"Something is coming." Mike starts, as the gang played Dungeons and Dragons in his rather large basement.

"Something hungry for blood," he continues as he looks around at the group. "A shadow grows on the wall behind you, swallowing you in darkness." He looks to his right as Dustin wipes his nose. "It is almost here."

"What is it?" Will asks enthusiastically. They had been playing this current D&D game for 10 hours now at least. They had the playing board set up in front of them  as they sat around a table. To Will's right was Grace. She was just as  interested in the current campaign as Will and the boys were, listening closely to what Mike was saying. She hoped that whatever thing Mike was describing wasn't the dreaded Demogorgon.

Dustin shared the same worried thought as Grace, "What if it's the Demogorgon?" Will whined at his question and shrunk back in his seat. The girl gave a sympathetic look to her best friend knowing what might happen if it was that creature. "Oh Jesus, we're so screwed if it's the Demogorgon," he continued. 

"It's not the Demogorgon!" dismissed Lucas, as he tried to calm his friend across the table down.

"An army of Troglodytes charge into the chamber!" Mike slams the playing piece onto the board. He was always so great at narrating the campaigns and truly brought the story to life. Grace always admired that about him. She briefly smiled at him (header gif) and at the fact that they had avoided a run in with the beast. Lucas gestured towards the board with a smirk on his face and leaned against the back of the chair.

"Troglodytes?"

"Told ya." He replied sarcastically to Dustin. Causing Grace, Will and Dustin to giggle.

But Mike wasn't joining in.

The dark haired boy had a slight worried look on his face as if he was trying to find out something. "Wait a minute." He practically whispered. Looking around he went on to say, "do you hear that?" He was looking behind him now.

Facing the group again, "that- that sound,"

"boom"

"boom"

"BOOM"

He banged on the table causing the other kids to gasp at the sudden loud noise. Will rose in his chair again, eager to learn more about the noise. Grace turned her head to face Mike. She was one seat away from him because sitting in between them was Lucas. They locked eyes but she looked down quickly. Her stomach felt as if it was rising. As if it had some kind of pit inside it that was so empty yet so warm. The feeling was rising to her cheeks and she felt heated in her face. The feeling of warmth and shakiness and emptiness fluttering all at the same time. It was so... odd. She had never felt that way before, not even when that worm Freddy Banks said she was pretty in 5th grade before he moved away to Houston.

Grace quickly elected to ignore the feeling. Maybe it was just anticipation growing because of the suspense thick in the air.

"That didn't come from the troglodytes, no, th-that came from something else." They looked around at each other. Lucas did not look amused whatsoever.

"THE DEMOGORGON"

Mike smashed the piece on the table as they disregarded the Troglodytes.

A collective moan of defeat rose from the group. "We're in deep shit!" Dustin proclaimed as Will put his head on the table.

"Will, your action!" It was possibly the last chance they had. "I don't know!" He replied, his head rising up again overwhelmed by the sudden revelation. Grace had an idea

"Will, you should fireball him!" Grace offered as a way to defeat it. "But to do that I'd have to roll a 13 or higher!" He replied. "Too risky. Don't listen to her. Cast a protection spell." Dustin suggested as an alternative. "Don't be a pussy, fireball him!" Lucas sided with Grace as they looked at one another in agreement then she turned pulled a face at her friend who had just turned against her seconds before.

"Cast pro-tect-tion."

Mike slammed on the table once again, "the Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering! It stomps towards you, BOOM!"

"FIREBALL HIM WILL!" Lucas shouts frantically.

"CAST PROTECTION." Dustin argues once again.

"IT ROARS IN ANGER!" A full scale argument breaks out against the two boys with Mike continuing to voice the Demogorgon's movements in the background as Grace sighs and looks hopefully at Will.

"FIREBALL!" Will announces as he tosses the dice across the table. "Oh shit!" It goes to far and falls onto the floor, making the group get up from their seats in desperate search for it. "Where'd it go?" they scattered into different spaces around the room. "Where is it?" Mike gasps. "I don't know!" Will shouts back as he tries to find out what his fate was. Dustin was in full scale panic mode as he stood in the same spot with this hands over his head as the boys bickered amongst themselves. Grace looked under the table incase it had rolled under there, but to no avail.

Mike's mom then entered the basement and alerted it was 15 after 8 o'clock. Exasperated about the current situation, he raced up the stairs to convince her for 20 more minutes. Grace thought about following him and backing him up but didn't want to go against her friend's mother. She found the dice just to the right of the stairs. "I found it!" She exclaimed, holding it tightly in her hand above her head. "What was it?" Will rushed over to her. "Does a 7 count?" Grace asked. Her knees were sore from crawling on the ground while searching. "Did Mike see it?" Lucas questioned them. They shook their heads in synchronization. "Then it doesn't count."

Grace grabbed her jacket and just as she joined Will, who was heading up the staircase, Dustin called on them. "Guys, do any of you want this?" Lucas rushed up the stairs to leave with the duo as they called out a firm and quick, "no."

Just as she reached the door, Grace realized she had left her bag downstairs and went back to get it. She grouped up with the boys outside Mike's house so she could cycle home with them. When she reached the outside, Dustin seemed to be annoyed with something.

And that something was Nancy Wheeler - Mike's elder sister.

Grace had always gotten along with Nancy because she was best friends with her older sister Delancey. The older Wheeler girl always treated her like a little sister (despite Grace having an older sister of her own), teaching her makeup tricks, letting her try on her special lace front blonde wig and borrow fashionable old clothes. So when Dustin went into a slight rant about how she supposedly had a 'stick up her butt', Grace stayed quiet on the matter.

"Don't you guys remember when her and Delancey dressed up as elfs for our Elder Tree campaign?" That was her personal favourite campaign to date. She and Mike had been so enthusiastic about it that Nancy and Delancey must've caught on and came down to the basement dressed in Elven garb.

"Four years ago!" Mike shouted to Dustin as he sped away into the night with Lucas following behind him. "Just saying!"

Grace noticed Will was staying behind to speak to Mike and decided to stay with him.

"It was a seven." The boy on the bike admitted. "Huh?"

"The roll. Grace found it and it was a seven." Mike looked at Grace, who nodded her head but averted eye contact with him and stared at the ground. "See ya tomorrow!" He peddled away.
Grace decided to say sometime quickly to Mike before she left.

"The campaign was going really really great tonight y'know. It just sucks that we didn't get to finish it." She smiled at him, no longer afraid of communicating with him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it." He smiled at her and she returned the gesture. "I left your die on the table by the way, it would be a dick move to leave it on the floor." "Oh thank you! I have to clear up downstairs before bed anyway."

"Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"Sweet dreams," she giggled and locked eyes with him one last time while he smiled wistfully at her and followed the rest of the boys down the street.

Grace never could remember how the whole "sweet dreams" thing started but she got a vague feeling the inside joke was created on a summer day she spend alone with Mike. Not that she could remember what had happened.

Mike stared at her and sighed. There was no way in hell she'd ever like him. 'She thinks of me as just a friend,' he thought. Plus, liking girls in that way was gross. However, his mind was interrupted by the strange flickering of his outdoor lights. He dismissed it as an electrical fault, turned them off and went inside to clear up the mess his comrades had left downstairs.

The 2nd youngest Knightwood girl sped back to her house, it was beside Lucas's, and found Dustin and Will waiting for her. "You guys should head home now, it's getting late." "Well, we can't just leave a little lady alone and vulnerable. She could get kidnapped!" Dustin joked, circling around her. "Oh shut up. I can take care of my self better than you bozos ever could." She laughed, getting off her bike and entering her front lawn.

"Hey, I'll meet you here tomorrow for school, yeah?" Will asked. They always rode their bikes to school together, with or without the other guys. "Of course!" They did their secret handshake and her friends departed.

"Bye losers! Get home safely, take care!"

Entering through the door she was greeted with the warm smile of her mother, who asked her how her night was and told her to get ready for bed.

The only thing that was on her mind now was the comfy bed awaiting her and the boy with the kind smile that she saw when she went to sleep.

→ Introducing ←

Jennifer Connelly as Lizzy Knightwood
(Grace's mum)

Martin Freeman as Richard 'Rich' Knightwood
(Grace's dad)

Maika Munroe as Delancey Knightwood
(Grace's Older Sister)

Aryana Engineer as Tabitha 'Tabby' Knightwood
(Grace's younger sister)

A/N:

Once again, thank you all so much for reading!

Feel free to give constructive criticism! I changed minor bits of the show around to fit into Grace's backstory but I won't change any big plot moments other than including Grace into some of them.

Don't forget to give a vote if you enjoyed, comment to give me feedback and add to library if you want regular updates!

UPDATE: I'M EDITING THE GIFS SO THE STORY ONLY HAS 1 GIF PER CHAPTER :)