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 - depression..
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Three Months Later
"Welcome to Hawkins, Indiana, a wonderful place to grow up, to raise your family, to walk your dog. But then.. on July Fourth, everything changed. A terrible tragedy struck this small town. But this was not this small town's first brush with tragedy. Mysterious deaths, government cover-ups, a bizarre chemical leak. Is it all linked? All the vast conspiracy? The fault of a disgraced, corrupt mayor? Or is something more going on in the heartland? Can a town itself be cursed? Some believe a rise in Satanism is to blame. To find out, tune in tonight at 8:00pm for 'Horror in the Heartland' on Cutting Edge" The radio said making Gator scoff loudly at it as him, Jesse and Robin had pulled over to Family Video in search for new jobs.
Gator was already fed up with the news on practically outting who he really was to everyone because there had to be some secret agenda for having a Tillman live in a small town that used to be completely quiet and now they were also using the Mall to gain viewers and that thought alone made Gator want to go over and kill them or just throw up over them.
Both were good options he thought.
"You put Nadine and Joyce down as references?" Robin asked as they hopped out the car while Robin was looking over Gator's CV.
"Yeah. Why not? They're both super well-respected" Gator shrugs and holds the door open for her and Jesse to walk through. "You are such a Dingus" Robin states.
"Uh, just to be clear, we weren't fired, you know, the mall burned down and, like, killed a bunch of people" Robin tells Keith as Gator winces at the memory while Jesse squeezes Gators hand to comfort him before letting go.
"Thanks for sharing, didn't know. Three favorite movies, go" Keith says and clicks his fingers. "Uh.. The Apartment, Hidden Fortress, Children of Paradise" Robin states instantly.
"You, go" Keith says and clicks his fingers in front of Gators face, as Gator gives him a glare. "Uh.. Animal House, for sure.." Gator says slowly.
"Eyes on me, Tillman" Keith states as Gator swallows loudly at the surname, he did not want to get used to people ever calling him that again and bluntly cursed out the news papers from inside his head.
"Yeah.. uh, Star Wars.. the one with the teddy bears and.. Back To The Future" Gator says slowly as Keith glares him down.
"You start, Monday" Keith tells Robin and looks back at Gator, "you start never" . And Gator really wanted to just punch the guy right there and then but just sighed instead.
"Will you just, um.. Will you give us a minute, Alligator?" Robin asked Gator softly who just looked back at Robin then at Jesse with a sigh before walking away from the desk
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"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down" Jonathan yells to Nancy as they pass by Gator who had just got out the car to see if Joyce needed help in moving anything I got the moving van.
Gator walks in the house to see Max and Lucas singing as he makes his way through the house to see Joyce.
"Hey, Mama" Gator greeted Joyce as he stood in the doorway of her bedroom, watching her pack away a few pieces of clothes.
"Donation box?" El asks as she rounded the corner and came into the room as well as Joyce sighed and looked up at them.
"Uh, yeah, sure" Joyce says to El before adding a, "Hey, baby" to Gator in a soft tone as Gator smiles down at her.
"What is that?" El asks as they notice Joyce holding some pieces of paper. "Uh.. one's the speech Hop wrote for you and Mike.. The other is for Gator" Joyce admits with a soft chuckle.
"Speech?" El asks with a confused frown. "Yeah. You know, the heart-to-heart.. He never talked to you, did he?" Joyce asks as El and Gator just look at her in confusion as she scoffs.
"Can I read?" El asks and Joyce hands them both their own speeches that Hopper had written.
"Are you sure you want to stay here, Gator? There's plenty of room" Joyce says as El leaves the room. "Yeah, I'm sure, Mama" Gator smiles at her.
"Just.. I can't leave Max or Jesse.. or Dart, so, please look after Ez and El for me" Gator says as Joyce stands up and pulls him into a tight motherly hug.
"Of course, Sweetie. They'll be okay and even though you're staying here, you're still my Son. Always" Joyce tells him softly as Gator nods before burying his head into Joyce's shoulder.
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Gator.
✎﹏﹏﹏﹏ There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about for a while now. I know this is an extremely difficult conversation, but I care about you and the twins very much. And I know that you all care about El very much too. And that's why it's important that we all feel.. comfortable around each other and trusted and open in sharing our feelings.
The truth is, for so long, I'd forgotten what those even were, feelings. I've been stuck in one place, just like you were when you ran away to be in this town. And then.. I left some eggos in the woods and did some background on you and I ended up gaining four wonderful kids in my life and for the first time in a long time, I started to feel things again. To feel happy again. But, lately, I guess I've been feeling.. distant from all of you. Like you're all pulling away from me or something I miss playing board games every night with El, having the twins teach Dart of all things to play fetch and all your snarky little comebacks to me, Kid.
But I know you're all getting older. And I guess if I'm being really honest, that's what scares me. I don't want things to change, but I know that's naive.. it's just not how life works.. sometimes it's painful, sometimes it's sad and sometimes it's surprising.
So keep growing up, Kid. Make mistakes and learn from them and when life hurts you, because it will, remember the pain because pain is good.
But please, for the sake of your old Dad, when you finally do accept yourself as you really are and finally bring a boy back home, keep the door open three inches..
And remember that no matter what, what you've been through.. what you still will be going through, whatever the future brings you..
You are a really big winner, Son. And I'm so proud of you and your three sisters, you're all making me so proud.
