❁

and meadow immediately followed her brother inside. will, who was apparently possessed, lay on the sofa, completely passed out. meadow leaned on the kitchen counter. "they didn't believe you, did they?" she asked hopper as he put down the phone.

"we'll see." he replied.

mike got angry. "we can't just sit here while those things are loose!" he insisted, all of the kids nodding.

"we stay here." hopper ordered. "and we wait for help."

meadow sighed, running her fingers through her hair and moving to sit on the floor of the hallway. she pulled her hair into a ponytail, resting her head in her hands. "hey." steve said, sitting next to her. she didn't reply. "hey." he repeated, gently nudging her with an arm. "we're gonna stop those things, okay? one way or another."

she nodded slightly, looking up at him finally. "i know." she mumbled.

steve smiled sadly. "come here." he said, opening his arms. meadow curled into his side, resting her head on his shoulder and her arms around his waist.

she hadn't felt this exhausted or helpless in such a long time. when the upside down had first infested the town, they'd had eleven, who was now nowhere to be found. and now everything seemed almost hopeless.

meadow then remembered that her mother was always telling her not to focus on the negative. she focused her attention on something happy, almost cursing as the first happy thought that came to mind was steve. she thought about how she was currently sitting with her arms around him, his head leaning on top of hers. she thought about the way he smelled, the way she was still wearing his jacket.

if she made it out of this alive, she figured she'd probably have to face her feelings, as scary as it was. meadow hated feelings. they were dangerous, they were terrifying. but something about steve made her feel like, for once, it wouldn't go wrong for her.

the two sat there for a while, listening as mike began to talk about bob. the group didn't intend to let him die in vain. "what do you want to do, mike?" dustin asked. "the chief's right, we can't stop these demodogs on our own."

"demodogs?" max questioned.

"demogorgon. dogs. demodogs." dustin explained. "it's like a compound. it's a play on words."

"there's no way we can fight him, he has an army now." lucas said, referring to dart.

a lightbulb went off in mike's head as steve and meadow walked into the room. "his army." mike said. "his army! maybe if we stop him, we can stop his army, too."

meadow nodded, leaning against the table. mike pulled out a drawing, placing it there. "the.. shadow monster?" she asked, looking at it. she recognized the creature from dungeons and dragons, she knew it was one of the most powerful in the game.

"it got will the other day in the field." mike confirmed. "the doctor said it was like a virus. it infected him."

meadow's brow furrowed. "so, this virus connects him to the tunnels?"

mike nodded. "to the tunnels, the monster, the upside down, everything."

steve was confused. "woah, slow down." he said, looking to mike. he hadn't had as much experience with dungeons and dragons.

"okay, so," mike began, "the shadow monster's inside everything. and if the vines feel something, like pain, so does will."

lucas nodded. "and so does dart."

"remember what mr clark taught us? the hive mind." mike said, looking to his friends.

steve shook his head, still not following. "hive mind?"

"wouldn't that be.. a super organism?" meadow asked, dustin and the other boys all nodding.

"it controls everything." mike said. "it's the brain."

dustin gasped. "like the mind flayer."

while steve and max were confused, meadow just shook her head. "like from d&d?" she asked, the boys all nodding.

dustin pulled out will's dungeons and dragons book, explaining what the mind flayer was. "this is our current analogy for whatever this thing is." meadow explained, noticing that hopper and steve were still visibly confused.

"we are talking about the destruction of our world as we know it!" lucas added, looking over at steve, who was rolling his eyes.

"that's great, that's really great." he said, walking away.

meadow ignored him. "theoretically, if we kill the brain, we kill everything it controls. the tunnels, the," she gestured to dustin, "demodogs, the upside down."

"how do we kill this thing?" hopper asked.

dustin started talking about undead armies and zombies, the d&d way, annoying hopper. "we know it's only a matter of time before the tunnels reach this town!" meadow insisted, wanting to remind everyone of the severity of the situation.

"if anyone knows how to destroy this thing, it's will." mike said, walking to him.

max shook her head. "i thought you said we couldn't trust him anymore."

mike nodded, a new idea forming. "he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

hopper threw old belongings out of the byers' shed, and the group began to cover the inside. the goal was for will not to know where he was, so they had decided to take newspapers and tarps to cover the walls.

steve worked with a tarp, nancy on the ground beside him. "we're.. we're done, right?" he asked, looking to the confused girl. "i mean, we can date other people, right?"

nancy was still confused before it hit her and she smiled. "steve. i've seen the way you look at her. you always have been in love with her."

"what are you talking about?" steve feigned confusion.

the girl laughed, shaking her head. "yes, we can date other people. go for it! she clearly likes you."

steve smiled then, chuckling a little. "i hope so."

nancy and steve were still talking when meadow walked into the shed. she coughed awkwardly, getting their attention. "sorry, i didn't want to walk into a personal conversation." she explained, moving to the other side of the shed to start stapling a tarp to the top of the shed.

steve looked over his shoulder at her, clearly madly in love. nancy just shook her head fondly, glad to see him happy.

meadow had felt the same pricking jealousy in her as she walked into the shed as she had when steve had previously mentioned nancy. normally, she would have questioned herself. she would have thought out her feelings, maybe even run away. but, now.. now it was obvious. she was hopelessly, grossly, in love with steve harrington.