𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

xiv. demo-bats.

     

     THE GROUP of five are now hiding under the Upside Down Skull Rock, watching the swarm of Demogorgon bats fly over them. "Demo-bats." James whispers suddenly and Steve looks at him. "What?" He says, confused. "Demo-bats. That's what Dustin would've called them." James says quietly.

"Right. Of course... Demogorgons. Demo-dogs. Demo-bats. What's next?" Steve whispers. "Oh, that was close." Robin said as they all slowly got up. "Yeah. Too close." Eddie said and James sighs then quickly turned when Steve stumbled to the rock. "Steve?" He quickly turned around and rushed over to him.

"I'm fine. I'm fine." He says and Nancy also came to James' side. "No, no, you're not. You're losing blood." Nancy said and gestured. "Come on, sit." She says as James slipped off his jacket, setting it onto the side. "Alright, hold on." James said and grabbed Steve's hand gently, pulling it back to see the deep and bleeding bite wounds on Steve's hip.

"Okay." Robin kneels on the other side of Nancy as James took off his button up shirt, holding it sideways then he digs out the pocket knife from his jacket pocket. "So the good news is I'm pretty sure whoozieness is not a common symptom of rabies. But, um, if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms or if you start feeling really agressive, like you wanna punch me, then you should totally let me know, okay." Robin says as Nancy grabs her shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. "Robin." Steve says as James finally cut off enough off his shirt.

"Yeah?"

"I kinda wanna punch you." He says and Robin laughs as James slips the button up back on which was now a cropped one. "Sense of humour's still intact. That's a great sign." Robin said before standing up with Nancy to give the two of them some space. "Okay." James says as he put down his pocket knife. "Okay, I got you." He says and Steve leans off the rock a bit so James held up the long piece of fabric, "okay, sorry in advance." James whispers to Steve's ear where his head was.

"It's okay." Steve mumbled back and James pressed the fabric to the front of Steve's waist before wrapping it around and Steve grunts into his ear, one hand clutching onto James' shoulder. "I'm sorry, Stevie." James mumbled and Steve just glanced up at him. "It's okay." He whispers back as James tightens the shirt around his waist at the back. "Too tight?" He asked, leaning back so that he can look at the other in the face and Steve shook his head.

"No, not at all... that's good."

James brings the ends of the fabric to the front, tying it quickly as Steve leaned back against the rock. "Okay..." James whispers and looked up. "All good." He whispers and Steve stared into his green eyes. "Thanks." He says and James just smiled. "No problem..." He whispered, staring back into Steve's brown eyes before he grabbed his jacket. "Um, you can wear this. You--you don't have to, but--" "it's pretty cold..." Steve reasoned him saying yes.

"Right. Of course and you're only in... my pants." He said and Steve chuckled softly. "So, uh, this place is like Hawkins, but with monsters and nasty shit?" Eddie asked as he turned back to the other four. "Pretty much." James said as he pulled up Steve to his feet.

"Wait, watch out for the vines." Nancy said before Eddie could move from his spot up on the rock he climbed. "It's all a hive mind." She says as James was still standing by Steve, holding onto his waist. "It's all a what?" Eddie glanced around. "All the creepy crawlies around here. They're, like, one or something." Steve says and gestured around. "You step on a vine, you're stepping on a bat, you're stepping on Vecna." James then explained further.

"Shit."

"Are you sure it's not too tight?" James whispers, putting his hand to Steve's waist. "Yeah, yeah." Steve glanced up and saw James' eyes were once again on his waist. "James." He whispers and the boy's eyes dart up quickly. "My eyes are up here." He chuckled and James' face turns red, glancing away. "Right, um," he looked around at the other three who were watching them, especially Eddie.