▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬THE RETURN OF WILL BYERS
MASK by dream
❝so you can see i'm trying, you won't see me crying.❞
JONATHAN DROVE EVERYONE TO the school and when they got there, they saw police cars and ambulances parked around the school parking lot. Tiffany saw the cars and she started panicking. As soon as Jonathan parked, she opened the door. She tried to get out by herself. "Hey, hey, woah! What are you doing, you're going to hurt yourself!"
Tiffany fell onto the ground and rolled a bit. She closed the door and used it to stand up. Steve, Nancy and Jonathan all got out of the car and tried to get her to calm down. "You need to take it easy!"
"Yeah, you're going to hurt yourself more!" Tiffany pushed passed them and they all sighed. They tried to grab her arms to help her, but she seemed to be doing fine. Tiffany kept her hand on her waist and used her powers to keep the blood from running.
"Dustin!" Tiffany started looking around to find any of the kids. "Lucas!"
Tiffany looked to her left and she saw Mike sitting inside an ambulance. Tiffany stumbled over to him and he got up once he saw her. He ran into her arms and started crying into her stomach. "Ah, ah, ah watch the waist."
Tiffany saw his red eyes and instantly pulled him back into a hug, even if it hurt her. "It's okay. Where's everyone else?"
Mike looked beside her and pointed. Dustin and Lucas were sitting in another ambulance. "Lucas! Dustin!"
They looked up when they heard her voice and ran over to her. They joined in on the hug and it really hurt Tiffany's waist, but she didn't care, she just wanted them to feel safe. Tiffany tried to hug everyone, but it was a little hard. Jonathan, Steve and Nancy all came up behind her and checked to see if she was okay. She gave them a nod, showing she was fine, but she then realized that someone was missing.
"Where's Eleven?" Mike started to cry harder and Lucas and Dustin let go of her. Tiffany crouched down and Mike was now a little taller than her. "Hey, Hey, Mikey. It's okay. Did she get hurt?" Mike shook his head.
"Can you tell me what happened? You know that I will find her. It's my job to keep you guys safe and that reaches out to her." Mike nodded his head and answered Tiffany. "She saved us from the Demogorgon, but she disappeared with it."
"I'm gonna find her. You know that, right?" Mike nodded his head and she stood up. Tiffany opened her arms and he hugged her again. She winced when Mike wrapped his arms around her waist and Nancy took a step forward. She tapped Mike and he let go of her. "Let's not hug Tiffany anymore."
Dustin looked at Nancy confused. "Why? What happened?"
She lifted her sweater and showed the medical wrap around her waist. Lucas gasped at the sight. "Holy shit, what did you do?!"
"Language!" Tiffany ordered.
"You use it!" Lucas backfired.
"Yeah, because I'm the babysitter." Jonathan then answered his question. "The Demogorgon hurt her."
Lucas, Dustin and even Mike perked up a little bit. Mike still looked a little sad, but he smiled. "You fought the Demogorgon?!"
"Hell yeah, I made that thing my bitch!" They all laughed and Tiffany high fived them all. Steve looked at her with confusion. Why was she making jokes at a time like this? Nancy saw the confusion on his face and pulled them off to the side. "Look, I can see the confusion on your face, trust me, she knows what she's doing."
Jonathan knew that, but Steve was a little confused. "Why is she joking around though? I mean, those kids are probably traumatized."
"Steve, she knows what she's doing. You have to trust her. She knows these kids better than their own parents. Mike was just crying now look, he's smiling. She's really good at what she does." They saw Hopper walking over to them. "Hi Hopper."
"Hey, Byers, your brother's in the hospital right now. Joyce and the Wheeler's are going to drive you all over, okay?" They nodded their heads and he went to tell the same thing to Tiffany, Lucas, Dustin and Mike. The kids all ran over to Mike's parents and they drove them to the hospital. Joyce walked over to the teenagers and saw that Tiffany looked really tired. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm using my powers or whatever you wanna call them, and it's making me really tired." Tiffany explained.
"Oh, here." Joyce helped Tiffany steady herself and held her arm. Tiffany let go of her waist and the rest of the teenagers walked over to them. She brought them over to Jonathan's car. Jonathan was in the passenger's seat with Joyce driving. Steve and Tiffany were sitting in window seats and Nancy was in the middle. Nancy knew how to do stitches so she was stitching up Tiffany's wound. There was a medical box under the seat. They had to stitch up her wound themselves since it would be a bit hard to explain to a hospital how a teenage girl got a giant claw mark all the way across her waist. Nancy was in the middle of stitching up her wound and she winced at it. "I know you don't do this everyday, but please be gentle."
"Sorry, I'm nervous."
"You're nervous? I'm the one with the giant cut." Tiffany pointed out.
"Well, have you looked at it?"
"No." Nancy moved her hand slightly and Tiffany looked at her wound. "Holy shit, yeah, no, never mind. You have every right to be nervous. Oh my god, that's horrifying."
After a while, Nancy finished stitching her wound and they got to the hospital. Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Mrs. Wheeler and Mr. Wheeler were already there in the waiting room. Joyce and Jonathan went into Will's hospital room and waited for him to wake up. In the waiting room, Mike was sitting next to Dustin, who had Lucas sleeping on his shoulder, Dustin was asleep too. Nancy was next to Lucas and Mrs. Wheeler was next to Nancy. In the other set of chairs was Mr. Wheeler and Steve with Tiffany in the middle.
It was insanely quiet in the waiting room. Steve looked over at Tiffany and saw she was breathing heavily. Her eyes were watering and she was fiddling with her hands a lot. He leaned over a little bit and whispered, "Hey, you okay?"
Tiffany nodded and whispered back. "I'm just a little anxious.
"He's gonna be fine. He's a good kid."
"Yeah. He'll probably be fine. He's a really strong kid. He-He'll probably be fine. He'll be fine." An awkward silence took over. Steve decided to break it and speak up again. "Hey. Uh, I'm sorry about the sign thing and that I told them about your uh, your-"
"PTSD." Tiffany finished the sentence for him.
"Yeah." Steve confirmed with a sigh.
"Thank you. I'm sorry about hurting Carol and Tommy and pushing you against the wall."
"That was you?" Tiffany nodded her head. "Hey, uh, I'm also sorry about everything I've ever said about you. I don't even know why I've been so mean to you, you don't deserve it."
"Thanks. And I'm sorry too about everything I've said behind your back." Steve stifled a laugh. "What have you said about me?"
"Mostly the same thing. A lot of insults about your intelligence, your ego, your popularity, your face, never your hair though. I've called you a hair obsessed freak many times, but you do have really good hair."
"Thanks. I know. Friends?" Steve put out a hand for Tiffany to shake and she shook it. "Friends."
Jonathan then opened the waiting room door. "Tiff."
They all looked up at him. "He wants to talk to you."
Everyone perked up a bit. "Wait, he's awake?"
Happy tears started streaming down her face. "Yeah, he wants to talk to you."
"R-really?" Jonathan smiled and nodded. "Uh, could you?"
"Oh yeah." Jonathan walked over and helped Tiffany stand up. She could walk on her own, but it was a little hard for her to stand up. Steve loved seeing how happy she was when Jonathan said Will was awake. He never realized how beautiful her smile was.
Jonathan and Tiffany went into Will's hospital room and Will immediately perked up when he saw Tiffany. Joyce and Jonathan moved into the corner of the room to let them have their own conversation. Tiffany sat down in one of the chairs next to Will's bed. "Hi."
Will opened his arms and smiled. Tiffany laughed and gave him a hug. She sat back down and Will saw the tears in her eyes. "Why are you crying?"
"I'm just...really happy that you're okay. You're okay, right?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Are you okay?"
"Oh, you would not believe what happened!" Will immediately listened in more. "There are these things called Demogorgons, they're like tall and gray-"
"I've seen them."
"Oh, okay, well, I killed one with, drum roll please." Will started drum rolling on the side of the bed. "My powers."
"No way!"
"Yes way! I'm in charge of this giant shadow in the Upside Down and I can make portals in the Upside Down, this red light thing comes out of my hands and my eyes bleed when I use them."
"Awesome!" Steve then walked into the room. He saw Tiffany and Will laughing and he couldn't help but smile at the sight.
"Uh, Tiffany." Tiffany looked over at Steve and so did Will. "Who's that?"
"Steve." Tiffany answered.
"Steve?" Will questioned.
"Hair obsessed freak." Tiffany clarified.
"Oh." Steve smiled and looked at the ground. "Was there something you needed, Harrington?"
"Yeah, your mom's here." Tiffany nodded. "I'll be back later."
"Don't fight any Demogorgons without me!" Steve came over and helped her stand up. "I won't."
"Promise?"
"Promise." They crossed their hands over their chest and snap pointed at each other. It was their little handshake. Tiffany walked out of the room with Steve and they started slowly walking back to the waiting room. "So, you weren't lying when you said you call me a hair obsessed freak?"
"Nope." Tiffany answered with a smile.
"The kid didn't even know my name." Steve huffed.
"Yup." Tiffany replied with yet another smile.
"But you talk about me?" Steve asked with a smirk.
"I did, it wasn't very positive, but I did."
"I'm flattered." Steve said as he put a hand over his heart.
"You shouldn't be." They both laughed a little and got to the waiting room. Her mom was hugging Dustin and when she saw Tiffany she let go of Dustin and went over to hug her. She pulled Tiffany into a huge bear hug and Tiffany winced. "Ow, ow! Mom!"
Mrs. Henderson let go and cupped her face in her hands. "Oh honey, are you okay?"
"My side hurts."
"Oh, you poor thing!" Mrs. Henderson pulled her into another hug and she couldn't breathe. Steve could see that it was hurting her and he tapped her mom on the shoulder. She let go of Tiffany and she took a deep breath. Tiffany put her hands on her knees and tried to catch her breath. Mike walked over to her.
"Can we go see Will?" Tiffany nodded her head and stood up straight. Dustin, Lucas and Mike all ran to Will's room.
Tiffany's mom looked at Steve and cupped his face too. "Oh Steven! You still look so handsome! Oh, that hair, I see why she likes you! Thank you for protecting my baby!"
She brought Steve into a giant hug and even lifted him off the ground. She pulled away from him and held his arms. "I'm so glad she has a boyfriend that protects her."
Mrs. Henderson saw Mrs. Wheeler and went over to talk to her. Nancy walked over to them and gave them a confused look. "Boyfriend?"
"It's a long story." Tiffany had caught her breath and answered Nancy. "After the party, we had to talk to the police together and we had to come up with an excuse because he's a coward and didn't want to tell his parents he was drinking and he came up with, on the spot, that we were dating and that's why he stayed at my place and my mom was in the room. My mom told his parents and we both didn't want to break our parents hearts, so we never told them we weren't dating, but my mom has met him only now and the first time. "
Nancy took a deep breath. "Okay, you had me worried for a second."
"You couldn't pay me enough to date him." Steve looked at her confused and offended. "Why wouldn't you date me? What's wrong with me?"
"I can give you a list." Tiffany stated.
"Oh, there's a list?"
"Obviously there's a list!"
"Oh, please enlighten me!" Tiffany started naming reasons why she wouldn't date him. Thank god her mom was too involved in her conversation with Mrs. Wheeler. Nancy smiled because Steve and Tiffany were finally getting along...in their own way. Nancy went into Will's hospital room and stood next to Jonathan with a big smile on her face. Jonathan looked over at her and smiled at her smile. "Why are you so happy?"
"Look." Jonathan looked outside the window and through the window into the waiting room. Tiffany was reaching her hand up to Steve's hair slowly and he kept pointing at her, as if he was telling her not to do it. Tiffany finally got to his hair and she ruffled it up. He started touching his hair, trying to fix it, but she ruffled it again.
"I think they're getting along."
"Yeah. I'm surprised they weren't friends before." They looked back over again and they were laughing together. They really were a great match.
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A/N
Well would you look at that? The hatred tension is gone.