STEVE FELT LIKE SHIT.
He'd walked for miles to enter a secret Russian base, only to get beat to a pulp by said Russians, to then get something injected into him that led him into an long high.....to now crashing in front of a toilet.
Yeah, Steve was pretty sure this had been the worst day of his life—if it had even been a day.....it could have been an hour, or five. He wasn't exactly sure because, well, he'd been beat up in a Russian base.
Now, Steve found himself seated against the wall of a bathroom stall, throat burning as his hand limply flushed down whatever had just exited his stomach. Clearly, whatever the Russians had put in him only lasted for so long, because whatever good feeling he'd just been filled with was now completely gone.
"The ceiling stopped spinning for me." Robin Buckley, the girl who'd been through hell and back with him, voiced from the next stall over. She too had been injected with some feel-good drug and was starting to come to. "Is it still spinning for you?"
The Harrington looked up to test her words, vision slightly blurry from the swollen eye he had, "Holy shit. No." There was no more dizziness, and the lights weren't blending together as they had moments before, "You think we puked it all up?"
"Maybe. Ask me something." Robin replied. She then put on a thick Russian accent, "Interrogate me."
A small chuckle left Steve's lips at her mimic of the Russian guard—a genuine chuckle, not one caused by the drugs—and he answered, "Okay. Interrogate you. Sure. Um...." He thought for a minute before finally asking, "When was the last time you, uh, peed your pants?"
"Today."
Well, Steve surely didn't expect that answer. "What?"
"When the Russian doctor took out the bone saw." Robin admitted, causing the boy in the next stall over to laugh again, "It was just a little bit, though."
Steve shook his head, "It's definitely still in her system."
After a few more moments of laughter and groans, Robin spoke again, "Alright, my turn."
"Okay. Hit me."
"Have you....." the Buckley trailed off, voice raspy, ".....ever been in love?"
"Yup. Nancy Wheeler. Fist semester, senior year." the Harrington replies, the sound of the boy imitating a gun-shot follows. He then adds, "At least, I convinced myself I was."
"Oh my god. She's such a priss."
"Hm. Turns out, not really."
Knowing that he was in a steady relationship with Nancy's sister, Robin edged on. She'd never heard the story of how their relationship came to be once more, even though she'd spent a whole two months working with the Harrington. "What happened?"
"Well, Carla happened." Steve shrugged, mind trailing off to his girlfriend. God, did he miss her. He'd been trapped in a Russian base for what felt like forever, on death's door and yet, all he thought about was Carla Wheeler. Her smile, her body, her laugh. Just her.
Robin scoffed, "Obviously. But what happened?"
"It's kinda difficult to explain, but...." the Harrington trailed off before finally explaining what his co-worker wanted to know, "In '83, I'd broken up with her and I really regretted it.....but I was so stuck up in my popularity that I decided not to just spit out that I still loved her. Instead I just went from girl trying to fill the hole that she left, but of course, there is no one like Carla."
"Clearly." Robin urged him on.
"So I went for her sister, because Nancy had to be something like her, right? And I-I tried so hard to convince myself that I was in love with her, that I wasn't still eyeing Carla whenever she passed me in the halls, but I couldn't. I wasn't in love with Nancy, I was still falling for Carla. It only took the word bullshit for me to realize it."
"You should write a book, Harrington." Robin replied, a small chuckle coming afterwards, "How To Win The Girl. Chapter One; break her heart and go out with her sister."
He shook his head, "It was such a dick move."
"Agreed." Robin agreed with her friends words, before continuing the conversation on the Wheeler girl, "So, how did you win her back? Did she not have a grudge against you?"
"She did at first. But, all it took was a party, me fucking up, her fist connecting with my face and an, uh, accident—" he cringed at the memory of Carla at the Byers' house, but continued anyway, "—for us to become friends again. Then, after Tina's party in '84, I finally admitted my feelings for her and I guess the rest is history?"
"You really do love her, huh?" the freckled girl smiled at the thought of her friend being so in-love with someone. Robin knew she'd never have such luck—not with the dirty little secret she'd been hiding her entire life.
"Really, really." Steve smiled at the thought of her girlfriend again. Hopefully, when everything was over, he'd be able to see her first thing. He couldn't wait to hold her in his arms again, to hear her voice, to finally feel like he was home again.
But, until then, he could only dream.
With a small chuckle, Steve added, "She's my Suzie."
"Wait, who's Suzie?" Robin asked, brows furrowed.
"It's some girl from camp, I guess it's his girlfriend. To be honest with you, I'm not 100% sure she's even real..... Anyway, he's crazy about her, says she's hotter than Phoebe Cates. She's like the only one he's ever loved."
There was no reply from Robin, and suddenly, Steve recalled the conversation they'd shared back in the base, a conversation in which she practically admitted to having feelings for him. He felt bad—he'd ranted about being in love with someone else to a girl who had a crush on him.
"I'm sorry, I didn't have to go so far."
Robin gave a look, "What are you sorry for?"
"I mean—y'know, when we were tied up? You were talking about Click's class...."
The blonde girl finally understood, and fell quiet again. He was clearly under the impression that she had a crush on him when it reality.....
"Robin, did you just OD in there?" Steve asked, slightly concerned with the girls silence.
"No," she sighed in response, "I....am still alive."
Suddenly, Steve's body appeared from under the stall, and Robin watched as the boy slid from his stall to hers. As he leaned against the wall, one knee propping his elbow up, she stated, "The floor's disgusting."
"Yeah, well, I already got a bunch of blood and puke on my shirt, so......"
Robin laughed before her face fell again. The Harrington boy was quick to notice, and frowned. Something was eating her up on the inside. "Hey, Rob, what's wrong?"
Robin Buckley was conflicted. Clearly, Steve was under the impression that she liked him, which was nothing but wrong, but she couldn't tell him the truth, could she? She couldn't admit to being a town pariah, to being someone who most turned away from, who most looked at with shame in their eyes.
But...she couldn't let him misread her words anymore. She couldn't let her stand awkwardly in the way between Steve and Carla.
So, with a sigh, Robin started, "Do you remember what I said? About me being jealous, and like, obsessed."
"Yeah."
"It wasn't because I had a crush on you." Robin admitted, trying to stop the anxiety bubbling up inside of her. It was too far to stop and just ignore the question. Now, she had to tell him and pray he still saw her as his co-worker, as his friend. A shaky sigh left the girl's lips as she stated, "It's because....she wouldn't stop staring at you."
Maybe it was because of his concussion, or from all the banging around he's hand over the years, but her words didn't quite make sense in his head. "Mrs. Click?"
The Buckley gave a dry chuckle, before finally admitting, "Tammy Thompson."
Tammy?
Robin didn't look Steve in the eyes as she continued speaking —she didn't want to see the disgust he could have, or the fear that he had been friends with someone like her. "I wanted her to look at me. But...she couldn't pull her eyes away from you and your stupid hair. And I didn't understand because you would get bagel crumbs all over the floor. And you asked dumb questions. And you were a douche bag. And—And you didn't even like her because you had Carla Wheeler, and I would go home.....and just scream into my pillow."
Hell. All this time, Steve had thought Robin was falling for him, trying to ignore her feelings for the sake of his own relationship, but really.....she'd been hiding her feelings for someone else. For someone she'd more than likely never be able to have.
All the times he'd seen Robin idly staring at him in the back of class, thinking that she was just another girl wanting what Carla had.....he'd been wrong. Completely, 100% wrong. She'd truly been wishing she was in his place. That she was the girl that Tammy wanted.
Still, Steve stated to confirm, "But...Tammy Thompson's a girl."
"Steve....." Robin said softly, lips slightly shaky from admitting to liking the opposite gender. She'd never come out to anyone before, let alone opened up as much as she had with her co-worker. They'd been through hell and back together, and she could only hope that he understood.
"Yeah?" the Harrington boy searched his friends eyes, noticing the fear and anxiety that filled them. She was scared, terrified, that he was going to view her differently because of who she was. "Oh."
"Oh." Robin mocks.
"Holy shit."
"Yeah. Holy shit."
A small silence came over the two Scoops employees, and Steve glanced over at his friend. She'd turned away from him, waiting for him to make the first move. Regret was laced in her features, like she was cursing herself out for telling Steve 'the hair' Harrington of all people her secret, of risking everyone finding out she was a lesbian.
Robin finally looked at the beat up boy, repeating his question, "Steve....did you OD over there?"
"No, I just—uh, just thinking." Steve lightly shook his head, watching as the blonde began to fidget with her hair.
Thinking about it....he really didn't have a problem with Robin liking girls—it was honestly sorta a relief that she didn't have a crush on him. Despite his dad teaching him that he had to like women, that anyone who thought otherwise should be called slurs and treated differently, Steve didn't care. Robin was still his friend, his co-worker. She was still someone who had been with him at his worst, and he wasn't about to ditch her over who she liked.
So, instead of leaving with a disgusted look on his face, Steve decided to try and make the girl feel better—to try letting her know he was supportive. "I mean, yeah, Tammy Thompson, y'know, she's cute and all, but...I mean, she's a total dud."
"She is not." Robin retorted.
"Yes, she is." the boy insisted, "She wants to be, like, a singer. She wants to move to, like, Nashville and shit."
"She has dreams."
"She can't even hold a tune. She's practically tone-deaf. Have you heard her? All the time," Steve continued, a light smile gracing his face as the previously nervous girl cracked a laugh. To try and make her laugh some more, he started mimicking the girl's signing abilities in a off-key mumble, "You see me now tonight. You see me—"
"She does not sound like that."
"She sounds exactly like that. That's a great impersonation of her—"
"You sound like a Muppet." Robin stated.
Steve countered, "She sounds like a Muppet. She sounds like a Muppet giving birth." he then proceeded to break into song, the Buckley cackling before joining in, the two of them putting on a voice that mimicked Kermit the Frog, "And if you could hold me tight. We'll be holding on forever!"
"I know, I know!"
"Exactly!"
The two teens got lost in a fit of laughter—real, genuine, laughter—and Steve was truly pleased he'd made Robin feel comfortable again. But, he couldn't help himself from adding one more comment, something that could make her even more sure that he was supportive of her.
"Hey, uh, if it makes you feel any better, I think Carla likes girls too." Steve blurted out, causing Robin to look at him with a slightly confused look.
"Really?" the girl slightly smiled at the thought of the Wheeler girl not being completely straight either. Maybe she'd find the courage to tell the girl after they saw each other again—because even with the anxiety, it felt great for someone else to know her secret.
"Yeah." Steve shrugged. It wasn't a huge deal to him. Carla was free to like whoever she wanted, and besides—not trying to act like he was all that—she was his. He knew that Carla Wheeler wasn't planning on leaving him anytime soon for anyone. "I still love her, though. People shouldn't hate you just because you're not what they see as normal."
"Good advice." Robin rolled her eyes, "But, uh, it's kind of nice if she does like girls too."
"Don't you go stealing my girlfriend with that info, Buckley." Steve raised a brow, messing around with his friend.
Robin shrugged, "I don't know, she's pretty hot, Harrington."
The two teens burst into laughter again, and for a moment, it felt like everything was completely normal. Like they were just two normal teenagers—something Steve hadn't been since November of '83.
The drive to the mall felt rather long.
No one spoke the whole ride—due to the tense situation at hand—meaning the only sound was the car's engine. Carla was okay with that though, as it would have been wrong to start arguing or speaking about something irrelevant when they were about to face an inter-dimensional monster.
As they parked in the mall lot, Carla couldn't help herself from growing more worried. She prayed that Steve and Robin and Dustin—and hell, probably Erica Sinclair too—were okay, that they were in the mall and safe. The last thing she wanted to see was her boyfriend on death's door.
Exiting the car, Nancy took charge in sneaking into the mall—another thing Carla didn't think she'd be doing, but then again when was anything that had happened within the past few days something on her summer bucket list—the group following behind quietly, not to alert anyone who may be waiting for them.
Once inside Starcourt, El came forward, in case she needed to use her powers.....which, she did. Even though she was weak, Eleven was still strong enough to fight—she always was. And, while Carla wanted her to take a break, there was no way in hell they were going to make it through anyone with the girl.
Nancy had led them to the second floor, and El stepped forward to see what she was dealing with, Carla following after, curious on what was below them. Peering down below, the Wheeler girl could point out at least four people dressed head to toe in black, armed with guns—the girl presuming them to be none other than the Russian guards from earlier that week when she, Robin, Steve and Dustin were looking for an entrance into the secret room.
Though it was rather vague because of the distance between them, Carla could hear the men speaking in a different language, thick with accent—only adding to the presumption that these men were indeed Russian—
Then, one of the men pointed a finger towards one of the food-court restaurants, and the others followed after him with their guns raised, ready to strike down whoever was behind.....oh God. Steve, Robin, Erica and Dustin were behind the court counter, weren't they? And with the way those men were holding those guns—
Carla didn't want to think of what was about to happen.
She instead turned to Eleven, who understood that now was the time to use her powers. The girl extended her hand, her extrasensory abilities causing the alarm of one of the display cars to start blaring.
The sudden sound caused all four men to whip themselves around, guns pointing at the car instead of at the counter. Instead of just blaring the alarm, the car then started to slightly shake, the headlights flashing on and off uncontrollably.
Then, as if they realized what was going on, the guards' eyes slowly slid up to the balcony, straight at the girl with the bloody nose.
But, before they could act upon her, El thrust her hand out, the car flying away from its display spot and into another shop in the food court, taking all the guards, as well as multiple tables and chairs with it.
"Damn," Carla breathed, watching as the car rocked back and forth. The Russian men laid completely still, and blood pooled from their heads. Eleven harming people would never get old—it was always gruesome, whether or not the men deserved it.
But, Carla's mind suddenly became too preoccupied to say anything else as her eyes suddenly lit up, catching four familiar figures. Erica Sinclair, Robin Buckley, Dustin Henderson and—her breath hitched—Steve Harrington.
He was alive. Steve was okay.
Finally, after relentless calls to Scoops Ahoy and to his house, of worry over his whereabouts, was Steve finally back in her presence—Dustin, Erica, and Robin at his side, which, believe it or not, took a lot of anxiety off of her chest.
Despite the distance between the two, the couple's eyes were quick to meet—clicking together as if they were magnets from opposite poles. Steve was still in his stupid Scoops Ahoy uniform, though even from this angle, she could see it was stained with blood, and his face......his face was even worse. His eye was swollen, and there was blood around it—as well as dried across his chin.
Then again, to Steve, Carla knew she looked pretty shitty too. Her shirt was stained with Mind Flayer goo and blood and sweat, her neck was bruised from Billy, her hair was frizzy, and she looked exhausted.
But, Carla didn't care. Steve was alive. He wasn't dead in a Russian base.
The Wheeler girl wasn't exactly sure who started running first, but at some point her feet started moving and suddenly it was like there was no one else in the mall but them, crashing through space to reach each other. Carla and Steve both needed to be in each other's arms after over twenty-four hours of absolute hell.
Carla ran down the escalator—defeating its purpose entirely—watching as Steve broke away from his group too, sprinting away from the food-court. Once the girl's feet hit tile again, her pace quickened and so did the boy's.
Finally, they met in the middle.
Carla almost threw herself at him, one arm cupping the back of his head, the other around his neck, but Steve was there to catch her, his arms securing around his girl. Because of the force of their impact, the Harrington spun the Wheeler around to keep the two of them from falling on to the linoleum tile, Carla's feet slightly dangling above the floor as she was lifted.
Holding the boy close, Carla lowered herself ever so slightly so she could meet his eyes, "Oh my God, Steve. Are you okay? You didn't answer my calls when I was in the hospital and I was so worried you were dead in that Russian base—I'm assuming you were there—"
"Carla, I'm okay." Steve breathed, cutting off the girls ramble. Was this real? Had he really escaped the Russian base with only a few injuries? Was he really holding his girlfriend again? It was all a little surreal. "I was worried about you. I-I wanted to tell you where I was, believe me, but—wait you were in the hospital? And how do you know I was with the Russians?"
"It's a long story....." Carla trailed off. Sooner or later the group would have to explain everything that's happened within the week, "And, uh, I kinda assumed. I knew something was wrong." Her eyes searched his face, taking in his injuries, "Did—Did they do that to you?"
"I—yeah, I got a little beat up but it doesn't matter." the Harrington boy ignored his own pain and instead questioned his girlfriends, noticing the rather large bruises on her neck. Now that was enough to get him riled up, "Who did that to you? I swear—"
"Billy. But, before you get all riled up, it wasn't him. It's—everything that's happened without you is a long story." Carla wasn't exactly sure how to explain everything that had gone down since he's been trapped. "Doesn't matter though. I'm okay. I've been through hell and back, but I'm okay."
"Thank God," Steve exclaimed before pulling her in for a kiss. Carla cupped the boys face with both of her hands, not hesitating to deepen the kiss, having missed the warm feeling she felt with him.
Pulling away, the girl whispered, "I love you."
With a ghost of a smile on his face, Steve repeated the words, "I love you, too."
Interrupting the couple's moment was the voice of Dustin Henderson. The others in Steve and Carla's respective groups must have finally started to meet in the middle too. Turning her head to the side, the Wheeler watched as the curly haired boy was engulfed in a hug by El and Mike. "You flung that thing like a Hot Wheel!"
"Lucas?" Erica Sinclair's voice was next, eyebrows raised in confusion as she noticed her brother among the crowd.
Lucas shared the same expression as his little sister, "What are you doing here?"
"Ask them," the young Sinclair jutted her thumb in an accusatory manner towards Steve and Robin, who had come up beside the couple, "It's their fault."
Steve didn't deny her answer, "True, yeah. Totally true. It's absolutely our fault."
"Sorry." Carla muttered, as she too had been apart of getting Erica into the Russian mess.
Robin, who had no clue what the hell had just happened, asked in confusion, "I don't understand what happened to that car."
"El has superpowers." Dustin stated, pointing towards the girl with his thumb.
"I'm sorry?"
"Superpowers." Steve repeated without an explanation, as if it was a completely normal thing to say, "She threw it with her mind. C'mon, catch up."
At the familiar name, Erica looked at Eleven, "That's El?"
"Who's El?" Robin questioned, still completely confused with the conversation.
Nancy entered the conversation next, eyebrows raised as she eyed Robin, "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"I'm Robin. I work with Steve."
"She cracked the top secret code." Dustin stated, causing the Buckley to put on a light smile.
"With me." Carla added.
"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians in the first place." Steve went on, all eyes landing on him with confusion at the mention of Russians.
"Russians? Wait, what Russians?" Jonathan's brows furrowed.
"The Russians." Steve repeated himself, lightly nodding towards the guards that El had tossed the car at.
"You knew about this?" Nancy eyed her sister, to which Carla opened her mouth to reply only to get cut off by Max Mayfield.
The redhead exclaimed, "Those were Russians?"
"Some of them." Erica shrugged, only putting more confusion on to her brothers shoulders.
"What are you talking about?" Lucas questioned.
Dustin sent a small look towards the boy, "Didn't you hear our code red?"
"Yeah, I couldn't understand half of what you were saying!" Mike replied, a snobby look on his face.
"Goddamn low battery!"
"How many times do I have to tell you with the low battery?" Steve chastised the curly haired boy, smacking the back of his hand to his palm. From his side, Carla could tell they'd argued about this problem before.
Dustin fired back, "Well everything worked out, didn't it, Steve?"
"Worked out? We almost died!" Erica fought.
"Yeah, but we didn't, did we?"
Steve stated, "It was pretty damn close."
"Oh my God." Carla sighed, different conversations hitting her ears all at once. Chaos had completely taken over the group. Lucas started questioning about whether or not these Russians were working for the Russian government, to which Dustin argued in return, the the rest of the group stating their own thoughts and opinions, while Robin cluelessly tried to catch up.
Allowing the argument to fade away, Carla looked back to see Eleven separating herself from the group. Her pace was slow, and the Wheeler could see the sour expression on her face, a drastic change from the smile she'd been showing when hugging Dustin.
Everyone continued to converse, and seemed to busy to notice her appearance, so, leaving her boyfriends side, Carla approached the Hopper with caution, "El? Are you okay?"
"I don't know." Eleven whispered. She girl's breaths came in pants, and she looked seconds away from collapsing on to the ground with lack of energy. She looked utterly exhausted, and Carla felt terrible. "It hurts."
"What hurts? Your leg?" Carla put a hand on the girl, growing more worried for her by the second, "Do you need me to re-wrap it? El, what's wrong?"
The Wheeler's words seemed to be going unheard by Eleven, the girls face cringing together in pain. Her eyes scanned around the room, desperate for something, and her hands clamped her hands over her ears, like some noise wouldn't stop bothering her.
"Eleven—" her name had barely left Carla's lips before the girl collapsed into her arms.
Something was wrong. Really, wrong.
mara's misc!
starla is back baby!
i literally loved writing their reunion <3 i stole some inspo from finnick and annie's reunion in thg and just put all my love into it. i've been waiting for this moment since chapter 8....
also, the literal chaos in this scene. i loved it sm. these scenes are always so fun to re-watch and write just bc of the confusion.
also, the beginning of this chapter......yeah, my bby is bi. im thinking about writing this into missing/vanished a little bit more, (i hadn't really thought about carla's sexuality before this book).
i just had to include robin's coming out scene! a lot of writer's place their oc in the place of tammy, but i really didn't want to do that. carla already has enough attention on her. it was really fun writing my own plot into steve's love conversation, and just robin's snarky replies.
anyway this was a really fun chapter to write.
hope you enjoyed <3 see you back with chapter 17!