HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1986.

     "SO WAIT A SECOND... YOU WERE seriously friends with Eddie Munson?"

Theresa ignored Steve's question and pinched the bridge of her nose with a deep sigh, folding one arm underneath the other.

"It's a long story, alright–"

"It's actually not," Eddie interrupted, pointedly looking at Tess. "I was too much of a loser for you, plain and simple–"

"You need to stop talking," she took a threatening step toward him, leaning down to eye level with Eddie.

Theresa glared, jabbing a finger into his chest. "Now tell us what happened last night. Why is Chrissy Cunningham dead?"

Eddie rubbed his chest where Tess poked him, his stupid grin fading as fear took place on his face.

He broke eye contact, eyes darting around the room as Eddie gave a small shake of his head.

"You won't believe me."

"Try us," Max shrugged.

Theresa stood up straight, grabbing a stool nearby and dragging it over in front of Eddie to sit down. She crossed her arms, visibly annoyed but trying to mask it.

Eddie looked up at them all, unsure of where to begin as they watched him expectantly.

He rubbed his chin. "Her body just– like– lifted up into the air. Y'know, and uh– she just... hung there. In the air. And her bones, um–"

Squeezing his eyes shut tightly, Eddie rocked forward a bit as if not wishing to relive what he had experienced. Tess's expression softened, sitting forward with some concern.

"Her bones started to snap," Eddie finished. "Her eyes, man. It was– it was like there was something, like, inside her head, pulling. I-I didn't know what to do so I-I... I ran away."

He broke off, exhaling deeply. "I left her there."

Theresa and the others all looked at him in silence for a moment, Eddie scoffing.

"You all think I'm crazy, right?"

Tess halfway shrugged in agreement but Dustin replied, "No. We don't think you're crazy–"

"Don't bullshit me, man!" Eddie's voice cracked, wavering. "I know how this sounds!"

"We're not bullshitting you," Max responded.

Theresa chewed her lip. "We believe you," she finally said, shocking words to Eddie. Especially coming from her.

She shifted on the stool, bringing her hands together and meeting Eddie's eyes.

"Look. You know how some people say Hawkins is... cursed?"

He slowly nodded.

"Well– they're not exactly wrong. There's another world... beneath Hawkins. And sometimes, it bleeds into ours."

Eddie narrowed his eyes. "Like ghosts and shit?"

"There are some things worse than ghosts," Max muttered.

Theresa continued. "This other world has monsters, I guess you would call them. And these monsters, well– we thought they were gone. But they've come back before. And so that's why we needed to find you."

"If they're back again, we need to know," Dustin added, Eddie eyeing them all warily.

When he hesitated, Robin asked, "That night. Did you see anything? Dark particles, maybe?"

Eddie slightly shook his head.

"N-No, there was nothing you could see... or touch. I-I tried to wake her up. But she couldn't move. It was like she– she was in a trance or something."

"Or under a spell," Dustin wondered aloud, Theresa frowning.

"A curse," he continued. "Vecna's curse."

Steve, who had been standing quietly in the back, finally spoke up.

"Who's Vecna?"

Dustin gulped. "An undead creature of great power."

"A spell caster," Eddie said, barely above a whisper.

Theresa furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait a second. Are you guys talking about another character from your nerd game?"

Dustin started to roll his eyes. "It's just a metaphor. But– it's not far off."

She rubbed her temple with a small sigh, standing up at once. Everyone's eyes were on her, and Tess realized at once that they were waiting for her to say something. They were looking at her because they considered her the leader.

"I think we should wait until morning to finish talking about this. Eddie, we can bring you some food and other things. But for now, you need to stay here. Whatever you do, do not leave this place. Understand?"

Eddie immediately nodded, looking as if he wanted to say something to her but holding his tongue.

Theresa felt extremely uneasy, trying to put it off and ignore the unsettling feeling. Maybe it was just her being hormonal, she reasoned.

As they left the boathouse, Tess felt a hand on her back and looked over to see Steve walking alongside her, his face expressing concern.

"You alright?"

She nodded. "Mhm. Just tired."

Steve watched her for a moment longer, feeling like something was off. Tess had been acting a bit unusual all day.

"Do you want to stay over tonight?"

Pulling her lips in, Theresa nodded at once.

"Yeah, sure."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"TELL ME ABOUT YOU BEING FRIENDS with Eddie Munson."

Theresa rolled her eyes as Steve climbed into his bed beside her, exhaling slowly.

"It's... well– when we first moved here, I was in sixth grade. For those first few months I was really angry at my parents for making us move, so I was pretty mean to all of the kids in our class. I don't know if you remember that, but... anyway, no one here liked me at first. And not only was I mean, but I was going through that awkward middle school phase, so I didn't get many people's attention. Except for Eddie."

Steve nodded slowly, wrapping his arms around Tess and pulling her closer. "Uh huh..."

Tess sighed once more. "Basically, Eddie befriended me because he didn't have any friends either. So that's who I sat with at lunch every day, played with at recess, you get the idea. Then, after a few months or so, I met Priya Wilson and Sidney Flynn. They were already pretty popular, so I worked my way up from there and I guess Eddie and I... just drifted apart. It wasn't that serious, really. Although now that I'm thinking about it I do kind of feel bad."

"Don't feel bad," Steve reassured, looking down at her and kissing her on the forehead. "We all did that kind of stuff in middle school. Like... do you remember the seventh grade dance?"

Tess raised her head, giving a small shrug. "Kind of. Why?"

Steve hesitated, laughing a little. "Because that was when I started to have a crush on you. You thought I was Danny Benson, so you kissed me on the cheek, and then realized that I wasn't Danny Benson–"

She gasped, raising a hand to her mouth just then. "Oh my God, I remember now! I-I had no idea that was you."

"Yeah..." Steve poked his tongue in his cheek, "that was me."

"How come you never told me this?" Theresa questioned, more amused than anything.

Steve played with her hair. "Because, it was kind of embarrassing? I don't know."

"I think it's kind of sweet," she replied, ruffling his hair with a grin. "Maybe you should've tried to make a move sooner."

"Believe me, I did," he responded. "Like– at least seven or eight times before you actually acknowledged my existence."

Theresa pursed her lips, swatting at him. "I always knew you existed. I just never stopped to consider that you would've actually been such a great guy. That was a big mistake for me, I've learned."

Steve's heart thumped a bit louder, a smile growing on his face. "I still can't believe you were friends with Eddie Munson–"

"Oh, shut up," Tess shoved him in the face playfully, Steve pretending to bite her fingers while she laughed.

"I thought we were gonna watch a movie," she then said, gesturing to the blank television in Steve's room.

He hesitated, knowing Theresa was probably going to want to watch a horror movie. And, in truth, Steve hated scary movies.

"Uh... what do you want to watch?"

"I brought Fright Night," Tess replied in an instant. "It's not even that scary, you'll be fine."

Steve scoffed. "I am not scared! What makes you think I'd be scared?"

"Uh, because whenever we watch a horror movie you always end up holding onto me like you're gonna shit your pants," Theresa said factually, climbing out of bed just then to grab the VHS tape and put the movie on.

He blinked a few times, dumbfounded. "I've never done that," Steve muttered, Tess snorting with laughter as she pressed play.

She walked back over and pulled back the blankets, settling in close to Steve as he put his arms back around her.

"It's okay," Theresa said teasingly, planting a quick kiss on his lips, "I'll protect you, honey."

Steve rolled his eyes, but nonetheless held her tight.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

STEVE WAS AWAKENED TO THE SOUND of screaming, bolting upright.

"Tess!" He saw her sitting up, her face in her hands as she panted heavily.

Steve put an arm around her, leaning down to try and look at Theresa. She was trembling all over, her heart pounding as blood rushed through her ears.

"Tess, hey, what's wrong?" he frantically questioned, moving her hair back as Theresa slowly brought her hands away from her face.

"N-Nothing," she mumbled, squeezing her eyes shut. "Go– go back to sleep."

Steve fought the urge to roll his eyes, shifting himself so he could face her. "Tess. Hey, it's okay. I'm right here, alright?"

She placed a hand to her forehead, feeling sweat lining her brow. Theresa was still shaken up, just having awoken from an awfully vivid nightmare. Everything about it had felt extremely real, right up to the point that she thought she was about to die; and then she woke up. It had been terrifying, and much more realistic than a horror movie.

"It was just a bad dream," Tess weakly said, bringing her hand to find Steve's. "Y-You, and Erica and Lucas a-and–"

Breaking off, Theresa closed her eyes again and tried to shake the flashes of her nightmare away.

"And Priya," she continued, voice wavering. "I watched all of you... die."

Steve squeezed her hand tighter, rubbing circles with his thumb. "I'm still here, okay? Erica and Lucas, they're still here. We're not going anywhere. I promise."

She swallowed, nodding a bit. Tess had calmed down some now, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Something isn't right in Hawkins," Theresa continued. "I-I mean– it hasn't been right for a long time now but when I came back... something felt different. You don't feel it?"

Steve slowly shook his head, creasing his brow with a concerned frown.

Tess sniffled, eyes darting away. "I-It's like– I can't describe what it's like. But the past two nights that I've been back, I've had nightmares. And I usually don't."

He sat there for a moment, listening to her. Steve was obviously beginning to grow more and more worried for Tess, not wanting her to be experiencing these things.

"It could just be stress," he suggested in an attempt to remain hopeful. "You know, with school a-and other stuff."

Theresa knew that was not it, but she nodded in agreement. He might have had a point though; with school and now, a pregnancy, Tess had a lot to be stressed about.

"You're right," she responded, rubbing the back of her neck. "Probably just stress."

Steve smiled softly, searching her eyes. "You wanna lay back down now? Or we could go for a drive, if you want."

She bit her inner lip, meeting his eyes with a weak smile. "I think I just wanna lay back down."

Steve nodded, allowing Theresa to lay with her head on his chest as he put his arms around her once again, stroking her hair while Tess stared into the darkness, wide awake.

She felt nauseous, riddle with anxiety at the thought of telling Steve she was pregnant. Theresa knew, she knew how urgent it was for her to tell Steve, but in all honesty she was mortified of doing so. She didn't know how he would handle being told, how he would handle the fact that he was going to become a father. It had all been by simple accident, after all; they were not planning on having any kids any time soon. At least, Tess was not.

So she considered an abortion. They were frowned upon in most places, especially in a place like Hawkins, but she had that option. Theresa could go, have an abortion, and have nothing to worry about. But after thinking about it for nearly a week, Tess could not bring herself to do it. Because Theresa had a vision, just for a moment, of her and Steve living in some big house with their own children, Dinah, maybe a dog too. And it brought her a sense of happiness, a calming sense of peace.

And that was when Tess decided that maybe she really did want this.

"Hey, Steve?" she called his name softly.

"Yeah?"

Do it now, she scolded herself, internally screaming, tell him!

Theresa's mouth went dry, licking her lips as she felt the rise and fall of Steve's chest and heard the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

"I love you."

Steve smiled, kissing the top of her head and laying his head back against the pillow.

"I love you too, beautiful."

notes.
kinda short chapter but the next one will be longer, obviously. but i just realized i'm 5 chapters in to s4 and i haven't even gotten to episode 3 😭

me omw to make things unnecessarily difficult because i won't allow my characters to be happy ever: 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

so anyway, i've decided on the name & gender of tess & steve's child <3 all will be revealed at the end... probably

ngl this whole season is gonna be WILD, like anything y'all are expecting i can double that because it is going to be nonstop chaos

some of y'all were bout to jump me for an update istg 😭 y'all be scaring me a little bit

when do you think theresa will tell steve that she's pregnant?