Archive of Our Own

Stefano, or Steve as people called him these days, had always liked Hawkins. Had taken an immediate shine to it when he first moved here, much to his parents’ eventual dismay. They had bought a winter home here, hearing that the area was good for horrid blizzards, and dangerous icy roads. In her usual way, his mother chose the largest most expensive and extravagant home to purchase and then she tore it down and had it renovated. The couple that owned the home before, had lived all their lives in Hawkins, but had gotten on in years, and were looking to sell and move to Florida to live out the rest of their days in the sunshine. Despite their abnormalities, his father still went ahead with the purchase.

Now usually, their little family would stay in their new home, lovingly decorated by his very stylish mother, using his doting father’s extravagant wealth to spare no expense, until his mother got that itch again and tried to murder his father, usually by committing arson and burning down the extravagant new home, but this time, they broke pattern, and it was all because of Steve.

See, Steve had just started middle school, and normally he wouldn’t have been too excited about that, not having his favorite cousin and best fiend at his side to torment the masses with, but something about this place, it just drew Steve in, so two months into the school year, he asked his parents if they could stay in Hawkins for a while.

Steve didn’t think it was too bad a request, they had managed to evade the FBI (again) and the manhunt for his mother had been forestalled by them changing their names any time they moved someplace new, usually taking on the names of the last occupants of whatever home they purchased. Not that they were ashamed of their family name, quite the opposite actually, but his parents liked to do this thing called role play, spice things up, even if his mother refused to have any more children and ruin her figure.

This time they were roleplaying as “The Harringtons”. The couple who had sold them the house mentioned they had a son that had been estranged from them for decades. He had apparently left town in a bit of a scandal after being caught in bed with the wife of another man. Steve’s father delighted in taking on the role of such a spurious cad, and let his mother spread rumors that he was a serial cheater, and absolute brute of a man, always charming himself under the skirts of any foolish maiden he happened to encounter. Not that such a rumor was too hard to imagine. If his father hadn’t been so utterly and completely devoted to his mother, he could have any woman, or man he wanted, given his charming personality and his devastatingly good looks.

Unfortunately, Steve had not taken after his father in the looks department. He had his mothers thick, wavy chestnut hair, a lean and lithe physique, perfectly straight teeth behind full pouty lips, expressive whiskey colored doe eyes, and worst of all, a constellation of beauty marks sprinkled over his face and body. Steve was, in a word, Hideous. His family still loved him though, which is why his mother decided that instead of reducing their new home to cinders, she would let Steve have it, as an early birthday gift, and to take away the temptation she also agreed to finally allow his father to take her to the Bermuda Triangle for their 37th Honeymoon.

Now, this wasn’t the first time Steve had been left alone while they trotted off to some romantic get-away or another, so Steve wasn’t worried. He had plenty of money, both in cold hard cash ready and waiting in several different bolt holes in and around town, just in case he needed to leave quickly, but he also had a sparkling new bank account, all in his name (well, his new name) It had a few million in it to start, enough to live comfortably, and bribe any police officer to point fingers elsewhere should he be caught.

Not that Steve had ever been caught before, which he considered a personal failing, and yet another thing he felt set him apart from his family. His father had served his first sentence to Juvie at age 8, along with Steve’s uncle, who had only been 6 at the time. When his mother turned 10, she had murdered her own parent’s and burned down their house, earning her first stint in a psychiatric ward. All his cousins had been incarcerated at least once by the time they were 12 (hell, his cousin Pugsley would break into prison every couple of months, just to satisfy his craving for their cafeteria food.) Yet here Steve was, 12, nearly 13 years old, and not once had he even come close to being formally charged with a crime.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t even his only failing. For one, he hated smoking cigars, he preferred his mothers’ menthols, or the occasional clove cigarette, which was considered rather bizarre by the rest of his family. He also had an extra sensitive palate, making it difficult to eat anything too flavorful, which meant most of the family recipes would only make him nauseous or give him migraines. His biggest failing by far however was his enjoyment of certain…deviant activities. While he could certainly derive pleasure from normal activities, like arson and manslaughter, Steve honestly preferred doing things like playing sports and making friends, often to the horror of his mother and father.

That was probably why he liked Hawkins so much. It was a quiet town, lots of kids around his age, a low crime rate that consisted mostly of drunk and disorderly’s or DUI’s and the occasional B&E or Domestic Dispute. There was also plenty of woodland to play in and explore, and several community-sponsored after school programs for sports and scouts and whatnot. It was a town full of deviants like Steve, and he felt almost more at home here than he had in any of the several dozen other homes he and his parents had lived in over the years.

Now, when his parents agreed to let him stay in Hawkins for a little while, Steve was thinking a few months, maybe even the whole school year. It had now been 5 years since they left, and he has heard no word from them.

He’d contacted his aunt & uncle in New Jersey after they’d been missing for 6 months, they offered to let him come stay with them, but his favorite cousin, Pubert, had decided he liked the electroshock treatments at Briarcliff Manor, so had extended his stay there another year. His other cousins had already graduated high school, or failed out enough times they had been booted, so they were already moved out and causing havoc out in the real world. Steve decided to stay by himself in Hawkins but promised to check in if he heard from his parents.

In any case, the last 5 years had been pretty good to Steve, with plenty of ups and downs.

He had gained a few sycophants & had become small town royalty, though he was left waiting for someone to depose him. In preparation, he had built his own guillotine in the dungeon beneath his house, in hopes his replacement wanted to go the traditional route when they took over.

He had joined several sports teams, first in youth leagues, and now in high school. Basketball, baseball, track and field, swimming. He’d made captain of basketball & swim by his sophomore year. His academics suffered though. Books and learning, it really didn’t interest him, at least not learning the things they taught in school. Thankfully, he spent part of each of his school vacations with his aunt and uncle, and sometimes his cousins, and they made sure he kept up with his education in the important subjects: arson, poisons, explosives, potions, larceny, embezzlement, fencing, and a plethora of other things he would need to know for later in life.

Occasionally he would get bored, and go on a crime spree, usually on a three-day weekend so he could do it out of state. So far, he’d robbed four banks, murdered 6 serial rapists, helped two children run away from their guardians and taught them how to get away with murder, and on one memorable occasion, literally painted a town red. Well, mostly main street, and not totally red, just some tasteful stripes. But still, it was a night well spent.

He was now a Junior in high school though, and honestly, he was starting to get bored. He’d spent so long indulging in his deviancy, it was starting to get boring. Really the only thing that gave him pleasure these days was subtly insulting his sycophants and charming girls into his bed. He was considering maybe setting his sights on a male next time, to see if he could maybe start a sexual revolution in small town America. Really though, it was about time he moved on, and since his mother was presumably still torturing his father off on their 5-year excursion, he would have to be the one to burn their house down. Maybe break into the creepy lab on the edge of town again and help more of those children escape on his way out. He gave it until his 17th birthday to decide.

In the end though, he decided to stay, because he had finally fallen in love. Well, obsession really, but according to his father, obsession was the gateway to true love. The focus of his obsession being a girl a grade below him named Nancy Wheeler.

He’d first seen her in the library. He’d been looking for a book on the Salem Witch trials, not that he really needed one, his cousin Wednesday had taught him all about them, since one of her hero’s was great aunt Calpurnia, who had spent her youth guiding other young girls to Satan’s fold, until she was caught dancing naked in the town square and was burned at the stake. However, he wanted something less personal to write about, since a lot of what he knew was private family history. He was hoping to be inspired by a more detailed account of the interrogation methods utilized in that time.

Nancy had been there with her friend Barb, and they were also doing a report on the Salem Witch trials, apparently having the same class as Steve, just a different class period. Originally, he was going to ask if she was planning on checking out one of the books they had at their study table, but then he heard Nancy speaking, an in-depth lecture about mob mentality, filled with delightfully gory details about torture methods, and the progression of blame pointing that had served to eventually wipe out half the town. She was passionate in her growing fury. Her words, they sparked something inside him, and then and there, he decided he needed to have her. To hold her. To Marry her, and maybe if he was lucky, to be passionately murdered by her.

He spent weeks learning all he could about her, her favorite foods & books & activities. Her address and phone number and who her family was. Her class schedule and friends and what route she took to and from school. What places she visited around town, who she spent her time with and what she spent her time doing. Every single detail he possibly could.

Finally, after all his research, he started wooing her. She did not disappoint. Every advance he made was met with scathing insults from her brilliant tongue. Her wit only spurred him on though, and finally, by mid-October, she had agreed to go on a date with him. He loved every minute spent with her, he felt alive again, like Hawkins could still be interesting enough to stick around for the rest of high school. He had nearly 3 weeks of what he thought was true bliss, being Nancy’s boyfriend. Turns out though, he had no idea what bliss could truly be.

It started with some kid going missing, a friend of Nancy’s brother Mike. The town was in a panic, and Steve was considering asking Granny to send him fresh ingredients for a locator spell, just so he could get back on track to dating Nancy, but his main sycophant, Tommy, convinced him to throw a party instead. An intimate affair, with just Tommy & his girlfriend Carol, as well as Steve and Nancy. Nancy took some convincing, but eventually agreed. She even showed up to his house with her best friend Barb, making it even better, because Barb hated Steve, and Steve really liked that about her. Also, her name was delightfully descriptive of the way she would speak to Steve, all barbed words, and veiled insults.

The party was fun enough, even had some bloodshed, much to Steve’s delight. But then Nancy wanted to have sex, and Steve wasn’t sure it was the right time to do so, he planned to marry her after all, so sex too soon could allow the relationship to stagnate, turn into something purely physical, which always ended quickly. He wanted to establish a true partnership with a solid base of communication first before he allowed passion to consume them. So, he politely asked her if they could wait a while before consummating their relationship, and offered to take her home, since she’d told Barb to leave.

Heading back downstairs though, revealed Barb to still be there, sitting outside the pool, so they went outside to let her know Nancy wanted to go home, only to be greeted by the most delightful eldritch horror Steve had had the absolute pleasure to meet. It was poised over Barb, looking about to eat her, and normally, Steve would have allowed it to, but he really did like Barb, so instead, Steve threw one of his hidden knives at it, before summoning a rapier, and charging at it.

Barb and Nancy were screaming, and the beast, which didn’t have a face before, unfurled the knot that rested where it’s eyes and mouth should be. It let out a bone chilling shriek, that shot a hot bolt of excitement right through Steve. He lunged at the monster, slicing off one of the unfurled petals of its face, and chanced to see hundreds of teeth inside its gaping flower shaped maw. Steve let out a delighted bellow of glee, and advanced again, just as the beast retreated to the woods. Steve gave chase, nearly bowling over a startled boy holding a camera just at the tree line, which served to distract Steve long enough for the monster to get away.

Steve was a little sad that the chase was over, but he consoled himself with the thought that it would surely be back, and if it wasn’t, well, Steve was an exceptional hunter, having been trained by his father from a very young age, and while he normally preferred more human prey of the scum of the earth variety, there was a certain challenge that Steve could not ignore to hunting down an eldritch horror. Perhaps he would even call up his cousins to join him, make it a family affair!

With those thoughts in mind, Steve made his way back to his house, collecting the stunned boy with the camera on the way. The trek was short, and when he got back, it was to find Nancy and Barb trying to explain what happened to a half-dressed Tommy and Carol. Steve and camera boy wandered inside, and Steve got everyone to quiet down. He sent Tommy and Carol home, since they refused to believe Nancy and Barb, thinking it was some prank, even after they pointed out the brackish blood on the blade of Steve’s rapier.

Barb and Nancy wanted to go home as well, and camera boy, Jonathan Byers apparently, needed to get back to his car. He also wanted to get his pictures developed, since he thought he may have gotten a shot or two of the Beast before he ran out of film. He was going to wait until the morning, when the school opened, to use their darkroom, but Steve was too excited to wait, so instead, he drove behind Barb to her house, to make sure her and Nancy got home safely, only to have Nancy join him and Jonathan in Steve’s car to go with them and develop the pictures.

They got to the school, and Steve picked the lock to get them inside. Nancy made a sound of annoyance at that, but didn’t argue, since it meant they could use the darkroom without worrying about someone walking in on them. Jonathan got to work developing photos, while Nancy started grilling Steve. In the end, Steve didn’t have any more answers than she did on what the Beast was or where it came from, but Steve solved that by picking the lock to the office and calling his cousin Wednesday at her school in New Orleans.

After some back and forth with the woman who answered the phone, they finally put his cousin on. They spoke in code, as was their habit when talking on an unsecured connection, a technique used to avoid implicating family members in various crimes in case the authorities had tapped their phones. Wednesday didn’t seem to know what it was but promised to leave for Hawkins first thing in the morning, stopping by San Quentin to pick up Pugsley and Pubert along the way, so they could all have a bit of fun.

Not letting himself feel too dejected, he went back to the dark room to see if Jonathan had any luck with his photos. Turns out he sort of did. He had gotten three photos with at least part of the beast in it, but they were grainy and unclear. Steve decided to head up to the mall in Farley the next morning to buy a better camera for Jonathan, something that would be able to clearly catch something on film at night, just in case.

That done, he dropped Nancy back home, and then Jonathan back at his car, before heading home and cleaning up. He also took stock of his hunting equipment and decided to make a stop at Warmart on the way home from the camera store to stock up as well.

The next morning, he managed to get all of his errands done, and made it back to school in time for third period. He spent the rest of the school day nearly shivering with anticipation. Wednesday had called and left a message on his machine, letting Steve know her and the boys would be to his house by nightfall. He was so excited for the hunt, he nearly forgot that Tommy and Carol were there the last night, until they cornered him on his way out of school. He was trying to explain to them it was not a prank when Nancy, Barb and Jonathan joined them.

Tommy, deciding to be an asshole, blamed the whole thing on Jonathan, since he was the one who had showed up out of nowhere, and managed to get ahold of Jonathan’s camera and smash it before Steve could do anything to stop him. Fed up with their bullshit, Steve told Tommy and Carol to fuck off. He didn’t have the time or attention span to deal with them, and honestly, he was tired of toting around sycophants, especially when the first exciting thing that had happened since he’d rolled into town was taking up all his attention. Not to mention, he now had Nancy and Barb to be actual friends with, so he didn’t really need followers anymore.

Tommy and Carol finally left, and Steve told everyone else to meet at his house if they were going to join him on his hunting trip. They all did, including Barb, who had been convinced by Nancy to join them. She was pretty quiet when they first got to the house, at least until she saw Steve’s kitchen counter and Dining room table covered in firearms, explosives and mele styled weapons, along with protective gear and night vision goggles. She looked on at Steve with something akin to wonder, before marching over and giving him a tight hug. Steve didn’t really know what to do with that. He’d only ever been hugged by Pubert before, and that usually resulted in a blade to the kidneys, but the hug went on for almost a minute and there was no delicious sting of steel.

The hug finally ended, so the four of them then geared up, and Steve gave Jonathan the new camera as well as a bag of supplies for it. The man that helped him pick it out had said it was the leading choice for nature and war photographers, extra durable with night vison capabilities and could even be used under water for short periods of time if needs be. Jonathan looked like he was about to cry. Steve was super uncomfortable, so he wandered off to make food, so they would be able to eat before his cousins got there.

They arrived shortly after sunset, Wednesday sporting her usual black ankle length dress and Pugsley and Pubert still in their prison issued jumpsuits with Inmate blazoned across the back. He let them in and introduced everyone. Everyone seemed uncomfortable, so Steve just pointed out the assembled hunting gear to his cousins, and explaining in depth what had happened, what the beast looked like, and what they were planning. He showed his cousins the rough sketch he’d drawn up, and none of them seemed to recognize it, even after he opened a cooler to reveal the toothy petal he had sliced off the Beast. Wednesday pulled out a chemistry kit from her handbag, and got to work analyzing the creature’s genetic makeup, hoping to be able to compare it to something known, and barring that, being able to declare it a new specimen. She elected to stay behind and finish running her tests while Steve, Barb, Jonathan, Nancy, Pugsley and Pubert went hunting in two groups of three to cover more ground. Pugsley and Pubert went with Barb, and Steve with Nancy and Jonathan.

They trekked into the woods and wandered for a few hours. Steve was trying not to get too dejected, having found nothing, when he realized Nancy was missing. He and Jonathan started calling out for her, and finally heard her screaming for them to help. They ran towards her voice, Steve beating Jonathan to a tree that had a pulsing fleshy growth on it. He could hear Nancy through it, but it was shrinking in size, so Steve plunged his rapier into it, trying to cut through, maybe widen it. He had just managed to push through it when he saw Nancy running up from the other side, he grabbed onto her and pulled her through just in time to see it closing completely.

The noise they’d made attracted the other three members of their hunting party, and they all met up to discuss. Jonathan had managed to get pictures of the growth before it had melted away, so they decided to head back to the house and break into the school again to get his photos developed. When they got back to the house, Wednesday had made a little progress, and Steve handed over the sample of the fleshy growth that had gotten caught on the handle of his sword. It was no longer glowing, and was more of a black goo now, but anything to help.

They broke off to go perform different tasks, Nancy and Barb needed to go home for curfew, Steve and Jonathan to the school to develop photos, Pugsley and Pubert back into the woods to see if they could find another of those portals, and Wednesday back to her makeshift lab in Steve’s kitchen.

When Steve dropped Jonathan back home, it was to witness the Chief of Police tell Jonathan and his mother that they had found Will’s body in the quarry. Jonathan’s mother though insisted that Will had just been speaking to her through the Christmas lights she had made into a Ouija board on her living room wall.

Now, Steve had been to many a séance, especially after his parents never came back from their honeymoon, and there was always a certain energy the dead left behind after communicating. But when Steve went to go investigate the living room, there was none of that energy there, instead, it felt more like how that Beast and the portal had felt. He told as much to a confused Jonathan and Mrs. Byers once the Chief left. He couldn’t be sure of course, but since Wednesday was already in town, he could always bring her by to verify, her being a witch and all. Sure, Steve was a warlock in his own right, but everyone knew that witches were far more powerful than warlocks.

Jonathan was angry at Steve at first, until Steve demonstrated by calling upon his late grandmother, and asking her to verify, which she did. Jonathan seemed to believe him after meeting Steve’s grandmother and having her explain, her being the authority on the afterlife, even before she had been put to rest by his father and uncle when they were teenagers. Mrs. Byers got extra excited and asked if she could help them find her son, but Grandma Addams only said he was in a place she could not follow, which seemed to support Steve’s growing theory that Jonathan’s missing brother, Will, was stuck in that place Nancy had found behind the fleshy growth. From what little Steve had seen of it, it looked almost like Niflheimr the realm of mist and monstrous dead. Grandma Addams might have been properly insane and a more than a bit of a murderous harridan, but she was unfortunately not a complete monster, so it tracked that she was unable to enter that realm of the afterlife.

Steve promised Grandma Addams he would call her on Christmas, and banished her spirit back to hell, as she had been in the middle of torturing some scientists and government officials that had recently died. After she was gone, Steve left Mrs. Byers and Jonathan to discuss what they were going to do next, promising to let them know if his cousins found anything.

When Steve got home, it was to find all three of his cousins embroiled in an animated discussion. Pugsley was covered in blood, and a slightly singed Pubert was waving around what looked like one of the beast’s arms. Apparently, they had learned it was attracted to blood & afraid of fire, after Pubert and Pugsley had gotten into an argument about who was going to pursue Barb, whom they both had decided they were going to marry. Steve pointed out Barb was only 16 and still in high school, ending the argument between the two when they agreed it would only be fair to wait until she came of age and Pugsley could in bad conscious also pursue her. Normally, an Addams wouldn’t balk at pursuing someone who was at least 15 years of age, but that was only if they were also an Addams, or one of the cousin branches of the family. Since Barb wasn’t a family member, they would have to wait, even if Pubert was closer in age, being 17, near 18. It just wouldn’t be sporting.

Dispute effectively derailed, they got back to their separate discoveries, and the four of them made a plan. It mostly consisted of attracting the beast with blood, following it into Niflheimr, finding the missing boy, getting him home, and then capturing the beast for Wednesday to take back to school and study, preferably while still alive, so she could discover it’s dietary needs. Plan formed, they decided to wait until the next night, and execute it at the Byers house, since Will seemed to be hanging out there for the most part.

The next day, Steve left his cousins to prepare and went first to update Nancy and Barb, seeing if they wanted to join in on the plan, which they did. The three of them made their way to the Byers house, only to find Mrs. Byers and Jonathan fighting with a man about Will being dead. The man looked like he was about to hit Mrs. Byers, so Steve stepped in, and took the punch. The man hit delightfully hard, and Steve let him get in a few more punches, before laying him out flat, since Steve needed all the help he could get in the looks department still, having only gotten more hideous as he grew older.

A few hours later, Chief Hopper arrived, only moments before his cousins arrived in their stollen vehicle. Steve worried he would need to help hide the Chief’s body, but he didn’t seem to care, only questioned who the hell they were and what they were doing there. Jonathan explained they were there to help them find Will, and the Chief moved on to Inform them they would need to unscrew all of the Christmas lights in the house, in case of listening devices. Before they could though, Pugsley pulled a device out of his pocket and handed it to Steve who started walking around, waving it over everything in the house. He found three listening devices in the house, and after his third pass, decided those were all of them. They were thankfully already nonfunctional, probably due to the spirit energy left behind by his grandmother the night before.

House debugged, everyone got to sharing what information they had, only to be interrupted halfway through by a group of kids arriving at the house, one of which was Nancy’s brother, two others being his friends, and the fourth being a girl with a shaved head that Steve guessed was one of the lab children he had planned to kidnap when leaving town. The info sharing started over, the kids having more pieces to the puzzle to contribute, and in the end, the plan Steve and his cousin had made got built on to include the others into it.

They broke off into groups, the Kids and Wednesday would go to the middle school to build a sensory deprivation pool to help the little girl, who was apparently some sort of Witch, locate Will in the other place. The teenagers with Pugsley and Pubert were going to remain at the Byers house, since that was the most likely place Will was near, so they could attract the beast and use it to get into Niflheimr, and the Chief with Mrs. Byers were going to go to the lab, where the Chief had seen a great whopping portal already opened, in hopes the government would allow them to use it to get Will if Steve’s team was unable to get in & out with just the one monster.

Everyone broke off into their groups and left to their respective locations. Steve, Jonathan and Nancy set up a trap for the beast, using bear traps nailed to the floor. Pugs and Pubert spent their time following Barb around like puppies, bending to her every whim. Barb looked confused at first, but Steve was pretty sure she cottoned on eventually, and took advantage of the situation by ordering them around, getting them to fortify the house.

Finally, they heard from the group at the middle school, the little girl had found Will, who was hiding in his fort in the woods. Steve’s group put their plan into action with Steve, Jonathan and Nancy, all cutting themselves to attract the beast and create a portal. Everyone stood at the ready, Steve with his rapier, Pugsley with a rusted ax, Pubert with two wicked hunting knives, Nancy and Barb both with handguns, and Jonathan with a bat hammered full of nails. Steve kinda wanted one for himself and resolved to make one when this was all done.

It took nearly 20 minutes for the lights to start flickering like crazy, before the beast melted out of one of the walls. Nancy and Barb upon seeing it, opened fire, distracting it long enough for Pubert and Pugsley to slip through the portal to go find Will. Steve was going to go with them, but heard both of the girls’ guns clicking empty, he turned and saw Jonathan go down, dropping his bat to the ground, the beast looming over him and the girls who were behind him, screaming. Steve lunged, and managed to spear the beast upon his blade, but then lost his grip, as it turned towards him. It gave a swipe with it’s one arm, and Steve ducked just in time for it to miss. He rolled out of the way of a second swipe and managed to grab Jonathan’s lost bat.

He came up swinging, and hit the creature, again and again and again, beating it back towards the bear traps mounted in the hallway. His shoulders were starting to burn deliciously when Steve heard the first trap snap its jaws closed, and the monster scream. Steve just kept hitting, making sure to avoid the traps as he fought to get the monster on its back, and hopefully snared in more of the traps. He finally succeeded with an improvised boot to the creature’s chest, launching it back and onto the floor, to be caught in two more of the bear traps. He didn’t have time to celebrate though, as one moment it was laying there struggling, and the next the lights were going dark, only to come back on and reveal the beast and the traps both missing, a fleshy portal closing too quickly to utilize.

Steve heard Barb updating everyone in their walkie behind him. The kids were apparently being chased by government officials through the school, and Steve could hear gunfire crackling over the walkie. He immediately ran out of the house and to his car. Nancy Barb and Jonathan dove in just in time for him to go speeding of to the middle school. When they rolled up, it was to see the lot filled with military vehicles and hear screaming and gunfire coming from inside. Steve ran in, the rest of his group on his heels. He rounded a corner and was greeted by a machine gun to the face. Nancy screamed for him to hit the deck, so he did, just in time for her to open fire, the man’s face exploding.

Steve didn’t stop, just swiped up the dead soldier’s machine gun and ran further into the school, following the sounds of screaming. He took down a few more soldiers before finding the kids barricaded in a classroom. He got through the door just in time to see the little witch screaming at the beast, arm outstretched and blood pouring from her nose, before the lights went out. When they came back on, the girl and Beast were both gone. The rest of the kids were huddled over Wednesday, who was bleeding from several bullet holes in her torso.

Steve gave the kids a cursory glance, before making his way to his cousin. She was still breathing but was losing a lot of blood. Steve dove into her handbag, always at her side, and expertly avoided the various curses and traps. He found her stash of potions and going by color and scent, he selected a blood replenisher and a flesh regeneration potion. He poured them into her mouth and massaged her throat to get her to swallow. Her wounds began sealing themselves, and her pallid complexion returned, replacing the beauteous grey hue of blood loss.

A few hours later saw everyone either brought home to their parents or sitting in the hospital waiting to hear about Will. The government people tried to detain Pugsley and Pubert, but Wednesday had pulled some of her Mojo to get the officials to forget about the three of them, and now the three were headed to New Jersey to visit their folks before going their separate ways. Steve gave it a few weeks before Pugs and Pubert were back in Hawkins trying to woo Barb.

Will was cleared by the docs a few weeks later and brought home.

Steve never went back to his old lackeys, and instead made some real friends with Nancy, Barb and Jonathan.

Pubert and Pugsley did come back shortly after Will was released, and stuck around until Christmas, when Wednesday came to visit as well, and the four of them called up a few family members to spend the holidays with them. Boxing day saw his cousins leaving again though, Wednesday back to her coven in New Orleans, Pugsley to Ireland to go blow some things up, and Pubert went to visit his old friends in Briarcliff Manor.

After that, everything settled down and went back to pretty much normal. Steve and Nancy were still together, and Steve felt like his obsession had indeed settled into love, though at least on the surface, it didn’t quite feel like what his father had always described. Maybe he was just too much of a non-freak to be able to feel that way. He still had hope though.

It was now Steve’s senior year, and his birthday was nearly here. Nancy had been acting strange for a few weeks. Steve was hoping a night of debauched revelry would help lift her spirits, so instead of his usual séance and night of chaos, he agreed to go to a costume party with her. He even let Nancy plan their costumes for the Halloween party. They had a distinct lack of the fire and brimstone that Steve usually preferred to bathe himself in on his day of birth, but he wanted to make her happy, so he dressed up as Joel Goodsen from Risky Business and Nancy was going as Lana. Barb was dressed as Wonder Woman, and Jonathan decided not to wear a costume.

Steve, Nancy and Barb showed up to the party around 8, and immediately Nancy dragged Barb off to the kitchen to get a drink. Jonathan was going to join them after he dropped off Will for trick or treating with his friends, so Steve decided to grab his own drink and wander around until he got there, since Nance and Barb seemed to want some girl time. Steve had just uncapped a handle of cheap spiced rum when he wandered into the back yard. There was a group of guys from the basketball team grouped around one of the kegs. A guy he had never seen before was being held upside down doing a keg stand, and from the sound of it, he was going to beat Steve’s old record. Well, Steve’s Hawkins record, since his real record wouldn’t fit into his Steve Harrington persona.

The guy managed to make it to a count of 42 before coming up and spraying beer everywhere with a shout. Steve chuckled before downing his rum in one go. He had a high tolerance, and since Steve’s house was only a short walk away, he had no plans of driving that night, so he’d decided to indulge a little. Steve finished pouring the rum down his throat, only to be slapped on the back by Tommy. Startled, Steve let out a fiery belch. The new guy dodged just in time to miss the bout of flame, while Tommy started laying into Steve for being a pussy and no longer being the king. This made Steve hopeful that his guillotine would finally see some use, but the new guy just got into Steve’s face and demand he defend his title, try and beat the new record.

Steve decided to take him up on the offer, since he was trying to at least get buzzed that night, and a keg or two might help with that. He sauntered over to the keg and threw his jacket to the new guy. He flipped upside down and let Tommy put the nozzle in his mouth, he bit down, and the guys started counting him off. Steve let the nozzle run and run, until finally it stopped, the keg empty. Steve flipped off the keg, and pulled his wallet, handing a couple bills over to Tommy, telling him to get another keg for later, before grabbing his jacket from the slack grip of the new guy and wandering back into the house to get another bottle of something, and see if Jonathan had arrived yet.

He came in and spied Nancy and Barb dancing in the living room area to some Duran Duran song, so he grabbed a handle of vodka, shot-gunned it, and went to join them. Nancy seemed pretty drunk already, and Barb was dancing, but looking a bit worried. Steve quirked an eyebrow at her as he started dancing with them, but Barb just discreetly shook her head. A new song was starting when the new guy came up behind him. He gave Steve a little shove on the shoulder, so Steve turned around and started dancing with him, except the new guy was standing still, so Steve just shrugged and turned back to the girls, only to see Nancy wandering off, Barb trailing behind.

Thankfully that’s when Steve finally saw Jonathan, talking to some girl dressed as Siouxsie Sioux. Steve made his way over, swinging by the kitchen and grabbing another bottle of rum on his way. He gulped this one more sedately as he joined their discussion about music. He stayed with them for a while, throwing in a comment here or there, but his bottle was empty again, so Steve wandered back to the kitchen to grab another. He wasn’t even buzzed yet and was contemplating spiking his next drink with the bag of hemlock he had in his pocket, terrible after flavor be damned, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to be getting anywhere near inebriated without a bit of herbal assistance.

When he got to the kitchen though, it was to see Barb trying to convince Nancy to stop drinking the punch she was currently guzzling. Now, Steve wasn’t exactly a good judge of how much was too much, but Nancy never drank alcohol, and by what Barb was saying, it sounded like Nancy had been hitting the punch hard all night, so Steve tried to step in, only for Nancy to fling her drink over the three of them. Nancy stomped off in a huff, Steve and Barb trailing after her. Barb split off saying she was going to see if Jonathan could giver her and Nance a ride home, so Steve followed Nancy into the bathroom she had found alone.

Nancy was trying to clean the punch off her clothes with water, but Steve knew she would need a lot more than that to get the red punch out. He offered her his jacket to wear saying he could clean the stain for her at home, but she burst into tears. Steve tried to hug her, and ask what was wrong, but all he could understand was her slurring the word “Bullshit” over and over again. Thankfully Barb showed up then with Jonathan in tow, and the three of them managed to wrangle her out to Jonathan’s car, Steve stealing the bathroom trash can on their way out, in case Nancy lost it in the car. Barb promised to stay with Nancy that night, and make sure she didn’t get sick on herself, so Steve told Jonathan to drive safe, and call him when he got home to let him know they were all safe and sound, before heading home himself.

The next day at school Steve didn’t see Barb’s car when he pulled up. He waited in the parking lot until the first bell rang. He figured her and Nancy were probably staying home sick today, given how drunk Nancy was the night before.

He didn’t see them until basketball practice. The team was giving him funny looks, and avoiding him as he played, all except the new guy, who was following Steve around the court, pushing him around, and getting super close up behind him. Steve wondered what the guy’s problem was, but mostly just ignored him. Halfway through practice, Nancy came by and asked to speak to him outside, Steve went with her, signaling to coach he was taking a break, and followed her out and behind the gym.

Once there Nancy was quiet, so Steve asked if she was feeling better, only for her to start crying again. Steve went to hold her, worried, only for her to stiffly push his arms aways, and saying she had to break up with him. Steve was stunned. He knew Nancy hadn’t been very happy lately, but he never thought it was that bad. The worst part about it, was as soon as she said she couldn’t be with him because she didn’t love him, all he felt was…relief.

Of course, the relief he felt, only led to guilt, because that’s when he realized, he was never in love with her either. That he’d just wanted to be so badly, he’d started role playing like he was, the same way his parents used to roleplay as different people, to spice up their sex life, but instead of just being an unneeded, but exciting extra layer of their brand of love for one another, with Steve and Nancy it had only been a sick parody of a loving relationship. That was when Steve realized, he had been pretending to be some other person so long, he had forgotten who he really was. Had forgotten Who he really was, and that. That was bullshit. So, with a sad hug, he made Nancy promise to spend the rest of her day with Barb or Jonathan for support, and he went back to the gym.

The next few days, Steve turned his thoughts inward, and for the first time really and truly thought about who he was, and who he wanted to be. He loved his family, and while he had always tried his hardest to fit in and prove he was a true Addams, he never felt right in that role. Similarly, while being Steve Harrington was certainly interesting at times, he’d never really felt like it really fit him, that it was just a too small shirt, pinching in all the wrong places, and riding up to reveal buried layers he had refused for too long to bring out. He also realized the time he had been happiest, had really felt like himself, was when he was wielding a spiked bat, defending his friends and those weird kids against monsters from another dimension, and sure, maybe that wasn’t something he could do every day, given the distinct lack of toothy flower faced beasts from Niflheimr, but maybe he could be that person without them, protecting his loved ones from more than eldritch horrors.

So, resolved, he decided the first thing he needed to do was find Nancy and apologize to her for pretending. They may not love one another, not like that at least, but he still wanted to be friends with her, keep her in his life.

He pulled up to her house, a bouquet of yellow roses in hand, the flower of friendship. When he got out of the car to head up to her door though, he was met by one of the kids from last year, Dustin if he remembered correctly. And well, maybe Steve would be able to protect his loved ones from monsters, because Dustin was asking if he had his spiked bat and telling him about a lizard he had adopted that turned into a doglike version of the monster from last year.

Steve was kind of excited. Even after they found out the monster had escaped via a hastily dug tunnel in Dustin’s storm cellar. He left Dustin with instructions to be ready early the next morning to go hunting and headed home to prepare. The first thing he did when he got home was to call Wednesday, unfortunately she was on her way to California on a recruitment mission for her coven. He knew Pugsley was in Siberia, trying to infiltrate a Russian Gulag on his international tour of prison food, so he didn’t even try to contact him. Pubert and their other cousin, What, were in Spain, or maybe Italy, researching torture methods from record of the inquisition, so again unreachable. Oh well, they would probably be sad they missed out on the fun, but he could tell them all about it later, maybe snag a specimen or two for Wednesday to examine.

The next day saw Steve picking up Dustin, toting along bags of hunting gear, and a couple buckets of raw meat to use as bait. The two of them trekked down the railroad tracks, laying a trail of meat to a junkyard hidden in the woods. They planned to lure Dustin’s experiment there and maybe trap it in a derelict bus that resided there. Steve figured once trapped, they could subdue it, and had brough coils of steel wire to tie it up with. Once restrained, they could get it to Steve’s house, where he had a steel cage in his dungeon they could house it in for Wednesday when she was done with her mission.

When they got to the junkyard, they were joined by two more kids, one that Steve remembered from last year, Lucas, but also a new girl. Steve just put them to work gather steel plates for him to weld over the openings in the bus. The girl was the only helpful one, but between the two of them, they managed to get the bus fortified. The plan was to use themselves as bait and lure the monster into the bus through the door, only to escape through the hatch on the roof and lock the creature inside. From there, Steve had a few different gas cannisters he could try piping in to knock the creature out and truss it up, but if all else failed, he would just shoot it till it dies, and Wednesday would have o make due with a dead specimen.

That plan went right out the window when they lured not one monster, but an entire pack of them. The kids were screaming obscenities, and Steve was a little worried for them, but honestly, he was having way too much fun swinging his Nailbat and lighting monsters on fire. That was, until one of them got on the roof and nearly ate the new girl through the still open hatch. Steve wailed on it with his bat until it ran off, along with the few survivors. Steve took a few minutes to pile the corpses into the bus and closing the door and hatch to hopefully preserve them as best he could, before he followed the kids after the rest of the pack.

They made it to the lab where the dogs had run, only to find Barb, Nancy and Jonathan trying to open the gate. The power was out though, so Steve instead climbed over it, throwing his jacket over the barbed wire to keep it from tangling him up when he hopped down to the other side. He’d left his pack with the kids, only bringing his Nailbat, and a couple sawed off shotguns in thigh holsters to defend himself and hopefully find the rest of their group who was supposed to be in the lab.

Steve made it to the entrance of the lobby to see the Chief shooting out the glass doors, and Mrs. Byers run out carrying Will and dragging Mike along behind her. She ran towards a car parked in front and put Will in while Steve ran into the lobby. He got there just in time to see one of those dogs take a bite out of Bob, Mrs. Byers boyfriend. Steve holstered his bat and drew his shotguns. He took as careful aim as he could, trying to avoid Bob, and emptied all four barrels into the half dozen dogs swarming into the lobby towards Bob’s screaming form on the floor. When he ran out of shot, Steve re-holstered his guns and grabbed his bat. He charged the dogs, leaping over Bob to crash into the hellhound that had first bit him, now struggling to get back to its treat on only three legs and half its toothy petals missing.

Steve started swinging, keeping careful track of the Chief dragging Bob out of the lobby. Once they were clear, Steve broke away from the carnage, and ran for the doors himself, pulling the pin for one of his grenades and launching it behind him. He was momentarily blasted forward and almost lost his footing but managed to catch himself and stumble into the chiefs car in time for him to speed towards the gate. They stopped for a minute to load the kids into the blazer as well, before heading to the Byers house.

Once there, he learned Will was possessed and the Chief had found tunnels to Niflheimr in a hole he dug up on some farm. Steve didn’t have anything on him to help with the possession, so he volunteered to keep an eye on the kids instead, while the adults tried to figure that part out, since they didn’t think a priest would really help in this situation.

Once they found a solution though, the phone rang, which summoned more of the monster dogs to the Byers house, so they all grouped in the living room, and took position to defend themselves, only to not need it because the missing little witch girl showed up and killed the dogs with her powers. That made Steve feel a little stupid, cause he could have been doing that all along too, not that he was any good with the telekinesis, but he had a very strong fire affinity, given his mothers proclivities, and the monster last year had hated fire, and it had been absolute ages since Steve had last indulged in a good old fashioned Arson.

When they all broke into groups, one containing Nancy Jonathan and Mrs. Byers to exorcize Will, one containing the Chief and the little witch girl, El, to close the gate in the lab, and one with the kids and Barb staying at the Byers house to run comms and take care of the still unconscious, but no longer bleeding out Bob, who was resting on Mrs. Byers bed after Steve had poured a few potions down his throat.

Steve asked if he could go along with the Chief and El, but he was told to stay behind with the kids. He was a little sad he wouldn’t be able to play with fire but decided that maybe after this he would go back and burn down the lab or something, after making sure they weren’t hiding any more kids there.

After the other groups left, Barb went to sit with Bob, make sure he didn’t get any worse, while Steve helped the kids clean up all the broken glass in the living room. Dustin wanted to preserve one of the dead hellhounds, or Demodogs as the kids were calling them, in Mrs. Byers fridge, but Steve reminded him they still had half a dozen corpses on the bus in the junkyard, so he let Steve pile it with the others in the front yard.

When he finished that task and reentered the house, it was to an argument ensuing between the kids and Barb. The kids apparently wanted to go light the tunnels on fire, and at first Steve was all for it, but Barb said no, she didn’t want the kids to put themselves in danger, and honestly, fair. Steve was just about to offer go and do it himself, when they heard a car approaching the house. Steve wondered if it was the military finally showing up to help, but the little girl who had joined them in the junkyard said it was her brother, and that he was here to kill them.

This pleased Steve immensely! Not that he would let the guy hurt the kids, but maybe he could entice the guy to try and murder him instead, it could be the icing one the cake, hell, it could be his belated birthday present!

Steve told the kids to stay with Barb in the house, and went outside to meet this mysterious brother. Only to find out it was that new guy, Billy Hargrove. Oh well.

“Am I dreaming, or is that you Harrington.”

“Life is but a simulation, we are all sheep the Old Ones count as they slumber, awaiting the end of all things and the blessed chaos of the eventual heat death of the universe, so they may raise again and create reality anew in their glorious image!”

Hargrove just stood there staring at him, until Barb started laughing hysterically from inside and Dustin shouted out a “What the Fuck Steve?!”

Steve shrugged and looked back to Hargrove, who was now advancing on him. Steve vibrated with excitement, anticipating a delicious murder attempt, or at least a good fist fight, he was still sad about his face healing back even more hideous after Mr. Byers punched him so gloriously last year, maybe Hargrove would have better luck.

“What the fuck are you doing here, with a house full of boys, and my shitbird stepsister. This whole thing, Harrington, it’s giving me the Heebie-Jeebies.”

“Oh that is a delightful word, Heebie-Jeebies. I haven’t heard that one in ages! Good show old man!”

That must have been enough to tip Hargrove over the edge, because next thing Steve knew, he was taking a fist to the face, and Joy of Joys! It was a delightfully amazing punch! Steve felt his cheek bone shatter and let out a delighted guffaw when it was followed by an uppercut to Steve’s jaw. Why, he could practically feel his jaw dislocate!

“Brilliant form my good man! Where did you learn how to throw such a delightful punch, why, you must be the toast of the pugilist circuit!”

Hargrove followed it up with more fists slamming into Steve’s face, and then a few to his kidneys. Steve was having so much fun he didn’t even realize Hargrove had stopped.

“Don’t stop now, I haven’t had this much fun in a year!”

“What the hell kind of freak are you?”

“The best sort, old boy, I am an Addams!”

“Whatever, let me by, I need to get the shitbird home before Neal murders us both.”

“Does he hit half as hard as you? If so, I would dearly love to meet him!”

“More like twice as hard Pretty Boy, now. Move.”

“Ah, my apologies, but I am afraid I cannot let you take her, the Chief told us to stay here until he gets back, so here she must remain. You can stay with her though if you like, we’d love to have you, and with another teenager to watch the kids, I could go commit some good old-fashioned arson.”

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Why, monster hunting of course!”

“The fuck does that mean?”

Instead of answering, Steve hooked his arm in Billy’s and led him to the pile of dead Demodogs. It was pretty dark, and he didn’t think Hargrove was able to see in the dark like him, not being an Addams and fed radium in his bottles from birth, something every Adams did to give their progeny the glassy glow to their fathomless eyes they were known for, Steve belched out a bout of flame and lit one of the hounds on fire to allow for better visibility, and a rather delightful stench to add to the atmosphere.

Hargrove looked on slack jawed for a moment before turning around and heading into the house. Steve followed behind and watched as he stalked up to the new girl, checking her over before grabbing her by the arm and demanding she explain. She shook out of his grip and started recounting the events of the day. Steve, seeing they were engaging in amicable sibling bonding, left them to it, before turning to Barb.

“Hargrove can stay with you to help watch the kids, I will go to the tunnels to draw the hell beasts away from the lab.”

“By yourself?”

“Well, it is either that, or endanger the children’s lives.”

“I don’t know if I like that. I know you and your family are different, but even last year we stayed in groups of at least two. Who is going to watch your back?”

Steve sighed at her logic, if only he had been born with eyes in the back of his head like cousin Oculus Addams, but alas, instead he was born a hideous freak, and not in the good way like Pubert. He was about to give into her logic when Billy sounded out from behind him.

“I’ll go with him. I can drive.”

“Someone needs to stay and help Barb with the kids.”

“Bob is here, and he woke up a few minutes ago, he can help me keep an eye on them if you help me move him out here first.”

Problem solved, Steve carried bob into the living room, depositing him in the armchair. He told the kids to behave, and maybe keep an eye on the burning Demodog corpses in the yard, make sure the flame didn’t get too out of hand, and then followed Billy out to his car, grabbing his Nailbat on the way.

They got to the field where the Chief had dug a hole leading to the tunnels. Hargrove grabbed a tire iron out of his trunk, and the two of them secured a chain to his car to use when climbing out.

The trek through the tunnels was interesting, and Steve was able to collect many new specimens for Wednesday to study. In no time they had found the hub, though once they got there, Billy gave out a sigh of frustration.

“How the fuck are we supposed to light them on fire? I doubt my Zippo will do much good here.”

Steve just looked at him quizzically for a moment, before turning to the hub and taking an extra deep breath, inhaling for over a minute. He held the oxygen in his lungs, and willed it to ignite, before letting out a low growling burp, a white hot jet of flame spouting from his lips. He swung his head from one side to the other, covering as much of the hub in hell fire as he could, before turning back to Billy.

“That should do it. We should probably run now.”

Billy stared at him wide eyed before turning on his heel and running out of the hub in the direction of their exit.

The two of them ran for some time, taking a looping route to avoid the Demodogs they could hear running towards the hub. They only met one of the dogs on the way, but Steve recognized it from the description Dustin gave him of Dart, the Demodog he had been raising that started Steve’s whole involvement in this affair. Deciding no boy should be without his hellhound, Steve whistled at it to follow them, and let it lead the way to the exit. Steve was pleasantly surprised that Hargrove didn’t even question him. Perhaps when this was all done, the two of them could be friends!

By the time they made it to the exit, Steve could hear the hounds on their heels, so he signaled to Dart and Billy to climb out, and turned to face the approaching horde. He took another deep breath and when the leader of the charge was only a few feet away, Steve let loose another torrent of flame, this time extending his arms before him to unleash hell fire from his palms as well. It burned deliciously, and Steve hoped that this time he would be left with horrific scars, or maybe even hands so mutilated they needed to be amputated!

When all the approaching Demodogs were nothing more than ash, Steve lept out of the hole, in time to see Hargrove’s headlights become impossibly bright, and the entrance to the tunnels seal itself off. Looking over at Dart, he saw the poor beast was looking rather sickly, so calling upon the demonic forces, Steve carved the mark of the beast into its spine, securing its tiny sparking soul to the earthly plane. Dart shuddered, and sloughed off its skin, revealing a newly hulking form covered in patchy mosslike fur, and a few dozen glowing eyes dotted over its toothy petals. It let out a happy screech, before wagging a now spiked tail and cuddling into Steve’s side.

Steve gave it a pat before turning to Billy.

“We should probably get back, the kids must be chomping at the bit for information, and while I know Barb is more than capable in keeping them in line, I am not sure if she had enough duct tape to secure all of them to the ceiling.”

“You are so fucking weird.”

“Yup.”

With that, the three of them piled into the Camaro, Steve and Dart sharing the passenger seat so they could both hang their heads out the window. Steve made sure to keep ahold of Dart’s wagging tail so it wouldn’t distract Billy from driving. He would hate to have him slow down and start driving carefully after all!

Back at the house, the kids were indeed frothing at the mouth to hear how it went. With a manic gleam in his eye, Hargrove recounted the entire experience, and after Steve led Dart inside to reintroduce him to the stunned and silent kids. Barb took one look at Dart, and started cooing, wrapping her arms around the gorgeous creature and giving it all the pets. Dustin joined her after Steve explained it was Dart but fixed so he could live above ground. When he expressed concern over bringing Dart home to his mother, who was a cat person, and allergic to dogs, Steve offered to house Dart at his own house, and told Dustin he could visit as often as he liked.

The rest of their group arrived shortly after that, most of the adults wanting to kill Dart, until Dustin explained what it was, and Barb threatened to flay anyone alive if they dared lay a finger on her precious darling.

After an exchange of information, the boys decided to sleep over at the Byers house, since it was already really late. Billy and his sister, max apparently, had to go home though. Steve offered to go with them and explain things to their parents. They both looked really uncomfortable for a moment, until Steve flashed them a Maniac grin. They agreed pretty easily after that.

Meeting mr. and Mrs. Hargrove was interesting. At first Mr. Hargrove was rather angry, but Steve explained what had happened and why his kids were so late getting home, the sanitized version the Chief insisted they stick to at least. The blood under his fingernails had started bothering him while he was explaining, so he pulled out a hunting knife and started picking it out while he was giving his explanation. Mr. Hargrove got really quiet after that and listened politely to the rest of the explanation. Maybe he didn’t like dirty nails either.

When Steve finished Mr. Hargrove looked like he was going to start shouting, but Dart’s stomach growled from where it was hidden in the shadows. Max ran off to the kitchen and grabbed a frozen roast from the freezer. She tossed it to Dart, who opened its mouth wide, revealing a few dozen toothier petals than it had before, and snaked out a thick three-foot tongue to snatch the roast out of the air and chomp down on its treat. Max then gave it a few pats for being such a good hell hound.

Mr. Hargrove must have been extra tried, because he fell asleep on the floor right before them. Mrs. Hargrove looked like she might be just as sleepy but waited until she got to the couch to fall asleep. Max shrugged and went off to her room to go to bed herself.

After making sure she was going to stay home, Billy offered Steve and Dart a ride home. Steve accepted happily, Hargrove’s driving was superb, and he hoped he would be able to get many more rides from him in the future. He dropped Steve off and looked like he wanted to say something to Steve he and Dart were exiting the car, but instead just nodded in his direction and sped off.

Steve walked into his house, and with one last pat to Dart, headed up to shower and go to bed.

He’d had the best day. He hoped tomorrow would be just as exciting!