YOU'RE NOT ACTUALLY
BREAKING UP !

☀︎

ALL NIGHT STEVE AND ALEX HAD TOSSED AROUND IDEAS ON HOW TO GET OUT OF THE ELEVATOR— NONE WERE POSSIBLE. It had been one of the longest nights, and they had not once made another step ahead in their plans to become American heroes. So when he had awoken, Dustin had given it a go at finding a way out of the Russians elevator.

On his radio, he had called for a code red, pacing as he awaited any response back. However, the only ones to hear his pleads of help, had been sitting on and in the elevator alongside him. Up above, Hawkins had continued on as if the group had not disappeared far below Starcourt. Scoops Ahoy had remained unopened and no one batted an eye.

Down below, Steve had interrupted his conversation with Robin to intervene Dustin's attempts to call to others. Popping open the latch, he had lifted himself to the top of the elevator to talk to the Hendersons. His arrival had Alex get to her feet, offering him a hand up above, each of them making a face at one another at Dustin's constant calls into the darkness.

With a final lift up, Steve had brushed himself off and offered up his thoughts on Dustin's attempts. "Gotta take it easy on that thing. Gonna drain the battery."

"The mall just opened," Dustin stated. Steve's eyes had turned over to Alex, seeing if she had understood the relevance in the matter. Giving him a small shrug, she felt defeated, "He thinks someone could be in range. I told him no one but the party will take it seriously and they never come to the mall this early."

"Someone will take it seriously," he fought back. He had his own doubts, but he had to stay positive. The Red Army had infiltrated Hawkins, if found they would disappear with no way of discovering what had happened to them.

Steve had taken this approach differently as he had his own set of doubts. "What, do you think Petey the mall cop is just gonna rappel down here and save the day?"

"I hope so," Alex sighed, holding onto her stomach. "I'm starving. Maybe you could call for another code red, but this time ask for some pizza."

"Yeah, that would be great," Steve remarked sarcastically. "Just see if we can order a pizza to an elevator that shouldn't exist that's underneath Hawkins. Yeah, that's smart."

"All right," Dustin interrupeted. Lowering his radio, he had shut it off and gave in to the idea of letting it go for now. However, he could not put up with any sort of tiff between Steve and Alex. He hated to admit it, but they were great for each other and to be honest, he didn't need a break up to occur when he had no escape plan set in motion for himself. "Why are you such a cranky pants after getting to spend the night together? Alone up here, may I add. Or did you two choose to fight the entire time. I heard you guys talking all night."

"Jesus Christ," Steve mumbled. Shutting the latch, he had made room to make this conversation more private between the three. "Will you give up on this creepy dream of us breaking up already? It's not gonna work. We were trying to figure out a way to open up the door while you children were sleeping."

"So you two settled your issues then?"

Alex looked over to Steve and each had given each other a small nod of agreement. It may not have been completely settled this very moment, but they had worked out how they would handle it and how they had felt about it all, though Steve was not as willing to accept that this summer could be his very last with her if it had came down to it.

"Yeah, we made up then made out," Steve mumbled, however, his focus had been on searching the elevator top they had stood on top of. "Then after eight hours, we're still exactly nowhere, which is, you know, probably just a little bit of the reason why I'm feeling just a tad cranky." Making his was to the wall, he had wasted no time as he unzipped his shorts and had completely changed the topic of conversation.

Horrified, Dustin had stood there as he watched Steve about to make this elevator his current place of business. "What are you doing?"

Looking over his shoulder, Steve had thought it was quite clear what he needed to do. It had been many hours trapped in an elevator and it had reached a point that he could no longer ignore or put off. "What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking a leak. Look away." Just as he had went to turn back to the wall, he had seen that Dustin had ignored his instruction, and gave him one last clear demand. "Look away!"

Dropping his head down, Dustin had slowly shifted his feet around to face another wall, but there was one thing that had caught his eye. Scrunching up his nose, he had reached an arm out to his sister, who had not moved and instead stood with her arms crossed as she kept her eyes on Steve's back, awaiting for the conversation to continue. "Don't look at him, Alex. Look away!"

Coming to the realization that this was deemed as highly inappropriate to her brother, she had gave a small scoff and began to turn away when Steve had looked back at the two. "Dude, calm down," he mumbled.

"Calm down?" Dustin had raised his voice in question, and unfortunately had to keep his angered expressions focused on the wall in front of him. "You want her looking at you like... like that?"

"Not like she hasn't seen it before."

"Gah," Dustin groaned in disgust. "I didn't need to know that."

Down below, Robin had faced her own set of issues as she had caught sight of the exact spot Steve had decided to use as a bathroom. Scoffing, she had called up to him in annoyance. "Can you redirect your stream, please?"

Turning away, he had redirected himself as he carried on the conversation. "Dude, when you're older, you'll be high fiving me." Finishing up, he had zipped back up his pants as he turned back to the Henderson's, now able to allow them to look his way once again. However, Dustin Henderson was anything but smiles at the new information he had learned about. "No, Steve, no, I will not be high fiving you for violating my sister. At this rate, I'm your only friend, and soon enough, you won't even have me to talk to about your disgusting relationship."

"Okay, sure, Steve should not be telling you anything that we do together," Alex stated as she sent Steve a look of warning. "But, come on, you're not his only friend-- best friend, maybe, but you love him." Holding up her finger at her brother, Alex was prepared to tackle another issue on this very elevator that had started to bother her this summer. "However, it does feel like Steve isn't the issue here, it's us together. We're terrible."

"Just awful," Steve jumped in with a nod. "You're right, we should break up. I-I mean, you called it. We're just not the same."

"Frankly, after last night, I can't stand Steve. Eight hours is probably enough," Alex nodded as she gave her brother a small smile. His look of pure shock, however, did not match such enthusiasm they had in this random time to call it quits on their relationship.

"You guys aren't breaking up," Dustin declared with a small voice. "You can't be serious?"

"Oh, yeah," Alex said in a single breath. "After this, we'll just go our separate ways and I'll just date someone else that you can be friends with because Steve's not going to be coming around anymore." Turning over to Steve, Alex gave a nod in his direction with a smile, "Right, Steve?"

When Steve had begun to give that confirming nod, Dustin had decided it was best to jump in before it had become too late. "You're not breaking up! Y-you know what, party has to vote on it. And they'll say that it's not happening."

"Well, you seem okay with it, Lucas couldn't give a shit, El loves me more than Steve," Alex began.

Picking up where she had left off, Steve continued, "Yeah, and I heard Mike had a crush on Alex and I think Max might have a crush on me. She's totally obvious with how much she says she hates me."

"The only one who might care is Will," Alex said with a small frown as she thought it through. Tapping her chin, she had taken a few seconds of silence before snapping her fingers, "Will's like another brother to me and he'd be okay with whatever I choose. He's, like, one of my biggest supporters."

"This is such shit," Dustin called out before Steve could come to agreement one more time. "Okay, I don't actually hate you two as a couple, so cut the shit. I'm just..." Pausing, Dustin's eyes had shifted back and forth between the two, debating if he should be as honest as he had felt. Little did he know was that this elevator may have had caused fights to brew, but they had always left anyone involved satisfied and able to get everything they had felt off their chest. "I'm jealous," he concluded in a single breath.

"So you're jealous? Dude, you can't date her. That's your sister," Steve whispered, earning a rightful glare from both the Hendersons.

Dustin had began to raise a finger at Steve, ready to tell him off but in the end had bit his tongue. It felt that starting a battle of words with Steve would be a waste of breath. "I'm trying to tell you two that I wish I had what you guys have but with Suzie."

"Suzie?" Steve and Alex questioned together. "Okay, so she's hot and likes all the nerdy stuff you like, I don't see the issue? Sounds like exactly something you want."

"But you two get to be around each other whenever you want. If she was here, we'd be just as annoying as you guys are. Instead, I spend an entire night trying to talk to her and prove it to everyone she actually exists and still no one believes it besides Alex. Not to mention the fact that she lives all the way in Utah."

Steve held his hands up, wanting nothing more than to stop Dustin, "Dude, you've got nothing to be jealous of when you and your little Utah girlfriend are already gonna be cooler than us. Sure, she might be in another state but you built this entire... thing just to talk to her. And who gives a crap what anyone else thinks? If she's so perfect people question her existence, then you won, man. You don't have to prove that."

Dustin felt a smile spread across his face, his jealousy disappearing instantly from the kind words from Steve Harrington. It was exactly what he had needed to hear from the one person he looked up to the most. Maybe he couldn't be with Suzie like he had desperately wanted, but he already had her. Only, that moment of happiness had been washed away as his smile dipped into a frown. "And what about you two? You're not actually breaking up, are you?"

"Yeah, no way," Steve said quickly. "We just wanted you to actually talk to us about why you've been so weird."

"Turns out those eight amazingly long hours together had us realize that you didn't hate us together, but something else was bothering you. We figured you were just taking it out on us," Alex added in with a bright smile. "You totally loved us together before, then once you got back, you started being mean to us. Figured something happened at camp."

Dustin had forced the corner of his lips turn up, feeling the guilt shadow over him. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm... I'm an asshole," he mumbled under his breath.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, Steve had given him a firm shake of reassurance. "You're not an asshole, man. Just talk to us next time. You know, we might not be the perfect couple, but we do know a thing or two about you. You're awesome, dude. That's how you got a girlfriend that's hotter than Phoebe Cates."

Taking a step forward, Dustin had felt a warmth inside that he knew he had needed since arriving home from camp. Extending his arms out, he had prepared to give the two something he had knew he should have given them the moment he had returned. One thing for certain was that he would never turn his back on them after all of this.

However, he didn't get the hug that he had been looking for because Robin had lifted the latch with news that had all of their hearts stop for the moment. "We've got company," she whispered urgently.

Moving quick, the group had worked together to get them all on top of the elevator before they were met with whoever was about to give them their smallest chance of escaping. In a matter of moments, Erica and Robin had joined the three with the container of green liquid. Holding their breaths, they had listened intently and peered through the hazed window that was in the middle of the elevator.

Entering the room, two men had came in for some boxes, having a short conversation that none of them could translate. The only thing that they could think of was the idea of that door being wide open. Being so close to a way out had each of them itching to drop down below the minute the men were gone.

Staying as patient as they could, they watched as the men had left the room followed by the sound of a vehicle departing. Moving quick, Steve had lifted the latch and urged them to follow him out before it was too late. When his feet had hit the table, he had demanded that the container be passed his way before the others could get down.

Not understanding the urgency of the container, Erica had just handed it off to him as Alex got her ready to help her down after Steve had moved. Taking the container, Steve had hopped down, throwing himself down to the floor while the others climbed down after and stuck the container up right causing the door that had slowly shut to come to a stop. However, that glass container would not stay there in one piece for much longer.

"Let's go," he whispered as he threw Erica's backpack under the door and helped her slide under as quick as possible. Next to go had been Dustin, his heart racing as fast as it could, but somehow the excitement of adventure had a smile still stuck to his face.

"Robin, go," Alex urged after her brother. Not bothering to object, Robin had gotten onto the floor, rolling herself out from under the door after the two kids.

"Henderson," Steve instructed next.

"Harrington," she mocked back, getting onto her stomach to get out from under the door. On the other side, Robin and Dustin had grabbed her hands, pulling her out faster than she could on her own, giving Steve enough time to slide himself out just as the contain of the green liquid began to crack, threatening to break under all the pressure.

On her knees, Alex had tried to give Steve a pull out of the way of the liquid that had splattered around when the container had finally given in to the door and shattered at their feet. The liquid had pooled around, sizzling as it had destroyed the floor underneath it. Scrambling to their feet, the group watched in amazement as the green liquid Erica had threatened to drink smoked and sizzled in its path of destruction.

Turning over to Erica, Robin couldn't even begin to bite back her smile as she felt she had bested the child beside her. "You still wanna drink that?"

Turning his back to the elevator doors, Dustin's eyes had grown wide, unable to take in what had stood in front of him. Reaching his hand behind him, he aimlessly began to tap at Alex's back to gain her attention. And when he had found the words he felt, he still wasn't sure it was enough. "Holy mother of God."

The others had turned to see exactly what caught his attention and soon enough being stuck in the elevator didn't seem so bad after all. Out in front of them laid out the longest hallway, unable to see where it would end.

"Well, hope you guys are in good shape. Looking at you roast beef," Steve said, patting Dustin on the chest as he began the walk ahead of them.

While the others had followed after Steve to begin their journey, Robin had stayed back, unsure how to make the best of a bad situation. All she knew was that she had wanted this to end quickly, but given the hallway before her, she was in for a challenge. "Hey, Alex," she called out. Alex had soon stopped, looking back at Robin in question as she began to catch up the little ways they had walked. A smile had begun to creep on Robin's face as she shifted her eyes from Alex to down the hallway. "Race ya!"

Taking off, Robin had initiated the start before Alex could even get the chance. Smiling big, she had, for the moment, forgotten about what this journey entailed and took off in a sprint after Robin Buckley, leaving the other three to walk and catch up later.

"Ugh, girls," Dustin grumbled as he made his way next to Steve, both of them listening to the sounds of their laughter up ahead.

"Ugh, nerds," Erica shot back, pushing between them and walking off ahead. Already splitting up the group, the Unforgettable Four and the Endangered Child began down a never-ending hallway that lead to the center of what could be the end of the world. With the process the Russians had made this coming year, the gate to the Upside Down was threatened to break open and unleash the nightmare it once had on Hawkins, Indiana.