I'D NEVER FORGET YOU !

☀︎

IT HADN'T BEEN LONG BEFORE THEY HAD ARRIVED AT THE HENDERSON HOUSE. The eerie silence filled the air once Steve's car shut off and the music was no longer filling the void. All three exchanged glances before pouring out of the car. Steve and Dustin headed to the trunk of the car to get Steve's bat while Alex had snuck around to her own window.

Pulling herself up through the ledge, she had climbed into her room as quietly as she could. As soon as her feet had hit the ground, she tossed the flowers onto her bed and hurried over to her bedroom door. Silently shutting her door, she turned back to see Steve climbing in through the window. "Got it yet?"

She sent him a look, "No, Steve, I don't have it just laying around. Check under my bed and I'll check my closet."

Digging through her closet, Alex had shifted through clothes, hoping to find it under all the mess. After spending a lot of time sorting through old clothes to give to Eleven, the mess had only grown in size. She was one of the lucky ones that Hopper had told about Eleven staying in his cabin, especially after he realized he needed some clothes to give to her.

When her hand had grabbed onto the handle, she yanked it out, pulling off the few clothes that hung off it and headed out towards her bed. "All right, come on. I got it," she whispered.

Pulling himself out from under her bed, he got onto his knees as he pushed his hair back to how he had wanted. "Do you always throw all the notes I write you under your bed?"

"What, am I supposed to throw them away?"

"I mean, the least you could do is get a box... maybe even frame a few of the good ones," he mumbled, getting onto his feet.

Coming around to him, she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Yeah, sure. I'll do that." Leaning over, she picked up the flowers and held them out to him. "Here."

Slowly taking the flowers, he tossed them back onto her bed. "Yeah, I told you they're for you. I shouldn't have given them to Nancy. They should've just been for you."

"Okay, that's nice, I think," she said awkwardly. "Is Nancy, like, another one of your newest girlfriends?"

Steve had only looked back at her in confusion, trying to understand if it had been a joke or not. "Uh, not really. We went over this." Sticking his hand out, he laid the back of his hand on her forehead before pulling it away slowly. "You doin' okay there, Henderson?"

Reaching up, she felt her forehead which had only felt normal to her. Yet to him, it had been unusually cold and all she had done was awkwardly smile back at him. "You remember Jonathan, right? Jonathan Byers."

Alex pursed her lips out as she looked off to the side. Frowning in wonder, she gave a small shake of her head. "Nope. Is he the reason Nancy doesn't like you?"

"All right, come on," he instructed. Placing his hand on her back, he guided her towards the window to head back out. Allowing her to go first, he had tried to find a way to tell Dustin without worrying him, and fight the thought of her forgetting more than she had seemed to be already.

Jumping down, he had followed after her towards the backyard. Standing anxiously alone, Dustin had stood in front of the cellar doors and instantly became annoyed when he saw them approaching. "About damn time! You two better not have been making out in there. We are dealing with life or death!"

Pointing his flashlight directly in Dustin's eyes, Steve snatched his bat back from him in annoyance. "Yeah, and who's fault is that?"

"Shut your mouth," Dustin said forcefully, shoving the flashlight from his face.

The three had all hovered around one another, staring down at the closed doors in silence. They had waited, anticipating any sound to come, but unlike they expected, there was no sound. "I don't hear shit," Steve said, turning over to Dustin.

"He's in there," Dustin said quietly, watching the doors. Alex took her bat and whacked it on the door, startling the other two, "You two are such babies. Dustin, is this a prank because it's not funny."

Steve whipped around, once again pointing the flashlight right into Dustins eyes, "If it is, you're dead."

Frowning, Dustin pushed his hand away. "It's not."

Sighing, Steve had turned over and shined the flashlight toward Alex. Unlike how he did to Dustin, he kept it low and out of her eyes. "You got a key for this thing?"

"Yeah, I can go get it," she said with a smile. Passing her bat off to Dustin, she headed back around the house to find her window. For a moment, there was a silence between the two boys as Dustin waited for Steve to say anything. Even if his words weren't reassuring, he just didn't want to sit in silence and ignore what was happening.

"So, are we just not gonna talk about it?" Dustin asked his question loudly, watching Steve's back as he kept his eyes on the doors.

"Talk about what?" Steve had attempted to play it off naturally, but there was nothing innocent about it. He didn't want to talk about it, and he really did not want to worry more than he all ready was.

"She's acting crazy, dumbass. And you're not much better. I heard you two in the car And you're lucky she's not all there in the head or she would've figured out who this new girl is you like so much. She's so great," he mocked. However, his words did cause Steve to turn around to him.

"Cut it out, man. I wasn't talking about her and you know what, it's none of your business," he shot back. "Whatever's going on, it's not getting better, okay? Nancy, Jonathan— they're non-existent to her right now. We just gotta play it cool, kill this thing and figure out how to..."

"Get a monster out of her head?" Dustin finished for him. "Yeah, thanks, Steve. That really helps because that's so easy. If my sister dies..."

"She's not gonna die, okay? Don't be a dipshit, she'll be fine. Whatevers wrong with her, we got it."

"She shouldn't even be out here. If there really is some monster in her head then we're screwed. Something could happen to her if this thing gets mad." Dustin wanted so badly for Steve to understand and make Alex stay home but it was pointless. He wasn't going to make her sit all alone while all this was happening. If anything, Alex would find somewhere else to go if she hadn't found them at the Wheeler's.

"She can do it. I trust her. Do you?"

"Of course I do. She's my sister."

Alex's footsteps could be heard approaching as she made her way over in the darkness. Shining the light in her direction, Steve had immediately checked her hand for the keys to see if she had remembered. And with a large smile, she held up the keys and dangled them for a second before tossing them his way. "Something is happening."

"Oh, shit," Dustin groaned, turning away as he prepared what was to come.

"No, it's not bad." Looking up to Steve, she reached out and held onto his arms. "I'm sorry if I freaked you out. I know who Nancy and Jonathan are. I mean, of course I do, they're my best friends. It's just, all this stuff going on, and these things this monster keeps putting in my head, I just... I guess I forgot."

Steve had been proud and relieved to know something was at least going back to normal. But to Dustin, he had more questions to follow. "I'm sorry, Alex, but is this good news? How exactly are you just fine?"

Alex's face fell into a frown, "Damn, I got excited too fast." Letting her arms fall back down to her side, she allowed Steve to unlock the doors for them. "I guess he's picking Will now. I can really feel it now, like I feel better. Almost like I'm free. That should be good, right?"

"Are you kidding me?" Steve laughed, standing up and tossing the key over to Dustin. "Hell yeah it is."

"Yeah, but awful for Will," Dustin reminded her. "As long as someone is back in the party, we should be good. You know, get another one ready for what's to come."

"What the hell is this party you keep talking about? And why am I not apart of it?" Steve frowned. He didn't enjoy now being the one left out of conversation, especially when he was known for his own parties.

"You're not apart of it because you are actually the worst," Dustin said, pushing him out of the way to open the doors. Steve looked up to Alex in annoyance to only get a shoulder shrug in response. Dustin had cracked open the doors slowly while Steve and Alex stood on either side, waiting with their bats held up to knock Dart back down for when he jumped out.

There was a silence as Dustin shined a light down the stairs and nothing had came. Sighing, Alex had dropped her bat back down to her side. "You're kidding me, right? We have to go down there now, huh?"

"He must be further down there. I'll stay up here in case he tries to escape," Dustin said nervously as he avoided their eyes. He was more than nervous and without any weapon of his own, he was not willing to risk his life. After seeing what happened to Mews, there was zero interest in coming face to face with Dart again.

"Give me that," Steve mumbled, taking the flashlight right from Dustin's grasp. Shining the light back down the stairs, he sighed softly as he really took what was to come. All because he was friends with Alex, he was now trapped in the Henderson's strange and dangerous plans.

Lifting her bat back up, Alex made her way down the stairs as the boys had watched in silence. "Don't be a baby, Steve, follow my sister," Dustin urged, pushing him towards the door.

Steve was hesitant as he made his way down the stairs and his bat stayed firmly in his hand. Making his way towards Alex, he stayed close by as he shined the light around the room. There was no sound, but it didn't mean that they were in the clear just yet.

Reaching out, Alex pulled at the light switch, clicking on the light that filled the cellar. Clicking off his flashlight, Steve's eyes traveled along the room in search of Dart as he felt Alex's hand gently bump his. Burning the flashlight into his pocket, he took his now free hand and placed it in hers.

Alex's concern had been more on the shedded, goopy skin that sat in a pile before them. Frowning deeply, she was disgusted by the sight as Steve lifted it up with his bat. "Oh, ew, I dare you to eat it," she whispered.

"That's disgusting," he whispered back. "Get the hell down here, man," he called up to Dustin.

Quickly rushing down the stairs, Dustin's eyes had darted around the room to ensure his safety until they landed on the skin that Steve held up for him to see. "Oh, shit."

"I dare you to eat it," Alex whispered to him.

"What is wrong with you?" he said loudly, then leaning closer to her, "I dare you to eat it."

Dropping the pile back into the floor, Steve rolled his eyes as he pulled Alex along with him. "Will you two just look over here." Using his bat, he pointed to the large hole in the wall that had tunneled out into darkness.

"Oh, shit," both the Hendersons said at the same time. Dustin and Alex both peeked their head in through the hole, seeing the tunnel reached farther than they could see. Dropping Steve's hand out of hers, Alex crouched down for a better view.

"I say Dustin goes because he's the smallest," she declared.

"I say Alex goes because she's connected to all this somehow," Dustin offered up quickly. Looking up to Steve, he gave him a small nudge for some back up. After all, he was the kid and he felt he deserved to stay clear of this mess— even if he was the one who allowed it to get this far.

"Look, no ones going in the tunnel. Right now we need a game plan. We need to find Dart and then we can focus on the bigger picture," Steve instructed. "We start tomorrow. We need rest then we can face this. We'll start early in the morning." Reaching out, he tapped Alex to get her back up onto her feet to follow along. Gesturing towards the stairs, he tried his hardest to get the Henderson's on the same page as him but as any siblings did, they still continued their fight on sacrificing one another to the tunnels.

The three had made their way back inside the house, Dustin claiming to be tough enough to stay in his own room alone despite him still keeping an eye out for his new, and now lost pet. After he had made it into his room, Alex had silently shut her door and looked over to Steve with a frown. "Sorry we dragged you into this, Harrington."

Falling down onto her bed, he shook his head in disbelief. "You're joking, right? I live for this kinda stuff."

"No one likes this shit," she laughed as she made her way over. Standing at the foot of her bed, she looked to him before her eyes fell down towards the flowers. "Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure, go for it."

Picking up the flowers, she had looked to them before meeting his eyes. "If you like someone else, why'd you go to Nancy's with flowers?"

Steve sucked in a breath as he tried to find the right words. Shrugging lightly, he attempted to keep his eyes trained on her despite his nerves. "I don't know. I was going to apologize, I guess. But then, you know, tell her I couldn't do this anymore. All the fighting and blame. It just sucks."

Giving him a small smile, she put the flowers onto her desk before falling down into the bed beside him. Letting out a long sigh, she felt she had needed this kind of break from the mess they found themselves in. "Everything sucks now," she whispered. "What do you think she's doing?"

"She skipped with Jonathan," Steve mentioned with a scoff. "I don't even know if we're still dating anymore and she ran off with him."

Watching the ceiling, Alex reached over and gave a smack with the back of her hand to his chest. "They have shared trauma but I don't think she meant for it to look like she ran to Jonathan when you two had a fight."

"Oh, no, she would," he frowned. "I mean, seriously, she picked him over me for whatever they're doing. They didn't even tell you and that's just mind blowing. Shared trauma, my ass. You have it too."

"Well, whatever. I'm glad they didn't include me," she said softly. Turning her head, she looked to him and a smile instantly came to her face. "Come on, Harrington. If they told me, I would've gone with them and I wouldn't be doing this with you. No offense to them because, you know, I love them, but I didn't forget you. That has to mean something."

Looking over to her now, he gave a half hearted smile. "Yeah, maybe."

Holding up her hand, she gestured for him to hold it. As soon as his hand had slapped into hers, she pulled it closer to her as she leaned more towards him. "In a totally non-romantic, shared trauma, you might have a girlfriend type of way, I love you. I'd never forget you."

The two had kept their eyes on one another as their hands fell down onto the bed. The world was quiet around them, and even if it had been filled with noise— nothing had matter besides one another. They were all they needed. The way their hearts had fluttered the closer they laid beside one another and the warmth inside them that made them forget about their living nightmares was enough for them to realize that there was no one else that they would ever love more than one another.