the blinding of lucas sinclair

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

"You could've blinded him, dickwad!" Alina shouted through the kitchen to Dustin, watching her boyfriend run his eyes under the tap, which was exactly what he'd been doing for the past fifteen minutes. There'd been a hasty greeting between the two of them before Alina rushed off to salvage what remained of Lucas's sight, accompanied by Max, who had grown closer to him over the past months. Once Max realized that what she felt for Lucas was merely friendship, and Lucas realized the same, it hadn't been so tense, and the three of them had hung out a lot without making Max the third wheel.

Which was good. Alina loved being Lucas's girlfriend, but she didn't want to make anybody feel left out.

Also, Detective Fairgrieves-Byers had solved another case—the mystery of Dustin's bird-nest hairstyle from the Snow Ball last year, and it came in a bottle for six dollars and eighty-four cents. Farrah Fawcett spray. And who had Dustin been talking to on the train tracks while Alina was walking ahead? Steve Harrington. He'd probably given it to him. So that meant that their babysitter was using Farrah Fawcett spray as well. Alina couldn't wait to mock him about that the next time she saw him.

"I said I'm sorry!" Dustin called from the living room, where he was with Mike, El, Gabe and Will. "And you're seriously going for the name-calling already? I've just gotten back!"

"There are plenty of worse things I can call you! And you deserve it!"

She wasn't being serious—that was just the way her friendship with Dustin had evolved to. Playful name-calling and rudeness, light jabs that never evolved into more. So of course, as soon as he'd gotten back, Alina had resorted to her old ways. She could practically see him throwing his arms up in exasperation and shook her head fondly, before returning her gaze back to the sink, where Lucas was still moaning in pain.

After a moment, he finally lifted his head, rubbing his eyes. "Better?" Max asked, concerned, although Alina could tell she found the whole incident a little amusing.

"Still stings," Lucas admitted, his face dripping wet. He continued rubbing his eyes, blinking, before finally seeming able to see clearly. He returned his gaze to Max. "Is that a new zit?"

Max's concerned look faded into a scowl. "What is wrong with you?"

"I was just asking—" Lucas let out a scream as Max shoved his head back into the sink, and Alina finally let out a laugh.

"You really know how to make a girl feel special," she said.

"She's not my girlfriend," Lucas spluttered, his eyes darting from Max to Alina and back again. Even in his soaked state, half-blinded by hairspray, he still managed to look attractive. It was completely unfair.

"Doesn't matter."

"I think it matters, at least a little bit!"

"Lucas, do us all a favor," said Max, "and shut up."

Lucas, finally, decided to comply, closing his mouth and letting the water run over his eyes, and Max let out a content sigh. Finally.

Back in his room, Dustin was showing the others his contraptions he'd designed at camp. Holding up what looked like a miniature windmill, built of popsicle sticks and cranks, and turned the handle, causing the blades of the fan to spin. "I call it... the Forever Clock," he explained, as a gush of cold air whipped over Gabe's face. He was standing beside Mike and Eleven, who were, as usual, stuck to each other like glue, and he inched a little closer to Will as Dustin continued. "All right? Powered by wind. Very useful in the apocalypse."

"The apocalypse?" Gabe repeated, tilting his head. "You think that's going to happen?"

"It's inevitable," Dustin replied matter-of-factly, handing the Forever Clock to Will. "I mean, the year 2000 is just around the corner. The real question we should be asking is what kind of apocalypse is going to happen then? I vote zombies, although a nuclear war seems just as likely."

"Oh." Great. That was just great. As if Gabe hadn't had enough on his plate.

Dustin gave them a thumbs-up and then hustled back to his bag. "Then," he said, "I give you..." he lifted up a hammer attached to a bundle of parts... "the Slammer." It vibrated in his hand, the head of the hammer moving back and forth, and Gabe had to admit that it looked pretty useful. Dustin held out his arm, bringing it closer for Mike to grab, but the boy merely shrunk back, El's head on his shoulder. Dustin sighed and passed it to Gabe instead, who turned it off and marvelled at the intricacy of the machine.

"Pretty neat, huh?" Dustin asked, watching Will twirl the Forever Clock's crank. "But this..." he picked up a duffel bag, "this is my masterpiece." He set down the duffel bag, and the five of them crouched, curiously, in front of it. Unzipping the bag, Dustin's voice got faster in his excitement. "I would like you to meet... Cerebro."

Gabe blinked. Whatever Cerebro was, it didn't look like much. Just a pile of parts. He looked to Will, then to Mike and El, and found that, luckily, they were looking just as confused as he felt.

"What exactly are we looking at here?" Mike asked.

"An unassembled one-of-a-kind battery-powered radio tower," Dustin explained.

"So... it's a... a ham radio," said Will. Gabe avoided looking at him, instead training his gaze at Dustin's face, who obviously didn't seem to understand why they weren't jumping up in enthusiasm. He felt his cheeks warming up anyway.

"The Cadillac of ham radios," said Dustin. "This baby carries a crystal-clear connection over vast distances. I'm talking North Pole to South."

"Woah," Gabe muttered appreciatively, making Dustin beam.

"Yep. I can talk to my girlfriend whenever and wherever I choose."

Gabe's eyes widened, and he exchanged a look with the others. "Girlfriend?" they all blurted out. Now this was news. When Dustin had gone off to camp, he'd definitely been single. But it seemed he, too, had found someone now, leaving only Gabe, Max, and Will to be without partners.

Dustin nodded. "Suzie. Met her at camp." His eyes were brighter than they had been in a while. "If we set up Cerebro, you can all meet her." He stood up, grabbing the bag. "Come on!"

And after shoving duffel bags—how many parts did Cerebro need?—into the others' arms, they were off, heading straight for the door. As they walked, they peppered Dustin with questions.

"Wait, so her name is Suzie?"

"Suzie with a 'z,'" said Dustin. "She's from Utah."

"Girls go to science camp?" Will asked.

"Of course they can," said Gabe, confused. "Plenty of girls are into science. It's cool." Will nodded at that, a tinge of red coming to his cheeks. He should've been glad that Alina wasn't there to hear that. She would've kicked her brother's ass without hesitation.

"Yeah," said Dustin. "Suzie does. She's a genius."

"Is she cute?" Mike asked.

"Think Phoebe Cates, only hotter."

Mike looked like he doubted this. Before anyone could say anything else, however, they walked by the kitchen, where Alina and Max were still helping Lucas wash out his eyes (jeez, how much hairspray had there been?). "What's going on?" Max asked, watching them traipse past her.

"Going to talk to Dustin's girlfriend," Will explained. Alina, Lucas, and Max all exchanged looks of shock.

"Girlfriend?"

"Yep," Gabe confirmed. "Suzie with a z from science camp."

"Oh, I have got to see this," said Alina in awe. Lucas turned off the water, grabbed his bag, and the three of them hustled after the others, anxious to meet this 'Suzie.' Entering the warm, summer day, Dustin told them that in order for Cerebro to work properly, they had to climb a hill. Which meant they would have to walk.

Everyone groaned at that, but Dustin had just gotten home, and they had to do something to make him happy. And so, after briefly stocking up with water, they made their way regardless. Gabe's neck beaded with sweat as he walked, and he adjusted his hat—it was blue with roses on it. The morning swirled into afternoon as they caught up with each other, their laughter bright as the day overhead. Gabe walked next to Will, whose face was lighting up.

"You think Dustin will play D&D with us tomorrow?" he asked Gabe, practically skipping. "I mean, besides you and Alina, the party hasn't done it very much lately."

"Of course," Gabe said. "Are you kidding? Dustin loves it."

Though not as much as he apparently used to. Gabe knew that he and Max had missed a lot, coming here only last year. They'd missed Will's disappearance, the whole debacle with Hawkins Lab, the Demogorgon. They'd missed the days of D&D and how Alina had slowly joined the party. They'd missed Will's funeral, they'd missed being fugitives, they'd missed the glow of Christmas lights woven around Joyce Byers' house. Sometimes, when Gabe thought about it, he'd be unable to decide if he was fortunate or unfortunate for missing so much. Then he'd wonder if he would've lifted up the party or dragged them down.

Finally, they reached the hill. By then, Gabe's stomach was growling, and his arms were aching from being laden with Dustin's supplies. He swiped his forehead on his sleeve and looked apprehensively up at the hill. Shit. This was a climb.

He looked at his watch. This was going to be a long rest of the day.

And so began the inevitable climb. Gabe's calves began to burn, and by now he was practically soaking, thinking longingly of his pool back at home, with the glistening water that would cool him off in an instant, and the Scoops Ahoy ice cream parlor, where he always bought the Cherry Jubilee flavor. He went there more often than the others, to buy ice cream, yes, but also to talk to Steve, whose dad had apparently forced him into working this job. Whenever he'd complain about it, and his lack of luck in finding a girlfriend, Gabe would just roll his eyes. "At least you have a job," he'd say. "Plenty of people are losing theirs all around town."

"Some job," Steve would reply. "I make three dollars an hour. I think I'd prefer to be unemployed."

Then Robin, his coworker, would make some joke about Steve using Gabe as a therapist (except she called him Child Number Six), and Steve and her would banter back and forth and Gabe would politely correct her and say "actually, I'm thirteen."

Not a child. Gabe's birthday was on the fourth of July, the celebration of the birth of the oh-so-amazing country. Yeah, amazing. Like they didn't kidnap people and turn them into slaves and colonize land that was never theirs. But at least there were fireworks.

When he was younger, back in Chicago, Gabe would look out of the window on his birthday, watching the fireworks. Even though he rarely got presents, watching the colours spark the air was all he needed, and sometimes, when he was feeling ambitious, he'd even sneak out to join the festivities. With a cheap hotdog in his hand, sipping on Coke, he'd sit in the park and feel, finally, content.

This year, he was determined to make his birthday special. It was his first one away from his dad, and the first one with his friends. His grandparents had promised to make him a cake, and he was going to invite everyone over to the pool in his backyard. Perhaps they'd go sneak into a movie afterwards. All in all, it was going to be a great day.

Well, it was supposed to be. But what Gabe was dreaming about as he climbed the hill on a hot summer day in Hawkins, Indiana, would not come into fruition this year. His birthday would, unfortunately, come with a lot less partying and a lot more battle. But hey, at least there would still be fireworks. 

. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧

a/n: my thought process while writing this chapter:
my brain: hey
me: what
my brain: you know what would make this book even more angsty?
me: what
my brain: make gabe's birthday on the fourth of July :D
me:
me: i love it, let's do it.

also here's a gif of lucas i found while looking for one for this chapter and it literally made my heart beat a little faster :')

'till next time!