steps towards Gator until she was face-to-face with him.
"This where you went Little Rebel? Finding Nadine?" Gator asked Eleven in the American accent. El looked at Gator a little surprised for a second as she tilted her head to the side but then nodded so Gator walked over to her and ruffled her gelled back hair in amusement.
It reminded him of how he used to do his own.
El let out a chuckle before attempting to put it back to the style as she took small steps towards Gator.
"You look pretty badass in this new look, Little Rebel" Gator commented to El who smiled back at Gator as she wrapped her arms around him as she hugged him.
Gator was taken back for a second before he slowly wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he looked back over at Nadine.
Nadine didn't speak as she looked at Gator for a few seconds until she looked at El.
Nadine took in a deep breath and spoke in a tone that was gentle and motherly, "El? Do you know who this boy is?" She asks, clearly already knowing the answer as she pointed at Gator.
El turned to Gator and looked at him, "yes. my brother.." El said as she looked back at Nadine who narrowed her eyes as she looked at Gator, "What's your name?" She asked already knowing the answer and Gator couldn't help but wonder if she was playing some type of game with him.
So he played right back.
"I think you know" Gator said in the American accent as the others looked at them. Some of the kids were whispering if she knew 'Steve' or something and the others just watched silently.
Nadine narrowed her eyes slightly before speaking to El softly again, "How long has he been living with you?".
"I've been in Hawkins for a year, Nadine. You know I don't live back there anymore" Gator states simply. Nadine tilted her head for a moment with a small smile before she looked around as she seemed to come up with a plan.
Nadine's eyes landed on Hopper for a moment before she said "I just have one question for you, Chief..what's this boy's name?" She asks and points at Gator who was still just silently watching her, a small smirk on his face.
Hopper sighed for a moment before he spoke, even though he knew of Nadine- seeing as Hopper knew most things about Gator after doing background on the Tillman's when Hopper was figuring out The whole 'Steve is actually Gator' thing- he still went along in protecting Gator's privacy of the others not knowing yet so said "Steve...his name is Steve".
Nadine gave Hopper a satisfied look as she looked back over at Gator for a moment before she took in a deep breath, walked over to Gator and grabbed his arm tightly.
"Get off" Gator said moving his arm as if he was seconds away from having a kid's tantrum in attempt to get out of her grip but Nadine didn't even look fazed as she kept her hand on his arm tightly before stating "You're coming with me.."
"No. No I'm not, okay? We have biggerproblems right now than whatever you came here for" Gator stated, still squirming like a child to get out of her grip.
"You are coming with me as this isn't something that can wait until later.." Nadine said as she gave Gator a determined look as she held onto his arm a tiny bit tighter. "Then we can talk outside. I can't just leave the kids here" Gator states in a huff.
"Alright then..that works for me..." Nadine says and then lets go of Gator's arm before she stood upright and waited for him to follow her outside the Byers house while the rest of them watched in confusion.
Gator sighed and followed her outside after putting the bat-of-nails down.
