Chapter Text
Muffled shouting echoes in the background. A man cracks open a soda can. Kids carrying snacks walk past the fence. A group of boys in blue baseball uniforms chat among themselves. In the distance, the field where the game is taking place comes into view. A caption appears at the bottom: North Denver, 1978. The coach’s voice can be heard, cheering on the team.
Steve’s face lights up when he hears the coach’s voice. The man had been funny. Steve had never felt entirely comfortable around him — his large build and permanently stern expression stirred a quiet, instinctive panic in the back of Steve’s mind, reminding him too much of his father’s face — but he truly had been good. A big, teddy bear of a man who sometimes said things that made Finney quietly wonder what kind of vocabulary you needed to come up with lines like that.
Gwen in a headscarf sits in the bleachers, holding popcorn and clapping.
[Gwen]: Come on, Finney! Come on!
“Oh my God, she’s adorable,” Rob says.
Steve snorts softly, thinking she’s right. At least until Gwen opens her mouth. His sister had grown up. Cut her hair, moved to another city, gone to college. Seeing her this small again was… nice.
Finney appears on screen. He lifts his head, his face focused.
Steve frowns slightly, thinking about how strange it feels to watch himself from the outside. How strange it is, in general, to see memories of his own face from someone else’s perspective.
Across from him, at his position, stands another boy — Asian, dressed in a beige uniform. He swings his bat playfully while waiting for the pitch.
“Is that why you always carry a bat around?” Dustin asks, stuffing his mouth with popcorn.
“For the love of God, Henderson, swallow first,” Steve grumbles. “Yeah.”
It’s not like he was going to fight demogorgons with a telephone receiver.
[Umpire]: Play ball!
Finney throws the ball, and it lands cleanly in the catcher’s glove.
[Umpire]: Strike!
The crowd applauds.
[Gwen]: Yes, Finney! Nice, Finney!
“Nice!” Lucas shouts along with Gwen. “What?” he asks when everyone looks at him.
Steve laughs.
“Nothing. Thanks, Lucas.”
The boy in beige — the batter — grows more serious. The playful expression disappears from his face after missing the pitch.
Steve smirks at Bruce’s reaction. Back then, he hadn’t paid much attention to it, too focused on the game.
“Yeah!” Eddie cheers. “Take our Steve seriously, kid!”
The kids giggle and nod, while Joyce shakes her head fondly.
The catcher tosses the ball back to Finney, and he returns to his position. The crowd chants, “Swing, batter, batter!” A boy in a green T-shirt and blue bandana leans against a post, smiling smugly and nodding in approval. He looks proud.
Steve watches little Robin with quiet fondness. And he hadn’t even said he was at the game. Brushed it off, claimed he was just passing by. Steve hadn’t really believed him back then either, but now he had proof — and he was definitely going to use it.
The batter swings again, now completely focused on Finney and his movements. Finney winds up and throws. The batter misses.
[Umpire]: Strike two!
The crowd erupts.
“I have no clue what’s happening, but yeah! Go Steve!” Eddie throws his hand in the air.
Jane claps, mimicking him.
Steve laughs at them fondly. Lucas, Jonathan, Joyce, and Hopper look like they’re watching an actual championship game. Dustin, sitting beside them, wears the face of a serious analyst, clearly trying to figure out the rules as he goes. Will quietly explains everything to Mike. Max looks bored, but Steve can tell she’s watching closely.
The batter looks frustrated. He shakes the hand holding the bat and stares intensely at Finney taking his position. Finney glances toward the stands but doesn’t see who he’s looking for, so he turns his attention back to the game.
“Oh? Looking for someone, Harrington?” Rob asks with a sly smile.
“Yeah,” Steve grins. “Turns out I didn’t look hard enough.”
He lets the mystery hang in the room, knowing these little gossip gremlins would be dying to see his school crush.
[Coach]: Eyes open out there! Eyes open!
The batter raises his bat. Finney takes a deep breath. The batter now looks intrigued, his expression practically saying, "Come on". Finney takes another deep breath and throws.
The batter hits the ball hard, drops the bat, and takes off running across the field. Another part of the crowd cheers him on.
[Gwen]: Oh no. Oh no.
Lucas grabs his head.
The outfielder runs after the ball, but it drops beyond the fence.
[Umpire]: Home run!
Gwen sighs miserably in the stands.
[Gwen]: Crap.
“Exactly, crap!” Lucas exclaims, collapsing back onto the couch behind him.
Everyone in the room looks at least somewhat disappointed by the loss.
“Oh, come on, it’s not that tragic,” Steve says, watching them with amusement.
The kids turn toward him with expressions that clearly say, "Shut up, we’re upset for you, actually."
The boy leaning against the pole grimaces and mutters something under his breath.
“Oh, that’s Spanish too,” Rob says.
Everyone turns to her expectantly.
“Nope, guys. I’m not translating that. The sheriff would rip my head off for repeating it.”
The kids grumble in disappointment. Hopper nods approvingly.
The boys in blue uniforms toss their caps to the ground in frustration. Finney presses his lips together and watches the batter running across the field. The crowd chants, “Bruce!”. Bruce salutes Finney and smiles. Finney looks away. Bruce reaches his team, where he’s greeted with cheers and celebration.
“I don’t like him. He looks smug,” Mike grumbles.
“Let’s start with the fact that you don’t like most people, Wheeler,” Max rolls her eyes.
“And he won, so he has reason to look like that,” Nancy adds with a shrug.
“And he’s not smug, trust me,” Steve says, unable to stop himself from defending Bruce’s honor.
Finney returns to his team, scanning the stands again, but still doesn’t find who he’s looking for. The teams line up to shake hands, exchanging phrases like “Good game.”
[Bruce]: Hey, dude!
He steps in front of Finney, who stops.
[Bruce]: Man, your arm is mint.
He looks impressed, and his words sound genuine.
Steve looks at Mike with raised brows, silently saying, "See?" Mike snorts and turns back to the screen.
“Arm is mint?” Jane turns to Steve, confused.
“It’s, uh…” Steve gestures vaguely, trying to explain. “It’s just an expression. He was complimenting my skills. Don’t overthink it.”
“Oh.” She nods with the expression of someone making a new entry in her internal dictionary (which Steve finds extremely adorable). “Okay. Thank you.”
“Honestly, it meant a lot. Bruce was the best player at his school. I was really nervous before the game,” Steve adds, and the others smile at him.
Finney smiles hearing the praise. Bruce points at him teasingly.
[Bruce]: You almost had me.
They grin at each other, thank each other for the game, and return to their teams. Bruce’s teammates greet him with excitement — shouting, clapping his back and shoulders.
The scene shifts to Bruce riding his bike down the road. Upbeat music plays in the background. He waves to a man passing by and smiles brightly. Two girls walk past him.
[Girls]: Hi, Bruce!
They wave, and he responds with a nod and a dazzling smile.
“Whoa, local celebrity?” Eddie asks, wiggling his fingers like he’s sprinkling glitter everywhere.
Steve smirks.
“Something like that. He was ridiculously sweet and friendly. Helped everyone, remembered the names of everyone he’d ever talked to. Just… a genuinely good guy.”
Eddie listens attentively, exaggerating his expressions just to tease him, which earns him a pillow thrown straight at his face. He yelps as it hits him, while Steve calmly presses the remote button under the kids’ giggles.
“How rude!”
Bruce rides ahead and glances back at the girls once more. They blush and giggle.
"Oh yeah, he definitely knows he’s good," Lucas shakes his head.
Finney, already changed out of his sports uniform, sets up a rocket in the field. He picks up the controller and presses the button with hope shining in his eyes. The rocket launches successfully, and Finney beams, tilting his head back to watch it soar.
Dustin turns to Steve, somehow managing to look both shocked and offended at the same time.
“You can build rockets?” Mike looks even more suspicious than he did when asking for extra information about Steve. As if Steve is about to announce that Mike is actually his biological father.
Max blinks firmly, like she doesn’t trust what she’s seeing. Steve shrugs.
“I like space…”
“No,” Dustin shakes his head. “You’re—”
“A dumb jock?” Steve asks sarcastically. “Henderson, I didn’t always have two concussions, just so you know.”
Eddie bursts out laughing, quickly joined by Rob.
“Sorry, seriously, sorry,” Eddie manages through laughter. “You shouldn’t laugh at that, oh my God,” he wheezes, clutching his side.
“Go ahead, laugh. Just make sure another chunk of your stomach doesn’t fall off,” Steve rolls his eyes.
Rob gasps for air, and Steve notices Nancy trying to hide her laughter behind her hand.
It doesn’t really bother him that most people think he’s an idiot. There was a time when he completely gave up on school, and it had consequences when he half-heartedly tried to return to it. Yeah, he’s not as smart as Dustin, but that doesn’t stop him from living his life. Sometimes it’s even useful when people underestimate him.
And, well, two concussions are a pretty solid excuse, in his opinion.
Steve notices Joyce frown slightly at their jokes, so he gives her a soft nod to reassure her that everything’s okay. She smiles back. Let kids amuse themselves however they want, as long as they don’t hang themselves with it, as the saying goes.
“I’m speechless, Steve,” Max says in a tone so serious it sounds like she’s delivering a death sentence. “From now on, you’re expelled from the ‘Not Boring’ club. It’s just me, El, and Hopper now.”
Oh. That was a death sentence.
“No! Max!” Steve waves his hands. “No, no, no, you can’t do that!”
Hopper looks at him with exaggerated disappointment. Eddie slides off the couch, Rob wheezes, and Jonathan and Joyce join their laughter.
“Wait, what’s the ‘Not Boring’ club?” Dustin blurts out.
“I can. I founded it,” Max completely ignores him.
“Max… Max…” Lucas pleads, placing a hand on her shoulder. “What about me, Max?”
Max looks him over, then gives him a look that clearly says "Seriously?" She brushes his hand off and turns back to the screen.
From a distance, Bruce sees Finney’s rocket deploy its parachute. He mouths “Wow,” laughs, then turns his head back toward the road. Confusion crosses his face as he focuses on something ahead.
The shot changes. We see Bruce from behind as a black van pulls out from around the corner. The upbeat music fades, replaced by an ominous sound. The screen darkens.
“That’s not good,” Hopper notes, and the atmosphere in the room shifts.
Some glance at Steve, but he stays silent, jaw clenched. He spent the entire time in the van unconscious, but that doesn’t make watching it any easier. Besides, this is literally moments before Bruce’s abduction. In a few hours, his parents will start calling Bruce’s coaches and friends when he doesn’t come home to celebrate the win. Three days later, missing person flyers will be all over town.
The screen flashes through different shots. The town from above. Power lines. Roads. Streets. A bridge. A car. A missing child poster on a utility pole—only the headline is visible. A school bus unloading children. A photograph of a child. Someone running after someone else.
Steve finds the moment eerily familiar. Not because it’s his memory, but because he’s been in a similar situation before. He frowns, hoping he’s imagining it.
A boy rides a skateboard. Kids run down the street. The words 'Missing Child' flash briefly. A boy rides a bike. A blue car turns a corner. A black van. A suburban street, a pole in the foreground with a poster that’s hard to make out. Another street. Another pole. Another unreadable poster. A Black boy presses cotton against a scraped knee. A baseball game. A close-up of bloodied knuckles being wrapped with a bandana.
“Where’s your black bandana?”
Robin looks away, putting on his most innocent expression.
“Robin.”
“I might have smashed some jerk’s face in and had to wrap my knuckles with it…”
“Robin.”
“But only might have!”
“Robin!”
A tear rolls down the boy’s face, blue capillaries stark against his eyelid.
Steve snaps out of the memory with Robin, realizing it’s Griffin. A chill runs down his spine. The shot, paired with the tense melody, feels deeply unsettling.
A kid sticks a bandage on bruised knees. A girl wipes blood from her mouth.
Steve clenches his jaw, remembering how some dumb asshole—whose name he can’t even recall anymore (two concussions should have at least some benefit)—kicked Gwen in the head. It felt incredibly satisfying to return the favor later.
A road. Mountains in the distance. A tipped-over bottle of red liquid spreading across the ground, a napkin stained red lying nearby. Power lines. A bloodstained bandana on the asphalt.
Finn isn’t surprised Robin would rather throw the bandana away somewhere on the street than listen to a lecture from her mom. Mrs. Arellano could be terrifying when she wanted to be. Finn never understood a word when she yelled at Robin in Spanish, but it was just as frightening.
Rusty swings. A fallen bicycle near a fence. A sneaker on the ground. Suburban streets. Sunset. Sneakers hanging from power lines. Poles covered in missing child posters. On one, there’s a photo of a curly-haired boy; on another, only a name is visible—Griffin.
Steve remembers that time well, when every surface was plastered with missing posters. Even after he escaped the basement, not all of them were taken down. Sometimes you could still see the faces of children whose fates everyone already knew.
“That’s… a lot of missing person posters,” Nancy says quietly, shaking her head.
Steve pulls himself out of his thoughts and notices that everyone in the room looks uncomfortable watching the flashing images. The music certainly doesn’t help.
“Yeah,” is all he says.
Another shot shows a cluster of missing posters layered over each other, only part of a boy’s face visible. One poster tears loose and is carried away by the wind.
Jonathan shrinks into himself, likely remembering putting up posters for Will. Nancy places a hand on his back, gently rubbing it. Joyce threads her fingers through his. Will turns toward his brother and scoots closer to his legs. Jonathan gives them a grateful smile.
Six posters of the same missing boy hang in a row on a fence, fluttering in the wind.
Finn feels a tingling in his cheek and quickly scans the room. He doesn’t see anyone, but his shoulders relax anyway.
A police car drives down the road. Missing posters fall and crumple onto the asphalt. A bloodied shoulder. A long gash across a neck. A deep cut on a cheek. A quick flash of a massive slice across a throat.
Steve wishes he could say he doesn’t recognize it. But he’d know Robin's shirt anywhere. But he attended every one of those boys’ funerals, and Billy’s cheek cut was visible even under layers of makeup. But Griffin… Griffin showed him what his body looked like.
Joyce gasps sharply and covers her mouth.
“Mom?” Will turns to her.
“Oh my God,” she whispers, instinctively looking at Steve, who is already looking back at her.
Because of the quick cut, the others don’t seem to have noticed Griffin’s neck, judging by their reactions, but Joyce apparently did. Steve presses his lips together. She shakes her head, lowers her hand, and takes a deep breath. Everyone looks worried by her reaction.
“It’s nothing,” Joyce folds her hands in her lap. “Nothing. Let’s keep going.”
Steve exhales, not even realizing he’d been holding his breath waiting for her questions. He’s incredibly grateful she keeps them to herself.
The screen shows the inside of a house. Empty beer bottles sit next to a box of cereal. A man in the background pours boiling water into a mug. Finney sits at the table in front of a bowl, glancing through a magazine. The man sits across from him and opens a newspaper. Finney takes a few spoonfuls of cereal. The man lowers the newspaper and looks at him with clear irritation.
“Your dad?” Mike shifts next to Will, getting more comfortable.
Steve nods. He doesn’t have anything else to add.
Finney takes another spoonful. His father lowers the newspaper completely, and Finney lifts a tense gaze toward him.
[Father]: You think you can slurp that a little louder? I don't think they can hear you up in Boulder.
He speaks slowly and quietly. Finney anxiously looks away and says nothing. Gwen walks into the kitchen. She opens the breadbox, but her hand slips, and the lid slams against the counter with a loud clatter. Finney jerks his head up. The man lets out a heavy sigh and lowers his head.
“Hangover?” Hopper asks, connecting the empty bottles, the irritation at noise, the quiet voice, and the reaction to the sudden sound. He knows what that looks like. He’s been there himself. But when he saw the bottles, he hoped it was just leftovers from a get-together that hadn’t been cleaned up yet.
Steve shrugs, not taking his eyes off the screen. Max presses her lips together, the older kids frown, and Joyce rubs her fingers together nervously.
Gwen closes her eyes for a second and turns toward her father.
[Gwen]: Sorry, Daddy.
Finney also glances at the man, watching for his reaction. The man opens one eye and looks back at her but says nothing. Gwen takes out the bread, the man straightens up and returns to his newspaper, and Finney seems to relax.
Joyce doesn’t want to assume. And she especially doesn’t want to be right if she does. But she was married to an alcoholic. An alcoholic who, while she wasn’t looking, hit her children. She knows how kids like that behave around their parents. Joyce had been a fool not to notice it in her own children before, buried in her work. But now her children are safe, and she’s pieced together every sign she missed and sworn never to overlook anything strange in Jonathan’s or Will’s behavior again. And now she sees it—the same signs she missed before—and the weight settles heavy on her chest.
She turns toward Steve, but he doesn’t look away from the screen.
Gwen silently mimics their father, and Finney lets out a quiet snort.
[Gwen]: I don’t know.
The scene shifts to the street. People hurry past in the background.
[Gwen]: Everyone says Fonzie or Richie. Millie says Potsie. But I don’t think anyone should ever trust anyone who wants to grow up and marry Potsie.
Steve smiles, remembering how he used to listen to Gwen’s stories every morning on the way to school. Sometimes he didn’t even understand who or what she was talking about, but he listened anyway, showing maximum interest. Just like she did when he talked about space.
[Gwen]: I think I’ll stick with my current plan and marry Danny Bonaduce.
Finney adjusts the strap of his bag on his shoulder.
[Finney]: You’re not gonna marry a member of the Partridge Family.
[Gwen]: He’s so crucial! I love his voice.
Finney stops by a fence and stares at something. He looks upset.
[Finney]: It’s new.
Gwen turns around.
[Gwen]: What?
[Finney]: The flyer.
The screen shows a missing person poster. The words 'Bruce Yamada' are printed above a photograph of the boy Finney played baseball with.
[Finney]: Mr. Yamada is putting them up again.
The tension in the room rises.
Gwen looks away, silent.
[Finney]: You don't think they're gonna find them, do you?
She looks sad and uncertain, as if forcing the words out.
[Gwen]: Not how they want to.
Brother and sister stare at each other tensely.
Jonathan, Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Joyce all stiffen. People said the same thing when Will disappeared. "He’s probably already dead".
Steve glances at them but has no idea what he could possibly say or do. "She’s right, unlike the people who talked about Will"? Yeah, definitely not.
“That’s pretty harsh,” Nancy says, looking displeased.
“It’s the truth,” he replies, looking at her.
“What does that mean?” she frowns.
“It means exactly what it sounds like. Gwen isn’t wrong about things like this.”
“Steve,” irritation flashes in her eyes, “first of all, everyone is wrong sometimes. And second, it’s still not okay to talk like that about missing people.”
Steve’s eyes turn icy. The kids exchange uneasy glances.
“Gwen isn’t wrong,” he says. He really doesn’t want to argue when they’ve only just started fixing their relationship, but he won’t tolerate anyone speaking badly about Gwen. Without giving Nancy a chance to respond, he presses the remote. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her cross her arms, annoyed.
[Gwen]: Come on. Let's go. We’re be late.
Gwen keeps walking. Finney lingers for a moment by the poster, looking at Bruce’s photo, then follows her.
“Wait a second,” Dustin says, drawing attention to himself, but then hesitates, faltering.
“What’s wrong, Dustin?” Mike leans out from behind Will’s shoulder to look at him.
Dustin turns toward Steve.
“You don’t… have to answer, of course… I just remembered something and started talking before thinking… Otherwise I probably would’ve stayed quiet, because, you know… we’re already kind of intruding on your life and stuff… and I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, I just—” he starts rambling, speaking faster and faster.
“Henderson.”
Dustin stops.
“Just ask. If I don’t want to answer, I won’t,” Steve leans back in his chair and nods.
“Okay… um… At the beginning,” Dustin meets his eyes, making sure he understands, “there were five graves.” Steve nods for him to continue. “And one of them had a baseball on it.”
Silence falls over the room, and now it’s clear why Dustin was so nervous about the question. Steve relaxes. He expected something worse.
“Yeah. That was his.”
Everyone looks away, sympathy written across their faces.
“I’m sorry,” Jane says, placing a hand on his knee.
“It’s okay. Let’s keep going.”
[Voice]: Come on! Hey, come here!
Gwen speeds up. A crowd of kids chants, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” Gwen starts running, Finney following behind her. Two boys stand facing each other, a circle forming around them.
[First Boy]: You think you’re so tough, huh?
[Second Boy]: Let’s find out.
Gwen and Finney join the crowd. Finney looks anxious, while Gwen looks thrilled, practically vibrating with anticipation.
[Second Boy]: I will pound you like a nail, you scrawny little beaner.
Lucas freezes. First of all—yeah, racism. He’s familiar with that. But that’s not what worries him most right now. Steve said one of the graves belonged to a Mexican. He wouldn’t have remembered if Dustin hadn’t mentioned the grave with the baseball. Lucas doesn’t dare look at Steve, but he quickly glances around at the others, trying to see if anyone else noticed or reached the same conclusion. He meets Robin’s and Nancy’s eyes. The others seem oblivious. Lucas turns back to the screen. God, he hopes he’s wrong.
The camera shows both boys. The second one looks slightly smaller than the first.
Finney smiles. Seeing small, skinny Robin feels like balm to his soul.
“Oh, that’s the boy who was watching your game,” Joyce says softly.
“That’s Robin,” Steve nods to her. “The other one got nicknamed Moose at school.”
“Why?” Eddie asks.
“Don’t remember anymore,” Steve shrugs.
[Robin]: Then do it.
Robin looks completely confident, while Moose looks offended.
[Robin]: Unless you’re scared.
The crowd cheers. Moose swings wide for a punch, but Robin ducks, and the blow misses. In response, Robin drives a punch into his side. Moose doubles over. Robin jumps back and, spinning, kicks him in the head. Moose goes flying and slams into a street sign pole.
Eddie lets out a whistle. Max starts clapping.
“He’s awesome!” Dustin exclaims.
Moose quickly regains his footing and tries to punch again, but Robin blocks the strike with one hand and drives another hard punch into his stomach with the other. Moose doubles over again, and Robin hooks an arm around his neck, not giving him a chance to strike back.
[Gwen]: Get him, Robin!
“God, she is way too into this,” Jonathan remarks.
“One of her favorite hobbies is watching fights. And if it’s Robin fighting…” Steve shakes his head with a smile.
“I get her. He really is awesome,” Rob says. “Only the best people in the world are named Robin.”
“Absolutely true,” Steve laughs. Dustin, sitting on the floor, looks offended, so Steve leans over the girls to ruffle his hair.
Robin really wants to ask if that’s why he always calls her Rob or Buckley—so he doesn’t get confused—but she’s afraid that if she, Lucas, and Nancy are right, then that gesture has nothing to do with mixing up names. Dustin already asked about Bruce, and Steve seemed to handle it okay, but Robin still doesn’t want to bring it up again. At least not yet.
Robin throws Moose to the ground, and the crowd erupts even louder. Robin straddles him and lands several fast, heavy punches. Some kids shout, “Get up!” trying to encourage Moose, while others yell, “Hit him harder!” egging Robin on. Blood spreads across Moose’s face—either from a broken or badly busted nose.
Robin, Eddie, and Max are on the verge of shouting along with the crowd. Will and Joyce choose to look away from the screen, while the others watch with interest and approval. Steve glances at Hopper, but of course Hopper doesn’t look outraged. Quite the opposite, actually, but he’s clearly trying to hide it. Steve isn’t very surprised — he’s heard the kids’ stories about how the sheriff used to throw punches left and right when it was necessary. He definitely isn’t going to judge Robin for beating up some arrogant racist.
We see Finney and Gwen watching the fight. Finney tugs Gwen by the elbow.
[Finney]: Come on.
He clearly doesn’t like watching fights.
“You don’t like watching fights?” Jane asks.
“I didn’t use to,” Steve shrugs. “I never really liked watching someone get hurt. And after Robin’s fights, I always had to patch him up, because otherwise that idiot would’ve wrapped himself in duct tape, gotten infected, and died of sepsis.”
Jane nods solemnly while the others chuckle.
“Sounds like you’ve always been the mom friend.”
“Oh, go fuck yourself, Wheeler. I’ll look at you when you have to cut off a hand because of gangrene,” Steve rolls his eyes when Mike sticks his tongue out at him.
“Language, Steve!” Max teases him.
[Gwen]: Holy shit!
She doesn’t take her eyes off the boys, not giving in to Finney.
[Finney]: Let’s go. Let's go.
He pushes her out of the crowd. We see Moose’s face, which Robin is still punching, almost completely covered in blood while the crowd keeps screaming in the background. Robin stops and stands up, his entire hand covered in blood. He throws Moose one last glance and walks away.
“Not gonna lie, I’m a fan now,” Eddie says. “If he’s not planning to smash my face in too, will you introduce us?”
Lucas, Nancy, and Robin exchange quick glances.
“Robin never fought for no reason, so he probably won’t fight you,” Steve shrugs with a smile. “I’ll introduce you someday.”
"Someday, when we’re all dead", stays unspoken on his tongue.
Nancy bites the inside of her cheek. That’s a pretty ambiguous answer. Of course, Steve could mean that Robin is still somewhere in North Denver or any other city, but something keeps her from dismissing the thought that 'someday' means 'never'. She looks up at Robin, and they nod to each other, then look at Lucas, who shakes his head as if chasing away the same thoughts.
[Gwen]: What the hell? That was Moose!
Gwen is clearly upset that Finney interrupted her from watching Moose get beaten, but she keeps walking with her brother.
[Finney]: I don’t care.
[Gwen]: Moose is a giant asshole!
[Finney]: I know.
[Gwen]: But last year, when he made your nose bleed—
[Finney]: Gwen.
The kids on the floor glance at him, and he answers them with a soft smile, giving an easy shrug to show that everything’s okay.
[Gwen]: He had it coming.
Finney points back to where the fight was.
[Finney]: No one has that coming.
“Such a gentle soul,” Eddie dramatically presses a hand to his chest, and Steve rolls his eyes at him.
[Gwen]: Finney, he beat you up!
[Finney]: I know, Gwen, I was there, remember? I… I just don’t want to talk about it.
[Gwen]: Well, he’s was stupid to pick a fight with Robin Arellano.
Finney smiles softly. Gwen had always adjusted quickly whenever he told her to stop. She would stop talking about whatever she was talking about and skillfully change the subject. They both did that. They didn’t have to say everything out loud to understand each other.
Also, the way Gwen always called Robin by his full name never stopped being funny to Finney. Robin had been Finney’s first friend, and Gwen had been suspicious of him at first. Finney understood that she saw how closed-off he was and that if something went wrong, he would prefer to bury it. And Robin, in turn, was… Robin. Fought, snapped at people, and constantly frowned. Gwen was just protecting her brother. Back then, she didn’t have such an extensive vocabulary, so she expressed her disapproval by addressing Robin formally. Robin did the same in return. None of their meetings ever passed without sarcastic remarks that Finney half-heartedly tried to stop. The ice between them melted quickly, and those two would probably never admit it, but Finney knows it was because they didn’t want to upset him. Either way, the ice melted, but the full names stayed.
[Gwen]: He’s the toughest kid in school since the The Grabber got Pinball Vance Hopper.
Hopper freezes. The Grabber. The monster who kidnapped children for three years, kept them in a basement, tortured and killed them. The sixth kidnapped child managed to kill him and escape. Finney Blake.
Hopper shifts his distant gaze to Steve, silently praying he’s wrong.
Steve is already looking back at him. He suspected that one of the adults would figure it out. Especially Hopper. Things like that probably stick with cops even if they happened in another state. And his story had spread across the entire country. His story and the other boys’.
It would be fair of him to tell everyone what they’re about to watch the moment he realized it. But… God, he doesn’t want to say it out loud. Doesn’t want to ruin everyone’s mood while they’re watching what seems like ordinary fragments of his life. Doesn’t want to remind himself of what comes next. He doesn’t even know what exactly will be shown, so with suppressed tension squeezing his ribs, he sits waiting for it to begin at any moment.
Steve lowers his eyes, feeling ashamed of his cowardice, and shakes his head at Hopper without looking at his reaction, just hoping he doesn’t bring it up. Hopper stays silent. Finney pulls both legs onto the chair and wraps his arms around them.
[Finney]: I wish you wouldn't call him that.
[Gwen]: Everyone called him Pinball Vance.
[Finney]: No, I mean—
[Gwen]: I know who you mean, jerk face! Even the papers call him The Grabber.
“So he’s the reason for all those missing posters?” Jonathan asks.
Still ashamed, Steve only hums in confirmation. The others accept his answer without asking more questions.
[Finney]: Just… I wish you wouldn't say his name.
They walk in silence for a few seconds.
[Gwen]: You don’t actually believe that story, do you?
[Finney]: No.
But his deliberately calm answer says otherwise.
“What story?” Dustin asks.
“Shut up and you’ll find out!” Max throws a lollipop at him and he yelps.
Steve relaxes slightly, watching their bickering.
[Gwen]: Because he can’t hear you. He doesn’t really take kids that say it.
Steve thinks with disbelief about how fuking ironic that sounds. On the other hand, Gwen was right. He had been kidnapped without it.
[Finney]: I know that.
He still doesn’t sound convincing.
[Gwen]: Finney!
[Finney]: I said I know!
[Gwen]: Then say it!
A smirk appears on his face.
[Finney]: No!
Funny how Finny still can’t say his name without preparing himself first. He doesn’t mind when someone else says it. After the incident, he had plenty of time at school to get used to “Oh, that’s the boy who killed The Grabber,” but saying it himself is still hard. Like his tongue sticks to the roof of his mouth. Like if he says it out loud, he’ll end up back in that basement.
[Gwen]: Are you chiken?
The amusement disappears from Finney’s face.
[Gwen]: I didn’t mean it.
She looks ashamed. Finney nudges her shoulder.
[Finney]: I know.
Gwen and Finney walk out of frame, and we see a black van driving down the street behind them.
With a trembling wrist, Steve reaches for his forearm and digs his nails into the skin, leaving a red mark. He understood that he had been watching him. Watching all of them except Vance. Observing their routines and waiting for the right moment when they would be alone or just catching an opportunity. But understanding it doesn’t compare to seeing it directly. Of course, back then he wasn’t watching for anything suspicious around him. It was scary sometimes to walk alone, but nobody knew how exactly he kidnapped children. Or if it was even a he.
Now that fucking “Abracadabra” sign is etched into his brain in microscopic detail.
“Isn’t that the same van we saw in the scene with Bruce?” Dustin asks.
“I don’t know, you couldn’t see the lettering back then,” Mike shrugs. “I doubt there’s only one black van like that in all of North Denver.” Dustin, out of spite, reaches across Will and smacks Mike’s leg.
“Ow! What was that for?”
“Steve, uh…” Dustin turns toward him, and Steve is very glad his hands are hidden behind his raised knees and the sleeves of his long-sleeve shirt, so no one can see the red lines on his forearm.
“How would Steve know? He saw that van next to Bruce for the first time on the screen too, and here he clearly didn’t pay attention to it!” Mike cuts in, and they start arguing.
Steve has probably never been so grateful for Mike’s sarcasm. He doubts he could have answered in a steady voice — or answered at all. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees the older ones on the couches exchange looks. Of course they’ve already realized that nothing here is shown for no reason. Just like in a regular movie — setup, climax, and resolution. As if his life is just some story invented by one person. As if there hadn’t been the cold and stench of the basement, the deafening ringing of the phone, the psychopath, the rough hands, the tortured dead children.
Steve closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in and out. The shame still burns inside. But this is his life, right? His fucking childhood trauma, or whatever they call it. He didn’t consent to this. He doesn’t have to rip open his chest just to show everyone what’s inside. Yes, it’s unfair, but he doesn’t have to talk.
But he probably should.
But he doesn’t have to.
[Teacher]: The inner core is solid.
We move to a classroom. The teacher is showing the layers of the Earth on a projector.
[Teacher]: The outer core is molten. The next layer, called the mantle, is mostly solid…
We see Finney holding a small rocket in his hand. There’s a flashlight attached to the bottom of it, which Finney carefully plays with, as if the rocket is taking off.
“Does it have a flashlight too?” Dustin looks interested. “That’s cool.” Will nods several times in agreement.
[Teacher]: …however, the thin outer zone of the mantle is partially molten. Next slide.
Finney looks up and meets the gaze of a girl who is already looking at him. She smiles shyly when she sees that he noticed her and quickly looks away.
[Teacher]: The surface layer is called the crust. It is solid and very thin.
“Oh,” Eddie drawls mockingly, “so that’s who you were looking for in the stands, huh?”
Steve starts laughing, which surprises him. It’s just… it’s really stupid, God. Gwen had been trying to convince him back then that Donna liked him and that he should say something to her, but Finney kept denying it and telling her to shut up because it embarrassed him. Now he sees it. Yeah, Donna definitely liked him. As much as you can like someone you’ve talked to a couple of times and worked with in lab. Add puberty, teenage intensity, and all that. Finney never liked Donna. Well, she was nice. She didn’t bully him, didn’t laugh at him, and he can even admit that she was pretty. Working with her was comfortable and pleasant. Finney didn’t talk much, and Donna skillfully filled his silence without forcing him to talk or feeling uncomfortable with his quietness. Finney thinks they could have become good friends if not… if not for everything that happened later.
“Wow, are we witnessing the first love of the one and only Steve Harrington?” Max says with her usual sarcasm.
“No, no,” Steve shakes his head, laughing, “No, Donna was cool, but I never liked her.”
“Oh, keep lying to yourself and to us, Steve,” Rob says patronizingly.
“Oh, trust me, you’ll definitely understand that I didn’t like her,” Steve looks at her with a smirk.
“What is that supposed to mean?” He just keeps looking at her with a mysterious grin and turns back to the screen.
The school bell rings and the kids in the classroom get up from their seats. Finney throws his things into his bag and quickly leaves the room. He walks through the school hallways, glancing around. One boy in the hallway pushes himself off the lockers.
[Boy]: Hey, Finney.
Two more follow him.
Steve sighs tiredly and leans back against the couch. Of course, they can’t avoid showing how he used to be thrown around like a rag doll against every surface when he studied at his old school. It hasn’t bothered him for a long time, especially since he eventually stood up to that group of idiots, but he really doesn’t want the kids to see this. On one hand, it will probably bond them even more since they all experienced bullying at school. On the other, he has already taken on the role of protector. He’s their older one and doesn’t want them to see how he let insults and beatings slide. As if that could shake not even his authority, but their trust in him.
“I guess I should say this,” he draws attention to himself, not giving himself more time to think, “I was bullied in school.”
If he doesn’t want to bring up the specifics of life with his father, can’t talk about him, then he can at least do this. Even if it undermines their trust in him. Logically, he understands it was a long time ago, that he was a kid. But… Steve doesn’t know. He just doesn’t want the kids to stop feeling safe around him, and Hopper and Joyce to start doubting that he can provide that safety.
“The best defense is offense, right?” Max lightly punches his leg, cutting off anyone who might’ve said something like, “Bullied? You?”
Steve raises his eyebrows.
“Well, you know. You were bullied at your old school, so when you moved, you decided to take the top spot right away so it wouldn’t happen again,” she looks at him knowingly, and Steve remembers how Max used to snap at him a lot at first, but as they grew closer, he realized it was just her defense mechanism. She was afraid someone would hit her, so she hit first.
“Yeah, I think… I think that’s true,” he nods to her. “I’m sorry I acted that way,” something makes him explain himself, even though he knows no one in this room has seen him as “King Steve” for a long time. “I’m not proud of it. I acted like an asshole. Luckily, I got my head screwed on straight,” he smiles softly.
No one says anything for a while, but he sees that they understand and accept him.
“I think we’re even closer now than before,” Will smiles shyly, and those words turn into a wave of warmth washing over Steve’s heart. He smiles back at him.
When everyone turns their attention back to the screen, they look slightly tense and upset, understanding what’s about to happen next.
Finney quickens his pace, and the boys follow him. Finney enters another wing, goes into the bathroom, and rushes into the stall farthest from the entrance. He climbs onto the toilet with his feet and listens.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Joyce looks at him gently, and Steve feels like she’s thinking about Jonathan and Will, who were also bullied endlessly.
When Finney was beaten up by bullies, he either treated his wounds himself, or Robin did it clumsily and by his instructions, muttering nonstop under his breath something clearly unfriendly and obscene in Spanish, or Gwen did it, which he tried to avoid because he didn’t want to burden his sister. When his mom was still alive, Finney was invisible in the school hierarchy. No one noticed him, no one talked to him except Robin, but no one beat him either, so he was generally fine with it. Steve wonders if Joyce treated Jonathan’s and Will’s wounds.
Of course she did. Joyce loved her children more than anything in the world, and there was so much of that love that it extended to Will’s little friends, to Nancy, to Robin, and to Eddie. It extended to him, too. It’s not the first time Steve has thought Joyce is incredible. Maybe… maybe he would like her to be…
No. He can’t think like that.
“It’s okay, it doesn’t bother me anymore,” Steve gives her a faint smile, brushing away the ridiculous and shameful thoughts.
“Yeah, especially since you became so cool,” Mike mutters quietly under his breath, but Steve hears him and notices with surprise that there’s no sarcasm in his words.
“Oh, you think I’m cool, Mike?” he can’t resist teasing.
“Shut up! I never said that!” Mike immediately flushes, the tips of his ears turning red.
Steve softens his expression while everyone around them laughs. He smiles gently and nods, showing that he genuinely appreciates it. Mike looks like he wants to smile too but forces himself to roll his eyes and turn back to the screen.
Steve looks up and meets Eddie’s soft eyes. He smiles at him, raising his eyebrows and… oh, he gets it. Eddie once told him the kids looked up to him, but Steve hadn’t taken it seriously then. Yeah, now he understands. He smiles back and returns to watching.
We hear the door quietly open.
[Boy]: Hey, Finney.
The boys stand there in confident poses.
“I’m sorry, but those,” Rob gestures toward the trio on the screen with her head, “are the ones who bullied you?” Steve looks at her in confusion. “If I stood at the top of the school hierarchy, I’d bully them,” she explains confidently. “Just look at them, one looks worse than the other,” she points at the screen indignantly.
That earns a light laugh from the others.
[Second boy]: Come on out, dick weed.
“God, what are those virgin mustaches? Did he think that looked cool?” Rob clearly has no intention of stopping, and Steve doesn’t mind as long as it lightens the mood and makes the others laugh.
[Third boy]: Not fooling anyone, noid.
“Your eyes are so tiny, I wouldn’t be surprised,” Max joins in, and Steve finds it even funnier when Mike whispers to Will, “Friendly fire,” because both the boy on the screen and Max are redheads. Max, thankfully, either doesn’t hear him or ignores him.
The first boy peeks into the stall closest to the entrance. Finney, inside the far stall, looks resigned. He stands up and walks out to the boys.
[First boy]: What you doing in our bathroom, huh?
“Since when do bathrooms have signs that say ‘Bathroom for cockroach, emo, and acne’ on them? Or is that some special feature of North Denver schools?”
Joyce, who had been holding herself together until now, starts giggling and tries to hide it behind Hopper’s shoulder.
[Second boy]: See the sign? It’s says "boys".
“Oh,” Rob says knowingly, “I thought it was for idiots, since you’re all gathered here. In that case, Steve should leave. Can’t interrupt your symposium about the Earth being flat.”
[Third boy]: Yeah, boys, not "fags".
Out of the corner of his eye, Steve notices Will tense up, and Mike frowns and puts a hand on his back.
“I’m honestly curious if they rehearsed that speech,” he rubs his chin like an expert, only missing glasses. “They literally keep going one after another,” Will chuckles quietly, and Steve considers his mission accomplished.
We hear the door open again, louder this time, as if someone wanted to announce their presence.
Steve smirks and throws a quick glance at Rob, but she doesn’t notice.
Robin walks in confidently, looking far from pleased.
“And here we have the one and only, the strongest, the coolest, the multiple-time champion of beating up horned opponents, best in class at spin kicks…” Eddie drums on his knees with his hands, and Rob joins him while the others are already laughing. “Robin!” he throws his hands up and points at the screen. “Sorry, I forgot his last name,” he adds more quietly.
“Arellano,” Will prompts him in a loud whisper.
“Yeah, thanks, kid,” Eddie whispers just as loudly back. “Robin Arellano!”
Everyone cheers, even Hopper claps his big hands, and Max shouts, “Kick their ugly faces in, Robin!”
Steve laughs. He’s really glad they all like Robin. Probably, if not for this whole strange situation, he would’ve never realized how important that actually was to him.
The boys on the screen unconsciously lower their heads in a mix of acknowledgment and fear.
“God, he’s so damn cool,” Dustin watches in awe.
Robin looks them over, fully aware of the impression he’s making.
[Robin]: Dipshits, move.
They immediately step aside, letting him pass to the sinks.
“Is that duct tape in his hand?” Nancy asks, confused.
“I told you,” Steve turns to her, the tension between them easing a little after their argument, “He’ll tape himself up, get an infection, and die from it.”
That earns chuckles around the room.
Robin glances at Finney as he approaches the sink.
[Robin]: Hey, Finn. What's happening?
His voice noticeably softens when he speaks to Finney.
Rob throws Steve a quick suspicious glance. Steve barely suppresses a smirk, continuing to watch the screen and pretending not to notice anything.
Robin turns on the water and watches the boys still standing in the bathroom through the mirror. Finney doesn’t look as anxious anymore with Robin there, but he still watches the bullies.
[Finney]: You know, I just keeping on keeping on, I guess.
The boys look tense, clearly realizing their situation.
“Be afraid, be afraid—you’ve got a reason to be,” Hopper chimes in. He sounds proud, which makes Steve smile again.
Robin glances at the boys.
[Robin]: Uh-huh.
We see him washing blood off his knuckles. The water turns bright red and quickly runs down the drain.
[Robin]: Moose got some damn sharp teeth.
The boys watching this exchange glances and silently decide it’s best to leave.
[Robin]: Knuckles bleed all first period.
“Oh, he definitely knows what he’s doing,” Max shakes her head with a smirk.
The boys head for the exit, trying to move quietly and unnoticed.
[Robin]: Wait.
They freeze and look back. Robin tears off a few paper towels to wipe his hands and looks at them through the mirror.
[Robin]: Fuck with Finn again…
He turns to face them.
[Robin]: I fuck with you.
Rob glances at Steve again.
“That’s really sweet of him,” Joyce says in her gentle voice.
He turns away, indifferently tearing off more paper towels. The boys look scared, not even meeting his eyes. Robin glances back again, seeing they’re still there.
[Robin]: You can leave now.
His tone is patronizing and confident. The boys slip out of the bathroom without a word.
“I’m accepting applications for the Robin Arellano fan club, ladies and gentlemen,” Eddie spreads his arms.
“Sign me up,” Jonathan raises his hand, and the others follow, talking over each other, while Dustin and Lucas somehow even manage to start wrestling.
Steve can’t stop laughing.
Finney watches them leave and leans against the sink next to Robin, who is still trying to stop the bleeding.
[Finn]: Thanks.
Robin looks up.
[Robin]: One day you’ll have to stand up for yourself.
He presses paper towels to his knuckles and reaches for the duct tape left on the edge of the sink.
“Dude’s seriously just gonna tape himself up?” Lucas watches in disbelief. Steve gives him a meaningful look and nods.
[Finney]: Yeah, I know. And one day you’ll have to learn how to treat wounds properly.
Robin wrinkles his nose. Finn snatches the tape from his hands, puts it back on the sink, and picks up his bag from the floor. He pulls out a bottle of peroxide and bandages, frowning at Robin, who deliberately looks away with exaggerated innocence.
“Is this the part where we remind everyone Steve keeps a fully stocked first-aid kit in his car?” Dustin says.
“Right,” Mike and Lucas turn to him at the same time.
“Then Steve isn’t a mom, he’s a nurse,” Jane nods importantly, and Steve shoots her a frown.
“You never know what’s going to happen. Especially in our situation."
“Sure, keep telling yourself that,” Jonathan nods at him condescendingly.
“Oh, screw you—”
“Language,” Will quickly cuts in with a small sly grin.
[Finney]: Hey, why'd you fight Moose?
Finn takes Robin’s hand and removes the paper towel. He leans closer to get a better look at the wound.
Rob could swear she sees Robin’s cheekbones turn pink. She throws Steve another quick suspicious glance. Steve does the same thing as before.
[Robin]: He was just shit-talking. Pretty sure he’d back down.
Finn pours peroxide over his knuckles, and Robin only smirks.
[Robin]: Nope.
Something about that “nope” fills Steve’s chest with such a soft feeling that he wants to reach through the screen and pinch little Robin’s little cheeks.
They laugh. Finn dabs the knuckles with a napkin and starts bandaging them with ease that suggests this isn’t the first time.
[Robin]: I was so surprised when he swung, to be honest.
Finn ties a knot, looks over Robin’s hand one more time, lets go, and puts everything back into his bag.
[Finn]: I mean, did you have to? Looked like you really hurt him.
Finn leans against the sink, while Robin stays standing in front of him, fiddling with the ends of the bandage knot.
[Robin]: I was just gonna knock his ass down.
He shrugs.
[Robin]: Whale on him a bit. But that wouldn’t draw no blood.
Finn tilts his head silently, questioning.
The kids listen to Robin intently, as if he’s about to deliver some great wisdom that will reveal the meaning of life.
[Robin]: In situations like that the more blood, the better.
Steve mouths the words at the same time as him.
Robin raises his clenched fist, showing the bandage.
[Robin]: For the crowd, you know? It makes a stronger point.
“I don’t know,” Jane whispers, shaking her head.
Steve licks his lips, trying to find the right words to explain clearly.
“Look. At some point, Robin was considered the strongest guy in school,” he looks at her to make sure she’s following. “Some short-sighted people, especially new kids, didn’t really believe that because he looked pretty small compared to someone like Moose. Robin only fought when the situation demanded it, so he made the most of those situations. If a fight is unavoidable, he can turn it into a show to prove he’s not someone to mess with, and for a while everyone leaves him alone out of sheer impression. At least until the next idiot shows up. Get it?”
Jane listens carefully and nods.
“That’s smart,” she seems to mentally file it away. “Thanks, Steve.”
“The kid clearly knows what he’s doing. Fights well, knows how to intimidate properly, knows how to make people back off for a while,” Hopper says in his direction.
“He’s been fighting since he was a kid. Said his dad taught him so he could stand up for himself and his loved ones, but not go overboard,” Finn shrugs.
Hopper nods firmly in response, and everyone returns to watching.
Finn nods uncertainly. Robin, noticing his discomfort, quickly changes his frown and the topic.
[Robin]: I've seen 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' Friday night. You seen it?
He smiles, his eyes seeming bigger and sparkling.
There it is. That deer-in-the-headlights look that softened Finney’s heart every time. He could spend hours talking about the constellations in his eyes. A gentle smile appears on his face when he sees excited Robin talking about his damn 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. A terrible movie.
He doesn’t notice another quick suspicious glance from Rob.
Finn smiles back at him.
[Finn]: That movie's rated R. My dad would never take me to see that.
[Robin]: My uncle takes us to the drive-in. We see everything. Except horror movies—Mom won’t let Ernie watch those.
“Who’s Ernie?” Dustin asks, and Max silently aims a chocolate bar at his head, but Steve stops her hand and takes the bar for himself.
“Ernesto. Robin’s younger brother,” he explains, tearing open the wrapper.
“That’s weird,” Rob says. “I mean, he looks more like the only boy in the family. Like he has a couple of older sisters or something,” she clarifies when everyone looks at her.
“He has a bunch of older female cousins,” Steve shrugs, not thinking that her words might sound a little strange. “But otherwise, it’s just him and Ernesto.”
“Makes sense,” she nods, and they both return to watching the screen with serious faces under the others’ confused looks.
[Robin]: But that movie… it’s the best! Ever!
Finn looks at him with amusement and a hint of teasing.
[Finn]: Better than 'Enter the Dragon'?
[Robin]: Well, okay. Maybe second best.
They laugh.
“Wait,” Jonathan frowns. “Originally, we were going to watch 'Enter the Dragon'. That can’t be a coincidence, right?”
That makes everyone pause and think, but no one has a definite answer—not even Steve, who just shakes his head when people glance at him questioningly. So, in an odd silence, they turn their attention back to the screen.
[Finn]: You know, I want to see a Bruce Lee movie one day. Like, um... Maybe if it’s on TV, you know?
Robin nods confidently at him.
[Robin]: Yeah. Yeah, you will.
Steve can’t wipe the smile off his face, because he knows why Robin said that with such certainty.
Robin lowers his gaze, looking a little embarrassed. He steps slightly closer to Finn.
[Robin]: Hey, um.. you got time to stop by my house after school?
[Finn]: Is it math again?
“You helped him with math?” Nancy looks at him in surprise, but it isn’t distrustful. Just curious. As if she’s trying to figure out how Steve ended up in Robin’s place in the end.
“Two concussions, Nancy. Two concussions,” he taps his temple with his finger and looks away from her. “That’s how we met. He copied my answers on a test and then asked me to help him actually understand everything so he wouldn’t have to bother me next time.”
Robin shakes his head sheepishly.
[Robin]: Mr. Johnson talks too fast. He doesn't explain it right. Not like you. Can you walk me through it? If I get another 'F', I'm suspended.
Finn smiles at him.
[Finn]: Yeah, sure.
Robin smiles back.
[Robin]: Thanks, encanto.
Steve looks at Rob, already expecting her reaction. She turns to him with her mouth open, blinking several times.
“Encanto,” she whispers in disbelief. “Encanto?” she repeats, louder now, a hint of indignation in her voice.
Everyone in the room looks at them, confused, but the two of them ignore it. Steve nods at her with a grin.
“I can’t believe it,” she says, putting on an offended expression. “And you didn’t tell me?” She realizes her mistake the moment the words leave her mouth.
There’s a good chance Robin isn’t here anymore. God, Steve might have lost his first love. The thought sends a sharp ache through her chest, and she tries not to let it show on her face.
But to her surprise, he just shrugs, still smiling.
“What’s going on?” Dustin’s head swivels between them. “What’s encanto?”
Steve presses a finger to his lips, looking at Rob. She’s still confused, but she smirks and nods back. Eddie shoots them a suspicious look. The kids start grumbling in protest, but one loud clap from Hopper leaves behind a silence that sends everyone back to watching.
Gwen appears on screen. She’s in class, taking notes.
“Gwen!” Rob greets happily, trying to distract herself from her thoughts.
[Teacher]: So, when we subtract six from eleven, we find that the value of 'X' is five.
The classroom door opens and a woman walks in. Gwen lifts her head from her notebook.
The shot changes, and we see the woman standing beside two men in suits.
Oh, right. Those two motherfuckers. Gwen told him about that weird, illegal interrogation. He’s proud of how she stood up for herself back then.
Gwen walks into the office with them. She looks confused and slightly tense.
[Gwen]: You wanted to see me?
“They called her to the principal’s office?”
Steve nods. To Max’s great relief, Dustin doesn’t ask why.
[Principal]: Gwendolyn Blake, this is Detective Wright and Detective Miller.
She gestures to each of them in turn.
[Det.Wright]: Miss Blake.
He points to a chair, inviting her to sit.
[Principal]: They would like to talk to you about something.
They sit down, forming a triangle, while the principal takes a seat behind her desk.
[Det.Wright]: Is it.. is it true you’re friends with Amy Yamada?
Detective Miller scribbles something in his notepad.
“Bruce’s sister?” Jane whispers sadly.
“Yeah,” he says, resting a hand on her head.
[Gwen]: We have homeroom together. Is she okay?
[Det.Miller]: She’s fine. You know what this is about.
He leans toward her. Detective Wright raises a hand to stop him.
“Is he threatening a little girl?” Joyce looks outraged, Hopper frowning beside her.
“Back up three meters, you bald asshole,” Eddie mutters, pressing his lips together.
[Det.Wright]: What did you say to Amy about her brother Bruce?
“Did she seriously say something rude about missing boy to his sister’s face?” Nancy turns to him, irritation clear in her voice—radiating "I told you so" energy.
Steve frowns. Why is she starting this again?
“No,” he answers sharply, opening his mouth to continue, but Hopper cuts in.
“Even if she did say something rude—though I believe Steve when he says she didn’t—that’s not a reason to drag her in for questioning.”
They leave it at that. Steve shoots Nancy another glance, shifts his legs, and crosses his arms, running his hand through Jane’s hair one last time.
[Gwen]: Just that I had a dream about him.
Nancy glances at Steve, but he pointedly ignores her.
[Det.Wright]: What kind of dream?
[Gwen]: Just a weird one.
[Det.Wright]: What happened in your dream?
[Gwen]: He was taken. That’s all.
[Det.Wright]: By a man with black balloons in a van?
[Gwen]: Yes.
[Det.Wright]: What else can you tell us about your dream?
[Gwen]: Why? It was just a dream.
Steve flinches slightly at those words.
[Det.Miller]: Who else knows about the dream?
[Gwen]: Nobody!
She looks tense, like she’s ready to defend herself if necessary.
[Det.Wright]: We found two black balloons at the scene, Gwen.
He watches her seriously, expectantly.
Silence falls in the principal’s office.
[Gwen]: Oh..
She crosses her ankles.
“So what now? She’s a criminal?” Rob protests. “Yeah, let’s just throw her in jail for having a nightmare about something the whole town is probably talking about.”
Some people nod or murmur in agreement.
[Det.Wright]: We also found one black balloon at the scene of Griffin Stagg's abduction.
“The second guy looks so smug I want to punch his shiny bald head,” Mike suddenly says. And as funny as it sounds, no one laughs—because he’s right.
[Det.Miller]: And we never released those details, so…
[Det.Wright]: So the question is, where did you hear about the balloons?
[Gwen]: I didn't!
[Det.Miller]: I’m gonna ask you again. How did you know about the balloons?
Gwen looks at him with open contempt.
Steve clenches his jaw. He hates that he never ran into this asshole after the incident to smash his face in.
[Det.Wright]: What aren't you tell us, Gwen?
[Det.Miller]: Either there's a leak in the department, or—
[Gwen]: Or what? I’m The Grabber?
Her tone drips with sarcasm.
[Det.Miller]: No—
“Yeah, go girl!” Rob throws her hand up.
[Gwen]: You think I kidnapped Vance Hopper last spring? Is that it?
Like clockwork, Steve feels a prickling sensation run down his spine—and along his left arm.
[Gwen]: Vance got held back twice. I’ve seen him fight, and trust me—he could kick the shit out of either of you! Blindfolded!
“Hell yeah! I would!” Vance appears to Finn’s right. Bruce stands next to him, arms crossed.
Finn flicks them a quick glance so no one notices and rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, kid! No idea who Vance Hopper is, but you’re right!” Eddie exclaims, and the others back him up.
“See? They get it,” Vance leans closer to him, and Finn can feel his grin without even looking at him.