Here's chapter three, hope you enjoy! I do not own Stranger Things
Odette allowed herself a week of not worrying about how she would tell her brother about Steve, and vice versa. Steve had taken her out twice that week, they'd gone skating and to the drive in. She blushed as she remembered how they'd sat in the backseat of his car and the feeling of his rough hands sliding gently along her skin. They'd not gone very far, especially by his standards but she'd enjoyed herself all the same. With the way he'd grinned at her as he dropped her off at the entrance of the trailer park she was sure he felt the same. She'd only had a morning shift this Saturday and for that she was thankful. She'd clocked out and headed to Scoops Ahoy which was hopping with young teens and moms with screaming toddlers. She waited patiently in line, watching Steve as he hurriedly made sundaes while Robin manned the register. The line slowly but surely died down with Odette bringing up the rear and as she got to the counter Steve finally spotted her. "Hey" He smiles tiredly, leaning over the counter to meet her with a chaste kiss. "How was work?"
"Someone broke four records and refused to pay for them" She groans but gives him a relieved smile "But I'm free for the rest of the day."
He pouted slightly "So you're headed out?"
"Yeah I've got some things to do this afternoon" She drums her fingers on the counter idly as she thinks through her list of things to do...she desperately needed to pick up-
"Are you free tonight?" Steve asks, breaking her from her reverie. She nods "But you've got to be tired Steve" she'd noticed the bags growing under his eyes in the past week, the yawning when he thought no one was paying attention. More than once she'd peeked into the shop and spotted him dozing over the counter of Scoops with his chin resting sleepily on his hand.
"I'm good it's just...just some bad dreams. Nothing I can't handle."
"And the late nights with your kids?" She asked with a sympathetic smile. She took one of his hands in hers, running the pad of her thumb over the back of his hand.
"Eh, they need help every now and then" He shrugs but she can see he's exhausted
"And who takes care of you?" She asks quietly, knowing the answer. In their few dates she'd been able to glean a little information about his family...that they barely existed. He still lived at home...his dad had made him get his job at scoops, and that they weren't around much...he had no siblings...she would have suspected he spent a lot of his free time out of the house because he was lonely...if it wasn't for how jumpy he got at night.
When they'd been at the drive in, the noise of the movie had all but died, and the world around them went quiet. When the silence fell she'd been on his lap, his lips had been pressing soft open mouthed kisses there but he stopped. He stiffened under her and when her eyes met his she saw fear. As though they'd been dropped into an urban legend, like he knew that just outside the car door there'd be a maniac with a hook for a hand.
"Steve?"
He didn't acknowledge her voice, she followed his eyes to the window and saw he was staring into the woods...searching it with his eyes. "Sorry...sorry I thought I saw something" He mutters, she feels him shift her closer so that his face is buried in the crook of her neck. She slid her fingers through his silky hair and whispered "It's ok...as long as you're ok"
"I take care of me." He gives her the facade of a confident grin and she returns it if only to relieve his nerves. "So do you want to go out tonight?" He asks again with a little more of a smile and she feels her resolve melt "How about we do a night in or something?"
"We could do a movie at my place" She nods and pulls him in for another chaste kiss that's cut short by the tutting of someone behind her. "Honestly" She hears her mutter under her breath and she gives him a tight smile. "That's my cue to go. Meet me at family video at 6?"
"Sounds perfect" She waves at him as he gets the business from the older blonde woman and her little boy. She shoots him an apologetic smile before she makes it out of the mall.
Steve
Steve sighed inwardly as he served the irate mother and kid, not loving the fact that his new girl had noticed how he'd been holding up. The last few weeks had been rough. His parents had gone on a vacation for a few weeks, not wanting their screw up to ruin the fun...so he'd been alone in the house once more. The silence had rolled in and it put him on edge. The nightmares had been getting worse, monsters around every corner, the kids all dead because he couldn't protect them, and lately Odette would be found in the corners of his dreams, being attacked as he could do nothing more than watch. He shuddered at the memory of his most recent dream.
He was alone. He knew he was alone as he walked through the halls of Hawkins High. His shoes squeaked slightly as his walked turned to a run. Something was wrong. He made it to the doors of the school and stepped through them but he didn't find the parking lot. Instead he was standing just over the edge of his own pool...but it wasn't full of water anymore. As he stared down into the damp depths of the empty pool black vines wound themselves up the sides, overtaking it. In the bottom of the basin he could see a pair of shattered round glasses, they'd been knocked from Barb's head as she was torn into by the demogorgon. He couldn't move as she laid there, unmoving and unfeeling in the bottom, flesh being torn from her without mercy.
Slowly the bottom of the pool became slick with the red of her blood, it was filling it now. Hot and bubbling, the scent of iron thick in the air as it rose higher and higher.
The air was split by an ear piercing scream as Carol Perkins was thrown into the water from beside him, slamming into the crimson liquid. She surfaced, spitting the blood out furiously "Tommy what the fuck?! You asshole" But she's laughing now, her bloody face stretched into an almost feral grin as Tommy jumps into the water himself.
"Aren't you going to push me in?" He's finally able to move as he turns to find Nancy waiting there expectantly "That's how this works right? You push me in, I get all wet and I have to dry off, so you offer to get me some clothes...then you fuck me in your bedroom" She's not looking at him, her hair hung loose around her face and her voice was almost monotone.
"I-...No" He whispers, staring at her as she stares into the pool of gore before them; Tommy and Carol kissing as they embraced beneath the red sky. "What about Barb?"
"Oh we let her die Steve. She's nothing more than pool filler. She finally turns to him, grinning in the same way Carol had in the pool, her teeth were black and her eyes were starving as she took him in. "This is what you wanted right? Wanted me back to how I used to be?"
Steve started to back away, turning his eyes from Nancy back to the couple in the pool and they're no longer kissing. Tommy is floating in the water as Carol sinks her teeth into his throat, tearing at the flesh there. He can't hold in his gasp, Nancy cackles from beside the pool, no longer dry. She's dripping with blood from head to toe, as though he had pushed her into the pool. "Gimme a kiss Steve" She smirks and he can't help it, he runs. He runs into the house and through it to the front door. He wrenches it open to see Dustin waiting by his car. "Come on man! I need your help!"
Steve practically jumps into the car, shaking as he can almost still hear Nancy in his ear. "Nancy-"
"Nevermind her! She's not home, we've got bigger problems!" Steve pulls out of his driveway...no...Nancy's driveway and starts driving to the Henderson home as Dustin tells him all about Dart...his pet demogorgon. He finds himself standing with his bat at the ready in front of the cellar doors of the house. "He's in there" Dustin pointed and Steve manages to unlock it and pull it open. Inside he finds nothing...no...at the very bottom stair he sees something...he steps down, bat ready and finds a scrap of cloth. He picks it up, looking at it closely, it looked like it had been torn off of something. He looks around the darkened basement blearily, like he'd just awoken. In the dark he can only just make out a figure crouching in the far right corner. He readies his bat, beginning to silently walk over...he still can't see it well...but he can hear it. The soft, squelching of teeth tearing through something wet...he cringes as he smells blood in the air. "Please be the cat..."
He is finally within swinging distance and he does, the bat meating flesh and tearing into it. A screech tears through the silent air, he pulls back and slams the bat back into the creature with as much force as he can muster. When he pulls back the second time the beast falls to the floor dead. He peers closer but is unable to see the features, but it must be a demogorgon or demodog. Suddenly he's blinded by Dustin turning on the basement lights. He looks to the floor where the beast had been and finds none, instead he finds Max on the floor. She's coughing, shooting droplets of blood into the air that land back on her pale cheeks, she's bleeding heavily all over the floor and Steve feels his breath leave him. He kneels down, throwing the bat savagely across the room; not able to keep in the broken sob as he pulls the mortally wounded girl into his arms.
"I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry I'm so sorry" He whispers into her hair, feeling the blood seep into his clothes as he holds her. She makes no sound other than the wet hacking coughs that splatter him in her blood. "Please" He doesn't know what he's pleading for or who he's talking to but it's no use. She stops her wet coughs, she stops breathing...but she doesn't stop bleeding.
"You were supposed to protect us!" A shout pulled him from his cries over the fallen girl. He turns to see Will, Lucas, Mike, Justin, and El...all staring at him the way they used to look at the monsters
"I didn't-"
El raises her hand and shoves him out, out of the house, out of the neighborhood, out of the world. He sits, cold and broken in the middle of blackness, nothing around him save for Max's blood staining his skin.
"You couldn't protect them!" It was Hopper's voice screaming through him now, he pulled his knees closer to him; burying his face into them as he kept going. "How could you let it at them?" He felt his head get yanked up by his hair, his eyes meeting the gruesome sight of the kids. They were all piled in the junk yard, a bloody heap on which the demodogs were feasting. He couldn't tell who was who anymore, only a mass of clothes and blood, broken limbs sticking out, bones white in the moonlight. He cringes, trying to look away as he sobbed but couldn't when he caught sight of Dustin's hat.
He'd woken up then, covered in sweat and crying as he did. The silent house did nothing to comfort him, he only felt more like it was all real. Like he'd failed to protect them...it was all he was good for. Since that dream they'd kept coming, they were only getting bloodier as they went along and so he'd not slept for more than an hour a night for weeks. He was running himself ragged...but what else could he do?
He tiredly scooped another portion of marshmallow fudge for a little girl with pigtails, not able to look at the red of her dress against her skin...it looked too much like gore to him now.
Hours passed and he was finally able to clock out, he bade Robin a good night and practically ran to his car. He sleepily drove to the video store where he saw Odette waiting outside with a bag at her feet and a backpack on her shoulders. When she saw his car she grinned, standing up from her seat on the curb and getting into the passenger side. "Hey, don't we need to rent a movie?" He asks with a lopsided grin, her presence was almost calming enough for him to shut out the memories of it all...almost.
"Nope. I've got it taken care of." She holds up the bag and the smell of chinese take out hits his nose. "And dinner"
"I could have gotten you dinner gorgeous." She blushes at his compliment but shakes her head. "Someone has to take care of you Stevie, and tonight it's me." She presses a kiss to his cheek before motioning for him to drive. He puts the car in gear and can't help but smile at the girl's antics. He certainly wasn't used to it. When they got to his house she made herself at home in the kitchen, dishing out a portion of sesame chicken and rice with some potstickers on the side. "Want a coke?" Steve asks with his head in the fridge, he grabs one for her after she's agreed and pulls his head out of the fridge to see her standing there. "You go pop in the movie ok? I've got one more thing I need to do." He nods, taking his food and heading to the living room where the tv sat waiting. He puts in the movie, Indiana Jones, and waits for her to come in. After a while he starts to get antsy, wondering what she's up to but then he hears the whistle of the kettle on the stove. Curious, he walks back into the gleaming kitchen to find her making tea in a pristine white mug. "I got you a coke" Steve says with a chuckle "Did you forget?"
"Nope, this is for you" She smiles and stirs in a spoonful of honey from a jar before blowing on it gingerly.
"I'm not much of a tea guy..."
"Please? It's a secret recipe that helps with sleep" She gives him that gentle smile he'd only seen a few times and he bends. "Alright, give it here." He takes the mug from her grasp and takes a sniff. It smelled like lemon...lemon and rose petals. He took a tentative sip and was met with a lemony...earthy flavor he hadn't expected. It rolled over his taste buds and made him smile bewilderedly "That's pretty good!"
"Great! Finish the whole cup" She doesn't wait for him to argue, instead she pulls him with her to the living room. She sits on the couch and plays the movie, patting the seat next to her. They eat as they watch Indiana Jones fighting his way to historical discovery. Halfway through Steve's finished his mug of tea, slowly beginning to feel sleepy...sleepier he should say. He leans back slightly but sits back up as he feels her moving beside him. She's moved so she's leaning against the other side of the couch. He opens his mouth to ask her why she moved when she pulls him by the collar, at first he meets her lips, thinking she wanted to get a little frisky but her giggle against his lips says otherwise. She pulls away and smiles "Lay down dummy" He lets his head fall to her lap and almost purrs as she begins to slide her fingers through his hair soothingly. It wasn't long at all...probably only minutes before he'd fallen into a deep sleep with his head on her lap.
Steve woke with a start on his living room couch. He looked around for Odette but found only her shoes sitting neatly on the floor by the foot of the couch. He sits up groggily, shaking the sleep from his head. He stretches, relishing in the soft popping of his spine as he did. He didn't know what time it was, but it was morning at least from the sun he could see just outside the window. "Odette?" He calls through a yawn.
"In here!" Her voice came from the kitchen yet again. He walked in and leaned against the archway, taking her in. Her hair was slightly mussed up, like she too had fallen asleep on the couch. Her feet were bare on the kitchen floor, calling attention to a thin silver anklet there...how he hadn't noticed, he didn't know. It was covered in little moon and star charms. She was still wearing her cream colored skirt with the frilled ends and a pale pink blouse that hugged her in all the right places. "Hey, sorry I fell asleep." He smiles, leaning his head against the doorway to get a better look at her.
"You were meant to. You obviously needed it. Any bad dreams?" she asks quietly, turning with a mug of coffee in her hands. He takes it gratefully and shakes his head. "Not one."
She beams, "Good!" She grabs her backpack from the counter "Then this is for you!" She pulls out a small brown paper bag with her curly script on the top reading Sommeil sans rêves
He takes it and tries to read it aloud, causing her to giggle softly. "What's this?"
"It's the tea I made you. The directions are on the back" She zips up her bag with a small satisfied grin.
"In English right?"
"Yes handsome" She leans up and kisses him gently. "I should go..."
Steve pouts slightly "Do you really?"
"Mmmmm I should, my brother will be wondering where I am. I told him I was with Robin last night"
"Robin...Shit! I'm late to work!" He groans and tosses the bag onto the counter but before he can put the coffee mug down she's got her hands on his chest, stopping him in his tracks. "I called her this morning and told her you needed to rest. You've got the stomach flu today." Steve relaxes slightly "She's going to be pissed at me tomorrow"
"Better than you falling asleep in someone's banana split." Odette slides her arms around his middle "I...I want you to take better care of yourself."
"I'm fine honestly-"
"Steve you fell asleep at 7:30 last night. It's 2 in the afternoon. That's over 18 hours. You really obviously needed sleep handsome...please?"
He groans a little and sets his mug down on the counter before pulling her closer in his arms "I will...I'll even drink your tea every night." She blushes a little and lays her head on his chest, the appley scent of her hair wafting up into his nose. "You're sure you can't stay?"
"I need to shower Stevie, and I should probably change out of this. I've been wearing it since yesterday" She starts to pull away but he pulls her back playfully "You know...I do have a shower here...and clothes"
"Uh-huh and if I show up at home in men's clothing my brother will totally think I was at a girlfriend's house." She chuckles sarcastically into his shirt.
"Well we can wash what you're wearing and boom, you get to spend more time with your handsome boyfriend"
"Boyfriend?" She's definitely blushing now and so is he, not meaning to have said it out loud just yet. "I guess...as long as we wash this stuff" She relents with a cheeky grin up at him.
Eddie
He groaned tiredly as he pulled himself out from under the hood of his uncle's truck. The thing was acting up hard and it was beginning to piss him off. He wiped the grease from his hands best he could, not looking up when he heard the trailer door open.
"Get her fixed?" Wayne's voice carried over to him over the heavy metal playing from the stereo behind him.
"Not quite. She's bein a bitch" Eddie grunts, regretting not having taken his rings off as they were now nasty looking. Wayne sighs and peers into the engine and grimaces "I'll have to take the van to work tonight then."
"That's fine...when did Detta say she needed to be picked up from her friends?"
"She didn't. I'll call in a bit if she doesn't let us know first." He nods, turning back to the car. It was starting to get dark out as he continued his frustrated tinkering; it was only when he heard the clinking of her bangles around her wrist that he looks up. Detta looks a little tired as she pulls the trailer door open, but what catches his eye is a small spot on her neck, it looked dark and purpling...like a hickey. He pulls his arm out of the truck quickly, slicing his right thumb open as he did. "SHIT!" He grunted holding his now heavily bleeding thumb. Odette runs over and tuts at him, telling him to go wash it and she'd bandage it. He washes the grease from his cut thumb, trying not to make noise as it throbs angrily. He sits down grumpily at the kitchen table, not looking at her as she bandages it. He begins to wrap gauze around it and he feels something wet go over the cut. "What the he-"
"It's antibiotic ointment you big baby." She says just as grumpily "What's on your neck?" Eddie finally asks, pointing at the bruise with his uninjured hand.
"Oh, I burnt myself with Robin's curling iron"
"Really?" He looks at her with a suspicious expression "That's the oldest excuse in the book"
She glares at him "What? Do you think Robin and I were practicing kissing?! You look at too many of those magazines from under your bed" She smirks as he splutters indignantly "How do you know what's under my bed?!"
"Because you took my copy of Lord of the Rings you dick" She snarks back at him. "Really Eddie, it's perfectly normal-"
"LA LA LA LA LA LA" He sticks his pointer fingers in his ears as she begins laughing at his antics. "You're too young to talk about that!"
"I am not Eddie! Technically I could go off and get married if I wanted!" She smirks at his scowl
"Nope! You're becoming a nun little sister. Sister Odette, very fitting" He grins at her goofily "You'll be the one with the devil worshipping brother!"
She scrunches up her nose in disgust "I don't want to be a nun!"
"You're going to work for Jesus!"
"NOOOOO" She giggles as he starts to tickle her sides playfully, she kicks at his shins to get him off of her "No fair!"
"Settle down kids!" Uncle Wayne calls from his open bedroom door, he comes out with a small smile on his wrinkled face "You two never grew up, I'd swear by it."
"Nope! Stuck with us forever!" Eddie throws an arm around a still gasping for breath Odette. He laughed, shaking his head at them in mild amusement. He bade them goodnight, heading out for his shift at the plant and left the siblings alone in the trailer. "I'd better hit the hay, I've got work in the morning." Odette yawned, stretching deeply before getting up and heading to the bedroom. Eddie was left on the couch with his thumb still throbbing painfully. Despite the fact that he'd normally still be up by now, probably practicing his guitar he didn't. He left his baby up on the wall to give Odette a chance to sleep...He laid on his bed for a few hours, not sleeping just taking it all in. He'd taken it a little for granted in the first few weeks...having her back. He'd imagined it a lot when they were little. How he'd protect her from the bullies at school...how he'd introduce her to all of his friends...how he'd drive her crazy with his heavy metal and headbanging...he grinned at that...but it was so much more complicated than he'd thought.
She wasn't the six year old that had left in the white cadilac. She wasn't even the 14 year old girl that had come to visit him not so long ago. She'd still been a twig of a thing then. He'd known she'd always be short, after all the smoking his mother had done and their dad thrown in too...she'd been born small. He could still remember the little box he'd first met her in. Her cries had been so small it was like she wasn't crying at all...but now she was a woman...no matter how naive. He sighed as he slowly began to drift off, thinking that perhaps he'd been a little hard on her recently.
Morning came too soon for the metalhead, he'd woken to the sounds of Odette leaving the trailer, catching a ride with Robin apparently to her work. He groaned slightly and buried his face further into his pillow when he noticed something...his thumb was no longer hurting like a fucking bitch. He looked at the still wrapped up appendage and briefly worried that the nerves were dead. He tore the bandaging off, terrified he'd find it turning green or some such atrocity to his guitar hand. Instead he found smooth skin, only blemished by a fine white line where he'd sliced it open. He balked slightly, wondering if he'd been dramatic the night before...he must have been. He threw the bandaging into the trash, not noticing the tinge of dark green that had been shoved into the gauze surrounding his cut.