I had a lil wisp of an idea about El telling Gareth about the upside down and showing him her powers the very first time they met (because he knew Eddie was lying to him about how he’d spent his spring break, and he was all mad and hurt about it so El decided he needed to understand what was up). Here’s a tiny snippet of it, but I need to figure out where it should go if I’m ever going to make anything of it. Please drop me a comment and let me know what you think, especially if you have any ideas you don’t mind sharing!
“Sorry,” she whispered. “Are you okay?”
Gareth didn’t answer. Instead he reached toward her face— she didn’t flinch— and carefully wiped away the blood that had trickled from her nose with the frayed cuff of his old flannel shirt.
He stared at it for a minute or two, the bright red smear across the faded blue fabric, before finally looking up to meet Jane Hopper’s eyes.
“How?” he managed at last. “How the fuck did you do that?”
“I had to make sure you believed me,” she earnestly explained.
“I didn’t say why. I said how.”
“If you were really watching, you already know how.” Jane delicately touched the skin beneath her nostril, seemingly checking to be sure the bleeding had fully stopped. “I am a freak.”
“Yeah, right,” Gareth muttered. “‘Freak’ doesn’t even begin to cover it.” Even as the harsh words left his mouth, he regretted them. Jane looked hurt, but also— resigned, almost. Like she’d been expecting him to think badly of her. Hoping he wouldn’t, maybe, but nonetheless sure that he would. Convinced he was just like every other brainless Carver follower in this stupid— cursed— town.
God, he was such an asshole. But how the hell am I supposed to NOT think she’s a freak? he thought defensively.
You saw that it wasn’t her fault, the part of his mind that knew what it felt like to be bullied argued back. She can’t help what they did to her.
“You’re more like a mutant,” he blurted, trying to amend his earlier nastiness. “Way cooler than a boring old freak.”
Jane’s face lit up. “Like X-Men?” she asked eagerly.
Her excited smile did something funny to Gareth’s stomach. To his face, too— he inexplicably felt himself smiling back. “You know about X-Men?”
“Will and Dustin told me. Will says I am like the Phoenix.”
“See, that’s awesome. Much better than ‘freak’. Around here,” Gareth told her, his grin fading, “being a freak just means getting your ass kicked.” He held up his busted hand, immobile in its cast, as proof.
Jane’s eyes narrowed. “Who did that to you?” she demanded. “Do you want me to get them?”
Hell yeah, he did. Suddenly he couldn’t think of anything he wanted more.
