STARCROSSED ▷ steve harrington

13. the massacre at hawkins lab - part two

CHAPTER THIRTEEN — THE MASSACRE AT HAWKINS LAB
PART TWO

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steve harrington.

BEING STRANGLED by a creature that resembled a bat in the Upside Down was about probably the worst thing that had ever happened to me throughout the years of dealing with this shit. There was a sharp, repetitive pain happening on my stomach, and I could feel my vision slipping to black, as much as I fought it off.

The creatures multiplied around me—and I had nothing to defend myself with. I struggled against the tail wrapped around my neck, attempting to loosen it with one hand, the other was busy trying to swat away yet another bat.

Pain was scorching all over me. It felt like I had been lit on fire. I gasped for air, finally running out of it. I supposed even my lifeguard lungs couldn't take the lack of oxygen much longer. My eyes watered, and I started to choke.

Something splattered to my right, and I heard a shout of triumph. Jackie, I begged. I didn't care if we were broken up anymore. I needed her right then. Even if all she had to offer me was another passive aggressive comment. She was still so beautiful, even with the side eye she'd been giving me all day. Please be Jackie.

I tore off the bat that had been tied around my neck, and smashed it onto the ground with my foot, using any remaining strength I had left. The next thing I did was actually disgusting, but the damn thing wouldn't get off my arm. I caught its wing between my teeth, and ripped.

Blood dripped from my mouth, and I spat it out, turning to see my savior. Instead, I found three familiar faces behind me, and not one of them was who I was hoping to see.

"Where's Jackie?"

"What do you mean where's Jackie?" Eddie asked me. "She wasn't on the boat with us, man. You're the one that ditched her."

She ditched me first, I thought, almost bitterly. I didn't know what it was about me, but apparently I had a knack for making girls fall out of love. First Nancy, and now Jackie?

"I know," I said, still breathing heavily. "I just thought..."

"She's not here," Nancy told me. "We saved you. Not her."

Robin shot her a look, and I found that odd. I thought they were friends now. "She would've saved him if she'd been here."

"But she's not here, is she?"

I'd never seen or heard Nancy act like this. She almost sounded... possessive. But at the same time, I realized she was right. Jackie had broken up with me, and she seemed pretty interested in Eddie anyway. I nearly scoffed at the thought. Eddie Munson? He was nowhere near her type. I could hear her trying to tell him to cut his hair already. Eddie was more stubborn than I was, he wouldn't care what she had to say. I would though, she could tell me to go bald, and fuck, I would.

Jackie wasn't here. But Nancy was, and if Jackie got to hold hands (or be held on the waist, which yes, I did see, unfortunately) and flirt with someone else, then I could, too. Even if I didn't particularly feel like it. Even though the only thing I could think about was how her perfume smelled whenever she hugged me, or how when she laughed it was the only sound that could make me feel at ease.

Nancy never had that affect on me. No one had—but if Jackie could move on so quickly, why couldn't I?

Something landed by my foot, and I yelped. "Oh, shit!"

"There's more coming," Eddie warned. "We've gotta get out of here."

My head snapped in the direction of the woods behind us. I could've sworn I had just heard the distant call of my name. And it sounded exactly like Jackie's voice.

"Steve?" Nancy took a step closer to me, her gaze clouded with concern, but something else as well. I recognized it immediately, the pouty almost flirty look girls used to let us know they were interested. Nancy's eyes were almost grey in this lighting, but they still resembled Jackie's to me. And that was all I could think about. Jackie. Jackie. Jackie. "What is it?"

"I could've sworn I heard..."

"This place messes with your head," Nancy shook her head. "Whatever you heard, it probably wasn't real. We need to get moving, come on."

I spared one last glance over my shoulder in the direction of the shout. It'd seemed so real, though, like I almost thought I felt something tug in my chest, the same thing I had always felt around Jackie. It had happened with that yell. Like my heart wanted her to be here, too, as much as my head did.

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authors note

little thing just because u guys asked for it 😜😜

sorry if this seems out of character i do not know how the inside of a man's brain works LMAOOOO i tried my best to make it realistic for steve

also i'm gonna clear it up before i get comments on it: im definitely not trying to make nancy the villain here/have her and jackie stop being friends over a BOY. the fight that happened between them was solely to make jackie feel more distanced so vecna would finally be able to get inside her head, it wasn't over steve. yes nancy has been a little defensive on the jackie topic, and vise versa, but they r also in the middle of an argument so that is pretty realistic. i just wanted to clear it up before ppl thought i was trying to make this into a pick me girl thing or something 😭😭