𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄 𝐎𝐍 𝐌𝐄 || 𝘔𝘈𝘟 𝘔𝘈𝘠𝘍𝘐𝘌𝘓𝘋

26. fearless together

FEARLESS TOGETHER

July 2nd, 1985
⏰ 6:00 am, 📍Hawkins, Indiana

༺♥༻ The party decided to crash at Mikes for the night.

Stephanie decided that her cuts weren't too bad and she would do a better job at cleaning them than Steve anyway.

But right now, El is looking for Hopper, he'll know what to do.

Stephanie is sitting on the floor next to Max, who is in front of Lucas, Will, and Mike sitting on two different stools.

They're all facing El, who's on the couch with a makeshift blindfold.

"I found him." El says, blood trickling from her nose.

"Where is he?" Stephanie asks, trying to casually move closer to Max.

El pauses. "Woods."

"Woods?" Mike repeats, almost as like he didn't believe her.

"He's with...Will's mom."

Will looks at Mike, but Mike is already giving Will a look of concern. "My-my mom?"

"What are they doing?" Max leans forward.

"Ill...annoy." El barely speaks out. "They're going to Ill-annoy."

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door making Stephanie jump almost a mile. "Mike! Breakfast!"

Mike whips his head around. "Not now, Mom!" He turns back to El and immediately lowers his voice. "Illinois? Illinois, like the state?" El takes her blindfold off as Mike continues to question her. "The state of Illinois?"

El just shrugs. "Ill-annoy."

Stephanie looks down at her lap and notices blood dripping from her arm.

Oh, shit.

Stephanie gets up and makes her way into the bathroom. Taking off the bandaid, she looks around in the drawers under the sink for a new one.

As she's digging around in the messy drawer, the half closed door creaks open. In comes in Max and El.

"You okay?" Max asks, reaching for a washcloth draped on the side of the sink.

Stephanie looks at her arm and presses down on the cut in attempts to stop the blood from dripping on the floor. "Yeah, I'll be fine."

Max chuckles as she wipes the blood off of El's face. "You're so cool."

"What do you mean?" Stephanie asks while finding a paper towel to slow the bleeding, using something that is not her hand.

Max turns the sink on again to wash off the blood. "I don't know, you're like, fearless."

"Well, I don't know about that." Stephanie finally finds a bandaid at the bottom of a drawer. "I think you're pretty fearless."

El leaves the bathroom and Max takes Stephanie's hand. "We can be fearless together."

After a pause, Stephanie finally says the thing she's been wanting to say all summer. "I'm glad we met." Stephanie looks into Max's eyes and pulls her into a hug. "I really like you, Max."