Alice the Amazing ⇒ STRANGER THINGS

[64] Pavlovian Mindf*ck

TW for brief mentions/references to panic attacks (nothing too descriptive).

A/N A long one today my friends! I might have to fully write out the Alice and Steve first kiss scene one of these days, but for now, the memory will do.

{The Nina Project, Part II}

Alice and Kali entered the kitchen of the Creel House and were immediately hit with 30 years of bad smells.

"Geez!" Alice said, gagging. "That's ripe."

"Three decades of mold and rot," Kali said, covering her nose with her hand. "Disgusting."

"We're not going to find anything in here," Alice said. "Except salmonella."

"We came all this way," Kali pointed out. "We might as well poke around."

They opened various pantry doors and saw a variety of cans and jars of long, long, long expired food.

"Alice, aren't you supposed to be listening to music?" Kali asked after a few minutes of searching.

"Shit," Alice said, quickly pressing play on her Walkman. "I almost forgot."

She turned up the volume on her "AH+SH" mixtape and rested the headphones around her neck, "Somebody to Love" by Queen emanating from them.

"Good taste," Kali said with an approving nod, "albeit a bit mainstream."

"You and Jonathan would get along," Alice said with a playful eye roll. "He's also a bit of a music snob. Me? I'll listen to everything and anything." 

"Why is this your favorite song, if you do not mind me asking?"

Alice's mind flashed back to November 1983, to a surprisingly bright spot in a very dark time.

"The day Steve and I bonded for the first time," Alice said, "he defended me from some shitty bullies and drove me home. He played Queen the whole ride. We usually only made small talk because he was dating Nancy, but that day I realized I actually liked talking with him. I wanted to be his friend. This song reminds me of then, I guess. It's also just an insanely good song."

Kali nodded but didn't respond. Instead, she avoided eye contact and continued searching kitchen drawers for some sort of Vecna clue.

"Speaking of Steve," Alice asked lightly, "why exactly do you look at him like you want him dead?"

"I do not wish death upon him," Kali said. She turned to face Alice and crossed her arms. "Do not take this the wrong way, but your boyfriend is very taxing."

Alice couldn't help but laugh.

"You aren't the first person to think that. Not by a long shot."

"He is very protective of you and your friends," Kali continued. "His loyalty is admirable, but it is coupled with a high-strung, bossy, nagging nature. Our personalities clash. If he was part of my crew, I never would have allowed him to disrespect me so."

"I'm sorry, Kali," Alice said. "I'll talk to him."

"Do not do that. He is not yours to fix. If he is a half-decent man, he will apologize on his own."

With that, Kali exited out a side door. Alice followed, the crooning voice of Freddie Mercury echoing in the small, damp hallway they found themselves in.

At the end of the hall stood a foreboding door with peeling brown paint.

"Where do you think that leads?" Kali asked, voice low.