"Look, i'm not saying I'm scared." Mav spoke as she looked up at the Crill house. "But I might piss myself in fear right now."

"Yeah, please don't." Max nodded, standing by her side.

"Yeah I agree, that's not creepy." Steve said back sarcastically.

"You're up." Nancy looked to Mavis with a nod.

"See, I knew all those break ins would pay off one day." Dustin grinned as Mavis took the hammer.

"I would like to point out i'm still on probation so maybe.." she trialed off.

"Got your back." Carrie nodded while Lucas reached forward and put Mavis' pink hood over her head.

"I mean, what exactly are we suppose to be looking for in this shithole?" Steve asked honestly as Mavis started to remove nails from the boarded up door.

"Damn, these haven't been messed with in a while." she said honestly, yanking her arm as the muscles she developed from stunts flexed slightly.

"We just know this house is important to Vecna." Nancy said in return, walking forward to yank on the board as Mav got lower with the hammer.

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?" Steve rose an eyebrow toward the redhead.

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels." Dustin listed on. "And how to stop him before he comes back for Max and Mav."

"Speaking of." Carrie nodded as she reached into Dustin's bag, holding up a walkman. "Forty-two minutes of Hungry Eyes ready to go."

"Thanks, Car-Bear." Mav flashed her a little smirk, backing off the board. "So, anyone gonna do the honors?"

Nancy pulled, dropped the board over the door.

"We don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas gave an odd look up at the house.

"Guess we'll find out." Max said honestly.

"It's locked." Steve pulled one the door knob. "Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"I think I can pick it." Mav dug into her bag again.

"No need." Robin cut her off with a smile. "I found a key."

"Can I throw it?" Carrie rose her eyebrows. "Maybe it'll scare Vecna enough to stay the fuck away."

"Woah!" Mav clapped. "Love the language."

"Okay." Dustin pulled Lucas and Mav out of the way. "Give it all you got."

Carrie took the brick from Robin shaking her arms before throwing it straight through the glass. Dustin cheered. "10/10."

"Definitely scared Vecna." Mav confirmed, looking to Max. "We're saved!"

She tried not to smile but failed miserably.

Steve reached through the glass and unlocked the door, pushing the door open as they all walked in.

"Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill." Lucas tried to turn the lamp on.

"In the wise words of God-." Mavis rose her eyebrows, pulling her flashlight out. "-let their be light."

"Where'd everyone get those?" Steve turned as they all followed her instincts.

"Do you need to be told everything?" Dustin asked in disbelief. "You're not a child."

"Thank you." Steve blinked.

"They just left everything." Nancy and Robin looked into the living room area.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value." Robin tilted her head slightly.

"I promise i'm gonna stop asking this, but you see it too, right?" Max's spoke
up, making them all turn to see her staring up at a grandfather clock.

"Is this what you saw?" Nancy walked next to her. "In your visions?"

"I mean, it's just a clock. Right?" Robin walked forward and wipped the dust off. "Just a normal old clock."

"Why's this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve looked closely at the old house. "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

"Think you cracked the case." Dustin hummed.

"I'm gonna beat him with a damn clock." Mav confirmed as she shined her light up the stairs.

"All I know is the answers are here. Somewhere." Nancy's eyes looked around. "Okay, groups of two. Robin, upstairs."

Mavis looked to see Lucas and Max go off. "I'll take Steve."

"What?" Carrie turned.

"Yeah, you and Dustin seem like a pretty logical duo." Mav cleared her throat with a nod, winking at Dustin. "Steve and I are..."

"Not a very logical duo." he confirmed.

"But it'll be okay. I have the power of God, Virgin Mary, and Sweet Baby Jesus Christ." Mav gave a little smirk as she held up her light. "Follow me."

"I-" Dustin started, stopping as the two walked away. Him and Carrie shared a small look. "So...after you?"

"Is it bad I kinda fear the two or them together?" she asked, walking down the hallway with her flashlight. "They have a very similar perspective on things. I can sense a connection, a weird connection."

"She gets that way with people, you know." Dustin followed. "Lucas says it's because she doesn't have good parents."

"Yeah." Carrie had to agreed. "I wish I knew her longer."

"She was so weird before she got cool." Dustin laughed. "I mean, I always thought she was cool, but she was a mega nerd. I kinda miss it."

"She'll come around." Carrie nodded her head. "It's just weird, all of us not being together. I mean, back in California, I was kinda a mess for a while."

"What do you mean?" Dustin's shined his light around the room.

"I mean, you guys were my first stability. I grew up in foster care, never had a family like this." Carrie explained. "And then I found Will in the Upside Down, and then I had all of you. Then Max and El. I don't know, I just loved my life here. It was hard to get use to not having it."

"I mean, you still have us. Just a few states away now." Dustin reassured her with a little grin. "At least, I mean, you still, you know, have me."

Carrie flashed him a grin as Dustin did it back. "Yeah, still have you."

Steve and Mav looked around the room up the stairs, a few rooms away from Nancy and Robin. Mav shined her light over at him. "Bet this is weird as hell for you."

"What is?" he gave her a questionable look.

"Nance." she said in return. "Right when you start to move on, you two spend every second together again."

"Oh, yeah." Steve shook his head. "Not weird, just...weird."

"It happens." she shrugged. "But, just to be straight up with you, I don't think you guys should get back together."

"Why do you say that?" he asked her honestly.

"Because, people can change, they can grow." Mav turned around to look at him. "And I love you, and I love Nancy. But all you guys went through, everything that happened, it's just not a good situation. Even if it doesn't happen again, she'll still remember how much of a shitty person you were to her. And you'll still always remember her and Jonathan. Maybe i'm bias, but it just isn't healthy no matter how you look at it."

"You and El never have any issues? Like, none at all?" Steve gave a curious look, blinking.

"I mean, yeah. We disagree sometimes, and sometimes we argue, but at the end of the day I love her and she loves me. Neither of us would do anything to hurt the other." Mav nodded her head. "When we met, I was in the worst head space ever. My Mom had put in my head that liking girls was so bad and that i'd never genuinely find someone to love me. I mean, my best friend babied me so bad because I just never had that sort of parental connection with anyone. I had in my head that i'd live my life either in a relationship with a guy I hated, or be alone. I was just thirteen."

She took a breath. "And then, there she was. With no hair, small, in a yellow shirt, and looking at me like I needed to protect her. I was crazy about her from the second I saw her. Not just because girls that like girls are rare, but because I genuinely just loved her so much. The way she made me feel, like living life wasn't such a bad thing, like my Mom was just an idiot."

"This is probably really hard on you." Steve said honestly. "Not seeing her."

"It is." Mav said in return. "But at the same time, I have to trust her. She knows what she's doing, she wanted to stay. The least I can do is help her from here."

"She'll probably take Vecna out before he comes after you." Steve shook his head at her. "I mean, i've seen a lot of relationships, but I've never seen someone care about anyone else the way she does you."

Mavis had to smile. "Yeah, she does kinda love me a lot, doesn't she?"

"Yeah, you jerk." Steve smacked her in the head. "You're lucky, you know."

"It'll come around to you." Mav nodded to Steve. "I mean, like I said, thirteen years I thought I was doomed. Now look at me? Standing infront of Steve Harrington as he tells me my girlfriend loves me."

Steve rolled his eyes with a smile. "I'll hold you to it."

"I got him! I got him!" Robins yells made them both jump, running out of the room and seeing her in the hallway with her flashlight off. "I had him."

"Oh my god, why didn't we think of that before?" Mav gapped, looking down at her flashlight as she turned hers off, Steve followed.

"Oh, woah." he gapped as his lit up again. "Oh, I think he's moving. He's moving."

"I told you." Mav smiled as the two ran through the house to keep the light going, the four down stairs meeting up with them before they all took a turn and headed up the stairs again. His light fell dim .

"Shit. I lost him."

"Obviously it's the lights." Carrie confirmed. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Right?" Mav agreed.

"No, you didn't." Max reached forward after taking a few steps, opening up the door.

"It's an attic. Of course it's an attic." Robin spoke in fear.

"Should have kept that brick." Mav looked back at Carrie, going up after Steve and Max.

"Hold up, guys. What if he's leading us into a trap?" Dustin whisper-yelled from the back. "Guys, guys! Shit."

"Dustin, come on." Carrie encouraged quickly.

The light bulb in the middle of the attic began to flicker, Mav grabbed Max's hand to hold her back some.

"Flashlights." Dustin spoke up as they all quickly turned it off.

They all pushed together, shoulders touching. The first flashlight came on, then traveling clock work to each of them. Steve eyes widened when his got brighter into his eyes. "Okay, what is happening?"

•

kylie speaks

thinking about s1 elvis
gets me emotional every
single time.