THIRTEEN: A GAME OF UNO

VERONICA WAS IN DISBELIEF WHEN ONE OF THE LAB WORKERS walked her, Nancy, and Jonathan out of the lab and handed the latter the keys to his car. Veronica half expected to die in there, if she was being honest. Especially since Doctor Owens had openly admitted to the 'accident' that was Barb Holland's death. As they walked out, Nancy nervously clutched Veronica's hand. They got to Jonathan's car, the Wheeler girl telling him to get in before pulling Veronica away from the vehicle.

"Hey," Nancy started in a whisper, Veronica looking at her with furrowed brows, "We have everything he told us recorded. We're going to take it to this investigator the Holland's hired to find Barb. We're gonna turn this whole fucked up operation on its head. I was wondering if-if you wanted to come with us. Heather can come, too, if she wants. I know you two don't usually go places without each other. But we're leaving like, right now, so I kind of need to know."

"Holy shit, seriously?" the brunette gasped, not expecting those words to come out of the girl's mouth, "Wait, does that mean I'll have to endure a long car ride with Byers?"

Nancy laughed, the serious mood dropped almost immediately, "He's not that bad, I swear. So, you're in?"

"Yeah, I'm in, let me talk to Heather, can we stop by her car on the way out, she should still be here."

And she was. She was leaning against the hood of her car with a cigarette pressed to her lips, looking worried and impatient. When they pulled up, Veronica got out of the car and Heather instantly pulled her into a tight hug.

"Holy shit, Ver! I thought you were dead or some shit!" The dark-skinned girl exclaimed, hugging her best friend tightly, "What the fuck happened in there?"

"All that matters is that Nancy and I kissed and also we're going on a high stakes mission to expose the local government for killing Barb," Veronica rushed out in one quick sentence, "Do you wanna come?"

Heather, however, only seemed to focus on the first part of the statement. She squealed uncharacteristically and pulled her best friend into another hug, "Oh, my God! You fucking kissed her? Was it good? Was it everything you dreamed of?"

All Veronica did was nod her head and Heather laughed, "Now what about exposing the government?"

"Barb's parents hired this investigator and we're going to get him to help us expose the shit that goes on in there. I'm talking phone surveillance, cover-ups, all that shit! I'm going with them, but Nancy said you could come, too, pretty please?" she asked, a puppy-dog look in her eyes and a killer pout. "I need my best friend with me."

"Shit, Ver, I gotta drive Daniel to school," Heather sighed, "I got homework and shit, my mom would kill me! Since last year you know she's been around all the time I was barely able to sneak out today and if the school calls saying I was absent you know she's gonna kick my ass. Plus, Jonathan's already gonna be enough of a cockblock, you don't need me there, too. Like you said earlier, this is something I think you gotta do on your own."

"I love you, Heather, you're my best friend," Veronica's voice was sad as she pulled the girl into a third hug, "Thank you for always being there for me."

"Stop talking like you're gonna die," the girl chuckled, but hugged back just as tightly, "I love you, too. Now go get your girl."

Veronica looked at her best friend with one last sad look before she opened the back door of Jonathan's car and got in. "All right, let's do this."

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING WITH STEVE HARRINGTON?" Heather asked as soon as she walked into her younger brother's room to say hi. Her brother and her crush were sitting together laughing and playing Uno. Uno, with Steve Harrington. She figured out why Daniel was laughing since he had three draw four cards in his hand and Steve had no idea. Still, her confusion overrode her entertainment.

"Oh, hey, Heather!" Daniel exclaimed once she spoke, "Steve came by looking for you, but you weren't home so he and I got to chatting."

The girl raised an eyebrow, "About what?"

"You," Daniel said nonchalantly.

"Dude!" Steve exclaimed as soon as he said it, placing a red seven on top of the pile, changing the color from blue to red. "Crap, you're totally gonna beat me." Considering Daniel had four cards and Steve had at least eight, he seemed to be right.

"Oh, yeah, totally," Daniel laughed, placing down a draw four and saying, "Green! What's up, Heather? Steve told me you weren't at school?"

"I thought we were friends, Daniel," Steve muttered as he picked up four cards.

"I was on a top-secret spy mission," she admitted, knowing there was a high chance neither of them believed her. She sat down diagonal to both of the boys, sitting in the middle of them without being in the way of the game. "I feel like I'm sleepwalking and this is just a weird ass dream."

Daniel laughed, shaking his head as he put down a green skip card and then another draw four, "Yellow. Nope, Heather, this is happening. Sorry, your boyfriend likes me better than you."

"He's not my boyfriend," Heather said at the same time Steve argued, "I'm not her boyfriend."

"You would be if you had come to me for advice earlier, Steve," Daniel shrugged, putting down another draw four, "Red. Uno."

"What the fuck?" Steve sounded actually angry as he pulled another four cards, "You cheated I swear."

"Hey, you're the one who shuffled the cards."

Heather laughed, pleasantly surprised by seeing her brother and Steve this way. She never thought she would see her crush and her brother involved in an intense game of Uno. Would this be what it was like if she and Steve were dating? Would things like this happen regularly? At least, she wouldn't have to worry about them not getting along. She could get used to things like this, that's for sure.

"You're an asshole," Steve sighed as Daniel very dramatically dropped his last of his draw four cards on top of the pile and announced that he was, in fact, the winner and that he totally destroyed Steve. "Heather, I hope you know you're little brother's an asshole."

"Trust me, I know," she laughed, crossing her arms and leaning against the bookshelf behind her, "I've been dealing with this little shit for almost a decade now."

"Has it really almost been ten years?" Daniel turned to his sister, his face scrunched up in confusion, "No way."

"We got you just after your sixth birthday, so, like next June, yeah," Heather nodded. "You're growin' up baby boy."

"Stop!" the boy exclaimed throwing a card at his sister who started laughing, "Don't remind me. In a flash, I'll be going off to college or something."

"Shut up, little man," Steve sighed, laughing slightly, "This is like my last year in Hawkins if I go anywhere for college. You've got four years ahead of you."

"Heather, do you think Mike'll leave me when we go off to college?" Daniel's expression suddenly turned sad when he shifted so he was leaning against the book shelf next to Heather.

"Wait, Mike, like Mike Wheeler? That's who you're dating?" Steve asked before he toned down his statement a bit, "Sorry, not the time."

Heather could only laugh at Daniel's question, "Daniel, dude, I'm pretty sure Mike would follow you to the ends of the Earth. He loves you and that's pretty impressive to find love at your age, I mean, I didn't even find it until now. Before then, I had no one."

"You always had me," Daniel argued, "but I get what you're saying."

"You have four more years, kid," Steve cut in, "Don't worry about the future right now, all you're gonna do is give yourself a headache, trust me. Everything's gonna be okay, cross my heart."

"It better be."

( note! )

i didnt mean for this to be a soft moment but it ended up being one anyway. can you believe heather and steve are literally daniel's parents?? i love them. anyway, i realized i messed up and said daniel was fifteen when at this point he should be fourteen but im too lazy to go back and fix it so let's just say he was held back a year in like fourth grade or something and he doesnt even care because that's how he met the party so it's all cool okay cool