Chapter Thirty-Five:
Confessed
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"Oh, my God!" Ramona groaned, covering her face with her hands. She glanced at Jonathan as he ran towards a cafeteria stall and pulled a knife from the utensils drawer.

"Hey, hey, hey. Stay awake, stay awake." Jonathan cooed, his voice soft and gentle as he tried to calm Eleven down to the best of his ability. "Get her on this side- On this side!"

"You know, it's not actually that bad!" Robin began to ramble as she watched Ramona shakily drop to her knees and help adjust Eleven's position. "I-I mean.. there was, uh, a goalie, on my soccer team! Beth Wildfire. This-This other girl slid into her leg, and-and the whole bone came out of her leg! Like, six inches or something-"

"Robin," Steve interrupted, "You're not helping."

"Right, sorry." Robin nodded, anxiously fidgeting with her hands.

"Okay, all right.. El? I'm gonna need you to stay real still, okay?" Jonathan handed a wooden spoon over to Mike, "It's gonna hurt like hell."

"Okay." Eleven replied weakly.

"You're gonna wanna bite down on this, okay?" Jonathan explained as Mike placed the spoon between her teeth.

With the help of Steve, Ramona pulled herself  to her feet and leaned on him. Without a second thought, Steve slid his arms around Ramona's waist and pulled her close to him. "Don't watch."

"I'm watching." Ramona replied, grabbing a fistful of Steve's shirt at the sound of Eleven's scream.

"Holy shit!" Dustin shrieked as he watched the small creature crawl around under Eleven's skin. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy sh-"

"Do it!" Mike shouted to Jonathan. Jonathan jumped, tightening his grip on the knife's handle and pressing it into the skin.

A scream ripped from Eleven's throat and her face turned red. Jonathan jumped, the knife slipping from his fingers and clattering to the floor. "Shit!"

Ramona squeezed her eyes shut, tightening her hold on Steve's hand as the volume of Eleven's screams of pain heightened when Jonathan dug his fingers into her open wound.

"Jonathan-"

"Stop talking!" Jonathan shouted, cutting Nancy off.

"No!" Eleven cried, pushing the wooden spoon away from her. "St-Stop it! Stop!"

"Jonathan!" Ramona scolded, pulling away from Steve's embrace just long enough to shove Jonathan away from Eleven.

"I-I can... I can do it." Eleven whimpered, weakly pushing herself up onto her elbows. Ramona winced as Eleven raised her hand towards her ankle, she cried out in agony as the creature ripped from her wound, wailing and writhing as Eleven threw it away from her.

Ramona hid her face from the glass that sprayed over her body, wincing as pieces embedded themselves into her calves and arms. "Fuck!"

"Ramona.." Steve said quietly, causing Ramona to follow his gaze, a sigh of relief falling from her lips at the sight of Hopper, Joyce, and Murray.

"Oh, thank God."

~~

"So, The Mind Flayer." Mike said, glancing at Ramona as her fingers delicately brushed against the bruises on her neck. "It built this monster here, in Hawkins, to stop El, kill her, and to pave a way into our world."

"And it almost did." Nancy continued for her brother, "That was just a small piece of it."

Hopper looked away from Eleven as he rubbed her arm comfortingly, "How big is this thing?"

"Motherfucking huge, I bet." Ramona said, her voice weakening as the adrenaline began to wear off, allowing the throbbing pain to take over her body.

Jonathan nodded in agreement, "It's huge. Thirty feet- At least!"

"Yeah," Lucas nodded awkwardly as he crossed his arms, "It, uh, kinda destroyed your cabin... Sorry."

"Okay," Steve started, tightening his hold on Ramona's hand. "just to be clear, this big, fleshy, spider thing that hurt El, it's some sort of... What? Weapon?"

Ramona nodded, forcing her eyes to stay open as exhaustion washed over her. "Mhm.."

"But instead of, like, screws and metal and shit..." Steve trailed off, remembering what Ramona had told him just days ago, even if the days felt like weeks. "Melted people?"

"Yes!" Nancy snapped her fingers, pointing to Ramona and Steve. "Exactly."

"Yeah, okay, yeah. I'm-I'm just, uh, just making sure." Steve stammered.

"Are we sure this thing is out there? Still alive?" Joyce asked carefully.

"El beat the shit out of it-" Dustin started.

"But yeah." Max cut him off, "It's still alive and still out there."

"But!" Will piped up, straightening his back as he looked around, "If we close the gate again.."

"We cut the brain off from the body." Mike continued, slowly nodding his head. "An-"

"And we kill it." Lucas finished, crossing his arms and nodding victoriously. "Theoretically."

Ramona sighed, shaking her head. A ghost of a smile crossed Steve's face as Ramkna gently brushed her thumb against the back of his hand to comfort him.

"Yoo-hoo!" Ramona jumped at the sound of the man's voice echoing around the empty mall. She leaned forward to look past Steve, knitting her eyebrows together as Murray waved the papers in his hands around wildly, "Yoo-hoo! Hey!"

"Oh, dear God.."

~~

Ramona sighed, her eyes fluttering shut as she rested her head against the cool wall tiles. She focused on her breathing, trying to slow it so her body would calm down.

"Hey," Steve spoke softly, leaning on the counter. Ramona looked up at him, her lips curving into a smile as his eyes scanned her face. "You okay?"

"Hey." Ramona whispered. Steve's gaze softened as he carefully reached up, his fingers brushing against her neck delicately. He immediately pulled his hand away when Ramona winced. "It's okay."

"I'm sorry." Steve said quickly, "I shouldn't have dragged you into any of this shit. Maybe... maybe then you wouldn't be... Fuck, maybe you wouldn't be so hurt."

Ramona raised her hand to cup his cheek, forcing the older boy to look at her. Steve's eyes danced over her face, trailing his gaze from her eyes down to her lips.

"So, uh.." Steve trailed off, awkwardly looking away from Ramona and down to his feet. "Ab-about, uh, you know... Earlier."

"Earlier?" Ramona rose an eyebrow, a teasing smirk playing on her lips as she let her hand drop from his face.

Steve blushed, pursing lips, immediately missing the warmth her hand provided. "Yo-You know, the kiss."

"The kiss." Ramona repeated, shifting awkwardly as she looked away from Steve and over to Hopper who was sifting through the weapon bag. "What about it?"

"It meant everything to me." Steve said quickly, "If-if that wasn't already clear... from the bathroom."

"It meant everything to me." Ramona echoed, forcing herself to ignore the pain clutching at her throat.

"I really like you." Steve admitted, finally bringing his eyes up to meet hers.

Ramona's lips curved into a grin, "I really like you, too."

"You do?" Steve's eyes softened as Ramona nodded. He couldn't help the giddy smile forming on his face as her eyes brightened.

"Yeah," She whispered, leaning forward and brushing her lips against Steve's. "I do."

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

{ A/n im in love w them }

{ Translations: None }

{ Edited: No }