.｡❅*⋆⍋*∞*｡*∞*⍋⋆*❅｡

"I am too insane to explain and
you are too normal to understand."
.｡❅*⋆⍋*∞*｡*∞*⍋⋆*❅｡

After closing the gate everyone rendezvoused at the Byers home and about everyone had just collapsed out of sheer exhaustion. Hopper had shoved Billy into the teen's car and drove a few miles into the woods, leaving Billy there.

The next morning Hopper dropped everyone off at their respective homes and luckily for the Henderson their mother had stayed at Lorenzo's house for two nights and had not noticed her kids had been MIA.

Scarlett's mangled hand was blamed on her falling down the stairs. After 2 days Scarlett and Dustin conducted a lie that Mews had been driven over. Whilst Scarlett held her crying mother, Dustin pretended to bury Mews.

Just as everyone started to adjust, the Hawkins lab appeared on the news due to Murray Bauman. What was being said about the lab wasn't the whole truth, but it was enough to make them fully shut down for the time being.

The Holland family and the rest of the town were fed the lie that Barb had died to to exposure to some freak chemicals from the lab. A small ceremony was held for the girl, Scarlett, Jonathan, Nancy, Steve and Blake had all attended. Somehow lying at the girl's funeral was easier then lying to her hopeful parents.

At school the teenagers avoided Billy as much as possible, luckily he seemed to avoid them as well. Perhaps Max's words had left an impact.

Doctors meanwhile told Scarlett her hand would heal but that she would most likely forever have some stiffness and numbness in her right hand. Sadly Scarlett didn't have a lot of time to grieve her hand because she had to apply to other collages now that art school was most likely off the table. Scarlett ended up applying for nursing university in Indianapolis.

Simultaneously Scarlett had been avoiding Brian, wishing to gather herself more before rejecting him. But after two weeks Scarlett faced him and with kind words she broke his heart.

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

Scarlett's room was filled with Scarlett, Blake and Max as they searched through Scarlett's old clothes. After noticing that Eleven didn't really have her own clothes or clothes that were less than a decade old, Scarlett had said she still had some old clothes laying around for the brunette girl. That evening her and Blake would drive to Hopper's cabin and surprise Eleven.

When Scarlett had dropped off Max the other day however, the brunette noticed how the ginger had started to eye the more girly clothes that Scarlett and Nancy wore. In fact Max had been caught staring at Blake's long straight hair on multiple occasions as well. So Scarlett invited the young girl to dig through Scarlett's old clothes so Max could see if she found a few articles she liked.

A box had been filled with various old dresses, overalls, sweaters and flannels. "Did you only wear overalls or what?" Max asked as she folded up the 5th pair of overalls into one of El's boxes.

Before Scarlett could even open her mouth to answer, Blake jutted in. "This is like the first week I have seen her not wear overalls at all." Scarlett opened her mouth to say something in return, but she fell short considering Blake's statement was correct. Instead the brunette opted for an annoyed grumble a while Blake laughed and Max eyed the two curiously.

Whilst Max deemed most of Scarlett's clothes too 70s, the ginger had taken a pink top, a few shorts and even a skirt.

"BLAKE! PHONE!" Claudia screamed from downstairs and Blake screamed an okay back before reaching over and taking the new beige phone in Scarlett's room.

"Heya, this is Blake. This better be entertaining or important," The girl muttered into the phone.

Whoever was on the other end of the line hesitated before answering. "Blakey?" There was only one person in the whole world who called Blake that, and she hadn't spoken to him in about six years."It's Uncle Hank."

Blake sat up with a frown. "Uncle Hank, why are you calling?"

"Well, your sister called," The creases on Blake's forehead deepened. "She said your parents kicked you out--"

"What of it?"

"I was looking into moving to Hawkins anyway. I would be arriving next week and I wanted to see you."

"Why?" Scarlett had long abandoned her studying to shuffle towards Blake who looked confused as she spoke to her uncle.

The smile on Hank's face could practically be felt through the phone. "My boyfriend Tom and I would like to have you live with us," There was a pause. "Only if you would want to of course."

In a blur Blake agreed to meet them in the Sizzling Griddle next Saturday at 1pm. Blake turned to Scarlett who was giving Blake a questioning look, which was answered by Blake flinging her arms around Scarlett. Meanwhile Max eyed the exchange between the two.

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

A few hours later Scarlett and Blake were in Blake's car and racing towards Hopper's cabin with a few boxes on the backseat. They pulled up and got out of the car, each grabbing a box and walking towards the house.

Eleven was all but jumping up and down when she saw them and immediately asked how her other friends were, despite her now having a radio herself and being able to talk to them all the time.

Chatting the trio walked into the home and the eldest of the trio dumped the boxes on the low coffee table. Eleven eyed the boxes with a curious expression as Scarlett sat down.

"What are those?" The youngest brunette asked slowly. She leaned over, trying to sneak a peak inside the boxes with her name on the side.

"Well, these are some of my old clothes," Scarlett said as she opened one of the boxes and stepped away to let Eleven look inside. "I thought you might like them."

Eleven's mouth fell agape as she looked into the boxes and was greeted by some flannels that would fit her better than Hopper's old shirts, overalls, a few skirts and a few dresses. The clothes had colour to them and were covered in stripes, dots and flowers.

"Are," Eleven carefully reached out, hand hovering right above one of beige sweaters. "They for me?" Scarlett nodded and Eleven looked at the older girl with teary eyes before striding forward and enveloping Scarlett in a hug.

Whilst the two brunettes hugged, Blake watched and clicked her tongue against her teeth. "For the record, I helped pick those clothes. But sure give all the credit to Scar."

Sadly Eleven did not understand Blake's sarcasm and pulled away from Scarlett with a frown. "What?"

Blake received a stern look from Scarlett and held up her hands in surrender. "Nothing, don't worry about it kid. It was a joke."

"Joke?"

As Blake and Eleven conversed, Hopper entered the cabin from the back and gave a nod as a greeting. The man crept closer to Scarlett, making sure his daughter wasn't paying attention to him.

"Henderson" Scarlett turned at the sound of her name and saw Hopper nodding at her to follow him. Casting one last look to El and her best friend, Scarlett followed after Hopper and ended up outside where she was greeted by the late autumn breeze.

Taking advantage of being outside, Scarlett lit up a cigarette and asked Hopper what was going on. The chief sighed and scratched his neck uncomfortably. "I need your help."

"With what?"

A groan left Hopper's lips. "This is top secret, you do not tell anyone this okay?" Suddenly concerned, Scarlett gave a grave nod and pulled her cigarette from her lips and blew out some smoke. "I need you too," Hopper dropped his voice, eyes looking to the cabin to be absolutely sure that Eleven was not listening. "Get El a dress?"

Both of Scarlett's eyebrows shot up in search of her hairline. "What?" Before any more questions could spill from the Henderson girl's lips, Hopper placed a hand over her mouth and rushed her.

"Because I want to let her go to the Snowball, and I want it to be a surprise," Hopper whispered and removed his hand from Scarlett's lips.

The surprise was replace by happiness. "That's actually really sweet of you, Hopper. Are you sure it's safe for her?"

Hopper nodded. "I spoke to Owens a few days ago, told me the risk was small."

"You spoke to Sam Owens?" Scarlett's voice dropped and Hopper looked at her sympathetically.

The chief nodded. "Yeah, he couldn't stay here because of the lab and all but," Hopper jogged to his car and reached over into the glove compartment and pulled out a brown file. "He told me to give you this." He stretched his arm, holding the file out to Scarlett who took it.

Bill Henderson

DECEASED

Scarlett's breath hitched and she looked at the small photo of her father on the top left, which was held to the file by a paperclip. The man was smiling, huge round glasses on his face and a scrappy tie covered in flowers, dots and stripes.

"Owens wanted you to have this."

Looking back up to Hopper, Scarlett hugged the file to her chest. "Thank you," The brunette then remembered what Hopper asked of her and so she nodded. "I'll get Ellie a dress and help her get ready."

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

Tensions between Scarlett and Steve still lingered as Steve patiently waited for Scarlett to either reject him or tell him she reappropriated his feelings. The small box Steve had left on Scarlett's pillow remained unmentioned after Steve dodged her question about it. When he had heard of her official break up with Brian, Steve had been hopeful but Scarlett was yet to talk to him about any of that.

The boy pouted his lips, he was sitting on a bench a little way from school. He had wanted to get away from his peers and thus he had ended up at the mostly forgotten clearing. Yet Scarlett had spotted Steve trailing into the woods and as she shrugged on her new jacket, a colourful windbreaker rather than a worn denim jacket, Scarlett followed Steve.

"Hey," Scarlett called, making Steve turn to see her. She smiled at him and he returned the gesture. The brunette took a seat facing Steve and took out a pack of cigarettes before digging through her pockets in search for a lighter.

Steve shook his head with a grin before taking his own lighter and lighting her cigarette, earning a soft thank you from Scarlett. The girl pulled back and blew out some smoke as Steve watched her every moment carefully.

Satisfied with the nicotine entering her, Scarlett's mind turned to the matter of Steve and the fact that he had a crush on her. If someone were to tell the Henderson that King Steve would fall for her a year before, she would have laughed.

"So," She started, causing Steve's somewhat anxious eyes to settle on her. "Can we talk about that night?" Her tone set off all of Steve's alarm bells and he found himself growing hot under his green sweater. Noticing that Scarlett hadn't said anything yet, Steve gave her a nod, silently hoping she would just get it over with.

Scarlett took a deep breath. "You told me a lot of things, which could have just been the stress of the situation, but then you also gave me that necklace..." She rambled quietly, het gaze fixed on her right fingers that lacked nails.

"I didn't say that because I was scared, well..." Steve interrupted his own sentence and looked away from Scarlett. "Maybe I did, but that only made me think clearer," He turned back to Scarlett who was looking at him silently. "So what do you think about it?"

The tiniest of smiles started pulling at Scarlett's lips and her eyes found his. "I think that maybe we could go out on a date?" Steve stared at her for a moment, mouth and eyes wide open. Soon enough a big grin appeared on Steve's lips and he just continued to stare at her, his hands slowly inching towards hers. Carefully he grasped her left hand.

"How about I pick you up tonight? We could get dinner and catch a movie. Or-or we can do something else, like a walk, or get some milkshakes--" Steve was interrupted by Scarlett laughing at him, his flustered demeanour mostly vanished, leaving only the trace of a blush on the boy's cheeks. He quirked a brow at her. "What's your damage Hendserson?"

Scarlett tilted her head at him, smile lingering on her lips. "You're cute when you're flustered."

Steve closed his mouth and felt his cheeks and neck burn even more. "I'm not flustered," He whispered, but ultimately grinned as Scarlett grasped his hand.

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

"Why are you getting so dressed up? It's not like you're going out," Dustin muttered as he trailed into Scarlett's room as he munched on a cookie.

The eldest Henderson stood in an ocean of clothes and just managed to zip up her black overalls dress when she spun around to face her brother. Scarlett wore an off shoulder light purple top with a black overalls skirt. "Actually I am going out," Scarlett pulled the shirt a bit, adjusting the hem. "Does this look alright?"

Dustin didn't answer and only looked at her with a frown. "Who are you going out with then? Have you finally caved and decided to go out with Blake."

"You know I only like boys," Scarlett quipped back, to which Dustin shrugged.

"So who are you going out with?" Dustin pressed and licked the crumbs off his fingers before plopping down on his sister's green covers.

The brunette hesitated for a second. Ever since fighting the creatures of the upside down Steve and Dustin had grown close, Steve had started to spend even more time at the Henderson house. Well Dustin would find out anyway. "With Steve."

Scarlett pouted her lips and messed with the edge of her cast. She opened her mouth to ask what Dustin thought about it, but before she could, Dustin sighed loudly. "Finally, I was getting tired of you two acting like idiots in love."

"DUSTIN!!"

Said boy burst out laughing as Scarlett sent him a shallow glare and crossed her arms. Eventually Dustin stopped laughing and innocently shrugged his shoulders saying he was right.

"You look fine," Dustin eventually said to which Scarlett uttered a thank you before she started styling her hair with the help of Dustin. It turned out after all that one handed hair styling wasn't one of Scarlett's talents. She ended up with her shorter hair at the front being side swiped to the left and the remaining fringe being tied back on the right.

Just as Scarlett was tying off her old blue heels, the doorbell rung and due to Scarlett being busy and Claudia being on her own date, Dustin dove towards the door and swung it open.

Steve who had been expecting Scarlett, hid the bouquet of forget-me-nots behind his back. "At least you listened to me," Dustin commented, eyeing the flowers that peeked out form behind Steve's back.

"Shut up, I give you advice not the other way around," Steve snapped back, moving to push past Dustin. Before the older boy could do that however, Scarlett emerged from behind Dustin whilst she put on a windbreaker that clashed with her carefully selected outfit.

"Hi."

"Hi," Steve's eyed her up and down quickly. "You look beautiful." The Henderson siblings had two different reactions to the compliment, Scarlett turned into a shade that matched her name and Dustin gagged.

"Don't do that in front of me," Dustin shuddered, shaking his head and sending his curls into a frenzy. "Please no. Ew." Dustin strolled away from the door and to the couch so he could continue watching an old episode of the A-Team.

A short silence befell the two teens before Steve showed Scarlett the flowers in a flourish, her eyes brightened as she took the bouquet from him. "Thank you," She gazed at the flowers. "These are my favourite." She looked at Steve with a certain look that he could get drunk on.

Quickly Scarlett took care of the flowers, putting them in a vase before she and Steve walked towards the latter's car. Steve sped up to open the door for Scarlett who chuckled at his antics and uttered a thank you.

A short drive to downtown later, Steve and Scarlett found themselves tucked away in a booth in the diner on the corner of Main Street across of the movie theatre where they would watch The Karate Kid.

Scarlett slurped up some of her strawberry milkshake and pouted as she compared it to the Sizzling Griddle. "Nope, our milkshakes are better." Scarlett leant against the window slightly as she made her verdict and reached out for her salty fries.

Steve tasted his own caramel milkshake before furrowing his brow and pretending to debate the topic. The brunette across from him couldn't help but grin at him, he did look terribly cute. "Yeah, this place is no match to the Sizzling Griddle. They can't top those brainy swirls." He cracked a smirk at Scarlett.

"Before I forget," Scarlett muttered and reached over to her jacket that she had discarded onto the seat next to her and dug into the pockets. She produced the small black box that Steve had left on her pillow nearly three weeks prior.

"Wait you didn't open it?" Steve inquired. He had always assumed Scarlett had opened and ignored it, not bothering to tell him no directly.

The brunette shook her head. "I wanted to wait," Her fingers trailed over the edge of the box. "I wanted to be sure about how I felt before opening it."

The Harrington boy peeked at his watch before reaching over, his fingers brushing Scarlett's over the box. He gulped as she moved to open it.

Inside the box rested a gold coloured necklace. It was a heart shaped locket.

"Oh Steve," Scarlett whispered before grasping the necklace and lifting it up. "It's beautiful. Thank you." The young woman opened the locket and found it empty.

Spying the confusion on Scarlett's face, Steve cleared his throat. "You can put your own pictures in," Steve looked out of the window, the street lights sculpting his face. "Maybe some of us...?" His eyes flickered back to Scarlett who gave him a fond smile.

Some time later the movie ended and as the duo walked out of the cinema, Scarlett gently reached out and laced her fingers with Steve's. He opened the car door for her again and Scarlett thanked him.

Leonard Cohen's 'Dancing to the end of love' started playing on the radio as Steve drummed his fingers against his steering wheel, the cheeky grin that had found its way onto his face when Scarlett grabbed his hand was yet to vanish. "Where to?"

"Surprise me," Scarlett replied, her head lulled to the side so she could look at Steve. He stared back at her before muttering an alright and starting to drive.

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

The next day Saturday arrived and Blake was sitting at the counters of the Sizzling Griddle as she waited for her uncle to arrive. The Perkins twins had been ignoring one another almost constantly ever since Blake was kicked out half a year before, but Blake had always caught Carol's lingering looks. Yet ever since Blake received the call from Uncle Hank, Carol's stares had disappeard.

Uncle Hank was officially twenty minutes late and Blake started to believe it was a setup. Just as the tall redhead was sliding out of her seat, the door chimed and in walked Uncle Hank. It was clear to everyone that that man was not a local. He was clad in a black jacket with black jeans and combat boots, his teased and curled hair tickled his shoulders with a fringe brushing over his forehead. 'Come out, come out, wherever you are' was painted onto the back of Hank's jacket.

Immediately the man's gaze traveled over the entire diner and studied all the customers and staff in a split second.A jovial grin formed on the man's face and he bound up to Blake who was staring at him. "You have grown Blakey, last I saw you you were this high," The man held his hand just above his waist and stared at it in disbelief. He shook his head and took a seat in the booth. "It's good to see you again."

Recovering from the initial shock of her uncle being so confident, Blake opened her mouth to speak. It was one thing to be confident in the big city but it was a whole different thing to be confident in a town like Hawkins where everyone who didn't conform to the nuclear white family ideal was deemed a freak.

"Hi," Blake said.

Not taking Blake's awkwardness personally, Hank continued to grin at her. "Sorry I was late, we got some car trouble on the way here. Tom should be here soon, he went to park the car 'cuz I didn't want to keep you waiting any longer," Hank explained casually as he waved over Vicki Carmichael to take his order.

Just as Hank finished his order another man strolled into the diner. He wore acid washed jeans with a black long sleeved shirt, meanwhile his hair resembled Tom Cruise with aviator sunglasses atop his head despite it nearly being winter.

Hank waved his hand from the booth and Tom strolled towards them with his hands shoved carelessly into his pockets. Much like his boyfriend, Tom surveyed the diner before taking a seat. The couple grasped each other's hands casually.

"Hello, you must be Blake," Tom spoke with a Californian accent and extended his free hand to the red head. "I'm Tom." Blake greeted the man and shook his hand.

"Uncle Hank," Blake forced herself to not stare at her uncle's boyfriend and turned to her uncle. "Why were you thinking about moving back here? Most people can't wait to get out of this shit hole. Why leave sunny California for this?" Blake gestured out of the window to the nearly empty street.

The men across from Blake shared a look. "After the assassination of our friend Harvey," Hank started, not bothering to beat around the bush.

He was however interrupted by Blake. "Harvey Milk?" Tom nodded and Blake decided not to question how her uncle was friends with a politician like Harvey Milk.

"We wanted to get out of San Francisco."

Tom nodded. "We've been travelling around since then, looking for a place to settle down."

Before Blake could ask again why the hell they chose Hawkins, Hank spoke again. "When little Carol called," Hank shook his head with a laugh. "Well to say I was surprised would be underselling it. And when she told me about your situation, I knew I had to come back to Hawkins," Hank stared intently at Blake who in turn was fixated on Hank and Tom's linked hands. "Even if it is only to annoy the living shit out of my little brother and help you out."

Whilst Hank had said that he had a boyfriend, Blake found it hard to actually realise it. Ever since she developed a little crush on Heather Bell when she was a kid, Blake had always believed and assumed she was the first one in her family to feel that way. Now her uncle sat across from her, openly showing he felt at least similar to Blake. It made the redhead think, how many of her ancestors had felt like that? How many of them had held out hope for the future? How many of them had given up? How many of them found love and happiness?

Had all those unmarried people in her family tree really lived a life without romance like Blake's parents said, or had those people been dripping with love? And what of the ones who married for safety?

Blake tried to say something, utter a thanks to her uncle who was doing his best for her, utter a thanks to her uncle's boyfriend who didn't even know Blake. But words failed Blake and so she gave a watery smile.

When their orders arrived, the trio ate together and slowly bonded over life, music, movies and fashion. So when Hank invite Blake to come check out houses with him and Tom, Blake agreed.

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

One week passed by rapidly and as Blake helped her uncles move into their new homes as she bought stuff for her bedroom. At the same time all the Hendersons were getting ready for the Snowball.

Floyd received help from his dad to tie his blue tie as Judith sewed up a hole in the suit jacket that her son would wear later.

Dustin prohibited his mother and sister from entering the bathroom as he did his hair. After twenty minutes Dustin opened the bathroom door causing Scarlett's jaw to drop as she stared at her brother's hair. That was definitely Steve's doing.

"Dusty," Scarlett approached him, lightly pushing his shoulders to turn him in order to take a look at the back. "You look great. All the girls will be chasing after you." Dustin grinned at Scralett's words and immediately hugged her tightly.

A light 'oof' left Scarlett's lungs as the air was squeezed from her lungs, nonetheless she hugged him back. Their hug was cut short by the doorbell ringing. The two siblings jumped apart and rushed down the stairs, that time Dustin won with a triumphant smile.

Steve watched the two Hendersons race down the stairs with a flabbergasted look. The Henderson matriarch who was holding Tews, a siamese kitten that was the newest addition to the Henderson household, didn't even blink at her two children and instead thanked Steve for driving Dustin.

"Have fun, okay? Scarlett called after her brother who was racing towards Steve's car and shouted back that he would. Shaking her head, Scarlett turned to find Steve staring at her. "Thanks again for driving him."

The young man shrugged. "The airhead isn't half bad," With a smirk Steve stepped closer and took Scarlett's right hand, which was finally cast free, in his own. Absently Steve's finger traced the fresh sensitive scars on Scarlett's hand, sending small shudders through Scarlett's body. "And I hear his sister is pretty amazing." Scarlett couldn't contain the laugh at his cheesy line, making Steve look at her offended.

Just then it started to snow slightly, making Steve and Scarlett even more cold as small white flakes got caught in their brown hair. Quieting down her laughter, Scarlett stepped closer to Steve' craning her neck back to look up at Steve. Ever so slowly they started to lean in when suddenly a loud honk came from Steve's car, making the duo jump apart.

Steve glared at Dustin who motioned for them to hurry up. "I'm going to kill him," Steve hissed through his teeth, Scarlett squeezing his hand made the boy turn back to her. Her smile melted away his anger and he looked at her expectantly.

"I'll see you later," Scarlett said, letting go of Steve's hands.

"Are you sure you are good to drive?" Steve asked, eyeing the slippery roads. Scarlett nodded however and got into her own car, a shopping bag on the driver's seat.

⊶⊷⊶⊷❍⊶⊷⊶⊷

Eleven had taken the front seat next to Hopper as Scarlett insisted she would be okay in the back. The young girl continued to look down at her blue dress with pink dots with wide eyes and an even wider smile.

Getting Eleven ready for the Snowball had been incredibly fun. When Hopper revealed why Scarlett was at their house, Eleven had cried and jumped onto her father and hugged him tightly. Promptly after the girl tackled Scarlett into a hug. Admittedly Scarlett had struggled with Eleven's short hair, but the older brunette had eventually gotten it to work.

Scarlett had already hopped out of the car and was waiting for Eleven, Hopper had agreed to Scarlett walking Eleven to the door of the school instead of him walking Eleven.

The Hopper girl reached out to open the door but stopped as Hopper gently took her hand in his. The man inhaled sharply before gently removing the blue hair tie from his wrist and slid it onto Eleven's slim wrist.

"What is this?"

Hopper didn't look at his daughter and instead trailed his finger over the blue band. "This was Sarah's hair tie," He sighed, remembering his other daughter. "It's yours now." While Eleven didn't fully understand what it all meant, she knew the hair tie was important to Hopper because it had belonged to his daughter. For that reason it was important to Eleven who hopped out of the car after bidding her farewell.

The two brunettes arrived by the front door and after signing Eleven in and making sure everything went well, Scarlett cupped Eleven's cheek. "Have fun, Ellie." Eleven gave a timid nod back and Scarlett stayed until she saw Eleven join the crowd of middle schoolers.

Simultaneously Steve sat in his car, 'Love is a Battlefield' by Pat Benatar played on the radio as his brown eyes focused on the gym hall. From where he was parked Steve could just catch a glimpse of what was going on inside the room. More specifically he could see Nancy laughing as she handed out punch to the kids.

Despite having broken up with Nancy a while ago, some pain and romantic love for her had always lingered for her. Even when Steve noticed himself falling more and more for Scarlett, some part of his heart still belonged to Nancy. When Steve had been six his mother had told him that your first love would forever hold a place in your heart. Steve assumed that was what he felt when he looked at Nancy.

Still this time felt different. It felt like a goodbye. The end of a chapter.

As Steve stared at Nancy, Scarlett bounded into view and opened his car. Steve watched with amusement as Scarlett rubbed her hands together in an attempt to get them warm.

"How about we get some take out and just go on a drive?" Scarlett wondered, her hands rubbing the material of her white turtleneck which was tucked into some mom jeans.

"Sounds like a good plan." With that Steve started his car, pulled out and drove off to buy them some food.

Some moments and a few dollars later, Scarlett's lap was covered with two bags of take outs whilst she held two coffees. Steve put his car in park atop a hill where they would be alone. The young man got up and grabbed a blanket from his trunk and spread it out over the hood of his BMW before helping Scarlett and the food up.

"Dustin really looks up to you," Scarlett blurted out as she dipped one of her fries into her ketchup. "He barley remembers our dad and he doesn't have any brothers," Scarlett propped the fry into her mouth. "Not really at least. But, now he has you."

The past four weeks it became so clear that Steve genuinely cared for Dustin like an older brother would for his little brother. "I don't have siblings, so he's the next best thing," Steve muttered before he noticed Scarlett shivering slightly. Without hesitation, Steve hopped off the hood and opened the driver's door to grab a coat.

"What are you doing?" Scarlett inquired, but she did not receive an answer and thus she also got off the hood and trailed over to Steve so she stood behind him. "Steve?"

Said boy spun around and without giving Scarlett time to object, he wrapped his coat around the girl who gasped slightly at the action. "Oh," Deciding not to complain, Scarlett cuddled further into the coat and noted that it smelled like Steve. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it," Steve replied within a beat, his dark gaze focused on her. Being only illuminated by star- and moonlight gave Scarlett an ethereal like glow, it made her almost seem holy. The constellations reflected on her big glasses added to the overall picture and Steve couldn't help but feel drawn in.

Scarlett's green eyes were focused on Steve who looked so good in his red sweater, with snow in his hair and a lovestruck look on his face. His gaze felt intimate, but not in the sex way, in the safe away. In a way that caused a sense of security and pure comfort. Scarlett couldn't help but feel drawn in.

Their lips met halfway with Scarlett's hand resting at the conduction of Steve's neck and shoulder, whilst his hand gently cupped her cheek. Their first, technically second, kiss was short and they pulled away with beaming smiles, foreheads resting together.

Neither of the two wanted to wait too long for another kiss and so they both leaned in again, this time Scarlett's other hand ventured into Steve's hair. Steve continued to cradle Scarlett's cheek but also wrapped an arm around her waist to tug her closer.

a/n:
starlett! starlett! starlett! starlett!! ahhh i've had this scene planned
for ages now! sorry the chapter is kind of all over the place, but i had a lot
planned. scarlett is el's older sister, i will accept no criticism on this. also max was shown
to be more feminine in season 3, this is explained in 'runaway max' and it's because she's
always associated masculinity with strength but after seeing feminine nancy (and scarlett and blake)
fight demogorgons better than some of the men, she sees femininity as strength as well. also Steve looking into the snowball and seeing Nancy and driving away is confirmed to be him accepting the end of their relationship, except in this fic scarlett is his new chapter and that's why he sees her before driving away.

on the note of blake, this was always the plan. i wanted to give carol some redemption and i wanted to
give blake a new home. now why did i make her uncle gay? well i wanted to show the experience of being
queer that many people still experience, the experience being of feeling alone, being the odd one out of your
family. what we often forget though is that there is no way we are the first queer person in our family.
i wanted blake to realise that she wasn't the only one in her family and therefore she won't be the last.
for my queer audience, trust me in the fact that you're not alone.

anyway hope you enjoyed, be sure to vote and comment!

scarlett's date look + her locket ^

funny post

omgg that's so precious whahahaha
date published:25 june 202a
word count:5803