Legendary | s. harrington (18+)

chapter fifteen

"We stay here," Hopper ordered, having made his decision, "And we wait for help." Mike pressed his lips into a thin line. Eve heard Hopper knock on Joyce's door and he disappeared. So they waited, again. Evelyn sank to the floor eventually, her body heavy with tragedy and pain and after a minute, Steve joined her side. They didn't speak. No one did. Until Mike stood, picking up a toy Bob had left for Will.

"Did you guys know Bob was the original  founder of the A.V Club?"

"Really?" Evelyn was sniffling as the kids spoke amongst themselves. Her knees were pulled into her chest and one of her hands rubbed at her eyes. Steve frowned but couldn't think of anything to say.

"We talked about it." Evelyn had whispered, her voice uneven with tears. "I told him about the meetings when Will couldn't talk - when his episodes were really bad." She was looking down at her jeans, dirty with mud and the blood from her arm. She pulled her sleeves over fingers. It was only then, as she yelped as quietly when the material lifted the drying blood that Steve followed her eyes as she looked around herself and he saw it. He swore.

"Evie." He whispered and searched her puffy eyes with worried ones when they found his. "Your arm." Evelyn sniffled and looked to the two inch line deep in her skin. Her shirt had moulded with it, crimson with her blood. She made a small noise and shook her head looking at it. But she winced. It had been hurting all this time, but she'd been distracted. She wished Steve hadn't said anything because now that she focused on it, the pain was starting to spread.

"It's fine." She tried to say, but her eyebrows were curved in discomfort. Steve stood and started opening the cupboards.

"Shit."

"What's the matter?"

"Her arm." Dustin looked down, and his eyes widened.

"Shit." Evelyn waved them off with her good hand.

"Guys," She stood up, "It's fine." She wondered towards the bathroom and Steve followed her, not knowing the way.

"You can't do it on your own Evie look at it." Evelyn sighed and pulled at the cupboard door in the bathroom.

"It's fine. They have some things." Steve overtook her space and pulled out the bandages in the cabinate.

"You've got one arm, let me do it." Evelyn eventually nodded and sighed, sitting on the toilet lid. Steve rummaged through the shelves until he found some wipes in some packaging and he wet a towel to wipe away the blood. Evelyn squirmed under his touch, screwing up her face. Steve cringed, suddenly realising he never wanted to hurt her. His grip on her arm tightened as he grimaced.

"I'm sorry." Evelyn let out a breathy laugh and though her eyes were wet with tears from the pain, she smiled.

"It's fine, it's fine." The wound wasn't as deep as he had thought it was but it was large. Evelyn sighed and sniffed and Steve's eyes shot towards her thinking he'd hurt her again. She smiled sadly and took a deep breath. Her world had turned upside down in a few days but it wasn't about it all being crazy, it was about the loss. She momentarily felt like a magnet to death. Evelyn nibbled her lip and looked at her hands, fingers intertwining. Steve was looking to the antiseptic wipes on his lap and he screwed his eyes shut with a sigh. "Steve," Evelyn chuckled, "it's fine. Just- uh-" she watched it as he picked it up, hesitating from how much it was going to hurt her. "Talk to me." Steve's eyebrows furrowed.

"Talk to you?"

"About anything." She smiled, "Like we usually do: just anything." Steve nodded and paused.

"What do you think-" Steve stopped, trying to act nonchalant and uninterested. Merely curious. "Do you think Nancy-" he ripped one of the wipes open and began wiping the last of the blood on her unbroken skin before moving to the wound.

"I-" Evelyn shook her head. She couldn't lie to him, she wouldn't, and so she looked at her arm where his hands were cradling and puffed out her cheeks with a sigh. She could see what was beginning between Nancy and Jonathan. Anyone could. "I'm sorry, Steve." Steve nodded knowingly. He sighed heavily and wiped over his face with his free hand and hid his glassy eyes.

"Yeah." He wrapped his hand around her wrist then, gently, steadying it so he could wipe the wound. "Yeah."

"You know what I'm going to say, dont you?" Evelyn began and Steve leant back to look up at her, having crouched onto the floor. He was half-smiling.

"That I'm going to be okay?" He mocked her accent with raised eyebrows. She cackled a laugh and it was relieving and a godsend to hear it in such a situation. It was a brief escape from the horror.

"I don't sound like that." Evelyn scoffed and Steve moved his head, repeating her words in an even more dramatic accent and Evelyn giggled, covering her mouth with her free hand.

"I don't sound like that!" Evelyn watched his hair bob with his theatrics and her shoulders shook as she chuckled. His lips pulled down at one side as he cringed, tugging ever-so-lightly at her wrist. "I-I need you-to-to stay still." He was looking at the dark muddy blood oozing from her wound as he pressed the skin near it and Evelyn faked a pout. He mimicked it. "I promise I'll make it up to you, just don't pull that face." Evelyn shook her head and closed her eyes.

"Fine." She whispered, bracing herself. He pressed the alcohol into her broken skin and Evelyn squealed with her lips pressed so firmly together they were turning white.

"Shit, I'm sorry."

"It's fine-it's-" Evelyn stomped her feet against the tiles to cope with it. "It's fine, go, go." She wafted one hand towards her upper arm and Steve watched her face, wiping it again. Evelyn's teeth pierced her lip and breathless from the pain, she leant forward and clutched his shoulder with her free hand. She watched his face, their noses almost touching, as she exhaled heavily and he breathed in with her, trying to distract her. After a minute and a million more apologies, Steve placed the wipes that were now a dirty crimson on the floor.

"Shit." He squeezed her wrist, "we're done." Evelyn nodded, sighing in relief. Steve shoulders fell from being so tense, but he hadn't realised until he relaxed. "...How do I?" His voice was quiet when he lifted the bandage in the air and Evelyn hummed.

"Just unravel it and wrap it round, I can help if you hold the beginning- yep, thank you." Evelyn awkwardly wound the cotton as Steve clasped her arm lightly. He was watching her face; her long eyelashes stuck together from mud and tears, her eyes watching as one featherlight hand wrapped around her arm. She rested her teeth against the swollen red of her lip as she focused and she squirmed when she felt his gaze on her.

"What're you looking at?" She said quietly, not needing to speak any louder considering they were intertwined so close. It had meant to be a joke but Steve's eyes seemed stuck on her so he shook his head instead, even though his gaze didn't move. He shrugged several times to convince them both of his words.

"Nothing-I wasn't-nothing, no. Your arm-I was looking at your arm." Evelyn nodded and smiled, looking down as some crimson bled through the first layer of the bandage. She didn't seem nervous like Steve, or paranoid. It was like she didn't notice him stutter or struggle to look away from her. Feeling embarrassed, he cleared his throat.