Steve was no stranger to nightmares. As a kid it was stupid things that woke him up in the middle of the night; vampires, zombies, falling off cliffs. Each time he would run to his parents room, tears falling down his face and begging to sleep with them. Each time he would be told to man up and go back to his room.
Then it was things like showing up to school and having no pants on, going bald, crashing his car and no one came to help him. Those nights he would sit up in his bed, maybe go get a glass of water then fall back to sleep like nothing happened. They were just dreams afterall.
Steve's nightmares took a darker turn after November nineteen-eighty-three. His subconscious would show him Nancy, Johnathan and Liza, laying on the floor of the Byers home bloody and ripped apart by the Demogorgon. In those dreams he always wondered why he was spared, maybe he showed up to late or the monster had its fill and left. Sometimes the dreams were watching as Liza got too close to the Demogorgon and this time his reaction was too slow and he wasn't able to grab her, leaving her with alot more than just a few scars. Either way, he would wake up to a panic attack.
Some nights Nancy was there and she would do her best to help him, others he would wake up alone and go for a drive. Steve would make it a point to drive past the Wheeler, Byer and Henderson houses, making sure that nothing seemed off and that no lights were flickering. Sometimes he would park by their places for a few minutes, just to make sure.
One night a month after the event, Steve woke up just as the Demogorgon had plunged it's claws into Liza's side. He spent longer than usual calming his heart and blocking out the screams of the blonde and Nancy. He knew there was no way he was going back to sleep, so he went to his car.
On Steve's drive past the Henderson house he found Liza on her front steps. He had never slammed on his breaks so fast as he spotted the blonde, a cigarette hanging from her lips and a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. It was obvious to him that she was in the same boat as him.
Steve parked as quickly as he could and walked up the driveway towards Liza. She hadn't noticed him, she was staring off into space as she nervously chewed on her lip. Steve sat beside her, causing Liza to jump and let out a yelp. She turned to face him, her eyes wide as she panted.
"Shit, I didn't mean to scare you, Henderson." Steve spoke, holding his hands up to show he meant no harm. Liza breathed out a relieved sigh as soon as she realised she wasn't in any danger. She faced forward, taking a drag from her cigarette and sighed.
"What are you doing here, Harrington?" Liza asked, wrapping her blanket tighter around her.
"Had a nightmare, couldn't get back to sleep so went for a drive then saw you. What are you doing out here?" Steve retorted, wondering if she would be just as honest.
"Had a nightmare, couldn't sleep so I came out here for a smoke." Liza answered, holding up her cigarette. The nightmare in question was one she had often, Will not making it back from the upside down, her brother and his friends not surviving the attack and Eleven still dying despite it. Steve plucked the cigarette from her fingers, putting it in between his lips. Liza glared at him "I wasn't offering it to you."
"I know, but I don't care." Steve shrugged. Liza scoffed and rolled her eyes, she really wasn't in the mood for dealing with King Steve. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Why don't you talk about it with Nancy, you know, your girlfriend." Liza said, pulling out her pack and grabbing her third cigarette since sitting down. "This is friend or girlfriend shit and since I'm neither to you, you should probably go to her."
"You could be." Steve spoke before he realized. His eyes widened slightly as he registered his words. Liza raised her brows at him, waiting for the boy to backtrack. "You could be my friend, I mean. Like we could be . . . friends."
"Yeah, I don't think that's gonna work." Liza scoffed. She remembered the last time a friendship could have happened between Steve and herself, he had ruined it by revealing that he was actually a giant douchebag. Fuck you Tommy Hagan.
Steve stared at Liza for a few moments before letting out a dry chuckle and shaking his head. He really shouldn't of expected less from the blonde, she actively avoided him at school and when she couldn't she would ignore him or glare. He didn't even know why he wanted to be friends with her, it wasn't like they had much in common.
"Yeah, you're probably right. You'd rip my head off within a week." Steve joked. A chuckle had Steve's head snapping to look at Liza, she had her hand covering her mouth to hide the obvious smile. This could work. "I mean, imagine the looks on people's faces if they saw us together. They would explode. I can hear them now 'How did Steve Harrington get such a badass friend.'"
"I'm sure that's what they would be saying." Liza laughed. She knew what they would actually say. 'How the hell did that freak end up becoming friends with our King Steve.' She had been able to fly relatively under the radar at Hawkins High and she was certain that being around Steve and Nancy would effectively ruin that.
"Who cares what they'd say." Steve stated, his tone turned serious. Liza brows furrowed as she looked to Steve, this was a change in tune she wasn't expecting. "I haven't seen you hang out with anyone besides your brother and his friends. Don't you, I don't know, want someone around your age?"
"I'm perfectly fine with Dustin, Will, Lucas and Mike. Besides, not many people see me and think I'm friendship material." Liza shrugged. She started to close herself off, angling her body away from Steve, wrapping the blanket tighter. He could tell he was over staying his welcome, so Steve stood and gave a tight-lipped smile to Liza before starting to head down the drive way.
Liza wasn't quite sure why, but something in her told her not to let him leave. The idea of a friendship with Steve Harrington no longer made her cringe, actually it didn't seem half bad. Cursing herself, Liza called his name. Steve turned around halfway down the driveway, his hands were in his pockets as he raised a brow while trying his best to hide a smile on his face.
"Your nightmare . . . It was about that night wasn't it?" Liza asked. Steve nodded, not sure if he should walk back or not. Liza chewed on her lip for a second before nodding her head to the spot Steve had sat. "Wanna talk about it?"
"You gonna talk about yours?" Steve retorted. If he was gonna talk, so was she.
"Of course, that's what friends do."
~x~
Another nightmare woke Steve up and sent him straight to the one place he knew he could always go. He knocked on Liza's bedroom window, waiting for her to open it like she always did. Her head appeared in the window, it was clear to him that she had been awake and not asleep.
"You too?" Liza asked after she had opened her window. Steve nodded and Liza stepped out of the way for him to climb in. Once he had landed on his feet, Liza gestured for him to sit on the bed. "I now call this meeting of the Nightmare club to order. We talking about it this time or are we going to try and move past it?"
"Move past it. It was the same one as the last one. You need to talk about it?" Steve questioned, watching as Liza sat against her headboard.
"I don't know." Liza shrugged, this one was different than the others. A new face had entered her nightmare and she wasn't sure how to handle it.
"Liz. . ."
"You were in it this time." Liza stated, playing with a spare string on her shirt. Steve's eyes widened as she talked. "You haven't been in them before but tonight you were. We were at the Byers and you pulled me out of the way, but instead of us running into the room with Nancy and Johnathan, you told me to run. You didn't make it."
"Oh. Well, it was just a dream. I'm right here, alive and in one piece." Steve reassured Liza. She nodded, still focused of the string as she avoided eye contact. "It's nice to know you care about me though. I was starting to think you hated my guts." Steve joked.
Liza laughed, finally looking to her friend. He had a giant smile on his face that made her feel warm. She moved to she was laying down, Steve laid beside her. This was something they did often, lay beside each other after nightmares, talk about stupid things until either Liza or Steve fell asleep. If Steve fell asleep, Liza would either take the floor or go to the livingroom couch for the night. If it was Liza, Steve would cover her in her blanket and turn off the light before leaving. Tonight was the first night that they had both fallen asleep.
The next morning they had told Nancy, both afraid that the girl would claim cheating. She had just smiled and said she was glad that they were getting along and had a friend in each other. Both Steve and Liza were confused but grateful that the girl was so cool with it.
~x~
A year later, friendship and relationships changed. Max Mayfield had joined the party, Eleven had come back, Steve and Nancy broke up and now Steve was dating Liza. Another thing that changed was the things that plagued the dreams of Liza and Steve.
Liza found herself stuck in never ending loops of the kids getting eaten by the demodogs, getting trapped alone in the tunnels while hearing the chittering, Billy beating Steve to death and Will possessed. Steve would see glass shards killing Liza, the demodogs overtaking the bus, them not getting out of the tunnels.
Some things stayed the same, like Steve and Liza finding comfort in each other when these dreams woke them up. The only difference was that the comfort was more than just talking.
Steve woke up, panting as he looked around his room. He could feel Liza beside him, she stirred awake as he started to sit up. Rubbing her eyes, Liza moved so she was sitting beside him.
"Whats wrong, Love?" Liza asked, touching his arm as she tried to focus on him. Steve didn't say anything as he wrapped his arms around the blonde and held her close.
He needed her safe, he needed her To be protected. Right now the only way Steve could guarantee that was by having her in his arms. He felt Liza wrap her arms around his back and start to rub soothing circles on his skin. Steve rested his chin on her head, eyes searching the corners of his room for any signs of danger. Logically he knew that there was none, Eleven had closed the gate so they were safe but it was a bit of a reflex.
"I'm right here, whatever happened wasn't real." Liza whispered, pressing a kiss to his chest. Steve nodded, he believed her but the fear was still there. "We're safe, you're safe. I'm safe."
"Yeah, we're safe, Darlin'." Steve repeated. Liza pulled back a little before using her body to push Steve back down on the bed. Once they were laying back down, Liza threw her leg over his waist and moved so she was now laying on top of him. "What are you doing?"
"You clearly need me to be close to you right now. Sitting up is alot of energy right now so I'm coming up with a solution." Liza explained, tucking her head under his chin. Steve smiled softly as he tightened his arms around her. "Comfy?"
"Yeah, Darlin', I'm comfy."
~x~
Summer of ninety-five brought along more terrors and a new friend. Robin Buckley had fit herself into Steve and Liza's relationship, the couple accepted her with no complaints. Their friendship was forged in the fires of Ice Cream slinging and Russian interrogations, sealed by fighting off a giant flesh monster and Liza almost sacrificing herself.
Weekly movie nights were a thing that the trio made a point of having, something that meant that they always had to see each other atleast once a week, even though they saw each other almost everyday. They would watch a movie and fall asleep in a pile, whether it be on the couch or Steve's bed.
Robin was startled awake one night when her own nightmare of the Russians ending hers and her friends lives played in her mind. She placed her hands in her hair as she tried to focus on her breathing. She looked over to find Steve and Liza already awake, both of them sitting up in the bed and staring at her.
"What are you guys doing awake?" Robin asked shakily, bringing her knees up to her chest. "Did I wake you?"
"No Robert, we were already awake. Are you alright? You seem spooked." Liza moved closer to Robin, resting her head against her friends shoulder.
"I'm fine, just a stupid dream." Robin answered, leaning her head against Liza's. The blonde and Steve shared a look, knowing exactly what kind of dream she must of had. "Do. . .do you guys get dreams about Starcourt too?"
"Yeah, we do. Way too much." Steve said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Sometimes I'm back in that room, telling those assholes that we work for Scoops and they think I'm lying. . . And they use methods to make me tell the truth."
Steve suppressed a shiver as he recalled these methods. The Russians in his dreams really liked bringing Liza in, beating her instead of him till he's telling them what they want to hear. Sometimes they change it up, bringing in Robin or Dustin or even Erica. The worst was when they brought in both Liza and Dustin though, those were the times where he had no fight in him and he would just tell them he was part of the United States Military. Though it didn't matter to the Russians when they place guns to the backs of the siblings heads. He didn't tell Liza much of the details those nights, worried that it would upset her.
"I always see the Mind Flayer." Liza began, grabbing Robins hand to intertwine their fingers. "I see everyone I love dead, laying on the floor and I'm the only one left."
There was more too it then what Liza said, there was the fire and the fact that she blamed herself for Robin, Max and Billy's bodies being part of it all. Logically she knew that Max and Billy would be there anyways, Max was introduced to this all by Lucas and Billy she had no clue how he got roped in but she still blamed herself. She had no one else to blame when it came to Robin, she was the one who told Steve and Dustin that Robin was going to help them, then she was the one who told her about the Upside Down. If Robin had died that night it would have been all Liza's fault.
"I see us, in that room. We get plucked off one by one. They always take you first Liza, Steve goes wild. He fights to get them to bring you back but we never see you again. Then he goes and I'm left all alone waiting for my own death." Robin sniffed, squeezing Liza's hand tighter as Steve wrapped his arms around them both. "I don't know how to handle it sometimes. It's like I wake up and expect. . ."
"You expect to still be in the base, waiting to die?" Liza whispered. Robin nodded, reaching a hand up to wipe a tear away. "Yeah, we do that too."
"How do you guys handle it?" Robin asked, looking to Steve and Liza. "This has been your life for like what? Three years? How do you deal with the aftermath?"
"We've always had each other. Liza and I have always helped each other through the nightmares." Steve explained, resting his chin on the blondes shoulder. "The Nightmare club she calls it."
"We are going to help you too. Anytime you have a nightmare, you call or come to us and we will help." Liza smiled softly.
"Yeah okay." Robin nodded. A smile spread on her face before she was giggling. "God, anyone who looks at us must think we are weird."
"What do you mean?" Steve asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.
"We are like a strange . . . Throuple." Robin snorted.
"No we are not." Steve protested.
"Yes we are." Liza and Robin spoke at the same time, laughing as the held up their intertwined hands.
"Yeah, we are." Steve sighed, pulling both girls down so they were laying in the bed again, sending them into a fit of over tired giggles.
~x~
There are things nobody tells you are hard after a breakup, one of them is you have no one to help you when you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. There is no one to tell you it's okay and that it was all a bad dream, just a cold bed and your broken heart beating in your ears.
Liza's first nightmare since the breakup came a week after Dustin, Lucas and Mike had found her on the steps.. Everything about it was too much, the fire, the Mind Flayer, still seeing Steve laying there. She pressed the heels of her palms into her eyes as she tried to force the image out of her brain.
With a sigh, she got out of bed and headed to the kitchen. Liza grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water. She chugged it all, ignoring how the cold sent a shiver down her spine. She filled the glass again and placed it on the counter, the rested her palms against the edge and hung her head. Her breathing hadn't gotten any better, it was still laboured and she could feel the shaking in her hands even as she gripped the counter. She could feel tears slip down her cheeks as she squeezed her eyes closed.
"Liz? Is that you?" Dustin asked, coming into the kitchen rubbing his eyes. Liza wiped her eyes as quickly as she could then turned around. Dustin stood beside her, his hair was a mess and he was squinting to look at his sister.
He took in her appearance, this was the first he was seeing her out of her bed since Steve broke up with her. Sure she had gotten up to use the bathroom or to eat, but never when people would be able to see her. There was bags under her eyes and her face was splotchy from all of the crying she had been doing. Her hair was dull and sticking up in places from where she obviously had been pulling. Dustin was going to kill Steve Harrington even if it was the last thing he did.
"Yeah, I'm fine, Dustin. Go back to bed." Liza croaked, it was the first she had used her voice for something other than sobbing.
"No, you're not. Sit down." Dustin pointed to a chair, doing his best to replicate the stern looks that Liza would give him when she wanted him to listen. Liza had no fight in her body, so she grabbed her glass of water and sat at the table. Dustin sat beside her, watching as his sister stared ahead and gnawed on her lip. "Liz, talk to me. You haven't said anything in a week and we promised each other no secrets."
"I'm not keeping a secret." Liza snapped, immediately regretting it. Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair and looked to her brother. "I'm sorry, you are just trying to help."
"Yeah, I am. So let me help, you won't let me." Dustin urged, his eyes pleaded with Liza to let him in.
"I don't even know what you can help with." Liza shrugged. She wasn't going to bad mouth Steve to Dustin, though she knew that's what the boy wanted. As far as she was concerned, the boys would eventually come back together and she would accept it happily. "He made his decision. He took a past relationship experience and assumed I would be the same way. He saw a friendship between Eddie and I and thought I would run off into the sunset with him."
Dustins heart dropped, this was new information. He didn't know that Eddie was the reason and all of a sudden he felt sick. A hazy summer memory of him telling Steve about Eddie and Liza hanging out came to mind and he realized that maybe he had a hand in all of this.
"He broke up with you because of. . . Eddie?" Dustin asked, now avoiding his sister's eyes.
"Don't blame yourself, you weren't the one who broke up with me." Liza placed a hand on Dustin's. "We had already talked it out, or at least I thought we had. But instead he went to Robin and now we are here."
The siblings sat in silence for a few moments. Dustin was mentally beating himself, he felt like a jerk despite his sister telling him he wasn't to blame. A sniffle from beside him made his head turn, Liza had tears tracking down her face as she stared ahead. Memories that were still fresh wounds attacking her as she realized that she had lost two of the most important people in her life and she wasn't sure she'd ever get them back.
"Come here." Dustin sighed, dragging his chair closer to Liza's then pulled her to lay her head on his shoulder. Liza tried to fight him but he wouldn't let her. "Stop it and let me comfort you."
"This is supposed to be my job. I'm supposed to comfort you." Liza sobbed, wrapping her arms around herself.
"You do it all the time, not just for me. You can be comforted just this once." Dustin stated, rubbing his hand up and down Liza's arms. Liza sniffled and nodded, letting her tears fall down on to Dustin's shirt.
"I love you, Dust."
"I love you too, Liz."
~x~
Eddie rolled over, his arms reaching out to drag Liza closer to him only to close around the air. Peeking an eye open, he found the other side of his bed empty. Panic started to set in as he sat up, he looked around the room unable to find the blonde.
Eddie shot out of the bed, heading to the livingroom to find it empty aswell. He was sure he had fallen asleep next to Liza, so where had she gone off to? She couldn't have gone home unless she walked, but the distance between the trailer park and her house was atleast a half hour walk and she had said she was exhausted. The last place Eddie checked was the makeshift porch, which is where he found Liza on the couch. Her knees tucked under her chin and eyes closed and she tried to calm her breathing down.
"Jesus H Christ, Witch. You can't just disappear like that, almost gave me a heart attack." Eddie huffed as he flipped down on the couch beside her.
"Sorry, I just. . . I just needed a minute." Liza said, her voice was quiet and it made Eddie worried.
"What's going on?" He asked, pulling her arm so she tilted over. Her head now rested in his lap as he ran his fingers through her hair.
"Just a bad dream." Liza whispered, turning so she was laying on her back. Eddie stared down at her, his mouth turned down in a frown as he asked her is she wanted to talk about it. "No, it's fine. I forgot it anyways."
Liza couldn't exactly tell Eddie what the nightmares were about. Telling him meant that she had to explain the past three years of her life and that wasn't something she wanted to do yet. She could have come up with something simple, spiders, showing up to school with no pants but she didn't have it in her right now.
"When are you gonna stop hiding these things from me?" Eddie asked, he wasn't mad just curious. Liza looked as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. "This is like the tenth nightmare you've had that I know of, I'm sure there's more. It's not something simple either, otherwise you would tell me."
"I-" Liza began, she closed her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. She had to stop herself before she word vomited everything. "I will eventually, it's just not the right time."
"Well when it is and you're ready, I'll listen."
~x~
Liza sat on the couch in the livingroom, a mug of tea in her hands as she stared off into space. She was doing her best to ignore the screeches and phantom scratches of the Demo-bats as the surrounded her and Eddie in her dreams, it was harder than she expected. She had to remind herself that Steve, Robin and Nancy had killed Vecna and that these nightmares wouldn't lead to her death.
"Nightmare?" Eddie asked, flopping in the arm chair across from her. Liza nodded, not taking her eyes off of the t.v. It wasn't even turned on, but it was too much effort to move even her eyes right now. "Me too. The bats?"
"Yeah, it's like I can still feel them." Liza reached up to touch her arm, over where their claws had found home in her flesh. She could see Eddie shift in her peripheral and she knew he was touching the places on his body that had been marred by the bats.
Someone else had joined them, jumping over the back of the couch to settle in beside Liza. She didn't need to look to see who, the familiar warmth and feeling of Steve's arm wrapping around her told her. She leaned into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.
"You too?" Liza asked, shifting the mug in her hands so she could rest one on his thigh.
"Yeah. The vines had me, Robin and Nancy. I woke up and you were gone, figured I'd find you down here." Steve spoke, trailing his fingers up and down her arm. He looked over to Eddie who was nervously drumming a rhythm on his stomach. "What about you two?"
"Bats." Liza and Eddie answered at the same time.
"Ah, yeah. Nasty little shits." Steve nodded. He heard footsteps behind him, he knew they belonged to Robin. Steve had learned quickly what each person's footsteps sounded like so he could tell who was in his house. He looked over to see her flop down on the other side of Liza, laying with her legs over the arm of the couch so her head was on Liza's lap. "Vines?"
"It's like they are still choking me!" Robin exclaimed. She placed a hand over her eyes as she focused on the feeling of Liza's thigh under her head. "I hate those stupid vines!"
"Shh, Dustin's still asleep." Liza urged.
"No I'm not." Dustin stated, going to sit on the floor between Eddie and Steve. Liza raised her brow at him, confused as to why he was awake. "I had a nightmare. Figured this was the club to join."
"What doth plague your dreamscape, youngling." Eddie asked leaning his elbows on his knees to look at Dustin. Liza snorted, the look on her brothers face was hilarious.
"Uh, well. . . It starts when we are split up, like when you guys were in the Upside Down with Nancy. Erica, Max, Lucas and I are in Eddie's trailer." Dustin began to explain, staring straight ahead. Liza tensed up beside Steve as she remembered what happened at Eddie's. "Everything is the same, we open the gate, Robin and Eddie come through just fine. Then Liza goes, she hits the mattress but doesn't move. Her eyes are white and. . . And she won't answer me."
"Dust. . ."
"We get the music and put it on her but she starts . . . Floating. I start to wonder if we chose the right song but Eddie's reassuring us that we did. Then, her bones-" Dustin chokes out a sob. Liza herself is crying now, this was the last thing she wanted for Dustin to go through. "When it's done, she's laying on the ground and I can't stop staring. Then I wake up."
The older teens stare at Dustin, all with varying looks of horror. Liza started to move before she could think, sinking down to the floor so she could crawl next to Dustin. She pulls him into her arms, holding him as close as possible. Eddie places his hand on the boys shoulder, rubbing his thumb to help comfort the sobbing boy as he too sat on the floor. Steve and Robin follow suit, the former wrapping his arms around the siblings while Robin placed her hand on Liza's leg.
"I'm here, Dust. It's just a nightmare, you guys were able to save me. I made it." Liza soothed, not bothering to hide the cracking in her voice.
Steve looked over her head to Eddie, he looked just as haunted as Dustin was and he knew that this was a nightmare that the metalhead has had before too. If he had to hazard a guess, it was one that everyone in the room has had. It could have been a reality, it almost was. Liza had written letters that Steve had found her burning one night in the fire place, she had the nose bleeds, the nightmares.
"Yeah, Dustin. She's safe." Steve reassured the boy.
"So," Dustin sniffled as he pulled himself out of the group hug. "Do I get to join the Nightmare club?"
"Yeah, you're part of the nightmare club." Liza chuckled, wiping the tears from her face as she sank deeper in Steve's arms. "We don't have any t-shirts though."
"I can make them." Eddie said, pointing to the hellfire shirt that Liza was wearing. "I am pretty good at it."