NOVEMBER, 1983

｡･:*˚:✧｡ RAYMOND ALMOST FAILS to prevent a startled yelp from leaving his lips as Steve hits a bump in the road. Carol shoots him a curious glare from where she's sitting beside him, pale blue eyes blinking at him lazily and lips smacking together loudly as she chews her gum.

"Slow the fuck down," he mutters and Steve meets his eyes in the mirror, but doesn't say anything.

"I just don't understand why we're coming out here, she obviously doesn't wanna talk to you," Carol mutters, leaning a little forward.

Raymond sees Steve's knuckles go white against the steering wheel at the mention of Nancy Wheeler. "That's- that's not it."

"Oh, really?" Carol laughs. "Because no girl would ever blow off King Steve!"

Raymond physically flinches at the title because it's honestly just fucking ridiculous.

Tommy's laughing now, too, from the passenger seat as he turns his head to look at his girlfriend. She slaps his shoulder playfully, probably to emphasise how hilarious she is, but it's obvious that Steve doesn't find it funny.

"She's acting weird," Steve says. "I mean, something's wrong."

"So what? You're worried about her?"

There's a beat of silence. Steve opens his mouth, but no sound comes out. He turns his head to look at her, and turns back around wordlessly, defeated.

"Shut up, Carol," Raymond quips, useful as ever. Her eyes snap over to him and she eyes him up and down, before grinning.

"You know, Ray, Tino Choi asked for you yesterday." She chuckles to herself at Raymond's visible confusion, obviously pleased with herself. Tino Choi. The name sounds familiar, sounds important, yet he can't put a face to it, can't remember who that Tino person is. "Oh, don't tell me you don't remember Tino! That pretty guy, doesn't talk a lot, got drunk for Halloween and fed Tommy chalk for calling him a queer-"

"Should've called him a queer again."

Again, with her faux disappointment in Tommy, she slaps his shoulder and proceeds to gasp dramatically. "Be nice, gosh! Anyway, he asked Steve about you. Didn't he, Steve?"

Steve shakes his head. "Uh, I guess? I mean, he wasn't really-"

"See? He asked why you skipped chemistry." She raises an eyebrow. "Are you guys close, Ray?"

Raymond frowns and meets Steve's eyes once more, but Steve doesn't help much. And with how Carol explains it, he wishes he could remember this Tino guy. "Uh, no?"

"That's strange. I thought guys like that stayed close together, you know... Really, a shame."

He doesn't question it. Doesn't question what exactly she meant by guys like that, whether she was being her usual homophobic self or, judging by Tino's last name - family name - even kind of racist, but he keeps his mouth shut for the rest of the ride, even as she goes on and on about this guy, whoever the fuck he is, until Steve finally puts a stop to it.

"Alright, that's enough," he says lowly. And then, to finalise it, "We've got more important shit to worry about."

"Like what? Like Nance?" Tommy asks dumbly. "Shit, you actually care!"

"Oh, you do? Aww!" Much to Raymond's bewilderment, Carol leans over and sticks her hand beneath Steve's shirt, over his chest. "Steve has a heart!"

"Carol, fuck off," Raymond mutters, but goes ignored.

Steve pushes her off. "Would you just stop?"

"Stevie's in looovee..." Tommy drones.

"Shut up." Steve's voice barely registers with them as Carol lets out exaggerated moans of his name and dramatic love confessions. Then, as expected, he snaps. "Shut up!"

The two obey, unimpressed, falling into silence, but not before muttering comments below their breath. Raymond keeps his eyes on Steve in the mirror. Steve looks back at him occasionally and Raymond shakes his head with a silent question. Why are these two here?

Steve, unfortunately, isn't a mind-reader.

They pull up in front of Nancy's house and Raymond watches Steve try to stabilise his breathing.

"So this is it, huh?" Tommy clicks his tongue. "Princess's castle."

"I'll just be a minute," Steve promises before turning around to face Raymond. "Wanna help me out, Ray?"

Raymond opens the door as soon as Steve does, but makes sure to roll his eyes and scoff very loudly. "For the record, I just hate being inside with these two."

"I know," Steve murmurs and fixes his jacket. "They suck sometimes."

"Sometimes. Yeah, right. They literally live to make kids suffer. I can't figure out why you're still around them."

"Why are you still around me?" Steve cocks an eyebrow, stuffing his hands into his pockets, and Raymond scoffs once more, oddly warm in the face. He isn't good at emotions, never has been.

"That's different."

"How?"

They both stop beneath Nancy's window. "Unlike them, you're not actually a spawn of Satan." When he sees Steve's lips quirk up, he makes sure to add, "You're bloody Lucifer himself."

It's Steve's turn to scoff now, but he doesn't linger on the subject, neck craned so he can get a look through the window even from all the way down here. "Help me up?"

"Again?" Raymond whines, but holds out his palms for Steve to step on to climb onto his shoulders next nonetheless. "What happened to being stealthy like a ninja?"

Steve grins. "That guy died along with my history test results." His smile falters at how unimpressed Raymond probably appears and he slumps his shoulders, settling his feet back on the ground. "Seriously, though. Thanks for having my back. I don't care what those two think-" he nods in the direction of the car, where Tommy and Carol sit with matching grins, probably talking shit, "-but I wanna make sure this is okay with you."

Raymond blinks. "What?"

"I mean, I wanna make sure you support me."

Support him doing what? Drugs? Sure. As long as they do them together and Raymond can keep an eye on him like Eddie keeps an eye on Raymond.

Steve's gaze flickers up to the window again and Raymond realises. Nancy. He's asking about Nancy.

Steve wants a home someday, a family, he wants what he's been deprived of all his life. Nancy has all that, thinks she wants it, but the sparkle in her eye doesn't prove it. She needs something more. They don't match and they never will. And with her fiery temper and Steve's crappy friends who like to get involved, this will end in so much pain for them both.

But Steve's asking Raymond for his blessing. Not for a speech or a lecture. Plus, Nancy is good. She's truly good. For once, Steve isn't asking for advice. He needs his best friend.

And Raymond will be just that.

"You're family," he mutters, shrugging a little. "I'll always support you."

Steve's expression is something in between gratitude and pride and he steps closer, hands on Raymond's shoulders, and Raymond does what he does best and helps out. Steve latches onto the roof like the fucking monkey he is and almost kicks the ground floor window in. He grins manically at the disapproving shake of Raymond's head and reaches Nancy's windowsill, ready to pull the window open.

Raymond watches his hands freeze on the sill and his expression turn blank. Before he can draw his attention, Steve's already jumped down, a little clumsily, a little recklessly, the way he is when he's fucking furious, and headed for the car.

"What's wrong?" Raymond tails him. Steve opens the door for himself, leaving Raymond to run over to the other side and slide into the backseat next to Carol, who matches his question with her own. Even Tommy sits there with his eyebrows raised, expression mocking.

Steve shrugs and starts the engine. "She's not home."

As Carol and Tommy start whining about how she's probably sneaking into the town library in the middle of the night like the nerd she is, Raymond's eyes remain on Steve's face in the mirror. There's a tension to his jaw that wasn't there before. His knuckles are white against the steering wheel. He keeps licking his dry lips and running his hands through his hair, almost tugging.

Raymond knows when his best friend is lying.

They get drinks at the nearest store. Steve doesn't, of course, and Raymond gets himself a soda, but Tommy and Carol sip on their beers and have their own conversation on the hood of Steve's car, smoking, laughing, kissing. Raymond returns inside for a Pepsi and hands it over to Steve, who's sitting in his seat, door open so his feet are tapping against the dusty ground in a nervous rhythm. Steve takes it with a reluctant sigh and Raymond leans against the car next to him with a freshly lit cigarette in between his lips.

"Wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"Not now, no."

They continue their trip and Raymond notices how they've passed the turn that takes them to the lake. He supposes they're all going to Steve's to get drunk. Raymond's really into raiding Mr Harrington fancy liquor cabinet tonight, especially if Steve's story is as intense as he thinks it is. Yet, Steve gets them to the neighbourhood, passes his own house and then a few more, before he stops in front of Carol's. "Alright, you two, don't have too much fun."

Tommy and Carol leave with confused looks, but they certainly do shut the car door and make their way into the house. Raymond waits, his lips pursed, as Steve starts the car once more and they're on the move. The Harrington house is growing farther and farther away.

"So, any particular reason you're acting like someone pissed in your cereal?" Raymond questions as he lights his cigarette.

Steve snorts. "Nah, not really."

"Right. And you're like this for no reason at all."

"Drop it, Ray, seriously. I don't wanna talk about this."

Raymond scoffs and reaches over to play some actual music now that he's in the passenger seat and actually has some control over it. There's his mixtape in the glove compartment, and when he inserts it, a string of obnoxiously loud guitar riffs explodes from the speakers. Steve grimaces and he lowers the volume. Just a little.

"We both know that's bullshit," he quips. "Because you literally went all the way to your house to drop those two off and you're going back to the lake now to drop me off when you could've gone the other way around. Means you wanted me alone." He twists around in his seat to face Steve, much to Steve's dismay. "I'm listening."

Steve glances at him, then back at the road, huffing a little. His grip on the wheel tightens and he opens his mouth, shuts it, then opens it again. "She was with Jonathan Byers."

Raymond blinks, mouth opening to the point of his cigarette almost slipping out. He grabs it. "Jonathan Byers? Like the Byers?"

"Yes, dude, the Byers, she- I was about to, you know, open the window and she was there, on the bed." Steve sighs. "He was with her, next to her. He was, like, hugging her and- I don't know, man, it just- I can't believe she would do that."

Nancy Wheeler and Jonathan Byers. This day just keeps getting better.

With her bright eyes and small, gentle smiles, she doesn't seem like the kind of girl to do something like that. But then again, what kind of girl does? It's ridiculous, trying to put her in a box, make her a stereotype that could do no wrong when she obviously can.

Still, it's not all about that, either. It's how much she cares for Steve. How hard she tries to impress everyone Steve shows her off to, because she genuinely cares for him and wants him happy. She wouldn't do this.

"Were they, like, making out or something?"

That, apparently, is the wrong thing to say. "Making-? Ray, seriously! I have no idea what they were doing. They were on her bed, dude. Things are pretty much clear." Steve scoffs. "I can't believe I was worried about her. I thought something happened and she just- she got with that- fuck."

"Mate, let's not jump to conclusions, alright?" Raymond places a wary hand on Steve's shoulder. Steve shrugs him off. "People sit on beds all the time, they-"

"You don't get it. You don't see them, Ray. She- she looks at him with that weird... sparkle in her eyes and it's just- why would she do this? And that creep? He hid in my backyard and took photos of her naked and now she just runs to him? Who in their right mind would give that fucking freak a chance?"

"Let's be honest here, Steve, you weren't exactly perfect to her, either," Raymond mutters. "With those two... clowns watching her every move, what did you think was gonna happen?"

"And just because I wanted her to meet my friends she was allowed to fuck another guy?"

"Maybe that's not what it is, maybe she had a reason-"

"A reason?" Steve all but stops the car in the middle of the empty road with a loud screech of tyres against the asphalt. The music stops. "To cheat?"

Raymond shakes his head. Steve's never yelled like that before. "You know that's not what I said. I said that maybe you're wrong. Maybe you're not seeing this the right way, any of this."

"Right, right, because you were out there and you saw them on that bed, right? So you know better than I do, got it." Steve laughs. There's no trace of humour in his expression. His face is contorted into this kind of grimace of anger and pain that Raymond's seen only when Mrs Harrington would point out lipstick stains on her husband's collar. These are the things respectable people like them keep private, but Raymond is family to Steve just as much as they are, even more, and he catches glimpses of their true nature every once in a while. That red lipstick that Mrs Harrington never wears, on her husband's white shirt, the times when Mr Harrington calls and Steve would say his mother is out with her friends when he and Raymond both know she left the same day her husband did and never came back - those are the glimpses. "Whose side are you on, man? I thought you'd get it."

I thought you'd get it. Because your parents are like this, too.

There's that pang of guilt in Raymond's chest at how Steve's voice drops, how his eyes soften into something weak.

"I told you already," Raymond reminds him. "You're family. You'll always be family. But that's exactly why I'm saying all this." He pauses. "You need new friends."

Steve watches him for far too long before he starts the car again. "Maybe I do."

They don't talk for the rest of the night.

🖇️ 🎬 🕷️ 🕸️ 🎸

MARCH, 1986

｡･:*˚:✧｡STEVE HARRINGTON IS freezing cold in the middle of the forest. It sucks, honestly. His little moment of heroism will cost him and he'll end up with a cold if he even gets out of here.

He watches as Robin trips over a fallen tree and gives Nancy a glare. "Couldn't we have tried a road or something just slightly less creepy?"

Visibly not in the mood for Robin's shenanigans, but trying to be kind nonetheless, Nance assures her, "I think we're getting close. We're almost out of here. Don't worry."

She's beautiful.

Steve isn't entirely sure what's happening to him. Maybe it's from being stuck back in 1983, when everything was different, but he can't take his eyes off of Nance.

Had he chosen to trust her, to stay by her side and help her through all that grief and guilt, would things be different now? He's been asking himself that question for a while, out of curiosity, but now there's a new feeling to it. Like it would have been the better option. The right option.

Maybe he'd be looking for a nice ring now. Ready to be a married man with a beautiful wife beside him, just like his father. To have children. To be normal, have a normal family and live a normal life.

It's the Upside Down air. Definitely.

Branches snap beneath his feet and, at this point, it's annoying the shit out of him. He curses and stomps his feet harder against the ground, earning himself a chuckle from Eddie Munson.

"Not used to the environment, Harrington?"

Steve inhales sharply. "I'm managing."

"It's honestly funny, knowing what your part of town looks like. You're not exactly hiking through the woods every day, are you?" Munson sighs. "Anyways, you'll get used to it. I did, all things considered. Spending a night out here does that to a guy."

"I can imagine," Steve brushes him off. He's honestly too tired to chat. Munson never is, however, so that kind of sucks. The least he can do is use the opportunity to say what's been on his mind.

"Hey, man. Listen, I just, uh... I wanna say thanks." He pats Munson on the back. It's awkward and tense and he notices Raymond turning around, looking back at them. "For saving my ass back there."

Munson simply chuckles again, shaking his head. "Shit. You saved your own ass, man. I mean, that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there."

What the hell is an ozzy?

"Ozzy?"

"When you took a bite out of that bat. Ozzy Osbourne?" Now, that definitely sounds like a name. A name he should know. "Black Sabbath? He bit a bat's head off on stage."

Strangely enough, Steve imagines himself as one of those rockstars, fancy clothes, crazy guitar skills, girls screaming.

Maybe it's not too late to ask Munson to teach him how to play when this is all over. Raymond sure as hell isn't going to.

"I don't know," he admits and Munson's face falls.

"Doesn't matter. It's very metal, what you did. That's all I'm saying." Munson nods at him, insistent.

"Uh, thanks."

Metal. Steve Harrington, metal. It's ridiculous to even think about it. About being that cool.

"Henderson told me you were a badass," Munson continues because of course Munson continues. He leans in as he speaks, trips and falls behind a step or two, only to return and cling to Steve like Ava did back when he found her in the street before he took her to Raymond. "Insisted on the matter, in fact."

It's strange. Especially now, since Dustin has been a bit distant. He's pissed off at Steve more often than Steve's pissed off at him these days, constantly bitching about everything like an actual teenager. It's about damn time he grew out of his little obsession with Steve, but Steve kind of wishes he wouldn't turn into something he isn't.

At least, Dustin's still himself with Eddie Munson.

Dustin loves Munson. Steve can tell. Maybe it has something to do with him being the cool senior Dungeon Master thing and Steve being the family disappointment, there to drop kids off here and there. Maybe Munson's around more often, not too busy flirting with random girls to fill voids that can't be filled, and Dustin sees him the way he saw Steve a couple years ago.

Maybe it's for the best.

That's why Munson's words surprise him the most. Because he can't believe Dustin still sees him as a Cool Guy.

Steve lost a best friend, a girlfriend, lost his chance to go to a nice college. He spent his summer selling ice cream with a lesbian he managed to develop some odd feelings for and got rejected by. He has a shitty job and shitty parents and a shitty personality and can't keep a friend around to save his life.

Steve's a fucking loser.

Yet, Dustin doesn't see it as that.

"Oh, yeah. Shit. The kid worships you, dude," Munson exclaims. "Like, you have no idea. It's kinda annoying, to be honest. I don't even know why I care what that little... shrimp thinks, but, uh, guess I got a little jealous, Steve."

Jealous? Of Steve? A few years ago? Sure. Now? Hell, no.

Why would Munson be jealous of Steve? Sure, Steve isn't wanted for murder, Steve graduated, but Steve has nothing. Steve goes home to an empty house, ruins every relationship he has, can't win a fucking fight. Until recently, he would at least be able to say he had luck when it came to girls, but now, even that is untrue.

He's sure Wayne Munson is great with Eddie, that he can't wait for his nephew to come back home. He's sure Eddie's an amazing friend, when he's not rambling on and on like his life depends on it. Just last night, he fought off half of their basketball team and came out alive. And Steve's pretty sure girls would be all over Eddie, if Eddie seemed even remotely interested. If Steve were completely honest, he'd say Eddie's not all that into those. He's into Ray. Who would have thought... right?

He saved Ray's life. Ray was injured, Ray almost drowned, all because Steve couldn't keep his promise to keep in touch. Eddie was there for him.

Even when opportunities to fix things come to him, Steve doesn't take them because he's a damn idiot. That night when Ray called them, all terrified and confused, Steve had just had the worst day of his life. Yet, when Ray's voice came through, all threatening and menacing, Steve heard the fear. The fear that something had happened to them. He knew his best friend was still in there, too proud to show he cared.

And then the next day, Ray swallowed his own pride, asked for help, asked for Steve, needed Steve. But Steve wasn't there.

"Jealous?" he repeats Munson's words with a frown, keeping his eyes ahead and watching out for the vines all around their feet. Somewhere in front of them, Ray trips and starts cursing, before Robin shuts him up with a hiss.

"Oh, absolutely. I guess I couldn't accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually-" Munson's voice falters as his expression turns serious, almost impressed, "-a good dude."

"I'm not really a-"

"Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche?" Munson's practically in Steve's face now, even as they walk. "No way, man. No way. That, like, flies in the face of all the laws in the universe and my own personal Munson doctrine. The only thing that ruins the whole hero archetype is your... ex best friend. What he thinks of you."

Steve stops walking altogether, probably too quick for Munson to notice because he stumbles forward, but catches himself. Steve glares at him. "What's this conversation really about, Munson? If you're trying to get me to feel bad, I already do, alright? I have, for years."

Munson clears his throat and pushes his hair back, out of his face nonchalantly, as though he didn't almost die. "Nah, man. I'm just saying, he..." Munson sighs. "He'll come around. I know it."

"What do you know?" About me. About me and Ray.

"He talks about you," Munson replies. "Well, it's usually just, 'fucking hell I'm gonna kill Harrington,'" he pauses and Steve grimaces at the terrible, yet somehow disturbingly accurate, impersonation, "but he brings up a memory or two, occasionally. And last night, he really asked for you first. Even I was surprised, but he still believed in you enough to-"

"I couldn't be there," Steve confesses immediately. "We had our hands full, I know I should've but-"

"Hey, hey, I know. I know, okay? I think he does, too."

"Yeah?"

Munson nods and continues walking. Steve takes it as a sign to do the same. "Yeah. He just needs to admit it to himself. He's confused, scared, this is all so new, you know... And he's always been stubborn - you'd know - and he's too proud to actually take that first step. But I think he wants his best friend back. Especially now, you saved him back there." He sighs. "I thought that was it. I had two bats coming at me and couldn't fight them off to get to him and I thought that was it. He would have been gone."

"I just- yeah, I don't know." Steve does his best to keep his voice from shaking. "But thanks, man."

He waves him off, but Steve knows there's more. With Eddie Munson, there always is.

"Still super jealous as hell, by the way." Here it is. "Which is why I would never have jumped in that lake to save your ass. Not under any, uh... normal circumstances."

The sound of twigs snapping and something too damn similar to a bat noise comes from somewhere around them and Steve grimaces, while Munson visibly flinches. In front of them, Ray throws a look their way, Munson's more than Steve's, and turns back around.

"Nope," Munson squeaks out. "Outside of D&D, I am no hero. I see danger and I just turn heel and run. Or at least that's what I've learned about myself this week."

"Give yourself a break, man," Steve finds himself muttering before patting Munson's shoulder. "I don't think Ray would agree with you on that. He is alive because of you."

Holy shit, he is. The only reason Raymond's alive is because he was stubborn enough not to listen to Steve, stubborn enough to let Eddie Munson in. Steve spent so much time trying to protect Ray from Eddie, but Eddie saved Ray's life. If Steve can say so, in more ways than one.

There's life to him now. Yes, he's still a grumpy little shit, but he's alive. Those moments with Eddie Munson he's had over the years, those brief, seemingly insignificant encounters that have brought them closer, they'd always add that glow to his eyes, the glow he carries now. Ray may have not realised it yet, but this entire... Eddie-and-Ray situation has begun a long time ago.

"That's different, that doesn't count," Munson dismisses, right away. Grabbing Steve's shoulder, he stops walking altogether and Steve is just tired and wants to get to the house already and end this conversation because Munson ignores everything that he himself does only to praise others. "You see, the only reason I came in here was 'cause those three came in straight after you." He gestures to Robin, Ray and Nance. "Wheeler jumped in first, then Robin. Believe it or not, Ray went in right after them and you know damn well he can't swim for shit, no matter what he says. Now, I came in because I couldn't just let him do it on his own, you know. Plus, I was too ashamed to be the one who stayed behind. But Wheeler right there, she didn't waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in."

Steve glances over to the girl. She's next to Robin, smiling, completely oblivious to the conversation about her that's taking place right here. Steve doesn't know what he's feeling.

Munson's voice forces him to return his attention to him. He leans in, again, a knowing smile on his face. "Now, I don't know what happened between you two other than what Ray told me, but if I were you, I would get her back. 'Cause that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen."

"True love." Steve snorts. "You're the one to talk. Look at you two. Like you didn't jump into the water to help his dramatic clumsy ass. You did exactly what you're saying Nance did."

He nods in Ray's direction at the right moment because Ray, very subtly - not subtly at all - turns around to look back at the two of them, before he averts his eyes quickly and pretends to look at something else.

"That's- that's different, he-"

"How is it different?"

"He doesn't even know me, Harrington," Eddie mutters. "He took me in, let me eat, sleep and shower under the same roof for a few days, doesn't mean anything he feels is what he thinks it is."

Steve laughs. "Oh, so you think that I think that you think that what he thinks isn't what he feels?" He watches Eddie blink, eyebrows furrowed in slight judgement. "You're making this more complicated than it has to be. If you're lecturing me about true love, let me tell you a thing or two. He does know you. You two are it."

"It?"

Nodding in encouragement, Steve replies. "Yeah, it." That weird hollow in his chest needs filling in and if this is the way to do it and help someone in the process, he'll play matchmaker a little more. "But you gotta treat him like a person, man. He knows his own limits and if he wants to be bait, let him be bait." Eddie opens his mouth to protest, but Steve doesn't let him. "Trust him. That's one thing I've learned from all this. You gotta trust that he'll do what needs to be done. And don't you push him away."

"But he's-"

"Don't." Steve stops in his tracks and Eddie copies, mouth sealed shut despite how much it looks like he wants to interrupt. Steve's finger is on his chest, as if to try to prove a point. "He'll do this. He'll gamble. And he's scared as shit as it is, I know you see it. He doesn't need you lecturing him, I promise. Be there for him if you can. Take the chance because you might not have any chances left after this."

Eddie purses his lips, eyes narrowed at Steve in that creepy way of his that tells Steve he's thinking intensively. Then he chuckles and punches his shoulder before brushing past him.

"Good job using my own advice against me. What I said still stands," he sings. "You know what you lost. Might wanna get it back. True love and all that."

True love. Right.

Nancy is with Jonathan. The two of them work. And Steve's here, a lost cause, trying to get in the way of that. Why? So he could try and break her heart again? Disappoint her again?

He should probably stop clinging to that one moment in time where she loved him. The only one that ever did. The one that feels right, feels safe.

She changed him, she made him better, but it doesn't mean he's good enough for her. For anyone. For a relationship or a friendship.

One thing is for sure. He isn't entirely sure what he's feeling whatsoever.

He's looking at Ray now, at the way he drags his feet, just a little, head hanging low. Almost as if the curse itself weighs down on him, his back is slouched, shoulders tense. That glowing life of his is being drained away.

He couldn't lose him to those bats. He did what he did and he'd do it again because there, for one tiny second, Ray had tried to defend him. He had jumped into the lake, unable to swim, and found his way there to help him. Those bats came at him just because he was in their way, trying to get them off Steve. Steve saw a flicker of his best friend right there. Something that used to be and that he had thought was long gone.

And the gratitude in his voice when he woke up and brought up what Steve had done - Steve needs to try again. Now, more than ever, because there's finally a chance and because there may not be one ever again.

-AUTHOR'S NOTE!
raymond and steve's situation is finally explained a bit further!! you all probably saw it coming, but i just felt the need to dedicate a few chapters to the timeline of their friendship because steve's one of the key characters of this book. i wrote the whole thing and it came out at almost 12k words, so i'll be splitting it by continuing the 1986 storyline in between

steve's pov!! honestly, this could have been done in eddie's pov too (the 1986 scene), but i just felt like steve's would suit it more, since the entire chapter is about him anyway. plus we got to see his side of the whole nancy situation (it's very confusing to me in the show because he keeps on hitting on a girl who has a boyfriend and it just doesn't seem right)

the flashbacks will continue all throughout the next couple of chapters and i really hope you guys don't mind those. i've had so many people say they HATE flashbacks, but these are literally key to fixing this friendship of theirs so yeah :)

i hope you guys enjoyed this despite my slow updates! take care!!