𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐝𝐲 ⟿ s. harrington

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞

SERIOUSLY, STEVE,
JUST STOP TALKING !

☀︎

THE GROUP HAD KEPT TO THE TRACKS IN SEARCH OF DART. They had all stayed close together so that none had wandered off or fell behind. Lucas had still been a bit suspicious about the fact that Dustin had been so convinced the monster they encounter was Dart. "You're positive that was him?"

Dustin rolled his eyes, annoyed with how much he had to explain himself. "Yes. He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt. Isn't the right, Alex? Back me up."

"Dustin, I have no idea, okay?"

Shaking his head, he pointed a flashlight up to her eyes. "Come on, you should know. He had it when he was born, right? Like a birthmark."

"How the hell would she know that?" Lucas asked with a scoff. Steve hadn't seen the issue as he felt this was common knowledge among the group. "She threw him up. It's, like, her kid or something, right?"

"What the hell did he just say?" Lucas asked loudly while Alex had given Steve a hard shove. Opening his mouth, Dustin had went to explain as Alex pulled Steve behind the group, leaving the kids to talk. "You can't just say stuff like that like it's normal."

"Yeah, well, none of this is normal," he argued and he was exactly right. At this point, he felt there was nothing else that could shock him. "Here," he said quietly, passing over his flashlight and bat. He had taken notice of the goosebumps on her arm and the fact that for once, Alex had looked cold. Slipping off his jacket, he handed it out towards her to take. "Please, just don't argue and say I'll be cold. I don't care about that. Just let me feel good that you're cold and back to normal."

She gave a small smile as she took it in her hands and handed his stuff back. "Thanks," she said softly. Putting on his jacket, the warmth had felt the most comfortable than she had ever felt. His jacket had been a bit bigger, but to her it fit perfectly. Reaching out, he straightened it out for her. "There, you look good in it."

"You know I'm sorry for all of this. Pulling you back into this mess and all of this near death situations."

"Alex, don't," he instructed gently. "I'd go to hell and back for you. At this point you could turn into one of those things, and I'd still be there for you."

"Would you still give me your jacket?" She teased. However, the sound of the kids picking up a fight had cut their conversation short. Making their way up to them, they had all come to a stop in the middle of the tracks. "Dart ate a cat?" Lucas asked loudly.

"No, what? No," Dustin scoffed, avoiding all eye contact.

"What are you talking about?" Steve interrupted. Once again, he felt that everyone was clear on what had been going on, failing to read Dustin's desperate pleading eyes. "He ate Alex's cat."