Hello hello, people!

Welcome to my second fanfic, Stranger Things: What if.

I grew tired of writing about The Flash: What if, so I decided to change the pace and setting. I enjoyed writing this very much. Though it was super hard in the beginning.

The reason for that was because I was struggling with where to fit my OC in the story. I knew I wanted him to help out Eleven/Jane but watching the fight scenes in the series, I didn't know how my OC would change the outcome. But I ignored that and decided to just write the background and once we come up to that point, we'll see what my mind will cook up.

Anyway, about the Flash, I'll be alternating between each but for now, I am taking a break from my Flash fanfic. Though I have 1 or 2 chapters in stock, it's not good enough to release, so I'll be proofreading them and editing them later. For now, I want to write this What if story.

Let me know what you think about it. Thanks for the support for the Flash story and now this.

Discord: 7jhnRnCXDK

Enjoy!

Words: +-4k

PS: This is a copy and pasted story from my Webnovel account. I decided to also share it here, and let's be honest. I want people to know that there is a stranger thing fanfic that isn't just about following the story with an OC. Already from chapter 1, I will be making small snowballs, and let's hope by the time I am done, it becomes an entirely new timeline from the original story. There is already about 15 chapters on Webnovel. So if you want, you can check it over there as well. I will be posting the first few chapters here, wanting to test the water. Then if I receive enough support, I'll post on both sites. On the draft side, I have already finished season 1 and am working on season 2.

"You disappoint me!" A white-haired, old man said to a small boy with dark shaved hair and crystal blue eyes. The boy was wearing hospital gowns, looking at the white-haired man with sadness but also fear, lots of fear. With tears in the boy's eyes, he slowly walked towards the man, who had an expression of huge disappointment directed at the small child.

"Papa," the 10-year-old boy said but the man called papa ignored him. Turning away from the small child and walked out of the room, with a metal table in the middle of it. Next to the door was a window, that had people in it, with papers in their hands and white coats.

But the boy didn't mind those, no, he was looking at his papa leaving the room. "Papa! PAPA!" The boy cried louder but the man just left the room and replaced him were two guards, moving toward the boy. "No! PAPA!" The boy yelled and right then, the guards had stopped unnaturally.

That's when the man stopped and with a frustrated sigh, he took a step back, showing himself in front of the room, giving hope to the small child in a hospital gown. The dark-haired child hoped that his papa would forgive him. Forgive him for not being able to do what he had asked. To crush the animal on the table.

But crushing that hope, the man frowned, and his frown turned into anger. "Twelve, you better behave, or else." The man told him calmy and that's when the guards could move again. "Papa! Sorry! PAPA!" The child cried again, behaving, and standing still, hoping that his papa would not leave like that.

The guards took him under his arms and started to drag the kid away from the white room, while he started sobbing and calling for his papa to stop the bad men. They turned into a white hallway, heading towards a dead end, but the hallway had two doors, side by side. "PAPA!" The 10-year-old child yelled one last time before the guards had stopped next to the first door, opening it.

"No! no! no! papa, sorry!" the boy yelled again, but the guards ignored him and threw him inside, shutting the door after. The room was small. Very small, smaller than a closet. It didn't have any light inside, meaning it was very dark. "Papa… Sorry…" The 10-year-old boy said, sobbing his eyes out.

The man had asked him to crush the animal in the cage. Which the boy was about to do, but there was a voice inside his head. Always distracting him whenever he wanted to use his power.

It was the voice of a woman, humming to something. Though he had tried multiple times to ignore it, there was something to that humming that he was very attracted to. But because he couldn't focus on what his papa had told him all the time, he would be thrown into this dark room.

He should have gotten used to it, both the humming and the dark room by this point, but he couldn't. No matter how many times he had come here, he couldn't get used to the dark.

Right now, the child was shaking uncontrollably and sobbing, tears coming down his face like a waterfall. "Papa… Sorry…" The child kept repeating, hoping that the door would open again. But nothing happened, so the child kept repeating while crying.

After who knows how long, the boy had passed out, tired from everything, with tear marks all over his face. Still, in his sleep, he was repeating the words he was saying while awake, "Papa… Sorry…"

After hours and hours of being in that dark room, twelve would wake up, cry all over again and fall unconscious. He had tried to use his powers but every time, his papa's voice would echo in his mind. "Twelve, Behave!" He would say and so, the 10 years old boy waited for the door to open. Still fearing the dark room.

After another few hours, the boy heard some noises outside, metal sounds. He had fallen asleep, but that noise woke him up. "PAPA!" The boy yelled with joy, thinking that his papa had forgiven him. Thinking that his papa was no longer mad with him.

The door did open, but it wasn't his papa that was in front of the door. He couldn't see clearly, because the sudden light attacked his eyes, which resulted in the boy closing his eyes from the pain.

The guards in front of the door were already used to this, so instead of waiting for the failure as a weapon to get out on his own, they entered inside and dragged him out. The first few times, he did struggle, but understanding that they were dragging him back to his room, he calmed down.

Being dragged across the hallways, the boy was already used to this and after almost reaching his room, he could finally see again. Everything was white, from the walls to the doors, to the people wearing white clothes.

Except for his papa, who always wore black-colored clothes or grey. Once they had reached the room, the guards opened the door and threw the kid inside. The blue-eyed kid grunted a little but didn't cry. The bad men always treated him this way, so he was used to this.

He was even hoping that instead of the dark room, they would keep throwing him around. This way, he wouldn't be all alone in that dark room. Even if he would get hurt, the boy would have people around him at least.

Once the guard had left, Twelve stood up, dusting his white gown, and walked over to the bed, sitting on it without a word. He knew that once he was out of that dark room, his papa would come and talk to him again.

So, with a smile, he patiently waited for his papa to come. He wanted to see his papa again because he missed him. No matter what the boy did or in most cases, didn't do, his papa would always forgive him and pat his shaved head with a smile, telling him, "Good job, you behaved. I am proud of you." Though the boy didn't know what "proud" meant, he couldn't ask. Whatever it was, it felt good to hear his papa say to him.

But this time, his papa didn't come, which confused the blue-eyed boy. Still, he waited. There were nurses, and doctors passing by his room. He could hear them through the door. They would pass to him strange emotions that the young boy didn't know what they were.

They would never try to talk with him, but Twelve would hear their voices sometimes... Other than his papa, there was another woman that always took care of him.

She would feed him, answer his questions, and even bring paper with crayons to draw and write a little, though his handwriting had lots of room to improve. But the woman, the nurse wouldn't say anything. She would just stay with him for ten to fifteen minutes and every time, she would show him her sad expression. Seeing this expression on this nurse had always hurt Twelve, but he couldn't understand why.

One time, when he was 7, the boy had caught her wiping away a tear sneakily from the corners of her eyes. "Mama?" The boy had called her, confused at her action, and that word had pierced the nurse right in her heart.

Inside her mind, she was sobbing. 'Why… Why must they suffer so much…' She thought while putting on an indifferent mask. She had ignored his call to her, not acknowledging the little child's call. 'Don't show anything Chloe or they would fire you and no one would take care of them.' She thought in her mind with resolve.

Since the beginning of this experiment, she was taking care of this little boy and another one like him. She was taught to not get attached to the experiments, to the weapons.

She failed very well, but her mask of indifference had hidden her failure. "Mama?" She heard again and this time, she turned, looking at the innocent eyes filled with confusion, but also… concern. Seeing that, her mask was about to crack, but through sheer will, she stopped herself.

The brown-haired nurse shook her head, "Twelve, you cannot call me that." She told him sternly, which changed the boy's expression to sadness. "Do you understand?" The nurse asked again, her voice getting more stern. "Yes." The boy answered again, after a single, but small nod. The 7-year-old boy didn't understand it at that point, and even when he was 10 now, he still didn't understand why she refused to be called mama.

While the boy was remembering that conversation with the nurse, his gaze at the floor, the door to his room opened. He raised his head up super fast, expecting it to be his papa. "Papa!" The boy unintentionally yelled with happiness. But that happiness was reduced when he saw who had entered. It was the brown-haired nurse. The nurse didn't say anything and entered the room alone with her indifferent mask.

"Where is papa?" The boy asked with confusion, directly looking at the woman's eyes. The nurse looked back at his innocent and beautiful clear blue eyes, and she looked away after a moment later. Her eyes were watering. The boy tilted his head a little, not understanding why she broke the eye contact. But the child still waited for her to say something first.

After a while, the nurse took back control of her emotions. "Papa won't come to you anymore. Only I'll be taking care of you from now on." She dropped the news and the boy's eyes widened.

His heart dropped and tears slowly formed in the corner of his eyes. "No! Sorry! Tell Papa I sorry! I listen now!" The boy told the brunette nurse, afraid of not seeing his papa anymore. Hoping that his papa would come back.

The nurse closed her eyes and shook her head. Hiding the tear that was falling down her face. To others, especially to the boy, it looked like she refused his requests. "NO! Tell papa!" The boy begged her again.

This time, the nurse stood up as soon as she heard his pleading. She couldn't handle it anymore. She turned away from him and headed towards the door. "NO!" The boy yelled with anger, stopping the nurse straight in her tracks with his powers. "NO! NO! NO!" The boy yelled, his anger growing, not realizing that he was hurting the nurse.

That's when guards entered the room with weapons drawn, aiming at the boy and without hesitation, one of them fired. The boy was surprised and caught off guard. The result was that he was shot with a dart and slowly, he was going unconscious.

He was hearing the humming again inside his mind. The nurse that was under the child's power was now free. The guards then walked towards her, intending to get her out of the room.

Once they were close to the nurse, they saw her have tears running down her face. Everyone had assumed that she was so afraid of the experiment that she cried. And after a couple of hours, when her shift had ended, she was offered to change position if it was too much, but she declined. Wanting to take care of the two remaining children.

Like that, time moved on and Twelve's testing also continued but the lack of the big boss made it clear to everyone that he had no more hope for this experiment. Every time the boy was brought to the room with the metal table, he had a big smile and lots of hope to meet his papa again. But his hopes would be crushed each time.

Twelve even considered killing the animals that the guards and the scientists would bring to him, thinking that would bring back papa. But every time he was going to kill, a woman's humming inside his head would stop him. It would only activate when the dark-haired boy intended to do harm with his powers.

So instead of doing harm, the kid tried to calm down the orange cat in the cage. Trying to read its mind, try to make the cat calm down by projecting his thoughts to it. Which only helped to further increase the cat's hissing at him. He was looking at it confusedly and tilted his head to the side a little, wondering why it didn't work.

So instead of thoughts, this time, he tried to project emotions into it. Emotions of calm and peacefulness. And that did work. The cat stopped hissing at the boy and instead, slowly moved closer to him, meowing now. The scientists behind the glass raised an eyebrow at this development and started writing about it.

The boy in the white room didn't look at the adults behind the window, instead, he was fully confused on the animal in front of him, filled with curiosity, so much so, that he didn't even bother wiping the blood that was coming of his nose. Twelve brought his right hand towards the cage, expecting the cat to start hissing, but shocking him, the animal got closer to his hand.

Once the child's hand was resting on the side of the cage, the animal sniffed it a little and purred, rubbing its head on the cage and the boy's hand. The boy's eyes widened with surprise and shock. Not expecting the animal to do this, and not expecting the animal to be so soft and warm.

But before he could enjoy this further, someone kicked the door open, jolting Twelve and scaring the cat. Both looked straight at the door. Entering the room was a scientist with a white coat, but surprising the child, behind him was his papa. With his eyes wide open, the boy yelled "Papa!" with joy.

The boy stood up and circled the table, walking towards the big boss with a smile on his face, excited at seeing his papa after so long. Once he was near the old man, he stood straight, looking at the white-haired man, alternating his gaze from the boy to the cat on the table, who was hissing at the adults. The boy then noticed his bloody nose, and quickly wiped it with his white sleeve, looking back at the man in the black suit with a smile on the boy's face.

"What did he do?" The big boss asked the scientist who had entered the room first, clearly not expecting much compared to his other test subject. That tone did not escape the boy's ears and depressed him a little, but he didn't care about it too much. His papa was here now. His papa whom he hadn't seen for days, was here to see him now.

The 10 years old boy patiently waited, while the scientist was explaining everything that had happened so far. Once he was finished, "That's it? He can communicate with animals, and you come and get me?" The black-clothed man asked his subordinate with a raised eyebrow, but also with a tone of annoyance.

Before the scientist could say something, "I don't need him to communicate with the animal, I want him to kill it!" He yelled and turned towards the boy, who now had an extremely sad expression on his face. The man was remembering something, something that the boy had done a long time ago, and comparing that to this, he was a huge disappointment.

"Tsk, you are a big waste of time, Twelve." The man said and turned around, leaving the room. "Papa…" The boy whispered with teary eyes, watching the person that he loved leave like that. Not even looking behind. On the table, the cat kept hissing and trying to get out of its cage. Looking menacingly towards the only adult left in the room now.

The doctor sighed, "We are done for today." He said and left the room as well, leaving only the boy and the cat inside. But not for long, because the kind nurse entered the testing room and the first thing, she saw was the boy weeping, while still standing where he was when his papa had entered the room. Not moving from there an inch.

She expressed a sad sigh and put her gentle hands on the young kid's shoulders, making him raise his head from the ground and look up at the kind brunette nurse. The cat had calmed down when the scientist had left and now was meowing, looking at the boy as if comforting the human child.

When the nurse heard the meowing of the cat, she grew a little confused. Because the other times, this thing would always hiss at the boy non-stop unless he left the room. But now, it was looking at the boy, as if expressing… sadness… Curiosity eating her alive, she went towards the cage and opened it. As soon as the animal saw that, it got out hurryingly and ran towards the still crying human child.

The brunette thought that the orange cat was going to attack the child, so she ran after it. But surprising her, the cat came down to a walk and started to circle Twelve. Rubbing its body on the kid's leg. That stopped Twelve's cries and he looked down, sniffing to keep the snot inside his nose.

[Meow] Twelve heard and slowly bend down. The orange cat saw that and sat down in front of him, [Meow] it said again. Slowly, Twelve brought his hand on top of the cat's head and the orange cat raised its head as well. Asking to be petted, which Twelve did. The pain from his papa leaving him like that was still there, but now, he was filled with curiosity about this behavior.

The nurse was looking at the duo with a simple, but small smile, her mask of indifference had collapsed without her knowing about it. But after standing like that for two whole minutes, enjoying the orange cat and the boy having fun in silence, she decided that it was enough, no matter how much longer she herself wanted for Twelve to enjoy this peaceful moment.

"Twelve, it is time to go." She said and the child turned his attention towards her, his eyes widened. "I… Okay, mama…" The boy said, adding the last word without knowing. The nurse noticed that, but this time, she didn't correct him. She went to the cat, expecting to pick it up and bring it back to its cage. But the little animal would run away from her, circling the table, which would lead to the nurse following it.

But once she was on the other side of the room, away from Twelve, it would run to the child's side, purring, and rubbing itself on Twelve's body. "Are you doing this?" The brunet asked the dark-haired child a little annoyed, who shook his head with a little smile now, enjoying what was happening.

Like that, a year passed and Twelve turned 11 years old now. But other than the kind nurse, no one else cared for him. The nurse had also found out that the blue-eyed child had greatly improved his mind and emotional powers greatly, compared to his telekinesis. The cat that Twelve had befriended was taken away from him, upsetting the young kid very much.

Another thing was that, though the nurse wouldn't show it, she had gotten too attached to the children remaining in Hawkin's lab. Especially the boy. For some reason, she had taken a liking to him.

Treating him kindlier and gentler, as if he wasn't a failed weapon anymore, but a person. A human being. This resulted in Twelve liking her back as well, speaking more to her, asking more questions, and smiling more whenever she would visit him again.

Without knowing, Chloe, the kind nurse would think more about what-ifs scenarios, and dangerous what-if scenarios. Like, what if Twelve was gone from Hawkins's lab? What if she could get Twelve out of the facility and raise him in another state, as her own son?

Though the thoughts were dangerous, they wouldn't go away. Everything Chloe would go home, all she could think about was the boy and the girl in Hawkins's lab. She was young enough to marry someone and have her own family, but her work would get in the way of having that.

But now, she was fantasizing about it. What if she could have a son like Twelve? What would his name be? And like that, unknowingly, she searched for a name for the blue-eyed child.

After another few months, a dangerous idea popped inside Chloe's head when she was at home. 'Is his powers enough to escape yet?' She thought to herself while pacing in her living room. But she would find out the next day. Right now, she was planning on how to escape the place.

To Dr. Brenner, Twelve was useless right now so why not let him leave? Why not let him experience the outside world instead of hiding him inside a lab, being surrounded by white walls? The only reason the young child hadn't gone insane was the recurring visits from Chloe and the animal friends he would make. The big boss had completely stopped looking after the kid, at least the brunet assumed so.

Back inside the lab, Twelve was using his powers. Searching for the kind nurse in Hawkins's lab, he didn't find her. So, he extended his range a little more, ignoring the red blood exiting her nose, clutching his eyes shut, trying to concentrate as much as he could. But still, the blue-eyed boy didn't find the kind nurse, his mama.

But he did find someone else. There was a girl his age. Locked up in one of the rooms like his. She was sleeping peacefully, wearing a white hospital gown like his. Instantly, the girl woke up and turned towards the place the boy had projected a vision of himself. The white room was lit up, so both children could see each other clearly.

Though they were scared of each other at first, seeing each other's clothes and shaved heads, they grew curious. Twelve got closer to the girl, who was now sitting on the bed, curiously looking at the bloody-nosed child in front of her. "Are you like me?" The boy asked curiously, surprising the young girl. She looked at the young boy and nodded once.

After a while of silence, the girl raised her tattooed arm, showing the number 011 to the boy. Twelve looked at the number on her arm and back to her. Alternating for a few more seconds, before raising his own tattooed arm, showing her 012. The young boy looked around her bed and he found a plushy toy.

The nosebleed from Twelve was increasing, meaning that he couldn't hold on for long, so after a few more seconds of looking at the young girl, he raised a finger to his lips. "Shhh, don't tell papa." The young child said and once he received a simple nod from Eleven, he stopped using his powers. A small headache was coming, so Twelve closed his eyes, while he was lying on the bed now and with that, he fell asleep.

Days passed and Eleven and Twelve's relationship developed. Getting to know each other, even if there wasn't much, and enjoying each other's company, even if it was only for a few minutes. This was their first time meeting someone their age, as long as they remembered anyway. They never had met each other in person, only using their powers. This helped create a bond between the two young kids.

The cheery attitude, compared to Eleven's at least, from Twelve, made the other feel more comfortable with him. Enjoying his small smiles, whenever he would visit, talking with her, though in limited vocabulary. Slowly, days passed and the experiments and tests on Eleven grew, making her sadder at the end of the day.

But Twelve had that covered. He would visit her with his mental ability and share his feelings with her. Showering her with calm and small pieces of happiness, giving her everything he could. Though the nosebleed would intensify, Twelve didn't care. As long as Eleven would smile, he would do anything for her.