Author's Note: Once upon a time, I said I would never write a Stranger Things fanfic. Well, I'm eating my words now, and it's all Steve's fault. Him and his stupid camper dream. As soon as he and Nancy had that conversation, inspiration struck like lightning and a slew of possible stories popped into my head. So, here I am, writing while the hype is up. This fic will be a collection of short stories all based on the theme of "Six Kids and a Camper." First up is a story that takes place at the end of Season 4 in a slightly AU setting where Steve and Nancy distracted the bats instead of Eddie and Dustin. Angst and romance ensue. Enjoy!

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For a moment Steve stood wavering—a lone soldier in a field littered with dead bats. Then he crumpled to the ground in a heap, as if the strings holding him precariously upright had been severed.

"Steve!" Nancy rushed to his side, hands hovering over him helplessly. There was so much blood. Too much.

His eyes struggled to focus on her face. "Hey, Nance. You ok?"

She shook her head with mingled disbelief and exasperation. He was the one covered in blood and he was worried about her? Stupid Steve Harrington and his stupid hero complex. "I'm fine," she said. "Worry about yourself, ok?"

He smiled lopsidedly, but it quickly morphed into a grimace. "Crap, that hurts," he said through gritted teeth. "It's bad...isn't it?"

"Not so bad." She tried to smile reassuringly, but knew it was a sorry attempt. "I radioed the others and they're on their way. You're going to be ok."

"Hey, Nance...listen." Every word he spoke seemed to take an effort. "There's...something I need to tell you."

That sounded far too much like someone preparing their final words for her liking. "Just rest for now," she said. "You can tell me whatever you want once we get out of here."

She looked anxiously towards the mansion, praying for some sign of Robin and the others. What on earth was taking them so long?

"Nance...please."

She looked down at him, surprised by the intensity in his voice. His eyes were fixed on her almost feverishly. "I need to do this...it's something I should've told you a long time ago."

She finally gave a small nod, not knowing what else to do. "Alright. I'm listening."

His face softened with something like relief. "Wanted to tell you...that I love you...not sure...if I ever stopped." He drew a raspy breath. "Would've loved...to ride in a camper with you...if I hadn't screwed things up. I seem to do that a lot." He tried to laugh, but it came out more like pained wheezing.

"Shh, stop talking," she said hurriedly. She heard shouting in the distance, and nearly shouted with relief when she saw Robin, Eddie, and Dustin running towards them. "The others are here. You're going to be alright, you'll see."

He smiled faintly. "You're...always right, Nance..." His voice was so low she had to lean close to pick up his words. "So, if you say so...'t must be true."

He squeezed her hand weakly then his eyes slid close and he grew very still. "No, no, Steve, stay with me!" She was vaguely aware of Robin kneeling beside her, but she only had eyes for Steve. "I'll ride around in your stupid camper with you! I'll have as many kids as you want, but you need to stay with me! You hear me, Steve Harrington? Don't you dare leave me!"

Hands tried to pull her away, but she fought them wildly. "No!" she shrieked. "No!"

"Nancy, it's ok," Robin said, pulling her into a tight hug.

She fell into her friend's arms, weeping. She was going to lose him again. And this time, there was no chance of getting him back.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Steve woke to the steady beeping of hospital monitors. And pain—oh yes, a lot of pain. Whatever these doctors had given him clearly wasn't enough to combat the bites of evil bat creatures from another realm that may or not be carrying rabies. Go figures.

He heard rustling movement to his right. Turning his head painfully, he opened his eyes and found Robin smiling broadly at him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, dingus." Her voice was no more than a whisper, but it still rang like an anvil in his already aching head.

He blinked, trying to clear his vision. "Did we do it?" His mouth felt like it was stuffed with cotton. "The kids—are they ok?"

Her smile faded. "Always the babysitter, I see."

Dread twisted his stomach. "What happened?"

He clenched the sheets tightly as she told him about about Vecna, about the so-called earthquake, about Max. She had entered his life as just some random girl, but he had come to feel responsible for her—a feeling that had only increased after Billy's death.

"But she's still alive, right?" he said at last, clinging to the single shred of good-ish news in the whole mess.

"Yeah, but the doctors aren't sure if she'll ever wake up."

"She'll wake up," he said with certainty. "She's a fighter."

Robin's lips twitched into a small smile. "Sounds like someone else I know."

He returned the smile, trying not to grimace.

"Are you in pain?" she asked. "I can try asking them to give you more medication, but they've been trying to conserve supplies since there's so many more patients than usual."

"I'll live," he said, "but why have you been whispering this whole time?"

She grinned widely, pointing to something behind him. He turned with an effort—and nearly fell out of his bed in surprise.

There, sitting on a chair that had been pulled up beside the bed, was Nancy Wheeler. She was sound asleep, and someone had drawn a knit blanket over her lap. She looked as small and fragile as a porcelain doll, which was almost funny considering she was the strongest, bravest girl he knew. Right now, her hair was frazzled as if it hadn't seen a brush in days, and her eyes were ringed with dark shadows.

"She's refused to leave your side for the past two days," Robin said softly. "She wouldn't

sleep either, no matter what any of us said, but she finally drifted off a couple of hours ago."

He stared at Nancy in disbelief for another moment, then groaned aloud as his memories came rushing back.

"What's wrong?" Robin asked, starting out of her seat in alarm. "Maybe I really should go ask for more pain meds—"

"No, it's not that," he ground out, running a hand through his hair. "Before...back in the Upside Down, I...told her that I loved her." It had seemed like a such good idea at the time—who could have guessed that looming death tended to impair your decision-making abilities?

"And what did she say?"

He hesitated, then shook his head, forcibly expelling his thoughts. Apparently looming death also tended to make you hear things. "Nothing," he said firmly. "She said nothing."

"Are you sure?" she asked innocently. "Because it looks to me like you're remembering something."

He frowned at her. Why on earth was she smiling and fidgeting like a kid waiting to open presents on Christmas morning?

"It's nothing, ok?" he told her in annoyance. "It's stupid. I thought I heard something, but it was in my head."

"Did what you hear in your head sound something like this?" She adopted a falsetto voice and clutched her hands over her heart in a dramatic fashion. "Stay with me, Steve! I'll ride around in a camper with you and have as many kids as you want, but you need to stay with me! Don't you dare leave me, Steve Harrington!"

His jaw dropped and he thought his eyes might pop out of his head.

"It was quite spectacular, really," she said with a satisfied smile. "Almost like a movie. I mean, I couldn't fully appreciate it at the time, since you were bleeding out on the ground and everything, but still."

He shook his head. "But why?"

Robin looked at him incredulously. "Aren't you supposed to be the one who's good at this sort of thing? Because she loves you. Duh."

"But this is Nancy we're talking about." Despite what others said, he had never had any real hope of winning her back. She deserved far better than him. He knew that more than anyone. "She must've said it because she was desperate. It's not like she actually meant it." That had to be it.

Robin rolled her eyes. "Maybe some of what she said was born of desperation, but why do you think she was so desperate not to lose you in the first place? Why do you think she's stayed with you for the past two days? She's in love with you. And if you can't get that through your thick skull, you really are an idiot."

He looked at her skeptically. "Whatever happened 'to the stakes of my love life compared to the fate of the world are incredibly low?'"

She smiled and patted his cheek affectionately. "After all you've done, you deserve a little happiness, Steve. This is your chance. Take my advice—don't waste it."

And with those words, she left the room, leaving him alone with Nancy and his swirling thoughts.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Nancy watched with a mixture of nerves and excitement as Steve began to stir. She had been waiting for this moment, but now that it was finally here, her stomach wouldn't stop fluttering. She still blushed furiously every time she thought about what she had said back in the Upside Down. What if he remembered? What if he didn't? She didn't know which possibility scared her more.

Her breath caught as Steve's eyes opened and fixed on her blearily. "Hey."

She smiled, hoping he couldn't hear how loudly her heart was pounding. "Hey. How do you feel?"

"Oh, you know, I've had worse."

She rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I'm not sure how you can get much worse than being eaten alive by a bunch of evil bats." She sobered. "We almost lost you."

"Hey, some girls would jump at the chance to rid themselves of their ex, you know."

She shook her head. "Don't even joke about that. And besides, I haven't thought of you as my ex for a long time."

"Then what do you think of me as?" His tone was casual, but there was no mistaking the question's underlying meaning.

She drew a steadying breath. It was now or never. "I...think of you as someone that the kids rely on—and that I rely on too. Someone who has a bit too much of a hero complex for his own good, but also has the biggest heart of anyone I know. And..." She forced herself to meet his eyes. "Someone that I love."

He said nothing for several moments. She tried to search his face, but it was unreadable. "What about Jonathan?" he asked at last.

"I've already talked to him and we both agreed that it was for the best. If I'm being honest, we haven't really been together for a while now."

"Nance, are you sure about this?" he asked hoarsely. "Because if you say yes, I'm never letting you go—not this time."

Exhilaration washed over her. "I'm sure. I think I've been sure—it just took this whole Vecna mess to make me realize it."

"Well, I guess at least something good came out of it." He smiled crookedly. "That and learning the awesomeness of Kate Bush."

She faked affront. "I already knew Kate Bush was awesome, thank you very mu—"

Her words were cut off as Steve leaned forward and kissed her deeply—a kiss that was both familiar and exhilaratingly new.

When he finally pulled away, the look in his eyes sent shivers up her spine. "Nance...I love you."

"I love you too," she said breathlessly.

"So," he grinned, "when are we going on that camper ride you promised me?"

The color drained from her face. He did remember!

Shock was swiftly replaced by rising indignation. Steve wore a smug smile, as if he was enjoying making her look like a fool. She wanted to elbow him in the ribs and wipe that smile off his face. She might've done it too if he hadn't been injured. With an effort, she regained her composure. She would not give him the pleasure of seeing her flustered.

"First, we have to save the world from Vecna," she said primly. "After that, why don't we start with dinner?"

He grinned and made a mock bow. "Dinner it is, my lady."

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Author's Note 2: And that's the end of Part 1! Thank you so much for reading! I have three other possible ideas for this fanfic, and I've already started outlining Part 2. Please leave a review and let me know what you think! Hearing your thoughts always encourages me to keep writing!