The Snowball Effect Chapter 14: Robin and Steve Skip Work, a stranger things, 2016 fanfic

"What do you think they're doing right now?" Dustin asked, staring up at the ceiling. He had a book on his chest with no intention of opening it.

"Don't know, don't really care," Max replied. She was leaned against the bed Dustin was collapsed across, doodling on his Etch a Sketch.

Lucas leaned over and took a look at her artwork. "Is that Dustin?" he asked, staring in confusion at the scribble she had produced. "Or...is it the Mind Flayer?"

She scowled at him, slapping the toy against his stomach so hard he let out a gasp of pain. "No, idiot," she complained. "It's obviously Spiderman and MJ. Look, he's swinging." She pointed to an illegible blob that Lucas supposed could, if interpreted correctly, be Peter Parker and his girlfriend.

The door to Dustin's room slammed open. Robin and Steve stood in the doorway, dressed in khakis and matching polo shirts. "Hey, Henderson," Steve barked. "Come on. We're going to be late for work. Do you want us to drop you at Church or not?"

"Church?" Lucas and Max exclaimed in unison.

Dustin adjusted his tie, climbing out of bed. "Yeah," he said with a toothy smile. "I'm going to one of those Mormon churches. Susie said all visitors were welcome, so I'm checking it out."

Lucas rolled his eyes. "You're insane," he commented.

"Completely," Max added. "Does this mean we have to leave your house now?"

"It does unless you want to spend your Sunday afternoon with my mom and Mews Two," Dustin shrugged.

As the five of them started to make their way out of the room, the clatter of the front door slamming sounded downstairs.

"Mom?" Dustin called. "Is that you?"

"Dustin," came an urgent, familiar voice. "Are Lucas and Max there?"

They all stared at each other for a moment, then surged downstairs.

When they arrived in the Living Room, they found Mike and Nancy, looking as though they'd rolled around in a dumpster for a few hours. Their clothes were sweaty and stained, while their hair flew in every direction. Nancy's perm had transformed into a lion's mane.

"Nance?" Steve asked, frowning.

She looked at him, tears suddenly welling in her eyes. "Steve," she mouthed, unable to speak. Both her and Mike seemed as though they could collapse from exhaustion at any minute.

"Sit down," Dustin urged, taking Nancy and Mike by the arms and leading them to the plush couch. They plopped down, neither uttering a word.

Dustin sat down in the chair across from them. "What happened to you guys?" he asked. "You look like you've been in prison the whole weekend. With garbage duty." He had meant the comment as a joke, but as he looked at the glance the Wheeler kids shared, he realized he had hit closer to the mark than intended.

"Shit," Lucas muttered. "Why do I get the feeling we're about to get roped into something crazy and completely illegal?"

"And the last we saw of them...they were being dragged down the hallway by the crazy Russian girl," Mike finished. "We don't know what happened to them. They could be dead or tortured for all we know."

"Well, there's really only one thing to do," Robin said, speaking for the first time.

Everyone turned to look at her.

She raised her hands in the air. "Call Sam," she said defensively.

"Sam?" Mike asked incredulously. "You're on a first name basis with one of the most reknowned scientists of the area, the man who's helped kill monsters and essentially take down an entire branch of tactical geniuses?"

"Uh...yeah?" Robin answered, snapping her gum.

Steve stepped in. "Last summer, after the whole debacle, we had to go to a bunch of meetings with him," he explained. "After a few weeks it felt weird still calling him Dr. Owens."

"Okay, whatever," Nancy said irritably. "Let's just call him."

Steve and Robin got to their feet and walked over to the telephone, self nominating themselves to be the representatives. Nobody argued, though Nancy and Mike sent them a few glances.

"So how was El doing?" Max asked. "You know, before getting kidnapped by Russians and physically tortured to the point of almost passing out."

"She's doing well, I think," Mike replied. "I mean, she's happy. Mostly. Obviously she misses everybody. But the Byers have been treating her well. She and Jonathan seemed a lot closer than before."

Dustin turned to Nancy. "Oh yeah," he said, sounding less as though he were interested and more as though he were asking out of politness. "How's Jonathan?"

She shrugged. "Same as ever." With a sigh, she hoisted herself off the couch. "I'm going to go help out Steve and Robin. Make sure they don't get anything wrong." Without a glance back, she walked into the kitchen.

Lucas and Max shared a wide eyed look. "I think the time spent in the dumpster did something to her attitude," Max said.

"Yeah, either that or the fact that she was knocked out, kidnapped, thrown in a prison cell, then forced to watch her boyfriend get dragged away by some crazy Russian military personel," Mike snapped back.

Max held up her hands in surrender. "Geez, OK," she muttered.

"Sorry," Mike said, throwing his head in his hands. "It's just hard, you know? We're scared. Each of us has one of the most important people in the world to us trapped in that place."

Lucas put a hand on his shoulder. "It's gonna OK, dude," he said with a smile.

Try as he might, Mike couldn't smile back.

I'm so glad that they're back in Hawkins! I love all these characters with my whole heart. While this will be mainly focused on Jonathan, Nancy, Mike, Eleven, and their adventures, there will be little snippets of the other kids as well. I have a lot of fun ideas for what they could have in store. As always, please leave a review of what you thought (it could be one sentence, reading them just makes my day)!