Everyone forms a circle in Steve’s living room. Sitting crossed legged on the floor, waiting. Some people are missing, El wanted to stay with her dad, and Jonathan’s still avoiding Nancy at all costs. There’s a walkie in the center of the circle, open to the same channel. If El needed them, she could listen.
Steve, Robin, and Nancy are talking in the kitchen. Probably getting a little bit drunk. Coping in a way that they won’t let the rest of them. Trying to be the strong ones, when they don’t have to. Tonight’s going to be rough for all of them, they could break just once without consequence.
It’s almost time, Dustin goes to get them.
“Nance,” he hears Robin say, “he won’t come. He’s still pissed at you.”
“And me,” Steve adds.
A glass gets placed hard on the counter. “I don’t care. Before all of this, he was my friend.” He hears their steps move toward the front door and the rustle of keys. “We were there for each other when this started, we’re going to be there for each other as it ends.”
“But if he doesn’t want to talk to you,” Steve tries to reason.
“I don’t care.” There’s a slight waiver to Nancy’s voice. Dustin’s not sure he’s ever seen her cry over this. Seen any of them cry over this. “I don’t know how I can get through this without him, and I’m not going to find out.”
Dustin walks to the hall as the front door opens. Jonathan’s behind it, looking like he was in the middle of a debate with himself. He doesn’t look good. Eyes red rimmed and drooping. Clothes rumpled and looked like they were a few days old.
“Hey,” he says with a hollow voice.
“Hi,” Nancy responds.
He clears his throat. “I’m still pissed at you, but—” he trails off.
“I know.”
The clock on the wall ticks five minutes till nine. “Guys,” Dustin calls down the hall. “It’s almost time.”
Steve’s head nods, solemn. “Let’s go.”
Eddie’s there when they return to the living room, sitting on the floor. “Kids said I could join,” he says to Steve. Something unreadable in his eyes. “Is that ok?”
“Course it is,” Steve says as he sits next to Eddie. Closer than Dustin was expecting.
The circle closes and they join hands. Tangible proof that everyone is still here. Dustin is between Robin and Erica, with Steve just on the other side of Robin. Right there. Alive.
Right on cue, the fireworks start.
Dustin squeezes his eyes shut with the first boom. Sparks visualize in his mind. Red arms of flesh swinging at him. He takes the fireworks and throws it. They win, but at what cost.
Erica tightens her grip on his hand. He squeezes back to show her he’s alive.
“Steve,” Robin whispers.
“Still alive,” he responds. Voice wet.
Dustin feels her shift closer to him.
He forces his eyes open, forces the visions to stop. Those of the group who have their eyes open meet his gaze. All of them in a state of fear or grief. They are all in this together. The fireworks continue to boom.
Nancy keeps looking over to Mike to make sure he’s there. Before nodding at each of them, counting heads. Jonathan’s legs are pulled up to his chest. Will keeps flinching his one arm, ready to feel the eeriness creep at his neck. Lucas moved his arm around Erica’s shoulders, holding her close.
He looks at all of them and knows that he isn’t alone. He isn’t alone in his pain, or his wishing things could be different. As Mike and Nancy look at each other again, he knows they spend so much time wishing the other wasn’t a part of this. As Max can’t hold in her cries anymore, he knows that Lucas wishes he never told her about the upside down that day.
As Steve mutters out a quiet, “I work at Scoops,” Dustin wishes he never dragged him into this.
But the past can’t change. It’s already been written. Dustin can hope and wish and pray that things played out differently. He can blame himself for the rest of his life, but it won’t change anything. Because their paths would have always converged in the same way. Always leading them here.
The radio crackles in the center of the circle, El’s voice comes through. “Almost over.”
He knows that he’ll always probably blame himself. That he will always wish that things were different. That he’ll wish the nightmares were normal ones about his teeth falling out in class or forgetting he had a test. He’ll wish that time was different, that his life never had to change like this. But maybe he can make peace with the fact that it will never change.
Maybe he can make peace that these people don’t blame him for this. They’ll wish the same as him, that they never got involved, but it was inevitable. That night when Will went missing, it changed the paths for everyone in this room. Choices were made that can’t be taken back, and they’ll regret some of them for the rest of their lives.
But, with each other, they can move forward from this as one and finally heal. The last fight has been fought. Been won. As the time moves forward, so can they. Together.
“Brace yourselves,” Dustin whispers, knowing what the big finale is like. They all wait for it to end.
He used to love fireworks. Would beg his mom to bring him to the fair every year just so he could see him. And when he was old enough, he would bike there with the party and just stand there in awe. The perfect mix of science, his greatest love, making art in the sky.
As the last boom of the night rings through the air, Dustin hopes he can enjoy it again someday. He promises himself that one day, he will.
No one moves for a few minutes after they end. Sitting still to calm the beatings of their hearts. They made it through.
Almost in synchrony, they all start to move. Standing up, wiping the tears from their eyes. Returning to normal. Finding themselves again.
“Steve?” Eddie asks softly after Steve doesn’t move. Sitting there rigid.
He nods. “I’m ok.” He straightens his back, revealing the wet trail of tears down his cheeks. “You ready?” he asks Robin.
“Yeah.”
She gets up first, holding out her hand for him. They go in two different directions. Robin getting a bag from the hallway, while Steve grabs a bottle of alcohol from the cabinet and a box of matches.
Dustin follows them as they go outside. “What are you guys doing?”
Steve places the bottle of alcohol, what looks like expensive tequila, next to the fire pit. “After that night, we made a pact. A year from then, we burn our uniforms.”
“To prove that we made it out,” Robin continues, her voice sounding dry. “To prove that we never have to go back.”
She hands Steve the bag and he dumps the uniforms into the fire pit. The blood and sweat soaked uniforms ready to be set ablaze.
Steve unscrews the tequila and pours it over them, wasting more than he probably should.
“You want to do the honors,” he asks Robin, handing her the box of matches.
She takes it with shaky hands, striking the match and tossing it into the pit. The fire starts instantly.
Robin sobs as she falls into Steve. His cries are silent as he wraps her in a hug. Holding each other as they watch the outfit from the worst night of their lives burn to ash. Dustin walks back inside, letting them have this moment to themselves.
Eddie is watching from the sliding doors. “What are they burning?”
“Their Scoops uniforms, they were wearing them when it all went down.”
Nancy walks up to the door. “I never knew what happened to them that night, every time I try to ask, they avoid answering it.”
She looks at Dustin for answers he doesn’t even know the whole of. “I think they were tortured. When we went into that bunker, we got separated. They held the door closed so me and Erica could escape into the vent. After we rescued them, Steve’s face was beaten up and they were tied to chairs, and drugged. I never got any confirmation, but I knew.”
“Jesus Christ,” Eddie breathes out. Still staring out the glass. His arms held close to his chest.
“Do you remember their faces when we went into that vent,” Erica asks from behind them. “They were scared, but they still chose to save us.”
Dustin turns, seeing the group that had formed behind him. All watching the fire outside. He nods. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget.”
“There are so many things from that night that I won’t forget,” Max speaks up.
“There are so many things from the last four years that I won’t forget,” Mike adds.
Will reaches to grab his hand. “Yeah.”
“We should go back to the living room,” Nancy says. “So we’re not just staring at them.”
Eddie is the last to leave the room, still staring at them through the door.
“He’s been acting weird all week," he explains as Dustin hangs back. “I knew it had to be something bad, I just didn’t imagine that.”
“No one wants to imagine half the things that we’ve been through.”
“Yeah, guess so.”
They rejoin the group in the living room. Jonathan grabs his keys and fills his car with the people who want to go home. Him and Nancy talking before he leaves. She hangs around, making sure everyone left is taken care of.
Eddie just sits on the couch, looking out of place. But he’s waiting for something, Dustin can tell.
“Hey,” Mike nudges Dustin’s shoulder. “I just wanted to let you know that we’re going over to my house for the night. Just in case you didn’t want to go home.”
Dustin thinks about it. He was going to see if he could stay the night here. Be close to Steve. But he might be ok. And by not being here, Steve could worry about just himself for a night. Not Dustin as well.
“Yeah,” he says. “I think that’s a good idea.”
Eventually, Steve and Robin come back inside. Robin nods at Nancy before climbing the stairs up to Steve’s room. Steve and Eddie share a look when they pass. He stops and places a hand on Dustin’s shoulder, pulling him into a hug, before following Robin up the stairs.
Before Eddie can get to his room, Dustin stops him. “I’m going over to Mike’s, call me if anything happens.”
Eddie nods. “I got them, don’t worry.”
“Thank you.”
Nancy waits by the door. Mike, Lucas, and Dustin follow her out to the car. They drive to the house is quiet. Everyone is still reeling from tonight.
Jonathan’s car is parked out on the street when they get there. Will, Max, and Erica coming out with their bags.
“You could stay too, you know,” Nancy says to Jonathan. “No one should be alone tonight.”
“I thought about it, but I think it’s better if I go home.”
Nancy nods, accepting.
“See you around, Nance,” he says before getting back in his car.
“You could stay in the basement with us,” Mike offers, “if you need to.”
Nancy nods again, blinking away the tears in her eyes. Following them inside.
The basement floor is covered in blankets and pillows. Everyone finding a spot to lie down comfortably. Dustin stares at the ceiling, waiting for the tired fall of his eyes. So he can wake up tomorrow and feel better. Feel less like pure dread.
Slowly, he can hear the people around him start to fall asleep. Tomorrow will be better than today, he repeats in his mind. Peaceful sleep taking over.
the notes you guys left on my last post literally made my day, you have no idea. hugs for all of you.
tag list (closed): @the-they-who-nerded, @insteviewetrust, @croatoan-like-its-hot, @jettestar,
