WHAT YOU DID WAS VILE & CRUEL.

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

STARCROSSED (book one).
°• CHAPTER SEVEN •°

" I WOULD HAVE GONE TO
MARS AND BACK FOR HIM. "

▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅

BETRAYAL WAS A TERRIBLE, AWFUL THING. And it's always done by your closest friend. Never by your worst enemies. It's always those closest to you. For Elijah, it was the second-worst thing that ever happened to him, only second to his mother's death because he grew up with Steve. They had been best friends for as long as he could remember. Growing up, it was always SteveandElijah. There was never room for space. They were one of a kind, holding something special, a full moon that couldn't shine enough without its other half. Of course, it was never part of the plan to actually imagine that the stars held a future for them, but neither was the biggest betrayal. That was a story carved in the cosmos, unavoidable, bound to clash.

And sadly, it wasn't even the worst thing Steve Harrington had done to him.

The words Elijah read continued to scream again and again louder in his mind. No matter how loud it is, how badly it hurts, he can't stop. The plain print doesn't vanish no matter how much he hopes.

ELIJAH THE FAG WOLFHART

ELIJAH THE FAG WOLFHART -

Steve's already outed him. He's already ruined Elijah's life. He tries not to think about the night it happened, but he can't help it. He was so addicted to the Harrington boy, how he kissed, what he made him feel. The spark that came with it now feels like flames, setting himself aflame, and no matter how bad it burns, he just won't turn to ash. Elijah has to sit in the fire Steve set and burn.

He didn't realize his vision was blurring, eyes clouding with tears until Jonathan touches his shoulder. Elijah rips away from the touch even though he didn't want to ignore the comfort. He needed it from one person. He had a best friend that didn't care if he was gay and knew he hated being left alone, so he refused to. Jonathan tilts his head, whispers, "Eli - "

"What the fuck did I do?" Elijah chokes. "What did I do?" He doesn't even know what he's asking. He just wants to know why. His eyes start to clear, but they then burn from the lump in his throat. He knows he blew off Steve last night, but didn't he have a right to? Was this some form of cruel payback for something Elijah hadn't deserved? It was humiliating. It was cruel. What did he do to deserve this?

"Nothing," Jonathan declares. Elijah's never heard the protective anger in his voice. Steve's actions towards his two friends must have really pissed him off. "He's a selfish asshole - "

He's cut off when Nevaeh shoves herself between them to storm into the alley because she hears familiar laughter. Nancy already beat her to it, but that doesn't stop the flames left in her path, only a step behind. Her shoulder broadens, glare sharpening into daggers that could slice like a knife's blade, and her trembling fingers clenched into fists so tight that her knuckles turn pale. Her brother stands behind, frozen and floating in his space, while Nevaeh Wolfhart was out for blood.

The girls aren't surprised that Steve is waiting the second he catches their eye. Nancy reaches him first and she stares him down, furious, as Tommy comments, "Uh-oh, she looks upset," before she struck Steve with a harsh slap.

"What is wrong with you?!" She exclaims.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you?" Steve accuses. "I was worried about you... I can't believe I was actually worried about you."

Nevaeh doesn't settle for a slap that would only make Steve chuckle. She wants him to hurt as badly as Elijah was. She knows he may still see it as amusing - a girl whose head barely tickles his chin shoving him square in the chest, but it's her words that are more threatening than her height. "No, what's wrong with you, Harrington?!" Nevaeh shouts. Her voice bounces off the concrete walls. "A girl sleeps with you once and she's a slut? What about you? How many girls did you plow through after my brother?"

She watches Steve's face bloom with either anger or embarrassment, whichever, she doesn't care. She just pushes him again until he stumbles. Steve nearly falls when she hits him in the same place. Nevaeh hadn't known that Elijah and Jonathan heard and had been drawn into the argument. She wants the wind knocked out of him, the same way Steve knocked the wind out of Elijah. The boys watch as Nevaeh tries to put him on the spot, the same spot Steve's placed Elijah on.

"Oh wow, he looks pretty upset too!" Carol announces with her lower lip stuck out in a sarcastic pout. "You should ask him, Nevaeh, how many boys did he molest after Steve?"

"Fuck off," Elijah spits, but his voice shakes. He's going to let a sob break out at any minute, but he attempts to swallow it anyway. He wants to leave before the heart on his sleeve explodes. But Nevaeh isn't done, she won't let Steve get away with it again. Not this time.

"To where? Nancy's room? I know she's not your type, but some of you seemed comfy there last night," Steve challenges. He's standing his ground, the soles of his sneakers planted flat against the concrete, the vein in his neck practically protruding with the force he uses to have them hear his rage.

Nancy looks bewildered and exclaims in hurt, "What are you talking about?!"

"I wouldn't lie if I were you," Carol warns. "You don't want to be known as the lying slut now, do you?"

It takes Nancy another minute to understand. It doesn't help when Tommy hops off the concrete stairs, uncovering the metal door he had been propped against, revealing BYERS IS A PERV sprayed on it. Elijah and Nancy weren't the only ones targeted. "You came by last night," she guesses.

Smoke burns Elijah's nostrils when Tommy lights a cigarette and brings the filter between his pink lips. He'd kill for a cigarette right now. He tries to force his wet eyes to dry so they can glare at him, his own mouth pinched in a trembling frown. Tommy barely looks at him. He drapes his arm over Carol's shoulders who grins and calls out to confirm for Nancy, "Ding! Ding! Ding! Does she get a prize?"

"Look," Nancy begins, blocking Carol out, "I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't like that."

"What, you just let him into your room to... Study?" Steve asks coldly, oblivious to what happened. Elijah wasn't even there and knew nothing happened between Nancy and Jonathan. He was there to comfort her after what happened to them.

But Nancy doesn't explain that because Elijah could see from her features that she realizes it wouldn't matter. She ignores Tommy's crude comment about a 'pervy photo session' and silently shakes her head. It's difficult, but she splutters, "We were just - "

"You were just what? Finish the sentence." Steve's stare is ice cold, enough to make a chill crawl through Elijah's spine, as he stares down at Nancy. "Finish. The. Sentence." But she doesn't take the bait. Nancy presses her lips together and says nothing. The only sign that she's even breathing is the heavy exhale that causes her chest to rise and fall. Elijah knows she's thinking about last night, not the time she had with Jonathan, but the time they spent in their personal hell. Steve doesn't read her as Elijah did. He scoffs in disgust, "Go to hell." Glares at the other three. "All of you."

"After all, that's where fags belong," Tommy supplies, the cigarette dangling from his lower lip. "Since you said you were one, and all."

Nevaeh takes a single step forward but Elijah throws his arm over her chest. He hopes, at that moment, that he'd burn in hell the day he died because that meant if these were the people that were going to heaven, he'd much rather dance with Satan. But it seems like for now he'd have to practice for that by standing up to Steve who no doubt thrived on how Elijah called himself a faggot.

"How's that lie your living?" He demands. "'Cause I may be a fag, but at least I'm not a fucking coward."

The lie, of course, being Steve's life. This was the first time Elijah had cornered him with it, had dangled the truth over his head like a threat that he'd follow through with even if no one believed him. Steve doesn't consider this when his face flashes with fear. He's too busy being frightened that Elijah would scream to the world that Steve Harrington kissed him three times in the dark, and he liked it. He was his dirty little secret.

"That's enough," Jonathan decides. "Let's just leave." He can sense things were about to take an ugly twist and he didn't want either Nancy or Elijah to end up in that tornado. They have more important matters anyway, didn't they?

And Elijah tries to. He's been done with Steve Harrington and his bullshit for a long, long time. He follows them when Jonathan tries to lead everyone away, but Steve holds them back. "You know what, Byers? I'm actually kinda impressed. I always took you for a queer since Eli made that shit contagious, but I guess you're just a little screw-up like your father." Steve pushes Jonathan's shoulder who suddenly froze in place. "Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that house is full of screw-ups. You know, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised, a bunch of screw-ups in your family."

"Jonathan, leave it," Nancy attempts to convince him with a scarily calm voice.

"I mean, your mom? I'm not even surprised what happened to your brother."

"Steve, shut up!"

Elijah's sneakers grind into the concrete as he spun. Steve was angry, jealous, and wanted them to hurt too, but his rage was no match for a Wolfhart's. He would know, having been best friends with the most temperamental one of them all who didn't hold back and let his emotions show. "Shut up, you asshole!" Elijah shouts. He feels his face burn, no doubt becoming crimson, and it only protrudes the vein in his neck. He can feel his emotions dangerously spike - he was a second away from losing it completely and everyone there was under the threat of being caught in his crossfire.

But Steve doesn't stop because he's seen Elijah's anger fits firsthand and knows he's never been the target. Elijah Wolfhart was many things. A dirty flamer, as sorrowful as he was a spitfire, sure, but he also loved with all of his heart. You could stab it, again and again, watch it bleed out until it's an empty organ, and he would still love you with whatever's left. That was something Steve used to his advantage, that Elijah wouldn't hurt him.

However, Jonathan Byers is not Elijah Wolfhart. He just learned how to make a stand from him.

"I'm sorry I have to be the one to tell you," Steve continues without a hint of sympathy, "But the Byers, their family, it's a disgrace to the entire - "

It happens so fast that Elijah would have missed it if he blinked. Jonathan swung with a surprising amount of strength from a peacemaker and it must hurt like hell when his fist struck Steve in the face. He's so surprised by the hit that he struggles to stand at first. His hand gently pressed against his lower lip that was already starting to bleed as his stare towards Jonathan goes from shocked to hateful.

Suddenly, Steven lunges and tackles Jonathan against his car's hood. He tries to pin him down, but he's struggling so much that Steve eventually lifts him and tosses him against the ground carelessly as Nancy hollers at them to stop. Jonathan ignores her and flips Steve underneath him like he weighed nothing.

"Kick his ass, man!" Tommy urges. Steve grunts loudly below him when Jonathan drives his knee into his hip before they push themselves up.

Elijah waits until they're on their feet to be braver than Tommy who wouldn't have even bothered defending his friend and tries to stop Jonathan who's breathing heavy, fighting the restraint. "Hey, hey! We've made our point, let's just go!" He shouts since Jonathan was the one who wanted to leave in the first place before Steve egged him on.

But because Tommy isn't afraid of Elijah, having never seen the boy lose his mind yet, he steps in too and tries to push them away. "Easy, easy!"

The second his hand touches Elijah, Nevaeh fumes, "Get the hell away from him!" Before storming towards Tommy and inserting herself into the fight. She shoves his arm off her brother who's so distracted by her that he lets go of Jonathan, and he charges at Steve. Elijah doesn't know if it's a reaction or just pure hatred for Elijah the fag Wolfhart and Nevaeh the addict Wolfhart when Tommy swung the very same arm, and the limb drove Nevaeh against the alley's brick wall.

Elijah cocks his head and blinks as he processes the sight of his baby sister's head smacking against the hard surface with a thud that makes her grunt. The darkness surrounding Elijah's world swirls until it swallows him whole and becomes one with him. It's like a poison that's side effect would kill anyone in its path. Elijah slowly welcomes it in what felt like hours, but it truly only took seconds to spread.

A series of bellowed shouts come out of Elijah as he easily took Tommy down with a swift swipe of his ankles and a hand curled around the collar of his varsity jacket before delivering several blows. Tommy barely gets a few in, but they still cause Elijah's lower lip to swell and break. He couldn't wait to unleash the poison against the monster that would haunt his dreams forever, but for now, he could excuse it by using it against Tommy. Elijah's skin across his knuckles split and becomes tattered with every hit. There was no other way to release this unbearable fire inside him built from the poison than this.

Sirens wail over the sound of the boys fighting one another. The antidote for Elijah's poisonous fury comes in the form of Nevaeh Wolfhart. Her hands are freezing as they slip under his jacket and gentle as they pull him away. Elijah doesn't escape because he can feel the antidote working, soothing through his bloodstream, and turning his hot anger into ice. It fades, and finally, Elijah can see again, the flashes of blue and red growing closer due to the cops that had sprinted into the ugly mess. One of them cries out that their nose is busted when Jonathan accidentally hits them.

They start to fumble for one another. Carol helps her wounded boyfriend on his feet while her other friend helps Steve once Jonathan is yanked off of him and they all make a run for it. The officer Jonathan struck tosses him against his police car and slaps a pair of cuffs on him, calling out to his partner that races after the group of four, "I got these ones!"

Elijah feels Nevaeh's grip on him tighten a little when her fingernails dig into his skin and almost puncture him. She's glaring straight at the officer after he shuts Jonathan into his car as if she dared him to even graze the boy in her hold. The officer seems rather surprised that Elijah didn't follow the others that ran off without realizing how Elijah would rather sit there, catching his breath and calming down, than ending up with those assholes anywhere. Even a police station could have been paradise.

"Son, I need you to put your hands behind your back," he commanded. "I can't let two counts of assault go." Elijah shakes his head when Nevaeh opens her mouth. It isn't worth fighting anymore. The anger had simmered into smoke, ash, dust that you could crumble until it fades into the wind and becomes another nothing.

"It's okay. I'll go," Elijah mumbles calmly since his emotions have taken a fast turn. There's nothing more he can do. He makes sure he can't be seen when he slips his car key into Nevaeh's hand like a swift fox. Elijah momentarily wishes he had Jonathan's too because his vehicle was the one that held the weapons.

This doesn't deter any feelings Elijah has towards cops. He hates Steve Harrington, more than half of Hawkins High, annoying kids, whatever the fuck chased him, and any policemen with a shiny badge that they used to empower their control over the public infuriated him. Elijah tries to stay out of their way while doing what he can with his own power to piss them off. Tobia would be furious if he found out either of his children was arrested, but usually, as long as Elijah wasn't in their view, he wouldn't be. He supposed that free card was thrown out of the window now. They definitely saw the angry Wolfhart boy pound in the face of Tommy Hagan.

Elijah still expected Nevaeh to protest his arrest, but she doesn't. She silently allows it to happen but she's watching like a hawk as his arms are twisted behind his back so a pair of shiny handcuffs can be slapped around his wrists with the click of a lock. Elijah has no way of worming out of them. He's squished next to Jonathan because the officer must decide he's not worthy of a window seat. Nevaeh is pressed snuggly into his other side while Nancy is guided into the passenger seat, neither girl cuffed. That leaves an ache in Elijah's muscles from the metal cuffs holding his arms behind his back and a heavy silence that doesn't sway elsewhere the entire trip to the station.

The closer they are driven to the building and further away from their "monster hunting", Elijah figures out for sure that they're well and truly fucked.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Elijah stares into an empty space of nothing with his wrists bound to a wooden desk. He discovers on his own that Steve's clique wasn't anywhere to be found when the officer returns with continuous puffs from being out of breath, alone. It pisses him off on an entirely other level that he barely did anything wrong besides assaulting a douchebag that had a beating coming for a long time, the same goes for Steve. Why were they the only ones allowed to run, free, while Elijah and Jonathan are stuck in the station?

Right, Elijah remembers with a roll of his eyes. Because Steve and his friends were white, rich, and straight. And much faster by the looks of it.

"We brought some ice," Nevaeh announces her return with Nancy. The spinning chair beside Elijah squeaks and scratches the flooring and he feels something damp with a freezing cold touch press against his skin a second later.

Elijah sighs in relief at the touch and leans into it. It brings a calm feeling to the warm throbs that were caused by the few hits Tommy managed. He shuts one eye so it won't swell further and uses the other to peek across the station. Jonathan was sat at another desk, hands locked together, with Nancy giving him the same treatment Elijah was receiving, but with more distance. He tries to smile but regrets it when his split lip starts to sting and hisses at the feeling.

"You'll be fine," Nevaeh reassures him. She gently uses her thumb to wipe away the drying blood that reveals the tear. "You'll even have a gnarly scar soon."

There's a beat of silence that follows since Elijah doesn't know what to say. He was itching for a smoke. Nevaeh, with an addiction of her own, notices the anxious tick of his fingers and frowns. "I heard you ask Jonathan what you did when you saw that sign. You didn't do anything. You didn't deserve that. Nobody deserves to be called... That. You know that, right?" She asks.

Elijah takes a deep breath. The cool air kisses his lip wound and fills his lungs that offers some relaxation so he can admit, "He's the one who kissed me, but I... I wanted it, too."

He searches Nevaeh's features for any signs of disgust, hatred. But there's none. Elijah sees a sad glint in her eyes at the same time she tilts her head and faintly smiles with a look that instead says, I know. It's okay.

That alone makes Elijah release a quiet huff of laughter. Solace has never felt so great as it did then. This was a secret that he allowed to crush his lungs, bring unbearable pressure to his shoulders, all so Steve wouldn't have to. It gave him a fresh taste of freedom that someone he trusts and loves knows now. Elijah had a hunch Nevaeh always knew because of the time she caught them flushed in his bed the second time it happened, and, well, she has been looking up to her big brother her entire life. She couldn't have possibly missed it.

"It was stupid to hope for something real," Elijah confesses quietly. He could have laughed at how pathetic he sounded, how sad it was that he had always been in love with his childhood best friend.

Elijah wondered if that was an obvious fact to anyone but him. He considered his family always had a hunch and knew how he loved Steve as much as he loved the stars that told their story because there were always clear hints, as transparent as a shooting star that Elijah wished on a hundred times to be loved in return.

It would have been nice to cry there and truly release the pent-up emotions dangerously close to spilling, but Elijah would rather light himself on fire than sob in a police station. The tears still burn in the corner of his eyes from the way his heart aches with how much it hurts by admitting he was always in love with Steve Harrington who selfishly used him. The world showed Elijah Wolfhart its cruelest form, didn't it? It forced him to grow up too early. And now it wanted him to cry in a place he didn't belong. Elijah tries to lock his jaw to hide it.

This was something Elijah has cried over what felt like a hundred times. It shattered his heart into a million pieces. But the stars, they were broken fragments too, and they were still beautiful on their own.

He knows Nevaeh notices the attempt when she brushes her thumb across his cheek to wipe away the first droplet that escapes. This was one of the rare moments she had to seize, seeing her big brother in such a vulnerable state. She wants him to know it's okay to fall apart. Nevaeh shakes her head. "It wasn't stupid. You love him," she whispers like it's a fact.

Elijah nods subtly. "I would have gone to Mars and back for him." He tries to laugh, but the sound cracks. "Other days I can't tell if I want to kiss him again or punch him in the face."

"I think you should punch him in the face," Nevaeh suggests lightly. She rubs Elijah's upper arm with her free hand when she sees the muscle tense. "But he'll know one day what he lost."

Elijah wonders just how true that is. He could have drowned in the thoughts of how many times he considered if Steve was scared of what he felt and pushed him away because of that. Other days he thought of how Steve had used him and he was just another closet case. Those were the worst times. Elijah wanted to scrub his skin raw under a boiling showerhead until he didn't feel that way again, so used and worthless. If Steve knew one day he lost someone like him, why couldn't he feel the same disgust instead of pride?

A sudden voice bellows from across the station, "Elijah Cole Wolfhart," which sends Elijah's shoulders squaring and his back straightening, quickly snapped out of his own mind.

The only time Tobia Wolfhart used his children's full names is when they're in deep trouble. Elijah remembers the last time it was used in anger was when he took a trip to the store his father worked at and accidentally hit a case in an aisle, causing them to fall like dominoes. That had been an accident and without any ill intention. This was a bit different considering Elijah did pound in Tommy Hagan's face with every intention of making him bleed, but he wasn't going to be able to talk his way out of this one.

It takes Tobia a minute to cross the flooring and study his son at the same time. Elijah knows his face is messed up and there's no hiding it. He flushes with the shame of his father's disappointment in him. Tobia must have come right away in his work uniform. Elijah realizes they share the same expression when they're angry as he demands like they're in an interrogation, "What did you do? What happened?"

"Dad, it's not... It's not what it looks like," Nevaeh defends when Elijah's mouth is too dry and stuffed with cotton to open. "He was defending himself."

Elijah wonders momentarily if his father saw Steve's artwork scattered across town. Tobia confirms his thoughts right on cue when he puts his hands on his hips, tucked behind the waistline of his jacket, actions he took when he was deep in thought. Elijah knows Tobia heard the rumors that flew when Steve outed him, but he never had the bravery to confirm anything. He avoided the topic altogether. Now here it was again, trying to seem bigger than him.

It was a terrifying thought that Tobia Wolfhart would hate him, would throw him out of the house the second he found out his son wouldn't marry a woman and have a picket-fence perfect future. He never spoke of what his thoughts were on boys who kissed boys or girls who kissed girls.

But Elijah figures he should have known better from the man who taught him feelings were the most important things in this world. Tobia seemingly calms, finally wrapping his head on the truth - his son was in a police station, under arrest, and gay. Despite all of the problems hitting him at once, Elijah can still read the way his father still loves him anyway the same way he could see it on Nevaeh. The one that said It's okay. I still love you.

Elijah knew he was in deep shit for being arrested, but the support and love still meant the world to him. Jonathan and Nancy, they knew too, they just didn't care. His sexual standing meant nothing to them. This was all Elijah wanted from the beginning, but it had been something he yearned for from Steve without realizing that familial and platonic love could mean so much more than romantic love when you need it the most.

"We're going to talk about this soon," Tobia warns. Elijah notices his eyes trail to the metal cuffs tightly around his wrists. He's concerned about the bloody lip and black, bruised circle, but he knows his father fears an arrest permanently on his record more.

Soon, however, is put on hold when the door to the police station swings open again. Joyce Byers storms in with Chief Hopper on her heels. She's much more concerned than angry, exclaiming as she processed the sight, "Hey, Jonathan! Boys... Jesus, what... What happened?" Jonathan ducks his head and mumbles that he's fine as his mother's fury starts to rise. "Why are they wearing handcuffs?!"

"Well, your boy assaulted a police offer and his boy - " The arresting officer cocked his head towards Tobia, "was out of control, beating another into a bloody pulp. That's why."

Elijah's stare darkens and his jaw locks again with a tick. "Get fucked."

His father's head snaps to him. "Elijah Wolfhart - "

"He started it!"

"That's enough!" Joyce shouts over the chaos. It silences the men in the room right away. "Take them off."

The officer tilts his head, causing his glass to slip down his nose. "I am afraid I cannot do that - "

"Take them off!"

Hopper, to Elijah's surprise, actually sides with Joyce. "You heard her. Take 'em off," he orders his officers firmly.

"Chief," another man steps in. "I get everyone's emotional here, but there's something you need to see."

The man in charge is reluctant to follow, but they're insistent. Elijah watches as they leave with another door slam. He rolls his eyes in the direction of the station's glass window just in time to see them pop open the trunk of Jonathan's car. "Pigs," he coughs with his chin pressed to his collarbone. He hears Nevaeh press her hand to her mouth to stiffle her quiet laugh.

The cardboard box they find is carelessly thrown on top of the desk. Elijah can see it over Jonathan's shoulder as the box they filled of weapons. Joyce immediately burrows into it, shuffling through the supplies as she questions, "What is this?"

"Why don't you ask your son and his little friends? We found it in his car," Hopper replies gravely.

Jonathan straightens. "Why are you going through my car?"

"Yeah, don't you need permission first, like a warrant or some shit? Probable cause?" Elijah demands furiously. He doesn't actually know if that's true - he just wants to see the frustrated look in Hopper's face at the way they challenge his position of power.

"Is that really the questions you should be asking right now?" The Chief asks quietly. Elijah's mouth snaps shut as Hopper presses his hands flat on the desk and leans forward. He isn't afraid to challenge any officer in the station and didn't care what they could threaten him with. But there was something Elijah noticed etched in Hopper's face, something deeply familiar, like he could almost read what they were planning to do. "I want to see you all in my office."

"You won't believe me," Jonathan insisted with a shake of his head.

Hopper stops from where he was turning. He glares at the boys over his shoulder and dares them, "Why don't you give me a try?"

It was almost too tempting. Elijah wanted the monster he saw in that horrific place to be someone else's problem, preferably an adult in charge. The other half of him was independent and wanted to do it himself. But if that was the road he was going to take, he'd have to be set free of the handcuffs first. Elijah hadn't wanted his family involved, at risk with that thing, but it was too late for that. Nancy, Jonathan, and Nevaeh were already involved. That only left Tobia.

The Wolfhart siblings shared a look. It was something they've done since they were able to walk, what Steve would whine about in jealousy when he wasn't included, and that's read each other like they were sharing one brain. He knows she can't possibly wants Tobia involved either and the plan they form is morphed together in mere seconds.

"Dad," Nevaeh speaks up. She fakes a sick look that Elijah could applaud her acting skills for. "I, I hit my head during the fight." It isn't a complete lie. Her head had bounced off the brick wall of the alley when Tommy shoved her, but it couldn't have possibly done a ton of damage. Nevaeh's just looking for an excuse to get him out of there. "Can I go home?"

Tobia glances from each of them, unsure. Hopper seems to catch on too. "Elijah will be fine. You have my word as the Chief," he promises which causes the boy to raise his eyebrows. He wasn't aware the Chief knew his name by heart.

It takes a minute of consideration at first. Tobia is torn in the middle. He feels drawn to stay with his son, but worries for his daughter too. "Dad," Elijah whispers. "It's okay. I can take care of myself."

"I will be right back," Tobia swears to him because he knows indeed that Elijah Wolfhart can care for himself. He never relied on anyone to protect him, he fought for himself and how he felt. Tobia knows this because that is how he raised him. Elijah's lips twist into a smile as his father brushes his hair back, the tips of his fingers scratching his scalp, before he kisses the top of his head as a good-bye.

They're gone soon after. Tobia had twisted his car keys in his fingers as he waits for Nevaeh who desperately wanted to keep her word from earlier and fight the monster alongside her big brother. Elijah can tell by the way she hugs his arm and presses her forehead to his shoulder. But this is what he wanted for her. He would bear the danger of the monster, alone if need be, as long as she didn't have to for a single second.

The office the three teenagers are guided into after being uncuffed by the Chief alongside Joyce is oddly small for someone like Hopper. He shuts the curtains and closes the drapes so the only form of light was a lamp on his desk. That's what he sits upon, using the bulb to observe the black and white picture Nancy gave him. Elijah doesn't have to look at it to know it's the thing that chased them.

"You say blood draws this thing?" Hopper questions. His thumb starts to bend the corner and Elijah wonders if it's an anxious sign of doubt.

"We don't know," Jonathan mumbles.

"It's just a theory," Nancy adds quietly.

Elijah isn't as shy as his friends. Neither is Joyce, by the sounds of her muffled shouts at Jonathan when she drags him outside of the office, scolding him for thinking of going after the bloodthirsty thing with help. The Chief eventually leaves when there's a distant shouting from the center they came from. That brings Elijah and Nancy to where they were now, alone.

"I'm really sorry about what Steve and Tommy did," she tells him quietly.

He realizes this is the first time they've been alone together since they saw that stupid movie sign. It felt like it was bringing Elijah and Nancy together, something they could bond over, shared trauma. He tries to smile at her. "Me, too."

The shared trauma felt like a strong bond, Elijah considers. It was also what he had with Jonathan since they were both struggling losers looking for acceptance in Hawkins, shamed into being outcasts. He never thought Nancy could possibly feel like that. He always thought she was stuck-up, a girl that could have drowned in her riches and everything she had. Elijah wouldn't admit it, but he envied that without realizing how wrong he was about Nancy Wheeler once he got to know her. She wasn't a damsel in distress that needed saving and in some way, she reminded him of his own sister.

It startles them both when the office door swung open again. Hopper's face had flushed red and he's visibly disturbed by something. Elijah wonders if the reaction had to do with what they're hunting when the Chief utters, "We're leaving." He pauses when no one moves and then barks, "Now!"

Elijah shuffles through the station with the rest of his group. He ignores the eyes on him and keeps his chin up. There was nothing that could possibly bother Elijah Wolfhart now, not when he's faced his very own demons.

The five of them stick together. It wasn't how Elijah imagined their monster hunting would go, much less he hadn't believed he'd be working with the Chief of police. Sitting in the backseat, stuck in between his two friends with his mind running faster than the car's engine, Elijah fists clench and shake. He wants that monster dead for what it's done.

Nancy practically sprung out of the car when Hopper stops the car a good distance away from the Wheeler's. The beautiful house is swarmed with shiny cars, parked, being loaded with men in suits that seem to be emptying the place. Elijah leans into the empty space to get a better look while Hopper fights Nancy from marching to save her family. He swears he sees someone carry a board game he's seen before, the bold red letters reading DUNGEONS & DRAGONS.

"What the fuck do they want with a stupid kid's game?" Elijah wonders out loud.

"Maybe it has something to do with what you and Nancy went through," Jonathan suggests. Elijah has seen what things were inside that game he described as stupid - he hoped that wasn't the truth. There had to be another explanation -

Suddenly, Nancy is just about manhandled into the vehicle again, forcefully shoving Elijah to his spot once more. The doors shut with a bang as everyone settles in their seats again. Hopper twists over the front seat so he can speak directly to them. "Look, we need to find them before they go. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

"No, I don't!" Nancy panics.

"I need you to think!"

Elijah twists too so he can have a better look at her. Nancy's blue eyes have widened drastically with alarm, and being the eldest sibling himself, he understood. He'd rip the sky into two had Nevaeh disappeared. "Hey, Nance, take a deep breath," he eases. "Just think, okay?"

He hears her release a series of slow breaths. Nancy struggles to stammer something out, her hand pressed against her forehead. "I - I don't know. We haven't talked a lot. I mean, lately..." She trails off with a heavy sigh.

Hopper hits the dashboard in frustration. Joyce shoots him a glare before turning herself and tries asking, "Is there any place that your... Your parents don't know about that he might go?".

"I don't know."

"I might," Jonathan cuts in. Everyone's eyes turn to him. He's calmer than Nancy and Elijah wonders how the third eldest sibling in the car could be when Will's gone, too. He's what balances the trio in peace when they needed it most.

"I don't know where he is," Jonathan continues, "But I think I know how to ask him."

━━━━━━━━

author's note:

nevaeh is literally the "talk to me, i talk back" trend on tiktok & i absolutely love it.

this is finally the last chapter of mr. harrington being a dickhead and i cannot WAIT for the development coming. there's so much 🥺 also the monster hunting trio of eli, nancy, and jonathan is the best.

this was a long-ish chapter but i hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. we're also coming to a close end of act one - only roughly about three chapters left! maybe four! and then we're going to get started with act two that i'm sure will be sm fun to write.

thank you for reading!

- koda

.•° ✿ °•.
WORD COUNT:
6.5k.
°•. ✿ .•°