1983 Hawkins, Indiana
Four followed after Nancy as they ran through the Upside-Down, the girl screaming 'Jonathan', Four held a sword in his hand ready to protect the girl. Whenever Nancy stopped moving, Four would push her to carry on, wanting to put as much distance as possible between them and the monster. They both froze when they heard an echoed voice, "Felix! Nancy!", Nancy started shouting again, while Four looked around.
"Jonathan! Jonathan!... Where are you?"
"Just follow my voice!"
Once they heard this, Four pulled Nancy in the direction of Jonathans voice, Nancy staggered back however, when they came face-to-face with the monster, "go!", Four pushed the girl, "I'll be right behind you", Nancy started to run, looking back to see Four spin and create a spear which he struck the monster with.
Four delivered a few more hits o the monster, making it screech, wanting to get away he sliced at its legs and ran in the direction of Nancy, he spotted the girl as she peeked from behind a tree, "Felix! look out!", her words can too late, as the monster tackled Four to the ground; the boy made a shield to keep the razor filled mouth away from his face, groining as he pushed the monster back, Jonathan's voice came back making Nancy look to the tree they enter through, "Felix! we can get out!", Four looked over to the tree, where a light could be seen, with all his remaining energy, he lifted his legs and kicked the monster off his body.
"Go! Now!", Nancy dove at the exit as Four rammed the monster with his shield, pushing it back into a tree, he held the growling beast there as he watched Nancy crawl through the hole, when only her legs were left he span around and sliced the monsters face, and ran to the small gate, diving though head first.
He landed before Nancy and Jonathan, looking up at the other boy whose eyes were wide and staring at the shrinking hole, he then helped Nancy stand, the girl throwing herself onto Four, "oh, my god, thank you, thank you, thank you", Jonathan was confused by this making Nancy look at him, "he saved my life in there", she held onto Four, her legs weak.
"Can you walk, okay?", Jonathan asked the question when he saw the girls legs wobble, "we can wait a minute-"
Nancy shook her head, "no!... we need to leave, now", as she took a step forward her legs gave out, making Four catch her body and lift her bridal style, "Felix, I-i'll be too heavy"
Four huffed out an amused breath, "you weigh nothing", he then followed Jonathan back to the car, gently placing Nancy in the passenger seat.
Once Nancy had showered, she helped Four sneak into the bathroom so he could wash too, "erm, these are my dads old clothes, they should fit you", she nervously handed Four the clothes, and then flushed red when the boy pulled his shirt over his head, "whoah, okay", she tried to look away, but her eyes stuck to Fours body, "e-erm, I-i'll be in m-my room", Four watched her leave before stripping and jumping in the shower.
When he entered the girls room again, he could see Jonathan lay beside Nancy on her bed, without a word he lay on the floor and slipped beneath the cover Nancy had lay out for him.
When Nancy woke up in the morning, she could see Four sat in the window looking at the trees, "erm, hi...", she slowly stood to go and sit beside him, "what are you doing?"
Four continued to look at the trees, his eyesight being able to find the small birds and squirrels among the leaves, "I've never had a window before", his whispered words made Nancy look at him, "and ever since I got out of the lab, I've been running... so I thought I'd take ad- ad... I don't know the word", a small blush covered his face, embarrassed that he still couldn't speak amazing English.
Nancy watched the blush grow on his face as she watched his side-profile, "... advantage", Four looked to her and nodded, "don't be embarrassed. And you should take advantage, you deserve it after last night" her words made him smile, "but... could I get your help with something?", Four nodded and followed her to her bed, as she sat on the edge he sat on the floor, looking up at her, the girl then held some books out to him, "we just need to look through these and find similarities between real animals and the monster"
Four nodded and took the book, "just saying, but I'm not a fast reader", he then smiled up at her, "I only learnt how to read last year", his smile made Nancy smile back as she watched him open the book and start to read, using his finger to help.
The two researched for awhile before Jonathan woke up, "oh...hey", he grunted and squinted at the morning light.
"Hey", Nancy replied but Four focused on his reading.
Jonathan smiled down at Four, before looking back to Nancy, "couldn't sleep?"
The girl shook her head, "every time I close my eyes, I just... keep seeing that... thing. Wherever I was, that place... I think that it lives there. I was feeding there. Feeding on that deer. That means that if...", she took a deep, steadying bath, "if Will and Barbara...", the words died on her tongue as she looked away from Jonathan.
The Byers boy scooted closer as Four moved to sit on the bed, opposite Nancy, "hey. My mom said she talked to Will. If he's alive, there's a chance Barbara is, too"
"But that means that she's trapped... in that place", the two fall silent, "we have to find it again"
The idea boggles Jonathan, "you want go back out there?", Nancy shakes he head slightly.
"Maybe we don't have to. When we saw it, it was feeding on that deer. Meaning it- its's a predatory, right?"
Four nodded, following her train of thought, while Jonathan shrugged, "right", the girl then pulled her book forwards.
"And it seems to hunt at night, like a... a lion or a coyote. But it doesn't hunt in packs like them... it's always alone, like... like a bear. And remember at Steves, when Barb cut herself. And then, last night, the deer..."
Jonathan finished her thought, "it was bleeding, too"
"One sec", she reached forward to grab the book from Fours hands, flipping the pages, "sharks can detect blood in one part per million", Four tilted his head with a shrug, making Nancy look at him, "that's one drop of blood in a million, and they can smell it from a quarter mile away"
Four scratched his head, "so... it can smell blood?"Nancy shrugged
"it's just a theory"
Jonathan looked between the two, "we could test it", they both shared a look and nodded, "but if it works..."
Nancy stared into his eyes, "at least we'll know it's coming", the door than rattles, making Nancy and Jonathan gasp and hold each others hands; Four however jumped up and made a sword materialise in his hand.
"Honey, are you up?"
Nancy sighed at the familiar voice, "yeah, I'm-" she flapped her hand at Four making him lose the sword, "-I'm getting dressed"
"I, uh, made some blue berry pancakes"
The girl took a breath, "I'll be down in a second", they listen to the footsteps as they grew quieter, Jonathan looking at Nancy once the release each others hands.
"Your mom doesn't knock?", this case them all to chuckle.
Once the three climbed out of nays window, Jonathan pulled some clothes from the boot of his car and handed them to Four, what he didn't expect was for the other boy to start changing right there, he looked back to Nancy seeing her scarlet face and chuckled. Once Four had changed Jonathan opened his car door, "next time, change in private", this made Nancy chuckle before they all got in the Byers boys car and drove off.
Jonathan rove them to a hunting store, and the three started to look around at all the things that they would need- well Nancy and Jonathan did, Four had no idea what any of it was and was just looking at random things under Nancys watchful gaze.
When they got to the register, Nancy unloaded all of the things they had picked up, while the man watched them with a gobsmacked look, Four also became interested in the mannequin behind them, he stared into the sunglasses waiting for the fake man to move, he only turned when Jonathan spoke, "and I'll have four boxes of the.38s", Nancy turned to check on Four, nearly releasing a giggle when they boy span around and try to scathe mannequin, she gently pulled him closer.
"He's not real", her words confused Four, "they just dress him to show people their clothes"
When the man turned back around, he looked at the bullets and the traps, "what you kids doin' with all this?".
The trio looked between each other before Four smiled at the man, "monster hunting... obviously", the man nodded at him and scoffed before bringing up their price.
As they walked out, Four carrying the biggest box, Jonathan chuckled and looked to the boy, "'monster hunting'"?
Four only shrugged as he placed the things in Jonathan's trunk, Nancy looked up, "you know, last week... I was shopping for a new top I thought Steve might like. It took me and Barb all weekend. It seemed like life or death, you know? And... and now-"
Jonathan continued her sentence, "you're shopping for bear traps with Jonathan Byers, and a superpowered guy"
"Yeah"
Jonathan closes the trunk, "what's the weirdest part?... me, the bear trap or-"
Four interrupts him, "it's not me...", they both look at him, "I'm normal... right?"
Nancy chuckles, "you're normal, the weirdest part is Jonathan. Definitely him"
The three turn when a car honks at them, "hey, Nance. Can't wait to see your movie", the other boys in the car laugh, Four looks between the two confused.
Jonathan glances at Nancy, "what the hell was that?", the girl looks down the road, her eyes following the car.
"I don't know", she then spins, making Four follow her line of sight.
Jonathan watches her, "what?... what?", the girl starts to walk away from them so Four follows without a thought, "hey! where are you going?", Jonathan also follows, "Nancy, wait!", Four watches as the girl start to pant, tears filling her eyes, he looks up to see a sign with spray paint all over it, 'ALL THE RIGHT MOVES STARRING NANCY THE SLUT WHEELER'
Four looks at the sign then to his new friend, he rubs her arm before they here giggling and hissing, Four follows Nancy as they look down an alley-way, "Tommy, you write like a three year old"
"Shut up!"
"I didn't know you could spell"
As Nancy marches towards them, Four follows, "Aw, hey there, princess! oh, and another dude, you're very popular"
The boy spraying, stops, "uh-oh! she looks upset", Nancy stops before another boy, which makes Four looks at him, and admire his hair, all he wants to do is touch it; he jumps though when Nancy smacks him in the face, the other three holler in surprise, while Fours eyes widen.
"What is wrong with you?"
The boy replies, "what's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? I was worried about you. I couldn't believe that I was actually worried about you", he scoffs.
Four looks between the two, majorly confused, as Nancy speaks again, "what are you talking about?"
A girl steps up, "I wouldn't lie if I was you. You don't want to be know as the lying slut now, do you?"
"Speak of the devil", Four looks to the other boy who speaks, watching him drop down from the step, "hi", it makes Four turn to see Jonathan, "and who's this?"
Fours eyes turn back to the boy, he glares at him, about to answer when Nancy spoke again, "you came by last night?"
"Ding, Ding, Ding! Does she get a prize?", the girl speaks again.
Nancy steps closer to the boy she slapped, "look, I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that"
Four steps back beside Jonathan, "who's the boy with the nice hair?", it makes Jonathan look down, shocked.
"Steve, Nancys boyfriend"
Steve, looks over at Jonathan, "what, you just let him into your room to... study?"
The other boy carries on, "or for another pervy photo session?"
"We were just-"
Steve cuts Nancy off, "just what? finish that sentence", he steps closer, threateningly, making Four tense and step up too, "finish the sentence", Nancy takes some deep breath, but doesn't say anything, "go to hell, Nancy"
Jonathan pulls on the two arms, "come on Felix, Nancy. Let's just leave", his words make Steve spin around.
"You know what, Byers? I'm actually kind of impressed. I always took you for a queer, but I guess you're just a little sore-up like your father", when he pushes Jonathan, Four spins around and punches Steve in the jaw; the force from the hit send him back, landing at his friends feet.
Everyone around him stares in shock, Steve gets back up and goes to charge at Four before Jonathan jumps in and grabs Steve, however, Steve throws Jonathan to the floor, all while Nancy tries to stop it, when Steve knees Jonathan in the ribs and gets up, the Byers boy jumps up to and delivers a kick to Steves face.
Four jumps back in when the Steves friend, Tommy, gets involved, Four grabs the dark-haired boy and pulls his arm behind his back painfully, he then pushes him into the wall before going back to watch Jonathan and Steve.
Jonathan punches Steve, making him fall back, and then mounts the other boy, swinging punches wildly at his face. Sirens echo down the alley, making Four push Nancy back; Jonathan continues to punch Steve before a cop tries to pull him off, which causes Jonathan to hit him in the face, so another officer has to remove Jonathan from Steves body.
Steve and his friends run away while Four and Nancy watch Jonathan get handcuffed by the officer, "I go this one!", all Four can do is scratch his head in confusion, having never encountered police before.
In the police station, Four sits beside Jonathan, looking at the boys handcuffs, "I can get them off you, if you want", Jonathan looks up to him, "it's be so easy, and then we can leave", he shakes his head.
"No. We can't run from the police, it'll make things worse"
His words make Four deflate, but he perks up again when Nancy walks in, "Jonathans being boring", she looks at him confused, "he won't let me take them off him", Four points to the cuffs.
"Good", she sits down, "I found some ice"
Jonathan sniffles, "thanks" and then leans forwards so Nancy can hold the ice pack to his face; Four looks around the police station, his eyes zoning in on every trinket, "you okay?"
He turn to look at Nancy, also wanting to know if she's doing good, "yeah. Everything's fine", the girl smiles, before looking at Jonathan through her lashes.
There was a moments silence before the sound of books falling was heard, the two teens looked up to see Four stood with wide-eyes, staring at the collapsed books on a shelf, "sorry", he whispered the words before swiftly moving back to his chair; a woman shook her head at him as she re-stacked the books. Jonathan and Nancy shared a chuckle, which made Four smile at them, happy to have friends.