the group began to start building both their weapons and their plans. meadow was sitting with steve and robin outside of the camper, looking out at max and nancy, who were cutting the barrel off of nancy's gun. her gaze then shifted to eddie and dustin, who were closer to her, and were hammering nails into trash can lids.

eddie lifted the lid up into the air like a shield, testing the durability of it. meadow could see dustin start laughing as eddie dramatically started speaking, putting his foot up on a crate. judging by body language, she could see dustin make a horrible joke that eddie didn't laugh at. she was out to walk over to join them when she saw eddie lower himself and, with a growl, grab dustin's chest and start play fighting with him.

"you son of a bitch!" she heard dustin yell as he ran to tackle eddie, making them both yell. they tousled for a bit before dustin started screaming. "no wedgies! no wedgies!"

eddie's head threw back with a laugh before he stood upright, putting his hands around dustin's neck. "never change, dustin henderson." he said. "promise me?"

dustin shook his head. "i wasn't planning on it."

the older boy smiled. "good."

meadow tilted her chin their direction. "you boys about to kiss or something?" she joked, watching as they pulled away from each other.

"it just doesn't make sense." steve said on the other side of her.

"what, eddie and dustin as a couple? i agree. too big of an age gap." robin agreed.

"no." steve shook his head, still thinking about when they saw vickie at the store. "that was dan shelter. he graduated, like, two years ago."

robin didn't react, helping him pour gasoline into the funnel in his hands. "so?"

"so he's in college, which means he was visiting on spring break. fast times was returned, like, i don't know, a week ago, right? unless she's got some horndog brother we don't know about. which is possible. or she's just like.. really into judge reinhold?"

"steve!" robin interrupted him, shaking her head. "i don't care. and i don't understand why you do either with everything that's going on. honestly, this feels like a perfect time for that little pull of the rug because.. in the face of the world ending, the stakes of my love life feel spectacularly low."

he nodded. "i guess you're right. but.. robin, come on. you gotta have a little hope."

robin shrugged. "not everyone can have as perfect of a relationship as you, steve."

he chuckled before looking over at meadow, who had temporarily joined dustin and eddie in their play fight before walking back over to him and robin. "what's going on, guys?" she asked, shielding her eyes from the sun with a hand.

"steve's still on about dan shelter." robin said, watching as meadow nodded.

"i see. and what do you have to say about it?" she asked, sitting on the floor to help hold the bottles as they poured gasoline into them.

robin sighed. "i.. i guess it doesn't matter. not in the scheme of things, you know?" she looked between meadow and steve. "i just.. i have this terrible, gnawing feeling that.. it might not work out for us this time."

steve looked over at her. "you think we shouldn't be doing this?"

she smiled. "i think we're mad fools, the lot of us, but.. but if we don't stop him, who will?"

meadow looked out at dustin and eddie, who were still pretending to fight each other with their nail shields. she then nodded. "we have to try, right?"

steve nodded. "yeah." he then held up a bottle of gasoline. "to killing vecna."

robin smiled, taking another bottle and holding it up. "slash henry."

"slash one." meadow finished, clinking a third bottle with theirs.

once the group had all created their weapons, they headed back into the camper. it was solemn and completely silent, though, as meadow looked over at steve, who made eye contact with her for a nervous moment before pulling into the street at the creel house. max, erica, and lucas moved to get out of the camper, planning to follow through with their plan, but meadow stopped them.

"guys, hey." she said, reaching out to grab max's hand. "be careful."

max smiled. "we will be." she hesitated for a second before moving in to give meadow a hug that she quickly accepted. "thank you for everything."

"don't say that." meadow scolded. "it makes it sound like you're saying goodbye."

lucas and erica both gave her side hugs before she finally let them walk outside the camper and towards the house. steve didn't waste time before driving away, heading off towards eddie's trailer, which was the nearest gate.

steve looked over at meadow, who was nervously biting at her nails. "hey." he whispered, taking her hand and holding it in his, stopping her anxious tendencies. "they're going to be okay." he assured her, though he didn't even believe his own words.

"they have to be." she replied. "cause i don't know what i'll do if they're not."

"they really are our kids, aren't they?" he asked after a moment. the rest of the car ride was silent, and steve stopped meadow once they had parked. "hey." he said, putting his hands on her arms. "are you sure about this?"

she nodded. "yeah."

his eyes scammed hers for any trace of uncertainty. "i just.. i hate that we're all splitting up, and i don't want anything to happen to you."

meadow nodded. "i know. i don't want anything to happen to you, either. i know i'd probably be more help with you and everyone else, but i can't leave dustin. i can't."

"i know." he replied, looking at the ground for a moment before his gaze moved back to her face. "i love you." he said, moving his hands so that they were holding both sides of her face. "i love you.. i love you so goddamn much."

"steve.."

"i know, i know. it makes it sound like i'm saying goodbye." he said. "i just.. i keep thinking about what robin said. how we might not make it back. and i just.. i have to tell you as much as i can before.. before anything else goes to shit."

meadow shook her head. "steve, shut up." she lifted her head, feeling him press his forehead against hers. "i love you."

he rubbed his nose against hers before taking her hand and leading her to where everyone else was.

"okay, i wanna run through it one more time." nancy said when they were all hidden behind the trees outside of the trailer park. phase one."

"we meet erica at the playground." robin recalled. "she'll signal max and lucas when we're ready."

nancy nodded. "phase two."

steve, whose hand was around meadow's back, looked up. "max baits vecna. he'll go after her, which'll put him in his trance."

"phase three?" nancy continued.

"me, meadow, and eddie draw the bats away." dustin said, adjusting his sister's bandana to be better on her forehead.

"four."

robin sighed. "we head into vecna's newly bat-free lair, and.." she sloshed the gasoline filled bottle in her hand. "flambé."

nancy nodded. "nobody moves on to the next phase until we've all copied. nobody deviates from the plan, no matter what. got it?"

everyone nodded. "got it."

the group then followed steve through the lot and into eddie's trailer, turning on the lights to see everything was just as they'd left it, including the gate with a rope of sheets suspended inside of it.

"be careful." dustin said to steve, who was about to be the first to go down (up?) through the gate.

"thanks, buddy." he said, patting his back. steve climbed the rope and effortlessly did a flip that landed him on his feet. he looked through the gate at everyone else, shrugging as if it was nothing.

robin leaned in to meadow. "what does he want us to do, applaud?"

"i'd applaud to that." meadow replied without thinking, immediately flushing red at robin's glance at her.

steve dragged eddie's mattress from the upside down to be in front of the gate, making sure everyone else would have a swift landing. "alright. let's go." he said.

meadow helped everyone else climb up before joining them in the upside down, feeling steve, eddie, and dustin all help her to her feet. she then followed everyone else outside of the trailer, watching as robin turned around to look at her.

"give those bats hell." she said with a smile.

"you give vecna a piece of your mind, robin." she replied, wrapping an arm around her.

steve turned around to look at dustin and eddie, who were staying behind with meadow. "if things start to go south, i mean, at all, you abort, okay? draw the attention of the bats. keep 'em busy for a minute or two. we'll take care of vecna. don't try to be cute or be a hero or something, okay? you guys are just-"

"decoys." dustin finished for him. "don't worry. you can be the hero, steve."

eddie nodded. "absolutely. i mean.. look at us. we are not heroes."

meadow sighed as steve wrapped his arm around her once more, pressing a kiss to her temple. "i love you."

"i love you more." she replied. he moved to protest, and she silenced him with a quick kiss. "you can argue with me on that when we get back."

"steve." eddie called as he turned to walk away. "make him pay." they had a silent moment of understanding before steve, robin, and nancy turned to walk away, once again off to save the day.