Steve's POV
After explaining everything to Jonathan, Joyce, and Argyle, they had loads of questions.
"Why is he doing this?"
"What can I do to help, dude?"
"Should we make first aid kits?"
Those were just some of the questions they asked. We were all exhausted, wanting to go to sleep, but we really needed to explain what's happening to Hawkins and what everyone should do.
"I think we should leave the guns to Nancy, Joyce, Steve, and Hopper. They have used guns way more than us." Mike suggested.
"No daughter of mine is using a gun!" Ted grunted.
"You aren't a part of this, dad. You would do absolutely nothing to save Hawkins, I am going to use guns." Nancy told Ted. Ted decided to shut up, not wanting the Byers and Argyle to know he's abusive towards Nancy.
"Wait, are Max, Dustin, and Lucas going to help too? Shouldn't they be here?" Joyce suddenly asked.
"We could get Dustin, but I'm not so sure about Max and Lucas, Max is still Vecna's victim, after all." Mike explained to them, "I'll go call Dustin right now."
Dustin, Max, and Lucas walked through the door, shocked to see Joyce and Jonathan standing before them. "Joyce!" Max exclaimed, bringing her into a tight embrace. Joyce had always been like another mother to Max, so seeing her again definitely made her happy. "I've missed you so much!" Max told her, still in a hug.
"I've missed you too! How have you been?" Joyce asked.
"Besides a fourty-year-old man trying to kill me, I'm great!" I smiled. Ever since she's been his victim, she hadn't been herself. So, seeing her make a joke again is showing that she is making progress.
*****
Lucas's POV
Max is happy, smiling, laughing, and so much more. This is amazing. She went from depressed, almost murdered, to herself again in only two months. I couldn't be more proud of her.
"Lucas! Come on, we have a lot of planning to do." Max called, grabbing my hand before dragging me to the sofa.
"Alright, Max and Dustin, we want you to make first-aid kits." Karen said, "Lucas, you and Will are going to get everyone out of town." Of course, I get a job that involves going door to door. Why couldn't I get something that involves fighting? "El, Nancy, Joyce, Steve, and Hopper are going to be the main fighters. Mike, you're going to get food, water, and others. Everyone else, you just fight." Karen ended. We all nodded of approval.
"Just one thing, these are your main jobs. When you're done with the main job, you're obviously going to fight." Nancy added, that makes way more sense. There's no way they can make four people fight against hundreds of thousand of monsters.
*****
Nancy's POV
"Alright, everyone, get some rest. Tomorrow is the day we are going to start preparing!" Joyce exclaimed as some people went downstairs, some upstairs, and some stayed in the living room. It's official. This house is jam-packed. There's no possible way you could fit one more person unless they slept in the bathroom.
Steve and I went into my room, where we both sleep every night. Ever since Vecna went into my mind, I've been getting horrible nightmares every night, and he helps me calm down after them. "Nancy! Can you open the door?" I heard Jonathan call, I sighed, looking at Steve, who was also annoyed.
I swung the door open, "What do you want?" I asked.
"I just want to talk, I miss you. Nothing has been the same after I broke up with you. I quit taking drugs and smoking, and we were great together. I was always high, which made me think things that weren't true. No girl in California is better than you, hotter than you, or has your personality. I can't sleep at night because of the guilt. I know I broke your heart, Nancy. I'm really sorry. I promise I'll be a better boyfriend, I'll treat you how you deserve to be treated! I can not live without you, Nancy. I want to have a future with you. Everyone knows we were an amazing couple, Nancy, you can not lie. I know you feel the same way about me. You don't need to hide your feelings, Nancy! We love each other, stop lying to yourself, and just kiss me already!" Jonthan pulled me close to him, about to kiss me when I pulled away quickly.
I looked at him, then back at Steve. "Absolutely not, Jonathan. If I took you back, who knows what would happen! You can not blame drugs for what you did. You should not have been taking drugs in the first place. Blaming drugs just makes you sound even more stupid than you actually are! I gave you a chance, and you screwed it up. Maybe if you actually changed, I would say yes, but you can't stop smoking and say, 'Take me back, I made a horrible decision. Drugs screwed me up.' And expect me to say yes! This is your warning, Jonathan. Get away from me right now."
He looked at me before backing away downstairs again, I closed the door and sighed. "That was awesome." Steve commented. I smiled, even though I told Jonathan I gave him one chance and he failed, so I won't give him another, I'm not sure if that's the same for Steve. I would definitely give him another chance if he wanted it..
"I don't even know how I did that, I just said whatever I was thinking."
"Yeah, well, you did amazing." Steve told me, bringing me closer.
"Steve?"
"Yes?"
"I don't know if I can hold this back any longer, I don't care if you feel the same way. These last few days have been amazing. Thanks to you. I screwed it up back in high school, and I regret everything I did. When you told me the plan you had, of having five or six kids and traveling the world every summer in a van, I couldn't help but think. I would absolutely love that, I would love every moment of it. When we kissed yesterday, it felt right. It felt like it was meant to be. What I'm trying to say, Steve, is that I love you. I really love you. I want to try us again."
That felt so good to get it off of my chest. I might have made a huge mistake doing this, but I really don't care. Before saying I word Steve connected his lips onto mine, I did the same. Wrapping my arms around his neck as he wrapped his around my waist, "I love you too, Nancy." He said quickly before bringing me back into kiss.
"Are we official, then?" I asked.
"Yes, I guess we are." Steve replied.
*****
The next day
*****
Steve's POV
One thing led to another. Our kiss turned into a make-out session, which turned into..nevermind. All I want to say is that we have definitely made up for the years we weren't together. This time, I know it's going to be better than before. All we need to do is destroy this Vecna guy, and then we'll be clear.
"Come down for breakfast!" Karen yelled.
"Nancy, come on, it's almost ten. We have to get up." I shook her lightly while telling her.
"Nooo, ten more minutes?" Nancy begged, hugging her pillow tightly and tucking her legs into her stomach.
"We have to get up, Nancy, I would stay in bed longer, but we have a long day ahead of us."
"Remind me why I let you do what you did to me the day we'll be running around a lot?"
"You just love me that much, now get up." I spoke, taking the blanket off of her and picking her up bridal style.
"Steve!" Nancy gasped, "Put me down!"
"No."
"Now!"
"Maybe I will...or not!" I chuckled as he carried her out into the hallway. Mike and Will were standing at the door, waiting for us.
*****
Mike's POV
I couldn't sleep at all last night, Steve and Nancy were being way too loud. "Gosh, you guys need to learn to be quiet. We couldn't sleep last night." Will told Steve and Nancy, turning them red. "We all knew it was going to happen, one day, but you really had to do that the day before we prepare for the biggest fight of our lives?"
"We didn't do anything, I have no clue what you're talking about." Steve stated, obviously lying.
"Don't even act like you two haven't been doing 'it' every other night. Trust me, we all hear you." Nancy says, Will and I eyed each other.
"That's so gross!" I exclaimed, "I would never do that!"
"You're just upset we found out. Come on, we have lots of preparing to do." Steve ended before grabbing Nancy's hand and walking downstairs. We followed behind us, blushing madly.
*****
Nancy's POV
"So much for saying, 'I gave you a chance, and you screwed up.' When you gave Steve another chance, didn't you, Nancy? What is different between Steve and I?" Jonathan asked, looking up from the table.
"Oh, I don't know, maybe the fact that he didn't screw up his life with drugs? Maybe because he's a good human being? You can't say, 'What's the difference between Steve and I' when there's loads of differences, and you know that."
I looked at Ted, who rolled his eyes. "I agree with Jonathan. What's the difference, Nancy? Jonathan was an amazing boyfriend."
"Ted." Karen elbowed him.
"What? I'm just being honest with our daughter."
"You know what, dad? I don't really care about this so-called 'truth' if I like someone, I'm going to date them, not date who you want me to date." I spoke as I sat down.
"She has a point, Ted."
"Karen, don't get into this."
"She's my daughter as well."
"How about you both stop fighting? We don't need any extra stress on the day we are preparing for the end!" Mike suddenly said, making Ted and Karen shut up.
"Wait, this is going to be the end, dudes?" Argyle's jaw dropping.
"No, Argyle. I mean- it could, but it won't. We are not going to let it happen." Jonathan told him.
"Joyce, can you please invite Max, Lucas, and Dustin over so we can start preparing?" Karen asked while cleaning up Holly's face with a napkin.
"Of course!" Joyce said, standing up and walking over to the phone. "Hello? Max! Hi sweetie, can you and Lucas come over? Great! See you soon!"
"Hello? Hi Claudia! Can you tell Dustin that I called? Yeah, we need him for the preparation."
Joyce hung up the phone and sat back down, "They're coming."
*****
Max's POV
"Lucas! Get out of the shower. We need to get over to the Wheeler's quickly! Today is a big day, and we need to get everything done in time!" I yelled from inside his bedroom. For the past two weeks or so, I've been staying at his house because he feels safer with me here than at my house. At any moment, Vecna could try to kill me again, and I haven't told my mom about what's been happening to me.
"Gosh, Max, I'm going as quick as I can!" Lucas replied. I'm not sure what Lucad and I are. We haven't really talked about it. "Could you bring me my clothes, Max?" I heard him yell as he stopped the water.
"Yeah, coming now!" I grabbed his 'Hawkins Basketball Team' shirt and some dark jeans, walking into the white bathroom and setting the clothes down on the counter. "I set them next to your toothbrush!"
"Thanks!" I closed the bathroom door before the shower door opened, "Max, can you grab me my brush?" Lucas asked from inside the bathroom.
"Yeah, where is it again?" I asked.
"It should be in the third drawer of my dresser!" I opened it and grabbed his brush. I opened the bathroom door and gave it to him, sitting on the counter after. "Are you ready for today?" He asked, brushing through his hair.
"Not at all. Today is going to be so stressful and tiring, " I replied, "I just hope we have at least three days to prepare. If we only have today to prepare, I could honestly freak out."
"Don't worry, Max, I'm sure we won't do everything today."
*****
Lucas's POV
That was a lie, I am positive we are going to do everything today. The sooner everything is done, the better chance we have at winning against Vecna. "Come on, we should probably get to the Wheeler's before they start preparing without us." I told Max, grabbing her hand and walking out of the bathroom.
"Mom! Can you drive me and Max to the Wheeler's?" I called out.
"She's already in the car, waiting." Erica spoke from the top of the stairs, "Could you learn to talk a little more quiet? You're very loud."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I walked out of the door, Max behind me. "We are ready to go!"
"Great, the Wheeler's, right?" My mom asked, I nodded. "I can't believe my son is going to fight to save the world. What happened to my little boy who wanted to be a basketball player and nothing else? What if you die? You should not do this, Lucas. You are so young, and you are trying to save the world."
I sighed, "Mom, I'm going to be fine. I want to do this, I don't want to watch the world end. I'm going to be with a lot of people, people who have ahd experience fighting monsters. I'm going to be fine, alight? This is my choice to do this, I'm not being forced to." I looked over at Max, "Plus, we have a higher chance because we have someone that can literally distract Vecna from her brain."
"Wait, who?" My mom asked curiously.
"She's actually inside of the car right now, next to me." I replied. My mom turned her head to look at her. "The one and only Max Mayfield, she is going to be the one that'll make us win."
"Lucas, I'm not going to be the one to save the world. All I'm going to do is distract him, thats nothing compared to what everyone else is doing." Max tried to argue, but I stopped her.
"Alright kids, here you are. I love you, Lucas, please don't die, alright?" My mom interrupted.
"I love you too, mom, I won't die."
*****
Holly's POV
"Can someone tell me what's going on?" I asked. All at once, a lot of people started walking inside of the house. Everyone is planning something big but won't tell me. All I've been able to hear is that there are going to be monsters coming to Hawkins and that it's apparently our job to save the world. Which does not make any sense because a lot of them are teenagers, teenagers! They have not even graduated yet! "Mommy, please tell me what's going on. I'm really confused!" I exclaimed to Karen, my mom.
"Holly, you are too young, you will not understand." Karen told me, "How about you go play in your room?" I shook my head. I am six, and that is not too young to know what's going on! I'll understand perfectly fine. Everyone says that I am smarter than most kids my age! They always say I got it from my older sister, Nancy, because Mike was never this smart. "Holly, listen to me. Go upstairs to your room now." Karen demanded.
"No, I am not going up to my room! I want to understand, please, Mommy?" I gave her puppy eyes, knowing she won't say no.
"Fine, go sit down on the couch next to Nancy. But you have to be quiet, okay, sweetie?" I nodded happily, running over to the couch to sit down next to Nancy. I saw everyone look at me, then my mom, confused.
"Now that everyone is here, we can start the preparing process. I put out some small bins for the first aid kits. Max and Dustin, go look for stuff around the house!" Karen told them. I watched them leave the room, "Lucas and Will, go start knocking door to door, getting every last person out of Hawkins." Lucas nodded and walked out of the door. "Nancy, Joyce, and Jim, go to the police station and find the guns." Karen demanded, "Mike, go get a lot of food, water, and anything else useful you can find at the store."
I saw Joyce and Hopper leave the house before Nancy and Steve, "Mommy, can I go with them? I'll be good!"
"Honey, they are bu-" Karen started before Steve interrupted her.
"She can come, Holly won't be a bother at all. Right, Nancy?" Steve asked Nancy, Nancy nodded in reply.
"Are you sure?" Karen asked.
"Postive." Nancy replied, grabbing my left hand before walking out of the door, Steve grabbing my other hand.
"Holly, when we get to the station, you can not touch any guns. They are super dangerous." Steve told me while we were getting into the car.
"I promise I won't touch any guns." I said, Steve and Nancy both smiled. Off we were, to start preparing for the end.