chapter five — scooper trooper and ahoy boy

JUNE 28, 1985

Will Byers was upset.

Irene figured that much as her black converse sloshed and squished mud underneath her as she followed behind him to the woods. The summer rain was coming down hard, pelting her skin as the two of them stopped in front of a small fort. Two panels of wood were nailed to the top: Home of Will the Wise: Castle Byers. And another one on the side that she couldn't catch in the dark. She would have smiled had Will been in a happier mood — had the entire atmosphere of the vision been different. But she felt the weight of his anger and sadness; it suffocated her.

The air was humid and Irene's clothes stuck to her body like glue, leaving no room for comfort as she followed Will into the fort. The moment felt too personal for her to be intruding on, but she knew if she was seeing it, it had to be important. She sat beside him while he tossed the comic book he was looking through to the side. He studied the entire fort and so did she; it seemed to her like a haven full of memories, from the Dungeons and Dragons guides tucked into little crevices to the fantasy-like drawings that hung on the wall. There was a dull ache that bloomed in her chest.

Her eyes scanned all around before falling back on to Will, thunder shook the ground as lightning lit up the fort. He reached for a picture; it was him, Mike, Lucas, and some other boy Irene wasn't familiar with. They were all wearing Ghostbusters costumes and she assumed it was a picture taken during a previous Halloween, she smiled sadly at the photo. They all looked so happy...so together.

"Stupid." Will whispered as he stared at the picture in his shaky hands, "So...stupid." He whimpered before angrily ripping it and throwing it to the ground. Irene stood and took a step back, watching the boy crumble in front of her. He ripped a drawing off the wall in his rage, muttering the same words over and over.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

His hands reached for an aluminum bat that was beside the cot, his cries filled Irene's ears. She watched him step out and stood stuck to her spot in the middle of the fortress. She didn't want to continue – she was overstepping too many boundaries. She hoped that maybe if she stood, she'd wake up.

Will's sobs broke her. He struck the fort, parts of the walls and ceiling were falling beside her as it continued to take blows. She still didn't wake up. She watched him destroy the safe haven, ripping it apart in deep anger and sadness. She sat with him on the muddy terrain, wishing nothing more than to give him a hug and show him someone was there.

And then suddenly the atmosphere shifted. Goosebumps ran along her arms as a cold wind blew across her neck – Will felt it too. A symphony of clicking sounds alerted the both of them; Irene looked to Will frantically as he reached for the back of his neck. She matched his actions and stood, watching as his eyes lingered toward the sea of trees.

"Will!" Two faint yells in the distance startled her but she instantly recognized the voices – Mike and Lucas. Her assumption was proven to be true when their faces came into view. She drew near them, hoping that they would clarify the noise from earlier.

Will turned slowly toward them and the words that fell from his lips made a piercing chill run up her spine, "He's back."

Irene woke with a gasp that punctured the cloak of silence looming over the Vasquez family home. She sat up and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her racing pulse. A million questions ran through her mind as her eyes darted around her room. Who's back? Was that the same sound as the monster from my vision? Do they know the monster? Have they seen him before?

What the actual hell?

The walls were closing in as she threw her blankets off of her and let her feet hit the carpet, focusing on the texture and how it further warmed her clothed feet. She stood and paced around the small room, whispering to herself about how none of it made sense.

Monsters weren't real, right?

"Come on, Teo! I'm gonna be late!" Irene yelled across the hallway, fixing the white cap that sat atop her head. Her face twisted in frustration as she groaned. It'll grow on me, my ass, she thought of Steve's words as she gave up trying to fix her hair and the hat.

It had been three months exactly since their family first settled into Hawkins and they were getting the hang of things in terms of their always changing routine. Tonight their schedules weren't that different, Irene worked her usual Friday evening shift while Mateo went and hung out with the friends he made at the pool. Their mother had been gone since that morning and promised she'd be back by nine the latest, however both Mateo and Irene knew not to hold their breaths. Things were still different between the three of them.

"Teo!" Irene called again, dropping her hands to her sides. She trudged over to his room, "Lo juro por dios si no te apuras—" Her words grew quiet once her hand pushed the door open. The potent smell of marijuana filled her nostrils and she scrunched her face. She recognized the smell because it always seemed to linger around Eddie; she confronted him about it the other day and he finally let her in on his not-so-secret secret. She suppressed a laugh at the memory and brought herself back to her brother, shaking her head as she watched him try and fan the smoke out of his room.

Her face broke into a devious smile, "Ah ¿entonces por eso dejaste de actuar como un imbécil? Mom's gonna kick your ass." She snickered while her body leaned against the door frame and his face dropped.

"Irene, I swear if you—"

"I won't tell her." He exhaled in relief until she held up her finger, "On one condition."

"Name your price, I don't care!" She smiled in delight, catching her brother off guard. An offer so precious rested on the tip of her tongue — something she'd been waiting for ever since her brother got his motorcycle.

"I get to take 'Stevie' to work and drop you off whenever I want." The mischievous glint in her eyes made Mateo's jaw clench. He had a feeling she was going to bring it up; their dad never let her ride it when he was around, and for a good reason. Irene was very clumsy when they were younger and not only that but with her fainting spells, it was as her father recalled a "precautionary rule." However, she knew it was just an excuse to get her out of his hair. He used that for many things – it was the force behind Irene never learning how to drive. Sometimes it felt like her dad was just doing certain things out of spite once she got older and he grew irritated by her gift.

"Hell no!" Mateo's face scrunched in disgust as he shook his head in protest, now standing in front of her at the door. He watched her roll her eyes and give him a half shrug.

His sister turned on her heel, "Fine, I guess mom will finally know the real reason why your room smells like skunk all the time...and I don't think you want her on your case again." Mateo was about to give in until he remembered something extremely vital to his plea against her. He took the spot his sister was just in against his door frame.

"It wouldn't matter after I tell her your secret." His voice was calm as he crossed his arms and relaxed. Irene stopped in her tracks, she knew the game he was playing – he had all the time when they were younger. It was in the fine print you always skip over when signing the contract of siblings: blackmail can and will happen to you. Siblings always found ways to uncover the dirt on each other; if you got lucky, some of the dirty laundry never got aired. Irene nor Mateo rarely got lucky.

"What secret?" She asked, trying to keep her composure as she turned to look at him. His eyes were closed and a smile laid comfortably against his lips.

"Oh just that you've been sneaking off every morning, for the past week, to go hang out with some heathen, doing God knows what." He finally looked at her and she wanted nothing more than to wipe the smug grin off his face.

"You have no admissible evidence." She crossed her arms, raising a challenging brow. Scoops Ahoy could wait if it meant getting her brother to shut his big mouth. She thought her relaxed brow would steer him away from her shaky breaths and reddening face.

"Oh, but I do." His face brightened with delight, "Not only did I find some cute little letters written by this stranger, but also some very alarming cassettes to go with them. Heavy metal, Irene, Really? Mom's not only going to freak, but she's gonna lock you in your room for eternity."

When his sister didn't open her mouth to rebuttal he continued, "See, the difference between me and you Irene is I'm a real adult, which means I can do whatever the hell I want because mom's perception of me doesn't really matter. You on the other hand are still her perfect little girl, which means whatever you do will ruin the way she sees you." His words were laced with venom and they pierced his sister's soft heart.

The things he was talking about, the letters between her and Eddie, were extremely personal. It was the only way she felt truly comfortable with talking to him even though he initiated writing them in the first place. After she purposefully dropped her Led Zeppelin tape for him to listen to, he returned it at her doorstep with a short letter listing his favorite songs, what he thought of the album, and how he wanted her to give his music a try. Along with it he left his Dio Holy Diver cassette and wrote that he expected a letter in return.

He did come to her house early to swap cassettes for the past week but she hadn't been sneaking around with him – she rushed too quickly into friendships and just wanted it to feel somewhat natural. She couldn't believe her brother was about to ruin it and all over of some stupid motorcycle and her being a pesky little sister.

"I can't believe you went through my stuff, my personal stuff. I would never do that to you." She spat, staring up at him as betrayal clouded her features. Mateo's face fell and he masked his ignorance with a dry laugh.

"Oh come on, I was just joking to get you off my case." He tried to reason but his sister looked at him with an anger he wasn't accustomed to.

"Joking?!" She scoffed, "You never just joke, you always take things too far and then when you realize that you've actually fallen on your ass instead of pulling the wool over someone's eyes you retreat. Dad always did that to me...and you're just like him." She seethed with all that she could, hoping to make him hurt like he had made her for the past four years.

When he stood there in silence she raised her brows in amusement, her face still sunken with sadness, "Doesn't feel good does it?"

She turned, grabbing her backpack and denim jacket from the couch before slipping her shoes on. She reached for the knob to the front door and stumbled backward, flashes of images flooded her vision. A huge machine and some kind of rift with a glowing red center being opened. The monster burned behind her eyelids as its chilling scream rang in her ears. The Tower card lingered in the abyss of her mind.

Mateo heard the commotion of his sister bumping into something near the front door and rushed over, reaching to help her, "You okay?"

"I'm fine." She responded coldly, recoiling at his touch, "I gotta go, I'm taking the bus."

Robin Buckley and Steve Harrington watched as their disheveled co-worker rushed into the break room, dropping her bag as she clocked in while throwing them an apologetic glance. Both of them could tell she was trying to seem as collected as possible as her hands sloppily placed her name-tag on and tucked away the stray hairs that fell from her bun. Irene was always frazzled, but they could tell just by the look on her face that something was wrong.

"You just missed Steve's gang of kids." Robin informed her quietly as she stood beside the cash register, reaching her hands up to fix Irene's tag.

"Oh, really?" The brunette asked but it sounded like she wasn't there mentally. Robin watched as she welcomed a customer, side-stepping towards the multitude of flavored ice creams. She just stood there though, looking down at the ice creams.

"Yeah, one of them asked for you." She said and Irene shook her head, staring over at her friend.

"Really? Who?" She asked and finally started scooping the strawberry ice cream into a cone before handing it over to the young girl on the opposite side of the register.

"Byers." Another voice said, through the open window that looked into the back room.

It was her other co-worker, Steve Harrington. Irene's opinion of him varied day by day, but only because even after working with him for a month she hardly knew anything about him. The things she did know came from Robin and Will or snide comments that the other kids made about him when they were passing through. She thought he was nice and personable but was hiding a lot behind his cool guy facade. She didn't blame him, she had secrets too.

Even though he was always complaining about them, she could see he had a soft spot for his little group of "children." After she let them into the theater the first few times, they would come when a new film or re-screening that piqued their interest would premier. They'd ask for Irene when she wasn't around and Steve caught on fairly quickly. Soon enough he picked up where she left off.

Getting to know the teens little by little was fascinating to Irene; they were bursting with layers of adolescence and always asking the girl questions or giving her their movie reviews. Mike still had yet to warm up to her after their little conversation last week, but she didn't mind. She caught him laughing a few times at her jokes and he always paid attention to the films she recommended.

"What did he want?" Irene asked, turning her body around at the sound of the bell by the register. Steve leaned over and shrugged, raising his voice loud enough for her to hear.

"Not sure, but he said he'd come back when the movie was over." She nodded at the response and lost herself in her thoughts as she mindlessly scooped together a rocky road filled cone for a customer.

She thought of the vision that plagued her dreams that morning, the chilling aspect of it all. Did Will know something she didn't? Were the entire group of kids sharing a secret she wasn't in on?

"Hey, earth to Rena." Robin snapped her fingers in front of the girl that stood in a daze. Irene swatted her fingers away and tucked her hair in her cap, "You good?"

"I'm fine." She exhaled and before Robin could respond with something witty, the power in the entire mall flickered out. They both shared concerned glances as they turned to Steve who moved to the lightswitch, flipping it on and off.

"That isn't gonna work, dingus." Robin deadpanned.

"Oh, really?" He taunted as he looked at the both of them while flicking the switch even faster.

A sharp pain, almost like the onset of a migraine but worse, struck Irene. She reached to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Shit." She muttered, grabbing the counter with her other hand. Robin looked over at Steve as their co-worker crouched to her knees with her eyes shut tightly.

It was happening again. Her chest felt hollow and the walls were closing in. A clicking sound rang through her ears as images of the monster surfaced inside her mind and she tried tucking them away. No, you're not real, she desperately convinced herself as her heart raced. She could feel the thick crimson fluid that threatened to spill from her nose.

"Rena?" Robin whispered as she lowered down to her level. The lights had turned back on by then. "Are you sure you're okay? I can cover for you if you need to go home. We can reschedule for some other night." The throbbing pain dulled and Irene managed to give her a weak smile.

Robin was always so kind when she experienced abrupt visions. Even though she didn't know what the cause of her friends' pain was, she was always so careful and tender with her. Irene got the courage, after a lengthy pep-talk from Eddie on Monday, to invite the girl over to her house so she could teach her how to make her grandmother's Rogel cake recipe. She was anticipating it the entire week, to the point of nausea, and didn't want to back out just because she had a vision. For once, she wasn't going to let it get in the way of her making friends.

"I'm okay, just get these bad headaches from time to time." She sighed, grabbing Robin's extended hands before she was helped up, "Thank you." She walked past Steve to grab herself an Advil from her bag. He watched her go before Robin joined his side.

"That's the third one this week." She whispered with concern carved into her features.

"Maybe she has an iron deficiency." He shrugged and Robin squinted her eyes at him, astounded by his lack of awareness. Steve looked over at her and lifted his hands in defense,"What? It's a very real thing."

"I'm gonna run to the bathroom really quick." Irene informed the two before her silhouette got lost in the sea of bustling mall-goers. 

"See? She's fine. If there was something wrong she'd tell us." Steve spoke up, only earning a huff from the girl beside him.

The moment their movie had finished, Will rushed out of the theater and weaved through the groups of people that were still lingering in the mall. He ignored the calls from his friends and stopped in front of the ice creamery only to see that it was closed. He bowed his head as a sigh left his lips.

A hand gently grabbed onto his shoulder and he looked up, a smile instantly lighting up his features.

"Hey kid!" Irene greeted as he stood across from her, "Robin and I waited—she's outside. You got a ride home? You can take the bus with us." She went on and he shook his head, motioning behind him.

"I'm biking home with them," He explained and Irene caught sight of his small group of friends that squeezed through the mall mob, "I have something to show you!" He chirped excitedly as they began to walk slowly toward the exit.

He took out the folded papers in his back pocket and handed them to her, "It's a short comic about...well about this superhero named Scooper Trooper and she fights ice cold crime with her sidekick Ahoy Boy." He explained as the tips of his ears reddened.

Irene's eyes scanned the comic, small laughs erupting from her lips as she walked and read. She looked back up at Will in awe, "I don't know what to say kid. I mean, the cross-hatching to add detail to the shadows is beautiful, your proportions are good, and I'm really digging the color scheme." She praised with a smile.

"You really think it's good?" Will asked as he pushed open the heavy door for Irene. She looked at him as if what he just said was absurd.

"Good? I think it's great! From the comical one liners of Scooper Trooper to the wise spiel's from Ahoy Boy, I love it. You said your brother works for Hawkin's Post right? Maybe he could get this in the comics section." She said with glistening eyes, which made Will match her expression.

"I-yeah maybe." He said sheepishly, folding the comic back up and placing it in his pocket. Irene noticed the last people stepping onto the bus and turned back to the teen.

"I've gotta go, but I'm really glad you shared this with me!" She said, her feet dragging her toward Robin who was waiting for her at the bottom of the bus' steps. He nodded, extending a hand out to wave goodbye before turning to his friends. The image of him tearing up his fort clouded her mind. "Will!" She called and he turned, "Stay cool, alright? I'm only a phone call away, don't forget that." Her figure disappeared once Robin dragged her up the bus' stairs and Will watched them go with a soft smile.

Irene let out a breath of relief when she found a seat beside Robin. She was glad that despite what she'd seen, Will seemed alright – it brought her some ease. She knew the vision would come to fruition soon but at least there, in the real world, she could make him feel seen.

A/N:
how are we feeling? do we all collectively need a hug? will byers sure does. not taking this story in that different of a direction than when i first published it, but i am fleshing out relationships/the plot a lot more because it's important! &&i love it so...
did want irene & dustin to have a cute big sis/lil bro dynamic but i think there's just something so special about irene and will having it because they relate to each other on so many levels and don't even fully know it yet! scooper trooper and ahoy boy own my heart.

decided to put translations in the comments, how did we feel about that? which one do we like more?

also raise ur hand if you think mateo needs a reality check.