If I Should Stay
Once again I’m later than I’d like to be… ngl I kinda forgot I was supposed to post today 😬
Part 1 | . . . | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21
Just then, there’s another knock at the door. “All good in here?” Eddie asks.
“No,” Steve deadpans, “Robin’s torturing me.”
“I’m telling him to take care of himself,” Robin snarks back.
“How’s everyone out there?” Steve asks.
A pause, during which Steve and Robin look at each other. “That’s… about what I’m here for,” he finally answers. “Joyce Byers is here and I don’t think any of us have enough answers for her.”
“Christ,” Steve mutters, thunking his head back against the wall. “Okay. Thanks, Eddie. We’ll be out in a minute.”
“Alright.” He knocks once more, lets his knuckles drag down the wood before he walks away.
“So,” Robin says, wrapping a bandage around his torso. “Joyce.”
“Joyce,” Steve agrees.
“You ready?”
Steve pulls his shirt down, then considers the tear, the blood staining the edges. “I think maybe I should change first.”
She chuckles and pushes him in the direction of his room. “Go,” she says. “I’ll clean up.”
“I don’t deserve you!” He calls down the hall.
“You’d better believe it!” She yells back, and he cackles as he shuts his door.
His laugh wakes El, who’s sleeping in his bed. He winces as she murmurs sleepily. “Sorry, El,” he murmurs, moving to his bed to pass a hand over her head. “Forgot you were in here.”
She yawns, eyes fighting to stay open. “Okay?”
He smiles. “We’re fine, El. Go back to sleep, okay?”
“M’kay,” she mumbles, and does just that. She’s out again before he even reaches his closet.
He passes by the bathroom just as Robin opens the door, having finished putting everything away. He grabs her hand and squeezes once, letting her squeeze back before he drops her hand and squares his shoulders, walking into his living room like he’s preparing for battle.
“Everyone alright?” He asks Nancy, who nods, then cuts her eyes to Joyce’s anxious figure in the kitchen. She’s talking to Jonathan. Steve sees tears in both their eyes and decides to let them come to him before Joyce suddenly turns and faces him.
“You brought him back,” she whispers, tears dripping onto her cheeks as she moves to embrace him. “Thank you.” He accepts the hug before she suddenly pulls back. “I need to know, though… Jonathan told me about these… demonic-looking things-”
Steve nods, offers her a seat. Sits next to her and explains the Upside Down all over again. Her gaze hardens when he lifts his shirt and carefully moves the bandages, at her request.
“Okay,” she finally says. “What can I do?”
Steve smiles kindly. “Rest,” he says. “If you’d like to stay here for now, there’s room. If you’d like to go home, you can. But Will…” he sighs. “He’s… marked, now.”
“He’s involved,” Joyce nods and sets her jaw. “If he’s involved, fine. But know I will do everything in my power to keep him safe.”
“We all will,” Steve answers. “There’s more.” He waves Robin over. “She and I… we’re from the future. We’ve been through all this before.”
“Oh,” Joyce whispers. “You poor dears.”
Robin and Steve share a look. “It gets worse,” Robin admits, taking a seat next to Steve.
Steve grimaces. “It started with me,” he admits. “I, uh. Well. I was a bully. And I broke Jonathan’s camera.”
Robin rolls her eyes. “If you won’t tell the full story, I will. You only broke it because he took pictures of you and Nancy in your room.”
“He was looking for Will-”
“He took pictures of you-”
“Robs,” Steve sighs. “Water under the bridge. Hasn’t happened this time around, remember?”
Robin sighs dramatically, trying to get him to smile. It works. “But it happened last time before I knew you. Do you know how many things I wanted to say to him?”
Steve just raises a brow in response. “I’m pretty sure half of what you wanted to say is only legal in Russia.”
“I’m sorry,” Joyce says, effectively derailing them. “Did you say Jonathan took pictures of you and Nancy? Alone in your room?”
“Yeah, but we’re fine now. Or… we were fine. Last week. When we knew each other.”
Joyce rubs her temples. “Christ,” she mutters. “Are you… I don’t even know what to ask at this point. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Steve shrugs, then thinks about it. “I mean… as fine as you can be after everything, I guess.”
Joyce hums thoughtfully. “Okay,” she decides. “I think you need to tell me everything.”
So they do, taking turns when one forgets something, sometimes getting sidetracked, with Joyce guiding them back onto the topic.
“And that’s it,” Steve finally says with another shrug. “Now we’re here and we found Will and Barb, so it’s already going better than last time.”
“I think I need a drink,” Joyce says. “And I think you need several drinks.” She takes a breath. “Okay. I’m going to take you up on the offer of rest here, since I think Will’s happy here. After that, I’m in. Whatever you need.”
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