━︎ VOL TWO. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
❝︎ we were kissed by poems, taken
away by seas of prose ❞︎
Jack stares up at the ceiling. He just finished throwing up and feels like he doesn't need to eat for 5,000 years. He can hear Steve beside him groaning, most likely getting rid of the last bit of chunks.
"The ceiling stopped spinning for me." Jack tilts his head. "Is it still spinning for you?"
"Holy shit." Steve breathes out. "No. You think we puked it all up?"
"Maybe. Ask me something?" He puts on a Russian accent. "Interrogate me."
Steve chuckles. "Okay. Interrogate you. Sure." Jack can feel him move around. "Uhh... When was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?"
"Today. Definitely today."
"What?"
"When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw." The couple burst into laughter. "It was just a little bit though."
"Yeah, it's definitely still in his system," Steve mumbles to himself, and they laugh again.
Jack leans against the wall and hugs his knees. "All right, my turn."
"Okay. Hit me."
Jack runs his hand through his hair. "What do you...see for your future?"
Jack regrets the question as soon as asks it. What if Steve doesn't see Jack in his future because Jack sure as hell does. What if he says Jack, but is really lying? He is an idiot.
Surprisingly, Steve answers with no hesitation. "You."
"Really, Steve?" Jack asks.
"Yeah. It's honestly embarrassing how much my world revolves around you." Jack blushes. "I have no idea what the hell I'm doing with my life, but I just need you in it."
Jack can hear Steve groan into his hands. "Fuck, you don't feel the same way, do you?"
Jack shakes his head. "No, no, Steve. I'm just shocked you feel the same." His voice cracks and Steve slides under the stall and cups Jack's cheeks.
"I don't care if this is a 'stupid high school relationship.' Jack, you're my first love, you've made me into a new person, the best version of myself. I will always- fuck- I will always..."
Jack raises an eyebrow. "You'll always what, Harrington?"
Steve takes a deep breath. "This summer, I've been trying to tell you something very, very important."
Jack feels his heart drop. Is he going to break up with? Say the long-distance is too much?
Steve continues. "Honestly, you might know by now. Robin has this stupid little board where she keeps track of how many times I've messed up saying this. I- I've felt like this since before we've even started dating, probably years before. But, Jack, Jack I- I've never loved anyone the way I love you. I love you."
Jack smiles softly at his boyfriend. This makes a lot more sense than Steve breaking up with him.
"I love you too, you bastard." Jack sniffles and wraps his arms around Steve. Steve melts into the hug and buries his face into the crook of Jack's nose.
"Are you... are you crying?" Steve asks, pulling back.
Jack shakes his head and wipes the tears rolling down his face.
Steve smirks. "You're a big ol' softie."
Jack rolls his eyes and grabs Steve by the collar of his stupid uniform and crashes their lips together. Steve immediately responds by moving his lips along with Jack. He grabs Jack by the back of his neck, while Jack moves his hands down to Steve's waist. He lets out a small moan when Steve places his lips on Jack's neck, darkening the marks he left a few days ago. Jack slips his hand under Steve's shirt and grazes over Steve's nipple which makes the taller boy whimper out. Steve reaches for the button on Jack's jeans and he quickly pulls away.
"No way," Jack says. "I'm not letting you get me off in a public bathroom while evil Russians are chasing after us. No way."
Steve puffs his chest in defeat. "No! My lifelong dream has been crushed."
Jack snorts and the two burst into a fit of giggles. They're gripping onto each other with tears falling from their eyes when Dustin bursts through the door, followed by Erica and Robin.
"Okay," Dustin yells. "What the hell?"
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥
Dustin creaks the door of the bathroom open, and the group peaks their heads out.
"And..." Dustin drags. "Blend."
The group dissolves into the movie-goers, who are enthusiastically talking about the film.
"Well shit, that worked," Erica says to Dustin.
Dustin smiles. "Course it worked. We just have to get on the bus with the rest of these plebes, and home sweet home, here we come."
Steve glances at Dustin. "Uh, Dustin?"
"What?"
"Yeah, we might not wanna go to your house." And, of course. How could Jack forget Steve leaking Dustin's name a few hours ago?
"Why?"
"Well, I might have told them your full name."
Dustin turns his head to Steve and Jack. "What is wrong with you?"
"Dude, I was drugged." Steve defends himself.
"I tried to stop him," Jack explains.
"So," Dustin says.
"So?" Steve hisses.
"So, you resist. You tough it out. You tough it out like a man."
"Oh, yeah, it's easy for you to say." Jack points to Dustin.
"Guys?" Robin stops and grabs at Dustin's shoulder.
A guard is talking to a woman, his accent well hidden. But he has a silver cat jumper on.
"Abort," Dustin whispers. The guard turns to the group, and they quickly back up. "Abort. Abort."
They run through the crowd, earning a few scowls and eye rolls. When they reach the escalator, it's blocked off. Jack watches as the guards get closer and closer. Robin slides through the middle of the elevator and glides down. The group follows after her, Steve second, then Dustin, then Erica, and lastly Jack.
Once they reach the ground they quickly duck behind one of the food court shops. Jack slides next to Steve and interlocks their hands. He holds his breath as he squeezes onto Steve's hand.
The guard says something into his walkie-talkie and Jack can hear footsteps getting closer. He turns to Steve and mouths 'I love you', Steve nods and mouths 'I love you, too.'
Jack pants as he hears the light footsteps approaching them. His hand is bright white as Steve squeezes it harder.
Jack almost jumps to his feet when he hears the sound of a car alarm going off. The sound of rattling and beeping adds to his nerves. But, he sees the car fly across the room and knocks out the Russians. Jack turns to Steve, whose jaw has practically dropped to the floor.
They slowly turn around and peek from behind the counter to see the Russian guards lying on the floor, passed out. They rise from their kneeling position, Jack sees the car lying sideways against another restaurant.
They move their heads to the side, and Jack smiles harder than he ever has before. Eleven stands closest to the railing with Nancy, Jonathan, and the rest of the party beside her. They run towards the escalator and Jack throws Lucas into a hug. The teenager groans but hugs back, nonetheless.
"You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!" Dustin wraps his arms around his friends.
Erica stares at her brother. "Lucas?"
"What are you doing here?" Lucas yells.
"Ask them. It's their fault."
"True, yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault." Steve says, and Jack nods in agreement.
"I don't understand what happened to that car," Robin says, shocked.
Dustin points to El. "El has superpowers."
"I'm sorry?"
"Superpowers she threw it with her mind. C'mon, catch up." Steve explains.
"That's El?" Erica points to the girl.
"Who's El?" Robin seems to still be very confused.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" Nancy asks.
"I'm Robin. I work with Steve."
"She cracked the top code."
"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians."
Steve and Dustin try to explain the Russians to the rest of the group, but it just ends in a sea of questions and an argument between Erica and Dustin.
Jack hears a grunting noise from behind him and he watches Eleven fall to the ground. They run towards the girl, Mike gets their first, shouting her name.
"What's wrong with her?" Erica asks.
"My leg. My leg." She moans weakly.
Nancy slowly tears the bandage off of her leg, and the group moans in disgust. Jack's eyes almost pop out of their sockets when he sees something moving inside of it.
Eleven grips onto Mike's shoulder and screams out in pain. The flesh inside of her leg begins to sizzle, Jack doesn't even want to imagine what that feels like.
"There's something in there!" Mike yells.
Jonathan stands up. "Keep her talking. Keep her awake, okay?"
Robin turns to Jack. "I was bored for 10 minutes and now I'm watching a girl's leg explode."
Jack nods. "That's what happens."
Robin faces the girl. "You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a... The goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something. It was insane."
"Robin," Steve says. "You're not helping."
"I'm sorry."
Jonathan comes running back with a knife. Jack's mind flashes to the moment in the basement with the bone-saw.
"This is gonna hurt like hell, okay?" He says.
El sobs. "Okay."
He puts a glove on his hand and gives her a spoon to bite down on. Jack squeezes Steve's hand again, nervous.
Jonathan places the knife over her leg. "Do it," Mike says.
He slowly places the knife through El's leg, and even with the spoon in her mouth, her screams echo throughout the mall. Blood drips down her leg, and Jack finds himself covering his eyes with his hand at one point. Jonathan closes his eyes and moves his fingers into her wound, reaching for whatever the hell was stuck in her leg.
"Stop it!" Eleven yells. Jonathan pulls away as the girl lifts herself onto her elbows. "I can do it."
She sits up and moves her hand in front of the wound. She wails as the creature moves around inside her leg. She screams as it rises, blood dripping down her face. Jack is startled when he sees the glass off the gap shatter into small pieces. Eleven lifts the creature up and into the air and slams it across the room. Jack looks up and sees Chief Hopper step on the creature. He's standing in front of Mrs. Byers and a man with sunglasses, and a wife-beater tank on.
He looks at Eleven and runs toward her.
AN
tysm to everyone who supports this
fic. we're finally onto the last ep!!!
i'm so excited for to write s4 when
it comes out!