HAVEN - stranger things.

xviii. THREE.

xviii. eddie's secret!

"no."
"steve, shut up." wendy shook her head.

"wendy, i'm fine. you can ride on the front of my bike." steve dismissed.
"no, you're not. you literally got chunks of flesh ripped out by those stupid bats, i'm not making you put in more work. it'll be fine." wendy was assertive in her stance.

the wheelers had five bikes, but one was out of the question—ted's, karen's, nancy's, mike's. little holly's pink tricycle rested in the corner of the garage. wendy didn't want to ride on steve's bike in fear of exhausting him more when he was already hurt. steve, on the other hand, didn't want wendy to ride on eddie munson's bike.

"why are you so desparate to ride on his bike so bad, huh?" steve stared down at his girlfriend. wendy sighed and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them and shaking her head.
"steve. how many times do i have to tell you that i don't like him like that? i'm in love with you! i jumped in that goddamn lake after you!" she whisper-shouted.

robin buckley and eddie munson stood near nancy, they could hear steve and wendy's argument. well, nancy couldn't—she was too in her head planning the entire bike route to the trailer.

"it doesn't seem like he's over you, wendy." steve accused. robin glanced towards eddie munson, seeing his face flush from embarrassment. steve's theory was correct.

"i don't care! i'm looking out for your health and well being," wendy was tired. of arguing, of trying to get the last word with steve harrington.
"please, steve. i just..." wendy turned away from him for a brief second, all she wanted was to be back home with her family, eating dinner and watching a movie with susie. "i'm tired of arguing. you know me, you know how i feel about you. i wouldn't dream of cheating on you in a million years. this one bike ride isn't going to change anything."

he could see it now—tears welled in wendy's eyes, the bags under her eyes had grown and she was visibly upset. steve sighed and nodded, he was annoyed with himself for letting his insecurities show. he approached wendy, setting a hand on her cheek. wendy placed her hand over his and closed her eyes. their relationship wasn't easy, it seemed as though the past few months had made it even harder. but wendy was determined to make it work, and so was steve. they knew that they would get married someday, they would start a family even though they always debated on how many kids they wanted—wendy wanted three, but steve wanted many more. being the father of wendy carmichael's children would be the greatest joy he would ever know.

"i can ride with eddie, if you guys want." robin spoke up, drawing the attention of steve and wendy. the two let go of each other and shared a look before nodding towards robin.

"okay." they agreed in unison.

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

a rush of emotions washed over wendy carmichael—disbelief, yet utter amazement were the main two as she looked towards the ceiling of eddie munson's trailer, seeing the kids waving at them.

"no way." she gasped out as the rest of the group said hi in astonishment.
"holy shit, this is trippy." robin acknowledged.

then, they devised a fool-proof plan. the kids would take eddie's mattress and place it on the floor so that the upside down group could have a cushion to fall on as they tried to crawl through.

"those stains are, uh...i don't know what those stains are." eddie was embarrassed, but tried to play it cool.
"uh..." wendy tried to fill the moment of silence from eddie's failed explanation.

dustin henderson threw the tied sheets up, and miraculously, they fell down in front of the upside down crew.
"there we go. and if my theory is correct..." dustin released the sheets.
"alright, pull on it! see if it holds!" dustin yelled out.

robin buckley was the first to pull on it, it held!
"guess i'm the guinea pig." she said, pulling up on the sheets.

wendy gasped as robin fell through successfully. dustin henderson is a goddamn genius, wendy thought. she shared glances with eddie, nancy, and steve. she wouldn't leave without them going first.
"alright, guess i'll go." eddie made his way up the gate and through.

another success!

the three self-sacrificing idiots looked at each other, wondering who would go next.
"wen, now you." nancy nodded towards the sheets.

"what? why me?" wendy furrowed her eyebrows towards nancy.
"because you jumped in after steve immediately, i want to make sure you're safe and nothing like that happens again. now go." nancy's blue eyes were stern, but wendy knew it was out of consideration.

wendy carmichael knew that she had no chance of winning an argument against nancy wheeler, so she didn't try.
"fine. but you two better come through immediately after me. got it?" her hazel eyes narrowed at the two of them.

"yes ma'am." steve nodded, his hand pressing on the small of wendy's back to guide her towards the sheets.
"stop it, i'm not a kid, steve." she playfully shoved his hand away and gripped onto the sheets.

she pulled up, and up. wendy felt her body tingle as she crossed through the gate, she fell through onto the mattress. the headphones that were on her neck and severely water damaged fell next to her and so did the walkman.
"oh my god." she laughed out, clasping hands with eddie and max, who helped pull her up.

wendy stood next to max mayfield as she waited for nancy to come up next.
"nancy wake up!" they heard steve yell.

the group crowded around the landing pad, staring up. gasping, wendy realized what had happened.

"vecna." max mayfield spoke out.