"We have to kill it." Joyce Byers joined the conversation, nodding towards Sloane, she spoke with a shaky voice, "I don't know who you are, but I like your attitude."

"Friend of Nancy and Jonathan's," Sloane explained as everyone stared at Joyce. From what Sloane knew, the woman had locked herself in her youngest son's room since her boyfriend, the Bob the boys had been speaking of earlier, had been brutally killed moments before they got to the house. Sloane was thankful she never had to see what went down in that lab. She shivered just at the thought of what the people around this table had been through long before Sloane came to Hawkins. "I like your attitude, too."

Hopper approached Joycecarefully as she continued, "I want to kill it."

"Me too," Hopper voiced softly, "I--, me, too, Joyce, okay? But how do we do that? We don't know exactly what we're dealing with here."

"No, but he does," Mike piped up, "If anyone knows how to destroy this thing it's Will. He's connected to it. He'll know its weakness."

Max cut in, saying, "I thought we couldn't trust him anymore?"

"We can't? God, I missed a lot, didn't I? Nancy, do you know what's going on?" Sloane asked, looking at the brunette who only shrugged in response.

"I got here the same time you did, Sloane," was all she offered which was a fair point. At least they were confused together. However, Sloane hated feeling so out of the loop. "So, what? He's like... a spy for the Mind Flayer?"

"Exactly," Mike responded, "but he can't spy if he doesn't know where he is."

Sloane scoffed, "We're literally in his house? Where can we take him that won't be distinguishable to him and lead this Mind Flayer thing here?"

Mike looked out to the back door, an idea clearly popping into his head, "I know where."

He and Hopper left the house, presumably to go to whatever area this was that they could use. Sloane chewed on her nails absentmindedly as they waited, her eyes drawling over to the boy resting on the couch. He looked so young, too innocent to be tied up in all of this. However, she knew if they weren't careful with their next moves, that innocent boy could absolutely be their undoing. Looking at him, Sloane was terrified.

After a few minutes, Hopper and Mike re-entered as he chief commanded, "All right, kids and teens, come help us make the shed unrecognizable."

"Shed?" Sloane questioned as she followed everyone out the door. In the darkness, she saw a pile of objects on the grass as they approached a small, wooden building. "Ah, a shed. Yeah, that makes sense. So, what are we doing?"

"Take this," Hopper handed the blonde a staple gun, "You guys are fitting anything plain to the walls, sheets, mainly. We need to make it so the Mind Flayer won't know where Will is and by extension, where we are."

With that, they got to work. They split off into groups as Nancy cut off pieces of duct tape for Steve to tape up while Sloane helped Steve line up the pieces of sheets and trash bags on the walls.

"Hey," Nancy broke the silence, but she wasn't speaking to Sloane. She was getting Steve's attention. "What you did, um, helping the kids... that was... really cool."

"Yeah," was all Steve said as they continued working. Sloane had almost forgotten they dated until she saw how absolutely awkward the two of them were together. She would have been jealous, but Sloane knew the way Nancy felt about her was untouchable at this moment in time and that brought her more comfort than anything else. "Those little shits are real trouble, you know?"

Nancy scoffed, loosening up, "Believe me, I know."

"I don't, I don't know who any of these fuckin' kids are," Sloane broke the obvious tension, causing both of the teenagers next to her to laugh, "I literally know like three people here. Yet, it's ridiculous how much danger I am going to put myself in for you guys. Anyway, Steve, so, ahem, speaking of secrets--"

"We definitely weren't talking about secrets--" Steve began, but she cut him off.

"Yeah, if you hurt my brother I will chop your dick up into a hundred tiny pieces and shove them down your throat, do you understand? Like, I cannot express how far I will go to protect him. No one is safe, not even you and your stupid hair, got it?"

Steve gasped, "Hey! It's not stupid!" Behind him, Nancy stifled a giggle. "It's not!"

Sloane smiled, thankful for a brief moment of fun in this monstrosity she was living in. She never quite expected her time in Hawkins to go like this. She expected to live a boring, closeted life where she fell right back into her old habits and cashed in on the popularity she had already gained. She could have seen herself dating someone like Steve to keep the illusion going and fulfill some teen movie fantasy she wanted her life to be. Looking over at Nancy as she laughed with Steve about something she hadn't been listening to, all of them concentrating while building a non-descript location in order to avoid a monster hunting them down, Sloane was glad that teen movie fantasy hadn't happened. This was not what she expected, but surprisingly, through all of this, she was happy. Looking over at Nancy, warmth filled her heart and that was all she needed to get through this.

The laughter subsided as more of the kids came into the shed and progress began to get much faster. Soon enough, not a centimeter of the walls were left uncovered. Everyone was working silently in harmony to get everything covered and taped down to ensure none of the covers were going anywhere which thankfully, everything seemed to be staying in place. It was nice to go from arguing around a table to working peacefully on one solid plan. Sloane hated kids, but when they were silent and working she didn't mind them as much.

Once they finished, Jonathan brought his unconscious brother into the shed as they set him down in a chair and began to tie him to a pole and the chair. Sloane felt sick watching the way his head would lull to the side. If she didn't know any better she would think the boy was dead. As they watched, Nancy could probably sense the nerves as the girl reached over and grabbed the blonde's hand, giving it a squeeze.

As they finished setting up, Nancy pulled Sloane out of the shed. Leaving Will with as few people as possible was important as they needed people he could trust.

Exiting into the cold night, Sloane shivered. However, she wasn't cold for long as Nancy shrugged off her overcoat and handed it over to the girl.

"Won't you be cold?" Sloane asked as the jacket stayed on Nancy's hand between them, not quite accepting the offer.

"I'm wearing a sweater, you're in a t-shirt, just take the jacket," Nancy said with a scoff and a gentle chuckle, waiting for Sloane to finally take the coat. When she did, the brunette smiled satisfactorily. "Thank you."

Sloane rolled her eyes, but a smile teased her lips regardless. "Do you think this'll work?"

Nancy shrugged, "It has to."

i love sloane and nancy so much!! also, y'all!! season two is coming to a close! once i finish part one there may be a small hiatus on this book while i work on others, but i honestly doubt it'll last for long i love these girls too much! however, i will probably be posting by robin fic soon so keep an eye out for that!