Here it is...the final chapter. Sorry that I didn't upload on Sunday when I promised. Nothing but a pretty long chapter, high emotions, and a good finale here. Enjoy!
Steve was quick to stop in his tracks, turn around, and bolt straight to where Jane was screaming. The other kids did the same. "HEEEELP! HELP!" she kept screaming, still trying to kick the vine off of her leg.
"Hold on, Jane!" the teen said, running to the vine. The other kids held her and tried to pull her out. Everyone was clamoring before Steve swung his bat down at the vine three times. It screeched as it broke in half, the grip on the tomboy's leg gone. Everyone hoisted her back on her feet, asking her if she was alright. Her breath was shaky, making her not answer at the moment.
"Okay, we need to GO!" Steve said before they heard a loud roar not too far from them. They all tensed up, Steve holding his bat up to beat the shit out of whatever the hell roared. They all saw a Demo-dog right before them, growling. Steve wanted to attack it and most of the kids wanted to bolt away, but Dustin was...composed for some reason.
"Dart?" he asked, confusing the hell out of everyone. If that thing was Dart...shit, he's GROWN.
He moved on forward, but everyone was telling him to stop. He gave them the hand and shushed them. "You guys gotta trust me, please." They all fell silent, still feeling tense as he and Dart began approaching each other. The curly-haired boy removed his goggles and mouth mask, whispering to him, "It's me, Dustin. Ya remember?" He crouched down the the yellow-legged Demo-dog. "Will you let us pass?" It roared, causing everyone but him, surprisingly, to freak out and get back.
He continued whispering to him, everyone else thinking that he was crazy. He then took off his backpack, Jane whispering, "What the hell is he doing?"
"He's insane..." Lucas replied. Steve and Max quietly shushed them both.
Dustin got out a 3 Musketeers bar and opened it up, Dart inching much closer to him. He set it on the ground and Dart...bent down and began to eat it. How the hell this was working was beyond everyone else's knowledge. He then gestured the rest of the group to move past him, Max taking initiative first before everyone else. They all managed to sneak right past the dog-sized monster without getting his attention.
Dustin gave him one last piece of 3 Musketeers before standing up and joining up with them. They all saw him look back and say, "Goodbye, buddy." They all knew he liked Dart very much, so...it was like Old Yeller. They all moved forward, leaving the yellow-legged Demo-dog behind to eat his nougat...and die when Mike was done.
Mike continued to use his power to close the gate, clenching his teeth as his hand began to shake more. However, it wasn't closing one bit, maybe because the Mind Flayer was preventing it. He needed more than he was giving...and he knew how to get that much. He closed his eyes and remembered something way back earlier in the afternoon...
"Find something from your life, something that angers you...a lot," Nancy told him. "Channel it."
Just seeing her again after what she's done to him a few hours before was enough to anger him, but he knew that wasn't enough...
"DOCTOR, PLEASE! PLEASE!" he cried out to Brenner as he was being carried out by a couple of workers. Then his father appeared, looking apathetic about his own son's suffering as he usually did. "DAD! DAD! HELP! HELP ME!" And before he knew it, he was thrown into the dark room and was locked in there.
That would never stop to piss him off.
He opened his eyes and used more of his power to close the gate. The sides finally began to start closing in, making sizzle sounds as they moved. Both of the adults were beyond shocked to see him actually doing it. The Mind Flayer growled once again.
The group continued running, then all of a sudden, the tunnels began to shake like there was an earthquake. That threw everyone off-balance, making them all cry out and scream. They then heard growling as they stood up. "Wh-what was that?" Max asked, her voice panicky. They heard another growl, all of them turning back with aghast faces behind their masks and goggles.
"They're coming..." Jane muttered before yelling, "Shit, they're coming!" They all began to bolt right out of there.
"MOVE, MOVE, MOVE!" Steve yelled at all of them.
"COME ON, JANE!" Lucas shouted to the curly-haired girl.
"OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD!" Dustin cried out.
Before they knew it, they finally spotted the rope through the hole, skidding to a halt. Lucas pointed at it and shouted, "THERE, THERE!" The Demo-dogs released another growl.
"COME ON, LET'S GO!" Jane yelled, everyone scrambling to the spot.
"GOGOGOGOGOGO! COME ON, COME ON!" Steve also yelled before stopping at the rope. He hoisted Max up first, the redhead using the rope to get right back up to ground. The kids kept clamoring both him and her to hurry up. When she was on the ground, Steve hoisted Lucas up to the rope, then Jane. Both of them got up successfully thanks to Max helping them out.
They all removed their mouth masks and goggles, looking down at Steve and Dustin. The growling was damn loud now and they were just frozen there. Jane and Lucas offered Dustin their hands, both yelling, "DUSTIN, COME ON!" He screamed and looked away, bracing for his upcoming death...then the unthinkable happened.
The horde of Demo-dogs ran right past him and Steve like they weren't there...like they were invisible. This shocked the hell out of everyone that saw this. Steve pulled Dustin close to him as they all cleared out. Everyone was just completely baffled by this...then it hit Jane.
"Michael," she said in a breathy voice.
The freckled boy kept his eyes fixed on the gate as it began to close more and more. He was heavily breathing because of the amount of power he was using. Suddenly, Terry and Hopper both heard screeching, making them look back and ready their weapons. They knew it was too much to hope that those things would never return. Hopper used his flashlight to aim and they both pointed at the same directions.
The pulley suddenly bounce, making both the adults scream as they turned and saw a Demo-dog looking at them from the top. Mike was still focused on the gate. Hopper quickly positioned himself and shot at the Demo-dog, it screaming and getting off of it. He and Terry looked down to see if it was gone, then another jumped up and grabbed onto the other side of the pulley. Terry turned first before Hopper and shot at it a few times, getting it off of the pulley.
She and the police chief faced the wall...seeing it crawling with Demo-dogs. They both looked aghast, the man exclaiming, "Oh SHIT!" He then shot six of them down before he was out of ammo. "Shit!"
"Give me the flashlight," the woman said to him. He did while he went to get his assault rifle from behind him. Three shots each seemed enough to take down four of those things. However, now she was the one out of ammo. "Here." She gave Hopper the flashlight as he now used his rifle to shoot those things down. Hopper had given her spare handgun ammo, so she reached into her pocket to get those.
While that was going on, Mike continued to close the gate, despite the noise of the guns and the Demo-dogs. His nose was bleeding as well as his ears and his eyes showed the strain it took to use his power. His breathing became heavier and it hurt like hell to continue doing this. But he was willing to go through with it if it meant closing this, once and for all. Then flashbacks appeared in his mind...
"You have a terrible wound, Michael," Fake Ted told him earlier in the night.
He saw the doctors giving his mom a C-section and pull him out, revealing their faces afterwards.
He clenched his teeth tight.
"...a terrible, festering wound."
He poked the Demogorgon's back in that darkness and it turned and screamed at him.
When he was screaming, the wall broke, forming the hole that was the current gate.
Lying on the ground with a bloody nose and crying, he said to Jane, "Th-the gate...I opened it..."
The Mind Flayer began to poke one of its tendrils out. He knew it was going to stop him, so he had to pick up the pace.
"This rot that will grow..." both Fake Ted and Fake Brenner said in-sync, crouching down to him.
He remembered walking right up to the Demogorgon to kill it, to stop it from hurting those he cared about most.
"I'm the monster..." he also said to Jane.
It was getting more and more closer to him.
"...and spread..."
He remembered his mom getting carried out and struggling to break free, crying out, "No, NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO!"
Just like all the times he's been carried to the dark room every time Brenner and his dad were disappointed in him. He turned to them with teary eyes and shouted, "DOCTOR! DAD! PLEASE!"
His mom had gotten her brains scrambled with the shock therapy.
When that Demogorgon screeched at him like that, he screamed from the top of his lungs.
The tendril got closer...
"...will eventually kill you," they both finished.
Veins could be seen on his face and his eyes were as sharp as daggers, not letting up as the tendril inched closer.
He screamed when he, Terry, and Hopper had that argument and broke their windows.
He screamed when he was pulling that train car towards him and Nancy.
He ran away as the van began to escape, hearing Nancy yell, "Mike! MIKE! GET THE HELL BACK OVER HERE! MIKE! MIKE!"
He was so mad right now...so pissed off.
That was why he stuck his other hand out and began to scream from the top of his lungs. He began to levitate and the tendril dissolved, not going any further to the pulley. Both of the adults looked back at him with enlarged eyes and dropped jaws, completely flabbergasted by the sight of him like this...
The entire group was up and on the grass when they saw the lights to Billy's car glow much more brightly. They all shielded their eyes from its brightness.
The Byers and Kali didn't leave yet, leaving some time for Will to calm down and the other Byers to comfort him. Kali sat across from them. They all looked at the lights, seeing them brightening up. They all covered their eyes when it became too bright.
Mike continued screaming as he used everything he's got to push the tendril back into the hole and close the gate at the same time. The sides were closing in much faster than before and the tendril was close to being back into the hole. Then finally, the tendril got back in...and the entire hole, the entire gate, closed. Everything went dark. Michael rendered unconscious for a few seconds and dropped like a stone. The Demo-dogs began dropping like stones too...dead.
The car lights went back to their normal brightness, everyone looking at it and breathing heavily.
All of the lights in the cabin returned to their normal brightness as well, most of them looking around with baffled faces. Will knew what this meant though...
When Mike dropped, Hopper caught him immediately, pulling him into a hug. Terry hugged the boy as well. All of their eyes were watery, Mike looking worn out from using all that he could muster to close that damned gate. The boy cried and hugged them both tightly, not wanting to let go. They did the same, Terry whispering to him in a sobby voice, "You did good, Michael."
"You did so good, buddy..." Hopper also whispered to him, his voice sobby. They both kissed him on the sides of his head as they all let everything out and stay in their embrace for what felt like a really long time. The two adults were beyond relieved that he was alright. That would've killed him, considering the amount of power he had to use to close that entire thing. But he did it...and he was alive. That was all they could hope for and it paid off. The boy was also beyond relieved that the two adults were alright, considering that those Demo-dogs could have killed them while he was closing the gate.
They were all just overjoyed that they were all okay...and that this was finally over.
It was a month later and Hawkins Lab had finally shut down. Why? Because of what Kali and Jonathan did with Murray: release the tapes that showed the Lab's true colors. With the exaggerated truth believed, it made several high-ranking members of U.S. Department of Energy admit involvement in the death of Barbara and hiding truths.
Barbara's funeral was underway, her casket getting lowered into the ground. Her parents, relatives, Kali, and Steve were there in mourning. Most of them were crying, Steve looking solemn and holding Kali close to comfort her.
In Hideaway, Terry was working while the news was playing, smiling just a little hearing about all of this. The Lab was finally off of her back and she couldn't be any more proud of her teenage daughter. She carried a cooked sandwich and chips over to a table...Owens sitting at that table. "Here you are, sir," she said.
He looked up at her and smiled. "Thank you," he replied.
She then leaned forward and asked quietly, "You got the paper?" He nodded and pulled it out, it being in an envelope.
"Did exactly what you asked me to do."
She smiled at him. "Thank you."
He tucked it back in his coat pocket. "Question is, how is HE going to react to it?"
Her smile dropped as she answered, "Leave that to me, I'll explain everything." He nodded again before they both saw Jim walk in, wearing a puffy coat over some casual wear. He looked at the two and smiled, taking off his coat and sitting across from the former doctor. "Hey, Jim."
He looked at her and smiled. "Hey, Terry," he greeted back.
"Chief-o," Owens also greeted.
He kept his smile as he looked at him. "Hey, Doc. How's the leg?"
He looked down at it before looking up at the police chief. "Better, though I'm sure my football career is over." They all chuckled at that joke. He then gestured to the plate in front of him. "Wanna have some of this? I think I'll only eat the one sandwich."
Terry glared at him. "You could have told me to just give you one sandwich."
He shrugged at her. "Well, too late now." She rolled her eyes at him playfully.
Jim shook his head and said, "I'm all good. I'm on a diet now."
The dirty-blonde-haired woman raised her eyebrows. "Really?" He nodded, looking proud of himself.
"Well, you're a better man than me," Owens stated before digging into his coat pocket to get out the envelope. "By the way, I got something for ya." He pushed it towards the police chief, who was just a little puzzled. He looked up at Terry, who tilted her head towards it as a gesture to open it. He grabbed it when the former doctor began to eat his meal. He opened it up...and saw a birth certificate...for Michael. From what he pulled out, it read:
Name: Michael Hopper
Was born in: Hawkins
Child of: Karen Bertuzzi
His jaw dropped from the sight of it as he looked up at the old man, who said, "Congratulations, Pops."
"I thought-"
"Trust me, sometimes, I impress even myself."
He then looked up at Terry, still looking baffled by this. "Did you...?"
She nodded, giving him a reassuring look. "He called me first, asking if I wanted him or not. Even though I care about him very much..." She chuckled a little. "There's Jane, so..." She bobbed her head back and forth, both the men getting what she was going to say next. But still...
He drew his lips to a thin and asked her, "Can we...talk? In private?" Her smile dropped as she looked at Owens.
When he chewed and swallowed his bite, he said, "Go ahead. You said to leave it up to you." She nodded at him before she and Hopper, putting his coat back on, headed outside. Some of the waitresses were giving them looks and grins, though it'll be in vain soon. Owens was pretty amused by this.
...
They got out and into an alley near Hideaway for some privacy. He leaned against the wall while she stood in front of him. "Listen, Terry," he said. "Mike sees you as his other mom, alright?"
She frowned and nodded, crossing her arms. "I know, it's not like I'm not going to visit him again."
"But still..." He trailed off, looking away from her. "You think it's right to have me be his dad? I mean-"
"Of course." He looked straight into her eye again, seeing that she was holding his arm. "You took care of him. You were the sole parent for him while I was gone. You dress him, you do his hair, you feed him before I come with dinner..."
He scoffed. "Yeah, but then I leave for work-"
"But you come back and hang out with him. Like me with being a mom, you tried your best to be the best dad he could have." She paused. "He likes you too, Jim. He's a boy. He needs a good father figure in his life. You are a good father figure. You're not perfect, but you can make a great father, better than that bastard, Wheeler, would ever be." Well, that was a rather unfair comparison since that bastard never treated him like his son. Though, she had a point.
He did seem to really like him too...like a son would his dad. They acted like a father and son do when Terry wasn't around, before and after what happened last month. He knew he cared for him too, but...damn, he guessed he wasn't that confident in being a dad again. Sure, he didn't have a little girl to take care of, but a little boy? He seriously felt like the universe WAS giving him a second chance at parenting. This time, he won't mess it up again.
He gave her a smile and said, "If you say so."
She smiled back at him. "Trust me, you'll be great." He nodded, seeing that her hand was still holding his arm. It made him think of something.
"So, it's off, then?"
She looked puzzled. "What?"
He gestured between them. "Us."
She sighed and removed her hand from his arm. "Honestly, I can't deny that...I do love you, Jim." He nodded. "But we can't be together. You know why, right?"
It took him several seconds to find out the answer. "The kids?"
She nodded, him sighing. "Yeah..."
He grinned wryly. "Would be pretty awkward for a couple of kids that like each other to have their parents date."
She laughed at that. "It'd more embarrassing than awkward."
He chuckled. "You're right." They were silent for a bit, looking into each other's eyes. Then he spoke, "It's okay, really. I'll get over it."
"You promise?"
He nodded. "Promise." Damn, Mike was rubbing off of the both of them. Neither of them minded though. They both exchanged smiles before getting back inside the restaurant.
...
They went back to Owens's table, him asking, "Everything alright?" They both just nodded at him before he looked Jim straight in the eye. "Okay, well, if I were you, I'd want things to cool off for a while."
Both of the adults looked concerned, Jim asking, "How long is that?"
"To be safe, about a year."
They both looked surprised to hear that. "A year?" they both replied in-sync. Hopper then snatched the other sandwich and took a bite out of it, much to Owens's and Terry's amusement.
"Well, there goes your diet," she said sarcastically. He gave her the side-eye, grinning just a little.
He then thought of something as he chewed and swallowed his bite. He asked the former doctor, "How about one night?"
Both Terry and Owens looked puzzled. "One night?"
He nodded. "Yeah, how risky can that be?" He then looked at Terry, giving her a look that made her understand what he was talking about.
"What's so important about one night?"
Terry scoffed and said, "Well, tonight is a special night..."
Much later, Terry was home and with the help of Kali, had Jane get ready for the one and only Snow Ball. Her hair was styled up with one strand curled on her forehead and she had a magenta-colored eyeshadow around her eyes and lip gloss. She wore a grayish-blue dress with pink dots and accents, a matching belt, and black flats. She also had a small, blue, ribbon-shaped clip on the right side of her hair. Terry just wore a white and red Christmas sweater, skinny jeans, and white flats.
The dirty-blonde-haired woman was taking pictures of her, much to her annoyance. Kali already departed to help set up the party, though she was just a chaperone. She picked up one photo that dropped from her Polaroid. "Oh, wait a minute, sweetie."
"I think that's enough, Mama," she said to her dryly.
"Just one more."
She looked defeated. "Mama-"
She positioned her camera to snap another photo. "Oh, you look so beautiful."
"MAMA!" She then snapped another photo.
As it printed out and she grabbed it, she waved it around and said, "By the way, your aunt called me earlier to see how we're doing."
She smiled a little at that. "What did you say?"
"Oh, that we're doing alright." Both of them knew that wasn't the case before the gate closed, but now...they were more than alright.
"How is she?"
She giggled, having the biggest smile as she placed the photo in her pocket. "Guess what, Jane?"
She looked curious. "What?"
She positioned herself to take one last photo and then she announced, "You and Kali are going to have a cousin next year!"
She looked really shocked to hear this. "What?!" Terry snapped the final photo of her daughter, looking all shocked at that news.
Steve's car drove up and parked in the parking lot of Hawkins Middle. In it were him, dressed to the nines with his suit and tie and short, glossy mullet, and Dustin, dressed in a blue suit and tie and having his curly hair in a stylized mullet. "Right, here we are," the teen said, unbuckling himself. Dustin did the same. "So, listen to me, when you get on the dance floor..."
The curly-haired boy looked him straight in the eye. "Be charming."
He nodded. "Yeah, yeah, that's right. You're learning, my friend. You're learning." They both then exited the car, the two of them straightening their dress jackets. Steve started to walk when he saw Dustin look at himself in the mirror. He knew he wasn't checking himself out, so he approached and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey." He turned back to him. "You look great, okay? You look..." He gave him the OK sign. "You look great." He nodded, though he didn't look all that confident about it.
He completely turned him around and placed his hand on his other shoulder, keeping his eyes locked with his. "Listen to me, Dusty, you're gonna go in there..."
He nodded. "Right..."
He shook him slightly. "Looking like a millions bucks..."
"Yeah..."
"And you're gonna slay 'em dead."
He nodded at him again. "Like a lion." He then growled, making Steve give him a weirded-out look, bare his teeth, and shake his head.
"Don't...do that, okay?"
The smile he had disappeared. "Okay."
Steve then patted his back and lead him forward to the party. "Alright, let's go." They both walked to the school, looking confident.
...
When they entered in, they could hear the music through the door. Some of the girls looked at Steve, their faces turning red, then looked away and talked to each other. They went to the front desk, seeing Mr. Clarke dressed formally. He looked up at Dustin first, smiling at him. "Well, aren't you looking snazzy tonight, sir?" he said to him, smiling.
He smiled back, pulled out some money, and gave it to him. "Thank you, my lord," he replied.
The teacher then looked up at Steve. "And you are?"
"Steve," he answered. "Steve Harrington. I'm a chaperone."
Mr. Clarke looked through another list and saw his name there, checking it off. "Alright, Mr. Harrington." He then looked at them both before asking Dustin, "Is he your ride?"
He nodded. "Yeah, he's kinda my babysitter..."
"Offered to take him since I was coming too."
The man smiled and nodded. "You're a pretty good babysitter."
Steve chuckled a little and nodded. "I've been getting that a lot."
"Well then, enjoy the Ball."
"Thank you, good sir," Dustin said before they both finally got into the ballroom.
Of course, the colors were shades of blue and just white. It was decorated with handcrafted snowflakes and had the large, handmade banner at the front stage. There was also a handmade version of the name hanging up on the ceiling and blue/white streamers all across the ceiling as well. There were also balloons as well. Everyone in the middle was dancing to the song that boomed through the next room. There were tables for snacks and punch. Kali, who had her hair in a curly updo, had pinkish-purple eyeshadow and fuchsia-colored lipstick, and wore a plain, semi-shiny, purple dress with short sleeves, was tending the closest one, much to Steve's joy.
He gave Dustin a good pat on the back and bent down to whisper to him, "Good luck." He then left to go join up with his girlfriend.
Dustin took a deep breath and straightened up his dress jacket again, putting on a confident face and walking across the dance floor. He managed to walk past Kali, who Steve has his arm around her shoulders, and waved at her. "Hey, Kal," he greeted before walking away.
Raising an eyebrow and smiling, she greeted back, "Hey, Dustin." She then looked up at her boyfriend and pointed at the curly-haired boy. "Are you responsible for that?"
He grinned and shrugged. "Just suggested it for him."
She chuckled a little and looked back at him. "Well...he does look good."
He pointed at him. "That's what I told him."
"Excuse me," one boy said, the teens looking at him. He gave them a weird look before asking, "What's in this?"
Kali used the ladle in the punch bowl to pour into a cup. She then handed it to him and answered, "Pure fuel." He gave her another weird look before departing. Steve had given her the same look, making her grin and shrug. "What? Punch has all that sugar in it." He chuckled at that.
They both then looked to see Jonathan take a photo of a bunch of friends. When it was taken, the kids walked away. He turned back and saw the two looking at him. They exchanged smiles and waves to each other before he focused back on taking a picture for another group of friends. Steve muttered, "Jeez, that guy."
She scoffed. "What did he do?"
He shrugged. "I dunno."
She gave him a weird look before grinning again and shaking her head. "Idiot."
"Beautiful."
...
The Party were just sitting at a table when they see Dustin approach, sticking out his tongue and twirling around. All of them looked shocked to see him like this. "Whoa, what happened to you?" Jane asked, her and the other kids standing up and taking a good look at him.
He gave them puzzled looks. "What happened to me? What're ya talking about?"
She scoffed. "'What're you talking about?'"
"Dude!" Lucas exclaimed.
"Your HAIR!" Max said in disbelief.
The African-American boy went to touch it. "You wearing a bird's nest or-"
He looked quite offended and pushed him away. "Hey, nothing's wrong with my hair!" He glared at Lucas. "I'm not wearing a bird's nest, asshole!" The rest of the group chuckled, him touching the back of his mullet. "I worked hard on it."
Suddenly, the upbeat music changed into a slow, romantic-sounding one. The Party saw everyone on the dance floor slow-dancing with one another. Everyone felt tense and awkward, not expecting it this early.
Lucas moved around a bit and took a deep breath before facing Max. Everyone saw him try to attempt to ask her to dance before she asked, "Are you asking me to dance, stalker?" He tried to act coy, then she pulled him to the dance floor. Dustin looked rather defeated that he didn't get to dance with her.
Will and Jane looked at each other, the curly-haired tomboy breaking eye contact with him to see those two slow-dance. His face began to turn red, his heart racing by the thought of asking her to dance. She looked really pretty tonight and it would be a joy to slow-dance with her. Hopefully, it wouldn't be as awkward as Lucas-
"Hey, Zombie Boy," said a girl's voice. Everyone looked at the girl who called him, her having blue eyes, freckles, and long brown hair in a long, feminine mullet. "You wanna dance?"
He felt pretty taken aback by this, but he didn't want to deny her either. "I, uh, um, I-I, uh..." he stammered, trying to figure out what to say.
Jane gave him a light tap on the arm for encouragement, him blushing a little more. However, it seemed clear that she wanted him to dance with this girl, so he turned to her and nodded. "Okay, yeah, sure, I'll dance with you."
The girl smiled. "Cool." She then grabbed his hand and they both joined the dance floor. As Will put his hands on her waist and she put hers on his shoulders, he looked at Jane, who gave him an encouraging look. He let out a deep exhale as he faced his dancing partner and waltzed with her. He was bummed that he didn't get to dance with Jane, but it was better than not dancing at all...was it?
Dustin looked at Lucas and Max dancing happily together while Jane looked at everyone else. She felt so left out. The both of them knew they couldn't dance with each other because it'd be like dancing with siblings. To them, that was gross.
The curly-haired boy looked at a group of girls and straightened himself up. "Okay, Jane," he said to the tomboy, looking confident at her. "Wish me luck, 'cause I'm going in." He winked and clicked his tongue before going to that clique of girls. She watched as Dustin stopped to them and they stopped talking after a bit. Jane saw him offer his hand to dance with the one with the big hair, but then she talked to him and shook her head. She and the clique laughed as they walked away from him. The curly-haired girl felt sorry for him since being denied a dance was worse than not dancing at all.
She let out a deep sigh and sat back on her chair, waiting for any boy to come up and ask her to dance. Anyone, really. She could dance with Mike since this WAS the Snow Ball and she promised, but...he still had to hide, so she was left all alone, just like Dustin.
...
"No, Steve," Kali said to the guy.
"Just a quick dance," he suggested to her, grinning.
"I need to take care of this punch."
He scoffed. "No one needs punch when they're dancing."
"Steve..."
He spread his arms out. "Come on, just a quick one, then..." He trailed off when he saw Dustin alone on the dance floor...looking really sorrowful about not having a partner. His grin dropped like a stone and he muttered, "Oh shit."
The Indian girl looked concerned before looking right at the poor, lonely boy. "Oh God..."
He sighed and put his arms down. "Damn it, I blew it for him."
She looked up at him. "What?"
He put his hands on his waist, moving his hand towards Dustin. "I told him to be charming and now he's all alone on the dance floor." He shook his head. "Did I do something wrong?"
She frowned and held his arm. "You didn't. It's just bad luck."
He sighed again, the two of them looking at the curly-haired boy solemnly walk to the bleachers. "Is it?" She knew how much it sucked not having a dance partner during the slow-dance. It was because she was an outsider back then. No one wanted to dance with that one weird Indian girl. This gave her an idea though.
"I'll dance with him."
He looked down at her, baffled. "What?"
She scoffed and returned his look. "Are you jealous that he's gonna steal a dance with me from you?"
He chuckled and he shook his head. "No, nooooo, of course not." She raised an eyebrow at him before he caressed her arm. "Make sure he has the best dance of his life though, yeah?"
She smiled and nodded. "I will. Take care of the punch." She got up on her tippy-toes to kiss his cheek before leaving. Steve got in front of the bowl, watching her go to him. To be honest with himself, if that kid was going to have anyone as a dance partner, he'd be a lucky little bastard to have Kali. He deserved a dance from her.
...
Kali approached Dustin, who was sitting on the bleachers and trying to hold back tears and sniffles, though a couple were let out. She felt bad for him, but she knew she was going to light up his night. She smiled at him warmly and greeted, "Hey."
He looked up at her with wide eyes. "O-oh, hey." He wiped the tears from his face.
She offered him her hand. "You wanna come dance with me?"
He looked up at her in shock. "Wh-what?"
"Do you wanna come dance with me?"
He sniffled. "Wh-what about Steve?"
She laughed. "Trust me, he doesn't mind." He looked at the teen guy in question. When they locked eyes, he smiled and waved at him before pouring the girl that denied him some punch. He was so dumbfounded by this that he couldn't do anything else.
Kali then grabbed his hand and pulled him up. "Come on." He let her drag him onto the dance floor with everyone else. His need to cry was slowly getting away, him smiling a little. "Here." She then put his hands on her waist before putting hers on his shoulder. He just didn't know how to react, making her giggle a little. "Closer." He took a step closer. "Closer..." He took another step, making her nod. "Yep, now just move with the music, like this." She swayed back and forth, making him do so too. He began to blush a little, making her giggle again. "There you go, just like that."
He smiled, his eyes filled with joy...and love. "Just like that?" She nodded. "Okay."
...
From the punch table Steve was at, the clique looked at the two dancing. While two of the girls were whispering about this, the girl he denied kept looking at him. The jock knew she was jealous, it was written all over her face. He would know, he was quite the king of the dance floor when he danced with one of his exes back in middle school. All the girls were jealous. Damn, now he felt a little nostalgic...
...
"You wanna know something, Dustin?" she asked him.
"Wh-what is it?" he replied.
She smiled at him again. "Out of all of my sister's friends, you're my favorite."
His face lit up at that. "Really?"
She nodded. "Yep, you've always been my favorite." Not only was he Steve's favorite, but Kali's as well?! He felt like he hit the lottery, especially with her.
Kali glanced at the girl looking at the two, then Dustin did. She looked away, making the black-haired girl shake her head. "Hey." They both locked eyes with each other. "I wanna tell you that girls this age are dumb. Give them a few years and they'll be smarter." He just nodded at her, keeping his smile. "You'll drive them nuts in the future."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really. Like me with Steve, they'll be surprised when they see who you really are." It just warmed his heart to hear her say that. Steve said that to him too, but it meant a lot more coming from Kali. They were both in a relationship and they loved him. What more could he ask for?
Joyce and Hopper were together in the parking lot, sharing a cigarette like they did back in high school and talking to each other about how they were doing. Then something came up on Joyce's mind, making her say, "Terry calls you Jim." He looked down at her, making her do the same up to him. "I never expected her to call you Jim." She paused. "I-is there...something between you two?"
It would be no use lying to her now. Terry might've broken the news to her, were she in this position. He answered, "We both thought we had something."
She looked concerned. "You both thought?"
He nodded. "Yeah, but we both know it couldn't work out. We talked and..." He paused. "We're never getting together."
She smoked his cigarette one last time. "Why?"
He scoffed. "Our kids, Jane and Mike...they care about each other a lot. It would be embarrassing for them for their parents to suddenly date."
She chuckled at that. "Yeah, I guess it would be." Honestly, she actually felt relieved to hear that they weren't together, like a couple. It was because...well...
He pulled her close to him and she accepted it, the two holding each other's hands.
Another slow and romantic song played as Jane drank a cup of punch in front of Steve. This was her third and he knew what that meant, considering what happened to his girlfriend on Halloween. Well, this punch didn't have alcohol, but still...
"That's enough," he told her. "Too much sugar and you'll go crazy."
She sighed. "I just...I never felt so left out," she said to him, her voice somber. "Everyone else in the Party is dancing but me..."
He frowned, leaning a little closer to her without getting punch on his suit. "Hey." She looked up at him. "It's not that big of a deal, okay? You see the other kids not dancing?" She looked around and nodded. "There's no shame in that. If no one wants to dance with you..." He shrugged. "Then screw it, y'know? You can have fun with yourself."
She put her cup down. "Can I? What else is there to do?" She really wanted a dance, huh? Well, he could do the job like Kali-
Suddenly, they both heard the door open and looked at who entered. Jane's jaw dropped when she saw...Michael. His dark hair was well-brushed into a bowl cut. He wore a baby-blue collared shirt, a red tie tucked into a gray vest, a brown dress jacket, a blue elastic band around one of his wrists, black dress pants, and brown dress shoes. He was looking around, unfamiliar with this place...then locked eyes with Jane the second he saw her. Neither of them looked away from another for a moment.
Steve noticed this, grinning a little. "On second thought..." He pointed at Mike. "Why don't you go dance with Mikey over there?"
She kept her eyes on Mike, admiring his look tonight and completely surprised that he was even here, but then answered, "I-I don't think he knows how to dance."
He raised his eyebrows at her. "Do you?" She shook her head, his grin widening. "It's perfect. You both can learn together." She looked at him for a few seconds before he gestured her to go to him. She gulped and walked towards the freckled boy.
He did the same before they eventually got close to each other. They both smiled at each other, looking love-struck. Jane started talking first, saying, "Hey...y-you look so..."
Hopper told Mike that Jane might call him this, so he said, "Handsome?"
She smiled at him again and nodded. "Really, really handsome." He blushed at that compliment, looking down for a bit before looking up at her. There was another word Hopper taught him to use, something he thought suited Jane well.
"You look beautiful." She blushed and looked down, smiling bashfully.
"Thanks." They both looked into each other's eyes again before she looked at the dance floor, then looked into his eyes again. "You wanna dance?"
He looked at the other kids dancing, looking nervous as he looked back at her. "I...don't know how to dance."
She gave him a reassuring look. "Me neither. You wanna...figure it out together?" He smiled and nodded at her. She took his hand and they both got into the crowd. They stopped at a good spot and faced each other. She grabbed his other hand and put them on her waist. "Like this." He kept them on her waist while she placed hers on his shoulders. He blushed at that before looking around at what the others were doing. They mimicked the dancing, smiling at each other as they were getting into it.
Steve couldn't help but smile at those little lovebirds. "There ya go..."
...
Kali and Dustin were happily dancing together. Will, to his own surprise, actually enjoyed dancing with this girl that asked him. Kali and Dustin nodded their heads to the song playing while Jane and Mike were dancing much closer to each other than before, looking into each other's eyes lovingly.
After a moment, Jane went on her tip-toes and kissed Mike. They both had their eyes closed and enjoyed the kiss. They broke it, giving each other loving gazes as she wrapped her arms around his neck and embraced him. He blushed when she did that, but kept his smile and wrapped his arms around her waist, closing his eyes. The two of them savored this moment they would never forget.
Meanwhile, Will actually saw the whole thing not too far from him and his dancing partner. He felt like heart shattered into a million pieces when he saw them kiss and hold each other like that. Never mind that he never expected Mike to be here...what they did...he had little confidence that he and Jane would go dance and date in the future...that just shattered it altogether. It's not that Mike was bad...he apologized to him for throwing him back at the school last month after everything, but-
"Are you okay, Zombie Boy?" asked his dancing partner, looking concerned.
He looked right at her and tried to act normal. "Oh yeah, just...blanked out there for a second." She smiled at him and he continued dancing, though that moment haunted his brain for the rest of the night.
Throughout the entire night, everything seemed fine and alright for everyone. Everything has finally gotten back to normal...
Or so they thought.
Oh...boy...there's a lot to unpack here. Where do I start...?
Hope the first third of the chapter was just as intense as it was in the show! I tried my best, like with the last chapter.
Now Mike is the one with Hopper as his legal parent. Michael Hopper...I think that rolls off the tongue well. I'm sure like what we'll probably see in the next season with El, he'll do a good job being a dad to him. And it'll also be precious, I'm sure as well~!
Oh yeah, and him and Terry aren't gonna be together for an obvious reason...there's no Topper (first ship name that came off the top of my head, sorry) if there's Mileven (or in this AU...Jike? Jachael? Mane?). At least there's some Jopper for you guys! I can see Joyce being concerned if Hopper and another woman are together, but then relieved when it turns out they're not. I didn't see it when I first watched the show, but with a few rewatches, she definitely has feelings for him, so I'm not jeopardizing her chances with him in this AU.
Becky gets a mention to make for her and Carl's complete absence in this season! Turns out that Jane and Kali are gonna have a cousin next year! In fact...I may have Becky and Carl visit again in the next season... ;)
Steve attends the Snow Ball! :D As a chaperone, but he's still there! He even let his girlfriend dance with Dustin, thought to offer a dance to Jane, and then encouraged her to dance with Mike! We stan a supportive boyfriend/mother of four~! In all seriousness though, if he had been there in canon, I could totally see him doing all of that, so I wrote that in for this AU!
I'm sorry, fluffy and adorable Mileven, even if I write it, will always get to me. This was no exception, especially since this is the SNOW BALL~! I just love them, they're adorable, they deserve each other~!
Poor Will though...he had to go through his first heartbreak, seeing his crush kiss and hug another boy. He'll get over it...or not. I can't make any guarantees that he'll get over it, it'll have to depend on what happens in Season 3 when it comes out.
This is the end of Season 2. I hope you guys enjoyed it! Just like the last season, I had a lot of fun writing this! I was really looking forward to writing this season out since I loved it just as much as the last! I think it paid off, seeing your guys' reactions to the chapters!
I wonder what Season 3 has in store because...well, some changes I made will impact what I'll write for M11 Season 3. For example, I have a strong feeling that Steve and Robin (from what I've seen in the teaser, that's what the new girl's name tag read to me) will hit it off in the next season. Not that I'm opposed to it, but since Steve and Kali are still together in this AU, I'll have to see what to do if that's the case. I could make another love triangle, but this AU already had three (Jane x Mike x Will *though it's one-sided, let's be real, Hopper x Terry x Joyce, and Max x Lucas x Dustin *though that's WAY in the background*), so...I dunno.
There's also the case with El and Max in canon. We don't know if they get along after everything with the gate. If El's still giving Max the cold shoulder when Season 3, then, well...I'll have to do something with Mike and Will, without making Will OOC, that is. Mike and Max already get along in this AU, so there's no need to worry about that.
Well...with all of that said, this fanfic will be labeled as complete until Stranger Things Season 3 premieres on the 4th of July! I still can't wait! Tell me if there's any typos or mistakes I might've missed on this chapter (I proofread it three times, but I can still miss some mistakes), keep supporting this fanfic like you guys do, and I'll see you guys on the first chapter of Season 3! :D Bye!