meadow henderson and her brother, dustin, had safely survived yet another apocalyptic attack. and yet, despite surviving, meadow couldn't help but feel as if she hadn't really survived at all. what was surviving?

surviving, in her opinion, wasn't waking up with a cold sweat, shaking after yet another nightmare. she was alive, sure, but meadow was still, in many ways, stuck in whatever dungeon or prison the russians had kept her in the summer prior.

the worst part of it all, meadow thought, was not being able to talk to anyone about it. normally the rational part of her brain would tell her to go to a therapist, obviously, get this checked out and try to minimize whatever case of ptsd she had. but, of course, no therapist would believe her if she started talking about monsters and alternate realities.

"it feels like.. it's never over. never." she once confided in steve, who was almost the only person that truly understood what she was going through.

he had frowned, shaking his head. "no. no, i don't believe that."

but she thought that he was just trying to console her, because meadow knew that steve was going through the same exact nightmares she was. it wasn't ever going to truly be over, she thought.

"can you please just be.. optimistic? for once?" dustin pleaded with her, moving the joystick to the right. "i'm going to win this time. i know it."

"yeah?" she responded, raising a brow. "cause it looks like you're getting your ass beat." she got up from her position leaning on a random arcade cabinet, moving to lean over her brother's shoulder as he, once again, lost dragon's lair. "and guess who was right, again."

dustin groaned, but put his hand into his back pocket to take out a dollar bill that he slapped into her open hand. "i don't get it. how did you win?"

"pure talent and skill."

he shook his head. "bullshit. did you do something with keith? are you bribing him?" his brows raised and his voice became an accusatory whisper. "are you and keith-"

meadow gave him a look. "no! what, obviously not, gross." she then leaned down to be more on his level. "legend says it can only be won by someone with my exact and precise dna running through their veins." she said with a grin and an attempt at a spooky tone. "or, legend says you just have to not suck."

"legend says you can shove dragon's lair up your ass-"

"hey!" his sister scolded, hitting him on the back of his head. "i won, which means i get to pick lunch, and i'm deciding we get the greasiest burgers in town and then stop by family video, sound cool?"

the boy sighed. "yeah, so you can swap face with steve!"

"no," she spoke incredulously, "so we can get a movie to watch for movie night." the look that her brother gave her told meadow that he wasn't fooled, and she shook her head. "okay, yeah, and to see steve."

"fine." dustin grumbled, leading the way outside to her car. "but it's only because i want to see him, too. this is a choice i am making purely out of greed, absolutely no compassion to be found here, i am still quite mad at you."

meadow just shook her head with a fond smile as she followed him out the door, stuffing his dollar into her back pocket.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"and the whole thing has been building up to eddie's big campaign, right?" dustin was saying as he drank his smoothie. "and so we're going to have to win, it's the biggest deal in the history of deals."

his sister nodded her head. "yeah, right. so this guy is.. what, nineteen? twenty? and still in high school?"

dustin looked at her blankly. "yeah. yeah, what, he never claimed to be a saint, or anything, okay? he's just.. he's one of my friends, alright, and i'd really appreciate it if you weren't so judgy-"

"woah, jeez, okay, calm down." she raised her hands in her own defense. "he's probably cool, okay, it's just weird to hear you talk about someone who went to high school at the same time i did."

"and you both could be in college right now, too, but someone decided-"

meadow cut him off. "hey, i decided i was going to stay here with you and mom and get a job. the plan is to get us all out of here, steve too."

"why?" he asked. "why do we have to get out so quick? i mean, el and will left, and everything's so.. weird without them already. and i know so much has happened but.. i don't want to leave hawkins."

her brows furrowed. "okay. yeah, yeah. i know. it's a temporary plan for the future. i wanna buy mom that house she wants, the one in that magazine." it wasn't really a lie. "and i also want to keep you safe, and if that means getting out of hawkins then.. yeah. i think we should leave."

"but we don't know that, though." he argued.

when he moved to take another sip of his milkshake, the light dangling above them flickered. meadow looked up at it before turning her focus back to her brother. "never can be too careful, can you?"

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

soon came time for dustin's big campaign, and any disagreement that the siblings had had about leaving hawkins was quickly forgotten. meadow, since the pool was left unopened until the end of the school year, had gotten a brilliant gig working at a coffee shop across from family video (conveniently where steve and robin worked).

"why is it that you are so against working with us?" robin had asked, feigning offense.

"because the last time you two were working somewhere, it got blown up." meadow had replied with a sarcastic smile on her face.

truth be told, she was only working there because the shop was constantly busy, and therefore made decent tip money daily. plus, it didn't involve keith.

"i woke up looking like a total corpse." robin buckley groaned, attempting to put on mascara in the car.

steve harrington, who had been trying to get advice on what to wear to his date, looked over at her. "you're worried about a basketball pep rally? expect me to believe that?"

"yeah, so?"

"so, we both know what this is about, okay, i'm not buying that bullshit. this is about vickie."

"absolutely not."

"it is. and you know what else i think? i think you gotta stop pretending to be someone else when you're around her, okay, you just gotta be yourself." steve said, pulling into meadow's driveway.

the girl walked out of the house almost as soon as her friends arrived, waving to her mom before rushing into the vehicle. "sorry, sorry, i know i'm running late. dustin has his.. thing.. tonight, with hellfire.."

she'd been getting a ride to work with steve and robin for the past few weeks since her car (once again) was getting minor repairs. steve kept insisting that it was junk and that she should get a new one, to which meadow would shake her head and insist that the car was just waiting to surprise her.

steve then shook his head. "no, it's fine, you're not running late, it's okay." he then turned the conversation back to robin. "you agree, right? she acts like someone else around vickie?"

meadow furrowed her brows from the backseat. "i mean, yeah, i guess, but that's understandable, right, she gets nervous."

"and it's not even just that," robin said, "it's like.. if i ask her out, okay, then what? suddenly i'm the town pariah, and that's what will always happen if i ask out the wrong girl."

"i'd buy that, except vickie is definitely not the wrong girl." steve argued.

robin shrugged. "we just don't know that, do we?"

"she returned fast times paused at 53 minutes, 5 seconds." he continued. "do you know who pauses fast times at 53 minutes, 5 seconds?" the car grew silent at his rhetorical question. "people who like boobies, robin!"

"ew. gross. don't say boobies."

meadow put her head in her hands. "steve, it isn't even eight am yet, can we-"

"boobies!" he continued. "not a big deal, okay? i like boobies. you like boobies." he gestured to robin. "vickie likes boobies. definitely. it's boobies." steve finished with a shrug.

his girlfriend, in the backseat, groaned. "dear lord."

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

"just move your date this one time, come on!" dustin pleaded on the phone. lucas was unable to participate in eddie's big hellfire club campaign, and the remaining boys were desperate to find someone that could replace him.

steve, who was hanging out with meadow on her lunch break, shook his head. "what, to hang out with you and eddie 'the freak' munson? uh, yeah, i'll pass."

the date that he and meadow had been planning wasn't crucial by any means, but he had missed hanging out with her and wanted to take her to the hawkins high basketball game to watch lucas.

"you're just jealous cause i have another older male friend." dustin taunted.

meadow then took the phone, holding it up to her ear. "look, you know i'd love to join you for hellfire, but we already bought the tickets to the game."

dustin scoffed. "okay, yeah, so go to the game for two minutes, see what you're missing, and then come to the campaign. you're the best option i have-"

"what about erica, okay? find her, see if she can.. if she can play for lucas. as soon as the game's over i'll be there to pick you up."

the other end of the line went silent as he considered this option. "okay, yeah. yeah, that's.. that's smart. i'll talk to erica, but you better be there pronto, okay?"

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

when it came time for the basketball game, meadow eyed the gymnasium warily. "i still love you, but this may be the worst date idea you've had.. ever." she said to steve, who gave her a look.

"what do you mean? it's basketball. i've played basketball, you've played basketball.." he said, leading the way up the bleachers.

she shrugged her shoulders. "yeah, i guess, but that doesn't mean i have the great desire to watch it."

as the couple got to what seemed to be the only vacant room on the bleachers, they were instructed to rise for the national anthem. "singing for us tonight, we have a very special guest. all the way from nashville, our very own tammy thompson!"

meadow's jaw dropped as she turned to look between steve and robin, who was with the band. "okay, maybe this is the best idea you've ever had for a date."

steve nodded. "see, you just gotta wait and see." he gave her a fist bump as tammy walked out, evidently attempting to impersonate madonna. when she started to sing, meadow covered her mouth with her hand, trying not to laugh. steve looked over at her, smiling himself. "stop, stop, you're gonna make me laugh." he complained, nudging her in the side.

she snorted a small laugh, immediately covering it. "no, i can't.. she sounds.."

"muppet." he nodded, smiling and looking over to robin, who agreed.

the game was tight, and meadow found herself whooping and hollering with excitement as lucas scored the winning shot. "that was.. that was insane, i'm so proud!" she said as she hugged him once the game was over.

she and steve then moved on to the hellfire club, and arrived right at the end of their campaign. steve had decided to wait outside, claiming he wanted to get some air, which was clearly an excuse to get out of anything dungeons and dragons related.

meadow walked into the furthest corner of the school (so it seemed) where she knew the group frequently met, and was greeted by the sounds of dustin screaming.

"yes! yes! fuck yes!!" her brother cheered, running to hug each of his friends.

"either there's some kind of orgy going on, or you defeated vecna." meadow said as she walked into the room, immediately calling all of the attention to her.

a boy with long hair, who she recognized as eddie, turned to look at her. "ah, so you must be the sister henderson's always talking about, right?" he tilted his head.

"uh, yeah?"