Sunsetz | Steve Harrington

Preparing for War

Stephanie's POV:
I was helping Steve make Molotov cocktails. My eyes kept going to the bright red mark around his neck. "Hey." Steve said. I looked at him and he said "I'm ok." "Steve, your neck is so red. It's very obvious you were choked. I hate that it happened. I wish it would've been me." Steve stopped me from making another cocktail and said "listen, I would've never let it be you. Ever. I'd sacrifice myself for you, if it meant you got to live. Plus, someone needs to look out for Henderson. And what about Alex? He'd be lost without you." He said the last part in a joking tone. I chuckled and Steve did the same. "Whatever happens, I'm not letting you get hurt." I looked over at Eddie and Dustin. "You'd better hope something doesn't happen to you or Eddie." I said. Steve furrowed his eyebrows. "If you die Steve, not only do I have to deal with it. Dustin does too. Dustin's heart will shatter it something happens to you or Eddie." "It won't. We'll make it. They're the distraction. They just need to lure the bats there and get out. No sticking around." Steve said. "And what about you?" I asked. "I have you to protect me." He kissed my cheek and I rolled my eyes at him. "Like my battle clothes?" I looked at the dark jacket he wore on top of a black t-shirt with cargo pants and combat boots. "I mean they're cool. But, I want preppy Steve back." Steve laughed and said "these clothes aren't doing it for you? They don't make you hot and heavy?" "Like I said, they're cool. You look good but I miss yellow sweater Steve." I said as I blushed. "Yellow sweater Steve!" He said as he started to laugh harder than he had before. "Shut up!" I said as I covered my face. "I actually got you some battle clothes." "Steve, you didn't." "I did." "I don't like these pants." Alex's voice said. I uncovered my face and Steve said "woah, Alex! You're ready for battle!" Max walked over and said "your outfit is kickass, Alex." "R-Really?" "Totally. It's tubular." Max smiled and Lucas walked over. "It's tubular!" He mocked Max. "Lucas, shut up!" She hit his arm. "It looks great, Alex. Seriously. I just had to tease Max." Lucas poked Max's side and Maisie said "Vecna'll drop dead when he sees you. You're so tall it's scary." Alex smiled sheepishly and adjusted the jacket on his body. "Let's train you on some stabbing." Max said as she grabbed Alex's wrist. She pulled him away from us and I looked over at Robin and Gigi. The two of them were filling Molotov cocktails as well. I watched Gigi's looks linger on Robin as the two of them talked. "No wedgies! No wedgies!" Dustin said as Eddie tacked him. Steve handed me the clothes he got me. "I hope they fit." I sighed and said "me too." I took off Steve's sweater that still adorned my body and the tank top under it. I kicked off my sneakers and jeans and looked at the pants Steve had got me. I pulled on the black cargo pants. I hated them. I groaned at the way it looked and then pulled the shirt over my head. It wasn't anything fancy. Just a long sleeve black t-shirt that was fitted. Then I had a jacket and slid it over my body. I put my sneakers back on and stepped out of the trailer. "What in the hell are you wearing?" Gideon's voice asked. "Steve got me 'battle clothes'." Gideon shook his head and I started to approach Steve. Steve whooped and said "babe, you're beautiful! Give me a spin!" I did a full circle very unenthusiastically. "God, you look good!" "I do not. I hate these pants." I said. "They totally bring out your hips." I tried to hit him and he dodged me. "Ready for battle, sweetheart?" Eddie said. I turned around to look at him and Dustin said "badass! Dad, where's my battle clothes?!" Steve rummaged through a bag and gave some clothes to Dustin. Dustin jumped up and down and said "YES!" I giggled at him and Eddie did the same. "Mom, you look badass! And dad, it's a different look but I like it." Steve nodded and Dustin looked at Eddie. "Eddie, look." He said in a sing songy tone. "I see it, Henderson." Dustin went into the trailer to change. After Steve and I finished the Molotov cocktails, I laid in between his legs as we stared up at the sky. "I wish we could've had a normal spring break." I said. Steve's arms tightened around my waist and he said "what? You don't like fighting monsters with me?" He pretended to bite my neck. I squealed and said "don't!" Steve kissed my neck and then my cheek. "I know, babes. I wish we could've just spent time together like we always did. But, we'll have some crazy memories to tell our kids one day." I turned around to look at him. "Our kids?" I asked. Steve shrugged and said "I meant like when we get married. I dunno if we'll last so just in case we don't, when we move on with our lives we'll have crazy stories." "There'll be a time we won't be together?" "I dunno. I hope not." I turned around completely to give Steve a hug. "Even if we break up, which I hope we don't, I hope we won't lose contact. I won't be able to talk about my husband about the Upside Down if he isn't you." Steve held me tightly and said "we'll never lose contact. Ever." "Promise me." "I promise."

Amanda's POV:
Max and Maisie were helping Alex stab things correctly. The poor man had no idea what he was doing half the time. I wasn't sure what kind of trauma he went through but it seemed like he was slowly coming out of the shell he hid behind. Chrissy had changed into a pair of jeans with a jacket over it. "Amanda?" "Yeah?" "Do you think they'll be ok? When they go in the Upside Down?" I nodded and said "yeah. It'll be dangerous but I think they'll be ok." Chrissy made sure her hair was up in a ponytail and I did the same, knowing we'd be in battle soon enough. "Is there any weapons you wanna carry?" I said. Chrissy shrugged and said "I don't know. Will we need them?" "I don't think so. I think we'll be ok. Vecna hasn't even tried to come back after you. I think he admitted defeat with you." Chrissy shuddered and said "but, I don't want him to hurt someone else. He tried to kill Max and Stephanie. What if he goes after someone else? We don't have enough cassette players to save everyone. We just don't." "We can use a boom box. We can grab one before we go. Just in case." I reassured her. Chrissy nodded and watched Maisie teach Alex how to stab. Max and Lucas cheered as he started to get the hang of it. Alex would smile and nod to them, not sure what to do when he got excited. "Will he be safe?" "Who?" "Alex." I looked at Chrissy and said "yeah. Stephanie will protect him. I think Steve will too." "He's so sweet. I don't want anything to happen to him. Or Stephanie's cousins. I just hope we somehow make it all out of this. I don't think we will but we have to. We just have to." I kissed my girlfriend on the lips, cupping her cheek. Chrissy put her hands on my shoulders, slowly pulling me closer to her. I deepened the kiss and Chrissy moaned softly. I pulled away and said "everything will be ok. And you can't die unless people don't believe in you. And I believe in you." Chrissy furrowed her eyebrows and then understood. "I'm your fairy! That's right!" "And I'm Peter Pan." Nancy called everyone over to where she stood. She started devising the plan. We'd have four phases. Phase one: the group going into the Upside Down will meet Erica at the playground. She'll signal Max and Lucas when they're ready. Phase two: Max baits Vecna and gets him to go after her. Phase three: Eddie, Dustin, and Maisie draw the bats away. Phase four: flambé. Our weapons were pretty much built and ready to go. Everyone seemed to be a bit on edge. "Let's make our way to the Creel House and drop off the group there. After that, we'll head back to Eddie's trailer and go through the gate." Nancy said. Not one of us was ready for what was about to happen. We had no fucking idea what we were getting ourselves into.

Wow you guys are actually so nice!! Thank you for the positive feedback. I was really thinking this book was shit. Someone brought up a really good point about writing fics word for word. For certain scenes and for the plot, I'll do that. The majority of my fics are not word for word and I come up with the dialogue all on my own. So to the person who brought that up and that I was doing a good job even though I'm not writing word for word, thank you. Thank you to everyone who left a nice comment. Like, it made my day yesterday reading them all. I was so hesitant to post the next chapter but I'm definitely going to see this book to the end. And for the whole battle between Vecna, it might be a little different from the show because the majority of it will take place from Stephanie, Steve's and Amanda's point of view. It might possibly take place from other characters point of view as well but they will be the main three. And I'm going to split the battle up into a couple of chapters. I don't want to do it all in one chapter, especially with  how I'm writing this. Sorry for another long authors note but stay tuned for Vecna coming after our beloved characters and let's see who'll make it to the end.
~skylar🫧✨🫧✨