𝐢 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐲𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟

viii. HEEBIE-JEEBIES

  

STEVE AND Nancy approach the pile in the backyard, "you should go with him." Steve says as they look for heaters. "What?" Nancy says as she looks at Steve, she thought he still hated her. "With Jonathan." Steve says to her.

"No.. I'm, I'm not just gonna leave Mike." Nancy says and Steve looks at her. "No one's leaving anyone." Steve says before standing up. "I may be a pretty shitty boyfriend, but.. turns out I'm actually a pretty damn good babysitter." He says with a smile at her and she looks up at him.

He holds out the heater in his hands. "And what about you and Rus?" She asked with a small smirk as she grabs the heater from him. "Oh, shut up." He says, walking away and she chuckled. "I saw you two holding hands." She says. "Nancy, I swear to God—" "Okay! Okay! No pressure, Steve." She said then started to chuckle again.

Steve and Icarus stand with the kids outside of the house, watching the cars drive away. "Come on, guys.. And Max." He says, grabbing Dustin's arm. "Let's head inside." He tells them all.

"You guys should help me clean up." Icarus said, grabbing a dustpan and a broom. "We'll sweep up, Icarus." Max says, gesturing to Lucas as she grabs the dustpan. "Steve! Wrap the Demo-dog in a blanket!" Dustin said and Steve scoffs.

"No—" "Steve, just do it, okay?" Icarus says and Steve sighs, grabbing a blanket and wrapping the dead body of the Demo-dog into a blanket. He walks over to Dustin who was cleaning out the refrigerator and Icarus sighs, walking over and picking up the stuff he had taken out to put onto the counter and table. "Is this really necessary?" Steve asked Dustin who threw out the last piece of food.

"Yes, it is, okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery. We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog." Dustin explains and Icarus sighs as he finished putting the stuff onto the counter and table. "Alright, alright, alright," Steve says before walking over. "You're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, alright?" He says then tries to put it into the fridge and Icarus chuckles.

"Christ. Help me out." Steve says so Icarus rushed over, pushing the head in and then Dustin walks over as well. "Get the door, the door, man." Steve said to Dustin who grabs it and Steve pulls his arm away, "Ew, Jesus!" He exclaims before he and Dustin shut the door and Icarus looks at them, grimacing slightly. He smiles when Steve puts his hand onto Dustin's hat.

"You're covered in Demo-dog slime.." He whispers to Steve and Steve grimaced. "Agh!" He says and Icarus chuckled, grabbing a cloth. "Come here," he says before starting to wipe away the gunk on Steve's sleeve, wrist and shoulder. "Demo-dogs!" Dustin suddenly shouts and Icarus chuckles, then he heard Mike and Lucas in the other room, so he walks away, leaving the cloth in Steve's hand. The two walk into the livingroom with Dustin.

"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it, alright?" Steve says and Icarus looks at him with a confused look right away. "Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench." Mike said and Icarus snickered.

"Right, so my point is.." Steve stopped so Icarus smirked. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so uh, there's nothing we can do." Steve suddenly said and Icarus sighs. "That's not entirely true.." He whispers. "Yeah. I mean, those Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind." Dustin explains what Icarus meant by that. "When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Icarus says as he looks at Steve. "So, if we get their attention.." Lucas said.

"Maybe we can draw them from the lab."

"Clear a path to the gate." Mike says. "Yeah, and then we all die! This is your doing now." Steve says as he points at Icarus who rolls his eyes. "That's one point of view, Stevie." He says then Mike gasped softly as Steve spoke, "no, that's not a point of view, Rush. That's a fact." He says.