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˚⋆ ┊  ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING  ┊ ⋆˚
☆⋅⋆ ─ act i. don't you want me, baby?

CHAPTER TWELVE — delicate
( episode six ; the spy )

❀

⠀ ⠀ IT DIDN'T TAKE LONG FOR PEYTON AND SIDNEY TO weave their way through the woods and find a somewhat followable path. Besides, it wasn't like Peyton was completely clueless as to where she was going. It had become tradition for herself and a few other kids from the trailer park her mother lived in to venture to the junkyard, more of them than to to drink and consume various other illegal substances.

Although she was sure taking his sister out of his line of vision would warrant some kind of lecture from the Harrington boy, Peyton was rather glad to have removed herself from the presence of boys (both young and old).

"You know, you're not as mean as I thought you'd be," surprising revelation breaking the silence Peyton had hardly registered they'd been walking in, the blonde smirked. She was thankful she'd not been perceived negatively, although still very much so okay with joking about it.

"Really?" she questioned, a handful of meat tossed carelessly to the ground as she let out an exaggerated sigh, "Dang, I'll try harder next time,"

Sidney laughed, genuinely, shaky hands buried deep in her pockets as she shot Peyton a bright smile, "Seriously... You've not got the best reputation with my brother,"

"No..." with her sarcasm yet to run dry, Peyton's exaggerated tones earned an amused eye-roll from the younger teen, "Me and Steve? We're the best of friends," Unconvinced, Sidney tried to mask her smile through narrowed eyes, although evidently, it proved harder than she'd thought.

"I know that he can be an asshole so..." thoughtful sigh echoing over twigs snapping beneath her boots, Sidney's nose scrunched as she thought about her brother's behavior (up until around this time last year, as a matter of fact), "I never really took it to heart, you know? What he says about you,"

"Hey, good for you," Peyton's smile did a whole lot more in masking her true feelings than young Harrington's ever could. Not that Peyton thought it was something to brag about. Learning to mask your emotions was undoubtedly a sign of growing up in a shitty environment where it wasn't safe to show anybody how you really felt.

"He talks about you too much to actually hate you anyway," Peyton could tell almost immediately by the way Sidney smirked that she was trying to catch her off guard. It wasn't even that blatant of a lie. And Peyton would have believed her if it wasn't one of the most outlandish things she'd ever heard in her life.

With narrowed eyes, Peyton frowned at Sidney the way a teacher would scold a child telling tales to impress their peers, "He does?" she went along, with exaggerated tones that even a pre-schooler could see through.

"Mmhmm..." about to breathe in to further protest the fact Steve had even one nice thing to say about her, Peyton held in whatever remark was about to leave her lips when Sidney spun on her heels, walking backward with each of her shaky hands wrapped tightly around the straps of her backpack, "Why is it so important we find this thing anyway?"

A thousand times more nervous than when simply talking about Steve, Peyton's pace subtly slowed, allowing the distance between her and the younger blonde to become more than just metaphorical, "Well it... it could be dangerous," Quite frankly, Peyton hated lying through her teeth. But it wasn't for her to decide whether Sidney was ready to hear the tale of how Will didn't really get lost in the woods... "We know it ate a cat already... and now it's bigger so what's to stop it from eating something else?"

Sidney's frown was more than just anger when she realized Peyton's lies hadn't come to an end. She was disappointed, let down at the idea that the people supposed to care about her were keeping so many secrets from her. Back to the blonde once again, Peyton's relief at the pause in interrogation was short-lived.

"You and Steve do the same thing when you're lying," taken aback by the sudden accusation, Peyton's hand froze in the bucket, although she'd yet to stop walking entirely, "Something's going on that none of you are telling me!" Sidney hardly stopped to glance at Peyton as her questioning continued, "How did a lizard break through a wall and dig a tunnel like that? And why is the only cop we can call Chief Hopper? It doesn't make any sense,"

Peyton sighed, but knew better than to continue lying and assuring that nothing was wrong, "Listen, kid," she began, maintaining her lack of eye contact, "that's a good thing,"

"I'm not a kid!" persisted the younger Harrington, "I can handle it!"

"I don't doubt that," the Evans girl finally glanced to her side, heart sinking when she saw glistening, tearful eyes staring back at her. A look she recognized all too well. It wasn't just sadness, it was confusion and anger. Trying to figure out if it was her fault secrets were being kept, "Look, it's just... for your own good, okay?"

"Is this about what happened last year?" finally, she asked the dreaded question. One that Peyton was sure Steve would murder her for answering truthfully, "I- I heard you talking about Will," breath escalating in a way that Peyton knew wasn't just because they'd started to speed-walk, the blonde froze in place, "About how... nobody really knows what happened when he went missing," lips trembling, Sidney struggled through glassy eyes, Peyton's once tough exterior fading completely at the sight of them, "But I think you do. I think you saw something, and I think Steve was there and I think you're lying 'cause you think it'll protect me, when really all it's doing is making me more afraid!" becoming tearful herself, Peyton thought of all the ways she could try to lie herself out of this. All the ways she could try and keep Sidney as far away from this as possible. The only real answer was sending the poor girl right back home. But there was no way of knowing if even that was safe anymore.

"Hey, hey," gut-covered gloved abandoned in the bucket, Peyton placed the metal container on the ground as her hands gently came to meet the panicking teen's shoulders, "Breathe in for me," Sidney nodded, eyes fluttering closed as she took a deep breath in through her nose, "Out the mouth," softly, Peyton talked her through the panic, easing the thumping of Sidney's heart in her ears, "You're right," the blonde teen finally accepted, "There's things you don't know, and there's things I can't tell you," she'd meant for her emphasis to come across comforting, but she wasn't sure it had, "There's... a monster, and we..." trailing off, Peyton smiled when she noticed the younger teen take in her reassurance, "We're monster hunters. We gotta catch this thing before it does any more damage. But the safest place to be right now, whether you got the whole story or not, is with two people that fought one of these bastards before,"

"You and Steve?" it almost hurt to hear, but it was true. Peyton had officially become, what was to this day, her worst nightmare. Part of a team with Steve Harrington.

She nodded begrudingly, "That is all you need to know," Sidney shook her head, gaze averted to the ground as a slight grin appeared on Peyton's face, "Trust me, why else would I be spending my weekend with Steve "the hair" Harrington..." smirk faltering ever so slightly when she realized just who she was talking to, Peyton let out a nervous chuckle, "Uh... no offense," but Sidney simply squinted, as though trying to get a proper read on the elder blonde before saying what she was about to.

Frown growing to a smirk, the girls had yet to continue on the path when the Harrington suddenly declared, "It's not all-natural, you know," more confused than anything, Peyton hadn't quite caught on that the subject had changed entirely.

"Hmm?"

"The hair," Sidney repeated Peyton's mocking tone, watching as genuine excitement came over the blonde's features.

"What?"

"It's Fabergé," pretentious hair brand snapping her back into reality, Peyton had to hold back laughter when she realized just what Sidney was getting at. Steve Harrington's longest-kept secret, "Fabergé Organics. And, uh, Farrah Fawcett hairspray,"

"Farrah Fawcett?" grinned Peyton, eyes following Sidney as, with a newfound confidence and trust in the Evans girl, she began down the path once more.

"Yeah, Farrah Fawcett," slow pace allowing for Peyton to break into a light jog to catch up, Sidney's smirk only widened at her ecstatic expression.

"You're kidding,"

"Nope," nodded the shorter brunette, "He gets super weird about it. Always insists it's our moms but... the house still smells like hairspray and they've been gone for days,"

Peyton nodded, taking all this information in with a deep sigh as she stared around the woods with the wide eyes of a child on Christmas day. Thoughts of new nicknames, and ways to tease Steve spiraled in her mind, "Oh, this is the best news I've ever heard in my entire life,"

Suddenly suspicious and, most likely, more concerned for herself than Peyton, Sidney chimed, "You can't tell him I told you," receiving a less than convincing sideways glance from the Evans girl, whose dreams had been shattered in a single sentence.

"I can torment him without him knowing it was you that spilled the beans," words displayed more as a suggestion than a statement, Sidney's displeased expression was enough for Peyton to accept the loss, "Alright, Harrington, my lips are sealed," Sidney only nodded, skipping ahead briefly, allowing Peyton a moment alone with her thoughts. The unlikely moment she'd shared with the teen was odd. She'd never expected to so easily get along with Steve Harrington's sister of all people.

Which made knowing what they were about to face, what she was about to learn about Hawkins, that much shittier.

❀

⠀ ⠀ BY THE TIME THEY'D FINISHED HANSEL AND GRETEL-ING the woods with chunks of meat, they knew they wouldn't have much light left. The boys had arrived at the junkyard first. Because, of course they did, sticking to the path and all. One more thing for the Harrington boy to gloat about. Able to see the others heading toward them, Sidney raised her arm above her head instinctively. She walked on her tiptoes, arm stretched into the sky as though she were attempting to swirl the clouds between her fingertips.

"Steve!" her brother turned from where he and Parker were pouring more meat onto the ground, confusion turning to a glare when he noticed Peyton's smug expression.

"Hey!" she called, hands in her pockets as she reached them, having now disposed of the stenching, raw meat that resided in her now empty bucket, "What are the chances?"

Steve shook his head, jaw clenched as she approached him, "Dick move, Evans," Peyton didn't seem to disagree, head tilting into a mocking pout as she tilted her head up to look him in the eye.

"I said medium-well!" called yet another late addition to the party. Peyton and Steve squinted as their gaze averted toward the preteens approaching before the setting sun.

"Who's that?" questioned Steve, glancing to see Peyton's once smug expression drop into one of deep concern. She would have recognized the younger sister of a soon-to-be very pissed-off, aggressive step-brother anywhere.

Max Mayfield.

With Lucas Sinclair by her side.

As if they hadn't introduced the concept of the Upside Down to enough of the teenage population in Hawkins.

"Max?" Peyton frowned, left hand shielding her eyes from the sun as her right found itself resting on her hip.

"Max?" repeated Steve, recognizing the name with a sideways glance toward Dustin. It was no secret that Henderson had developed a crush on the bold redhead. After all, it was Steve who he had confided in, and asked advice from to try to impress her. Something else dawned on Steve as he watched Peyton's expression flicker between anxiousness and anger. The young man she had the misfortune of being related to, even if only by marriage. "Wait, Hargrove's sister?" He muttered, leaning to the side for only Peyton to hear. She glanced at him briefly, hoping he couldn't see right through her. That it wasn't obvious her anger was partly a facade masking genuine worry. Not just for Max, but for herself. She knew full well that Miss Mayfield wasn't supposed to be out on her own at this time. If she had snuck out, Billy would be their problem sooner or later.

Parker's mind drifted elsewhere. He knew how Peyton could get when she was worried. Her temper turned all unwanted emotions into rage. Arguably the world's worst emotional defense mechanism.

"Oh, shit..." he murmured, wincing when he caught a glimpse of the fiery look in his sister's eye.

"What the hell, Sinclair?" she sneered, although it was clear to see that worry was only displaying itself as anger, as most of her emotions usually did.

Parker's hand gently met her shoulder, the only person in the world that could even begin to calm the hot-headed blonde, "Peyton..." she calmed, visibly, arms folding across her chest as she gestured for Dustin and Parker to talk some sense into their friend. He nodded, in a yeah, no shit kind of way, and stepped toward his friend, "Lucas, can we talk to you for a second?"

Max stared in confusion as the three boys jogged away, slowly lowering themselves behind a rusting red car all whilst exchanging nervous glances with the elder teens.

"Unbelievable..." muttered Peyton, tossing jagged scrap metal toward the large bus situated in the centre of the junkyard. Steve's glare turned surprisingly sympathetic. Peyton didn't know how to feel with the knowledge that Steve Harrington was probably one of the only people on the planet who knew exactly how she felt.

"What's the big deal?"

Speaking of...

Sidney's lack of understanding broke his brother's heart. He knew that she was safer at his side than sitting home alone, especially with a demogorgon on the loose. But there was no denying she was now a part of something far beyond her understanding.

"She doesn't know?" frowned Max, suddenly rather concerned at Lucas's blatant rule-breaking. Still, no one said a thing.

Not until Sidney frustratedly asked, "Know what?" Steve could only stare at his sister. This was all his fault. She should be at home. Doing homework. Watching TV. She should be safe. Instead, she was here, in the woods, nightfall and demogorgon imminent. There were no words he could possibly use to make this better that weren't some kind of truth about Hawkins.

"Hey," Peyton's sudden interruption sent a wave of rage over Steve, "Remember what we talked about?" He never wanted his sister going off alone with Peyton, it hadn't even dawned on him she might've spilled the beans. But rather than panic crossing her features, a wave of calm came over Sidney, a deep breath accompanying the nod she shot toward the protective blonde.

The girls began to walk away, but not before Steve could grab ahold of Peyton's forearm. To his surprise, the blonde simply stopped in her tracks, making no attempt to tear herself aggressively away as he'd expected her to.

"What did you say to her?" he whispered with concern.

"As little as possible, don't worry," it was the first time in a long time that Peyton's response didn't come with an insult or a hint of sarcasm. Maybe there really was something to their bond as older siblings who were practically a back-up parent.

─────

⠀ ⠀The boys' sidebar lasted much longer than expected. But their fortress still needed making. And if Max was going to stick around, Peyton may as well have made use of the extra pair of hands.

But as they'd been talking for so long that the sun had started to set, Steve's temper got the better of him, tired of watching the girls do all the work as the boys had their little chat. Grabbing an old metal chair from the ground, he stormed across the junkyard, using half his strength to slam it into the trunk of the car.

"Hey! Dickheads!" he snapped, although the echo of crushing metal was enough to get their attention. Peyton whirled around in surprise at his sudden outburst, a bemused smirk unwillingly formed on her lips, "How come the only ones helping me out are the girls?" the agitated Harrington hardly gave them enough time to come up with an excuse as he added, "We lose light in 40 minutes. Let's go," Steve had already started to walk away, leaving the three boys standing in shock as he repeated, "Let's go, I said!"

"All right, asshole!"

"God!"

"Okay! Stupid!"

The three spoke atop of each other, though the eldest of the group paid little attention to their whiney retorts. Peyton shot an amused glance in Sidney's direction, watching rather tiredly as the boys hurriedly got to work.

"About damn time," taunted the blonde, "Come on, we gotta get those windows covered," smirk only growing at the over-dramatic groans of the exasperated teenage boys.

⠀ ⠀Picking up the pace as the sun went down, the group of seven found themselves in somewhat of a routine, rolling barrels downhill, passing jagged pieces of metal to one another, Peyton and Sidney situating themselves around the bus to hammer each one into place. The blonde had chosen a crowbar to slam whatever nails they could find into the outer walls of the bus. Whatever chunks of meat they had left were placed much further from their metal fortress, Steve and Peyton pouring lines of gasoline in either direction toward the bus.

Nightfall came around about as quickly as expected. About forty minutes, a fact Peyton hated to admit Steve had gotten correct. They'd just about finished getting everything ready, a light mist settling over the junkyard as the kids filed into the bus. Taking a step back to examine their work, Peyton glanced beside her to, finally, address Steve.

"Not bad, huh, Harrington?" she asked breathlessly, hands on her hips as she allowed herself to catch her breath. Gaze slowly averting from the bus to his fellow teen, Steve's brows knotted together at the sudden, unfamiliar feeling washing over him. There was no reasonable explanation for what happened to him in that moment.

When he looked at her.

He looked at her.

The girl that broke his nose. The girl that spread a rumor he was not-so-well-endowed. The girl that talked with her fists. The girl that drove him crazy. The girl that couldn't fucking stand him but it didn't matter 'cause he couldn't stand her either.

It was the same Peyton he'd known and hated for years.

Only now, she was the girl that had dropped everything and ran to help her brother. The girl that spent hours helping make a safe hideout in the middle of the woods. The girl that was there for his sister when he couldn't find the words. The girl that drove him crazy.

Her white tank top was now lazily tied into a cropped shirt, leaving a line of exposed skin above where tight denim hugged her waist. Her hair was tied messily back, blonde streaks framing her reddened cheeks. The word beautiful crossed his mind as he took in every way the moon highlighted her features. He felt like a man possessed. Like someone else's foul thoughts had infiltrated his brain.

Steve hadn't realized how long he was staring until the lack of response had Peyton interrupting his train of thought, "What?" she frowned, wiping her forehead with the back of her hand in confusion because of course her first assumption was that Steve had been staring at something on her face. Not simply at her face.

"Nothing," Steve shook his head, as though trying to shake any and all wanting thoughts of Peyton away. None of it made sense to him. It wasn't as though anything had changed. In the day and a half they'd spent together, they'd somehow managed to throw more insults and retorts than times they had even spoken to each other over the years. Her averted gaze drew Steve's attention suddenly to her jawline, glowing in the blue of the moonlit sky.

In a sudden panic to get the hell on the bus, and the hell away from Peyton, Steve's hand slid down the side of a sharp piece of rusted scrap metal, ironically the very last piece they needed.

"Shit!" Steve's loud yell gained Peyton's attention surprisingly quickly, wide eyes darting back to his, "Goddamnit!" he cursed, sending the closest thing to him, which happened to be an empty, rusted trashcan, flying across the junkyard with a swift kick.

"What happened?" called Sidney from inside of the bus, leaning out the door to catch her brother's eye.

"Nothing, I'm good!" forced Steve through a gritted smile. The younger Harrington's face scrunched into an unbelieving frown, but the glower her brother met her with was enough to let her know it wasn't worth pressing further. Being his younger sister, Sidney knew better than to argue with his stubborn ass.

Peyton, however, had grown rather fond of pushing his buttons.

"What was that?" she questioned in an exaggerated high pitch of confusion, fingertip pointing in the rough direction in which the trashcan had flown. Expecting to get some kind of retort, Peyton's brow raised, but all Steve did was turn his back. The blonde sighed, dropping the crowbar she was holding to the ground, "Alright, let's see it," Steve frowned suspiciously, turning his blatantly bleeding palm away.

Why was she trying to help him?

More importantly, whatever feelings of admiration and friendship he'd confused for something else could never ever happen again. He feared that any kind of proximity to Peyton would trigger a second instance of what was clearly Steve losing his goddamn mind.

"I'm fine," he winced, covering his palm with his uninjured hand.

Less than convinced, Peyton had yet to make another move towards him, simply gesturing at his injured hand, "Steve, you're bleeding,"

"It's fine," pain mixed with confusion at the blonde's insistence upon helping him.

"Steve-"

"It's fine!" Steve raised his hand away when Peyton reached towards it, flinching at her touch. It was only Peyton's confusion that stopped her from laughing, an expression of both bewilderment and amusement finding its way across her features.

"You're being ridiculous," she reached out again, this Steve almost tripped over his own feet to get away.

"No!"

"Steve!"

"Hey!" he yelped, a half-assed scowl on his face at the urgency and strength with which Peyton grasped his wrist, dragging him toward her unceremoniously.

"Let me see!" Peyton snapped, her patience wearing thin. Steve's now bloodied fist remained clenched as Peyton gently placed the hand not gripping his wrist beneath it. Without uttering another word, she glared expectantly, the way only an eldest daughter knew how. Accepting defeat, Steve slowly opened his hand with a dramatic sigh and eye-roll. Peyton's eyes narrowed as she examined the wound carefully, "Was it rusted?"

"What?"

"The metal that you cut your hand on," explained Peyton, visibly making an effort to mask the usual animosity in her tone when she addressed Steve, "Did it have rust on it?"

Steve's eyes narrowed, darting back and forth in sarcastic confusion, although to Peyton's standards he was no less snappy when not in a large amount of pain, "Peyton, all the metal has rust on it,"

"Then you'll thank me for not letting you get tetanus and die," snapped the blonde, nose scrunched in a saccharine smile that used to make Steve's blood boil. But all he could do now was grin fondly.

"Now who's being ridiculous?" his low tone and smirk caught her off-guard. Seemingly, he'd caught himself off-guard too, gaze averted briefly as he ran his tongue over his lips. Hold tightening, if just for a moment, on Steve's hand, before it turned delicate once again.

"Hold still, alright?" her demand was met with a surprisingly obedient nod, his hand as unmoving as his gaze.

"Yeah..." Steve had always known that Peyton was kind of, for lack of a better word, badass. But nothing thus far had surprised him more than when the petite blonde pulled a pocket knife from her back pocket, "Woah!"

"Relax, Harrington," soothed Peyton with a taunting smirk, amusement at Steve's bewilderment. Still, she couldn't quite match his expressions to any particular emotion. Pain and confusion were making his widened eyes rather difficult to read.

"What are you d-" began Steve, cut off by the sound of tearing fabric as Peyton sliced through the bottom half of her white tank top with her blade. What she'd briefly tied into a crop top was now cut into one, Peyton reaching behind her to pull the remained of the top apart, "Peyton..."

"It's fine," interrupted the blonde, though she knew it was too late for Steve to protest, "It's old anyway," And then she got to work. Her delicate touch had Steve's breath caught in his throat. Knowing he'd dare not let her see him shake. Knowing he'd never hear the goddamn end of it if she did.

The fabric wrapped once, twice, around his palm, then around his wrist, where he was sure if Peyton lingered on his pulse point for longer than a second she'd have felt how his heart was racing. Steve had never taken her in this closely before. The way she'd take her lip between her teeth when she concentrated. The way the moon highlighted her freckles, and the golden specks in her bright green eyes. If she'd caught him staring again, she'd yet to mention it.

The sudden pain of Peyton tying the knot over his palm had him briefly snapping back to reality, "See?" she smiled up at him, hint of pride at her work, "Good as new," slowly, she released his hand, in a way that had Steve missing her touch, "I got bandages back home too so... we can patch it up with the good stuff later," Steve nodded in thanks. But he was still at a loss for words. More due to his, for lack of a better word, intrusive thoughts than anything Peyton herself had done.

He was staring again.

And this time, Peyton noticed.

"What?" she asked yet again, this time with a confused chuckle. Steve didn't have a good answer. But the idea that he'd, even for a second, been checking her out was so far-fetched she considered checking the sky for flying pigs.

"Why'd you do that?" her eye-roll was nothing less than dramatic at the pointless question. The real answer was, that she would have done the same for anyone, right? Steve wasn't special for getting bandaged up by her.

"Your blood..." she shrugged, wiping the aforementioned red stains from her hands to her jeans, "it would attract the demogorgon,"

This didn't aid Steve in understanding at all, "Isn't that the point?" he questioned, earning a half-hearted chuckle from the blonde.

"Not if it's gonna try and eat your batting hand when it gets here, no," playful grin on her face, her fist lightly bumped Steve's shoulder. In a friendly way. Reminding Steve that, moments ago, he'd hardly considered calling Peyton even that. A friend. Let alone anything more, "I helped you to save my ass, don't get it twisted,"

And with that, Peyton boarded their makeshift fortress. Leaving Steve alone in the dark, once again with his thoughts.

"Huh..." he hummed to himself curiously, thumb tracing lightly over the knot Peyton had expertly tied. He thought to himself that that may have been the only nice thing she'd ever done for him. He thought about how he wouldn't mind if she kept doing nice things for him, between all the insults of course. Eyes squeezing closed, the Harrington boy shook his head, more angered at himself than anyone else because it wasn't her fault. Maybe he was just sleep-deprived. Or maybe he really was, finally, after all these years, losing his damn mind.

Either way, he wasn't gonna stick around alone in the cold to find out. Stepping through the doorway, Steve used his good hand to grasp ahold of the handle, taking one last good look around at the junkyard before sliding the flimsy thing closed.

hi!

welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming!

sorry for taking the actual longest break in the world, year 1 of uni quite literally kicked my ass. i'm sure year 2 will as well but i'm gonna try my very best to use writing and editing as an escape and a hobby and not get super stressed about my chapters being stephen king level fantastic 😅

ANYWAY i hope that this chapter has made up for my long long long hiatus, the next one is also pretty much written bc i originally had this and the next one as one super long chapter but i hit like 10k words n thought okay time to split it 😭

also our second taylor swift chapter title cause they're so "is it chill that you're in my head?" coded rn (hence the tiktok edit ur welcome 👀), we'll get to the "is it cool that i said all that?" stuff next chapter i promiseeee

stay awesome and ty for sticking w me & sticking w my stories ilysm have the bestest day :D

ty for reading and voting
and commenting it really does make my day!

<3