1. Obviously, I don't own anything from Stranger things. Just Jo.

2. I want to make sure everyone understands that the mentions of bullying and some words used towards Jo are NOT things I agree with or would ever approve of saying to anyone. I do, in fact, actually have Tourette's, so a lot of what she does will be based off my own day to day tiks. If anyone is uncomfortable with reading about bullying associated with this disorder, please do not read! I don't want to upset anyone with this.


JOHANNA

"What the hell is that?" Johanna asked, looking in disgust at the glowing green container Steve held carefully.

"That pretty much sums up what I was gonna say," Steve said, lip curled back.

"Me two," Robin added. We were still starring at it when the room jolted. Jo looked around at everyone, the same wide eyes starring back at her as the room rumbled.

"Was that just me, or did the room move?" Dustin asked.

"Booby traps..." Erica whispered.

"I should have gone home," Jo moaned.

The room jolted again, causing Jo to let out a small scream. "Oh nooo."

Over the whirring noise, Robin said, "You know what? Let's just grab that and go." She took the cylinder from Steve, who put the lid back on the box.

"Which one do I press, Erica?" They looked over to Dustin, pushing buttons on the control panel.

"You're a button," Jo chirped unhelpfully.

"Just press the damn button, nerd," Erica said, equally unhelpfully.

"Which one? I'm pressing the button, okay?" Dustin yelled.

"Press 'open door.'" Erica yelled back.

"I'm pressing 'open door!'"

Jo whistled, her nerves rising quickly along with everyone else's.

"Just open the- press the other button." Steve had now joined Dustin in randomly punching buttons.

"Oh no. Oh no!" Jo jerked her head, rapping her knuckles on her chin. "Is now a bad time to mention I don't like small spaces?"

"Yes!"

"Out of the way so she can push the button-" Robin demanded, but was ignored by the once again bickering boys.

"Would you stop?"

"I'm trying."

"Would you let me just do it? Would you stop?"

"Just open the door!" Robin yelled just before a loud clang rang out, and a metal panel slammed down in front of the gate.

And then it started dropping.

Jo started screaming, along with everyone else, grabbing onto something to hold onto. Being closer to Steve, she heard him say,

"Oh, shit."

And then Dustin started screeching, "Shit! Shit!" He started aggressively hitting the buttons again.

"They're not going to work, dumbass!" Jo yelled.

"We're going down! We're going down!" Steve cried.

"Yeah, no shit, Harrington!" Robin yelled back.

"Why don't these buttons work?" Dustin wailed, and Steve screamed again.

"Oh, fuck," Jo moaned, hands spazzing out as she pushed herself against the wall for balance.

"Press the button!" Erica yelled.

"He is pressing the button!" Jo yelled, watching Dustin attack the panel board.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Dustin snapped. "Playing a game?"

"Come on, press something! Just press the button!" Dustin screamed loudly, and Erica yelled, "Push it!"

"Hold on!" Jo yelled just before the elevator crashed to the ground, and they all fell over.

"Tik tok, tik tok, tik-" Jo coughed, breaking off her noises.

Steve groaned in pain. "My groin. It fell on my groin. Dustin!"

Jo stood up as Steve continued to struggle and shakily made her way over.

"Get this off me!" He grunted, straining at the heavy box. "I can't move."

Robin sighed and came over to help Jo lift the box off Steve. A wave of jealousy washed over Jo, and she scoffed at herself inwardly. Why was she jealous? Because Robin was helping them move a box? Come on.

"Is everyone ok?" Robin asked.

Jo jerked and replied, "Bombs!" Everyone stopped for a second and looked at her, some with horror and some with confusion. A blush spread over her face and she shrugged. "Sorry.

"Yeah," Steve said, carrying on the conversation. She sent him a grateful smile. "I'm great, now that I know that Russians can't design elevators!"

He patted her on the shoulder as he walked by, and she had to hold back her squeal of delight. He made his way to the buttons and started punching them.

"I think we've established those buttons clearly don't work."

"They're buttons, they have to do something!" He snipped.

"Maybe we need the key card." Jo pointed at the slider bar above the panel.

"A what?" Steve asked, turning to look at her.

"It's an electronic lock," Robin groaned. "Same as the loading dock door. If we don't have a key card, it won't operate, meaning-"

"We're stuck in here." Dustin finished.

"Yeah." She concluded.

"Just so you nerds are aware," Erica started going on a tangent that Jo decided to ignore and instead looked around for anything else of use.

She jumped when Steve screamed, covering her ears.

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT TINA! OR UNCLE JACK'S PARTY! Your mom's not gonna be able to find us, if we're DEAD IN A RUSSIAN. ELEVATOR."

They stared at him in shock for a moment before Dustin broke the silence.

"Hey. What if we climbed out?"

Steve popped open the hatch and Dustin climbed out first. We watched from below as they looked up, and heard Steve's voice echo as he said,

"What were you saying about climbing?"


Jo's eyes flew open in the middle of the night, having dreamed that they were falling again. She groaned quietly and rubbed at her eyes, rolling over. She couldn't believe that she was sleeping in the same room as Steve- and get this! He was literally right next to her. Normally, she couldn't have been happier. But right now, this was feeling more like a nightmare than a fever dream. But she allowed herself to stare at him for a few minutes, since he'd never know and it helped her calm down just a little. Robyn and he had finally fallen asleep not long before she did, their talk of escape puttering out slowly as they grew more and more exhausted. But now she was the only one awake. Just like how she was the only one who knew she was in love with Steve Harrington. Maybe she should tell him in the morning.

Who knew, they might die in here.


It is so hard to write tics! Which is understandable now that I've actually thought about it, but I really set myself up this time! I'm sorry chapters take so long, guys! I try to write Jo with how I would respond in each given situation, so that helps a little. Anyways, like and review please! Until next time!