╭ ╮
━━━━  " 📂 "

𝙋 𝘼 𝙍 𝘼 𝘿 𝙄 𝙎 𝙀

╰ ╯

STEVE HADN'T EXACTLY WAITED for complaints when he stepped forward out of the house at the same time as the music that blared through the speakers of Billy Hargrove's car. It seemed, to him at least, that anybody else going out there would be all the more of a death wish, and Max's hurried whisper of what could happen if Billy found out she was there only prompted him out that door quicker.

The door of the Camaro slammed and Steve leant on one of the wooden columns holding up the roof of the porch. "Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?" Billy asked, his words audible through the half-smashed window Sadie and the others were watching the exchange out of, the boy currently being addressed only visibly by the point of his elbow as his hands rested on his hips.

"Yeah it's me," Steve replied drily. "Don't cream your pants."

The car door Billy was leaning on slammed, his jacket discarded and a cigarette being lit as he examined the scene in front of him. He took a drag. "What are you doing here, amigo?" He asked as Steve walked away from the porch, approaching Billy upon the drive.

"I could ask you the same thing." There was a pause. "Amigo." Steve added,  eyebrows darted up and allowing the sarcasm to slip through, whether on purpose or by accident.

"Looking for my stepsister." Billy continued to smoke, eyes not leaving his current opponent. "A little birdie told me she was here." Sadie didn't quite want to know which poor soul had been forced to encounter the Hargrove in his attempts to find Max, who was watching the scene with tense shoulders.

"Huh, that's weird. I don't know her." Steve replied, so quick that it was believable. His tone was somehow friendly; affable whilst simultaneously holding a hostility against him.

"Small?" Billy began, a hand reached up to gesture at his mullet. "Redhead? Bit of a bitch."

Sadie pushed herself upwards then, off of the sofa and the uncomfortable position she had been in trying to see the conversation happening. Her previous words shared with Billy Hargrove had been somewhat the opposite of what was going on. He had been flirtatious, borderline agreeable. She hoped that somehow, her presence would make things a little easier because it was known that neither of the boys stood on the driveway particularly got on.

"Doesn't ring a bell. Sorry, buddy." Steve said, as her hand landed on the doorknob.

"Then, if you don't mind me asking, Harrington," there was a pause as he took a drag, "you're a little far from home, aren't you?"

"Might be."

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Sadie pushed the door open, arms wrapped around her stomach as she took her place beside Steve, who glared at her. "Babysitting, Billy, we're babysitting." She said. "And it just so happens we're not babysitting your stepsister."

Billy scoffed. "Oh good, you've got the whore here as well." Sadie didn't react to that, just blinked at him and didn't even allow a frown to cover her features; that was what he wanted because clearly, he didn't happen to haven't been picked.

Steve, however, didn't quite have the stoicism to remain silent, nor in his anger could recognise the case of the deflated male ego. "What did you just call her?" He asked, undisguised anger filtering through his expression and tone.

"Just ignore him, Steve." It didn't phase her, it really didn't, and she waved away the latest nickname she faced. "Listen Billy, we don't have your stepsister here, but I'd be happy to point out some places she could be. Did you try the arcade?"

"I'm not brain dead behind the eyes, Sadie." The words sparked recognition; Sadie had said the same thing to him just days before. His attention turned back to Steve, mocking him. "This whole situation, I don't know, Harrington... it's giving me the heebie-jeebies."

"Oh yeah, how's that?"

"My thirteen-year-old sister is missing all day," Billy spoke slowly. "Then I find her with you and your girlfriend... at a stranger's house... and you lie to me about it?"

"Man, were you dropped too much as a child or what?" Steve scoffed, shaking his head. "Do you need Sadie to tell you again? Some other proof? I don't know what you don't understand about what I said: She's not here"

"Really, I don't even think I've met her." Sadie lied easily, a shrug following.

"Oh yeah..?" Billy looked between them, cigarette balanced between his fingers. His eyes flickered over Sadie's shoulders. Shit. "Then who is that?"

The pair looked back; the sight of several heads - including one prominently ginger one - ducking out of sight could be seen. "Crap." Sadie muttered.

"Oh, shit, listen-" Steve had a similar reaction, before turning back to Billy, the pair of them instantly placing themselves between the intruder and the door, only to find that it was far too easy for him to push past. Steve was pushed more forcibly by a swift punch to the face; there were no hesitations for Billy towards the idea of hurting the boy, and despite his insults and attention to Sadie turning sour when it became ultimately obvious that she wasn't interested in him like he was her, his shoulder crashed into her's with a considerable amount of force as he passed her and pushed her to the ground.

She tensed as she hit the floor, the thud of her knees greeting gravel sickening in her ears and the sting of a graze forming there made her swear. For a moment she forgot that Billy was heading into the house and didn't force herself to her feet, the pain of chunks of rock settling in her skin where her jeans had torn shot through her body.

But then she heard the ruckus inside and she came back to life, urgency spiking her bloodstream because her brother was in there. Her brother and his best friends were in there and she was collapsed on the driveway like some cut had ever killed anyone. Granted it didn't get infected and whatnot, but that could be worried about later.

"Hey - hey - you okay?" Steve was pushing himself to his feet as crashing could be heard in the house, the same urgency flooding through his veins as it had hers. She nodded, felt his hand wrap around hers without question and pulled her to her feet, the two making their way through the front door.

It became obvious, then, what Billy was doing. He had Lucas pinned to a cabinet, Max looking horrified as she watched him from a distance and stood beside Mike and Dustin who were watching their best friend of several years, completely helpless against the older boy.

Billy had stumbled back, wincing after Lucas kicked him right in the crotch of his too-tight jeans, but he rose up again without question - he didn't seem like the type to give up at any hurdle, let alone the first. "So dead, Sinclair!" Billy's voice pierced the stunned, terrified silence. "You're dead."

And then Steve reached forward and pulled him back by his arm. "No." He said, "You are." His fist pulled back and Billy recoiled at the force, twisting back with a grunt at the impact, laughing like a maniac as he turned back to the Harrington as Lucas made it back to his friends and was pulled into a hug.

Billy's laughter didn't cease and it played into his tone. "Looks like you've got some fire in you after all, huh?" Blood was smudging beneath his nose but it was as if he hadn't been punched at all. "I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everyone's been telling me so much about." He stepped closer to Steve at that, and the bubble of uncertain worry and impending doom that had settled in Sadie's chest since the very first punch was beginning to grow.

Her eyes scanned the scene, saw the clutched fists, and there wasn't one outcome she had pieced together in her head over several very brief seconds that ended positively. Not a single one - because there was no chance that Billy would call a ceasefire and she truly believed that Steve would protect every single one of those kids until he was limboing between life and death.

In the mere moments that Sadie had been contemplating, the anger in Steve's eyes had settled and he too knew there was nothing much he could do, except ask. He stepped even close. "Get out." He ordered, fingers pushing against his chest and managing to force him back a pace.

Then Billy threw a punch and Steve ducked, and when he straightened up he landed a punch, then again each time Billy came up laughing, blood staining his gums and his teeth and the Harrington continued until his opposite was backed up against the sink, spurred on by the shouts of Mike, Dustin and Luke.

Shouts of concern echoed as Billy seized a plate and sent it crashing into Steve's head, the plate shattering on impact. It was enough for him to regain control of the fight as Steve stumbled away and Sadie swore as she watched him duck just in time for Billy's fist to collide with the shelf, his enemy continuing to stumble through into the living room, entirely dazed from the attack.

And Billy used the moment of weakness to his advantage, Sadie's arm darting back to push Lucas into Max and Dustin as he passed to seize Steve by the collar of his jacket. "No one tells me what to do!" With a swing of his head the side collided with Steve's temple and went reeling off to the floor, Billy roaring through the exhilaration. "Get up!" He ordered, coming to sit over him and landing punch after punch.

Sadie couldn't watch. She knew she should, she knew that she should try and find a way to stop him, to stop him from hurting Steve but she was frozen in place, eyes wide in fear as Billy just kept going. She knew too much. She knew too much about what this could do to a person, how much damage this could do and God, she was more scared of this than the stupid Demogorgon that had dragged her under him because it was Steve.

Everything sickening punch echoed in her, the ache in her chest thudding without mercy to the sick feeling in her stomach, the panic and anxiety flooding in her brain. There was blood, his eyes were closed, head pliant and moving from left to right as Billy hit him. She didn't know what to do. Didn't know if there was anything she could do but Jesus someone had to do something and it had to be her because how could she let any of the kids do anything.

Tears of something - upset, fear or something entirely deeper - seeped into the corner of her eyes as she panicked, and she knew that any logic she applied was entirely useless and there was nothing she could do to help him and she had to help because she had to do something because Steve was laying unconscious on the floor because they couldn't do anything, there was no way they could do anything because it was Billy Hargrove and if she ended up the same way who could protect Lucas and Max and Sadie didn't know what do to.

But Max did, because Max had seized the prepared syringe left on the side from Will and pulled off the cap and she was pushing pass them and all of a sudden Billy had stilled because there was a needle injected into his neck. The whine of feedback that seemed to have overtaken her senses came to a stop when Billy did, bloodied fists hanging by his hips as he saw the needle in his neck and he stumbled to his feet, turning towards Max.

The ginger girl stood, terrified, in front of him as he managed to pull it out. "The hell is this?" he asked, but his movements became almost sticky, faulty and dazed. "You little shit, what did you do?" Billy pressed, but it was evident that the Propofol was slowing his movements and he keeled backwards before he could ask again, landing slumped on the ground by the doorway.

He laughed again, but this time it was hazy and drugged-up without any real meaning behind it. Max had Steve's bat and she lifted it, but Sadie wasn't paying attention because the fear in her mind had subsided a little and she pushed past her brother to reach Steve, landing on her knees and swearing as she saw the blood.

Using the sleeve of her sweater she wiped up as much as she could without it getting into the wounds created and hurting him more, cradling his head in her arms as she pulled him away from Billy. "Steve," She mumbled, as something thudded behind her. She didn't quite expect him to answer but she had to try and see if he was awake. "Steve. Come on, wake up." She urged, "We have to save the world, and we can't leave you here." Max was shouting now, but she couldn't listen as she continued her examination of his wound.

Her fingers pulled back his hair and she peered as his forehead, blood matting in his hair and smeared all over his face. "Sadie!" Dustin said, and she looked away, finding Max holding the keys to the Camaro. "We have to go, come on."

"Yeah, okay." She nodded, turning back to him. "Can someone get ice... and... who can do first aid here, because I have to drive and-"

"I can drive." Max said. Sadie's eyes flickered over to her. "My dad taught me in the parking lot of a Walmart. I can drive." The Henderson didn't say anything. "I swear."

"I should drive." Sadie frowned, knowing that there was no point in even trying to get to the tunnels if they were going to end up in a crash on the way there.

"No, no - Sadie." A pained voice whined and Sadie's head shot downwards. "Sadie, don't leave me." Steve managed to mumble through a groan, in more pain than he cared to admit following his injuries.

"Okay. You can drive." Sadie agreed, her focus on Steve as she very carefully pulled up his puffy eyelids. "He has a concussion... might need stitches... Max, can you get the ice pack from the freezer, don't - er - don't open the fridge door and there's a first aid pack under the sink. Mike, Lucas, Dustin, you gotta help me carry him."

"Sadie, Sadie, Sadie." Steve hummed, in and out of consciousness before shutting up again, too in pain to try anything else. And so, the efforts to move him began, with Sadie taking the slightly terrifying plunge to let Dustin take her place and she pulled Billy out the way of the door, his foot used to prop it open. Then together they managed to get Dustin into the backseat with Steve momentarily leant on him before Sadie joined him and they managed to fit both Mike and Lucas into the passenger seat with Max driving.

Somehow she was supposed to patch him up during that. She would manage, because she had to.

✧

Steve came to again when Sadie was trying to wipe the blood from beneath his nose, halfway through telling Max to try and drive a little carefuller for the umpteenth time. Dustin was holding the ice up to his forehead as she worked, orange-red bruises already forming on his skin from the impact and a couple of themed bandaids pressed over the cuts she had cleaned.

Gasoline sloshed on Dustin's lap, even louder as they went over a bump and Steve's head lolled to the side, eyes bleary. "...Sadie?" He asked in a mumble.

"Yeah, I'm here." She promised, as he groaned again, hand lifting to his eyes.

"No - no, don't touch it." Dustin told him and pulled it away, Steve's head following the noise. "Hey buddy... sh sh sh. It's okay, you put up a good fight. Scared Sadie half to death and he kicked your ass, but you put up a good fight, buddy, you're okay - you're okay."

"Steve?" Sadie sat forward, not constrained by a seatbelt. She leant towards him as he tried to twist in his seat, in evident agony. "Steve, no, don't move - come here, okay?" He didn't stop her when she pulled his hands down and held them together, head adjusted to lean on her shoulders. "It's okay, just stay there - Dustin, move his hair, would you?"

"Yeah, I got it." Dustin agreed, and Sadie - with a little more hesitation this time because he was awake and would be a bit more aware of the sting the rubbing alcohol brought. She was right, and the two siblings shushed him and patted his hair to comfort him.

"Okay, you're gonna keep straight for a half a mile," Lucas was saying as he read the map Mike had found. "Then you're gonna make a left on Mount Sinai." He instructed.

"What's going on?" Steve asked, dazed and dizzy and his head quite literally spinning, and seeing Max glance back to him with both hands on the wheel certainly wasn't helping. "Woah - oh my God!" He exclaimed, the sight having sprung him back to life.

"Steve, relax, she's driven before." Dustin assured him.

"Yeah, in a parking lot." Mike added.

"That counts." Lucas said. "Besides, Sadie gave her the green light, and what was that whole thing about trusting Sadie earlier?"

"The... the green light?" Steve repeated. "The green light?"

"I weighed up the pros and cons of the moment, and-" Sadie began, before Dustin decided to take over.

"You wouldn't let her go to drive, buddy." He announced, much to Steve's confusion. "You're lucky they didn't leave you behind, because there was mention of it."

"Yeah, when we were trying to carry him through the door." Sadie added. "You might have an extra bruise or two on your leg - but it's okay, we're okay, Max can drive. I trust her."

"Oh my God!" Steve seemed quite unable to react any other way, his voice raising several decibels, particularly as Max sped up. "Oh my God! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. What's going on?" She pressed down on the pedal, the Camaro that Sadie had admired so much growing louder. "Oh my God. No! Whoa! Stop the car - slow down!"

"I told you he'd freak out." Mike insisted.

"Stop the car!"

"Everybody shut up!" Max yelled. "I'm trying to focus!"

"Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai!" Lucas, distorted by the dark, found the turning in a darkness. "Make a left." He instructed.

"What?" Max blinked.

"Make a left." Lucas insisted, and with screeching tires and knocking over a mailbox as they screamed, Max made the left before righting themselves again on the track.

"Stop the car." Were the first, breathless words to leave Steve's lips when they all calmed down. "Sadie... the car. Stop."

"I know, I know." She hummed, brushing hair out of his eyes and taking another bandaid and taking off the wrapper. "I know, stop the car - but we can't, Stevie." She continued, using the sort of voice she usually would with Holly Wheeler, or some kind of pet. But it's purpose was to calm him and it did for the most part. "We can't stop the car, because there isn't enough time to stop the car."

"But she's.... she's thirteen, she can't drive. You should drive."

"Then who would be looking after you, hm?" She smiled, feeling slightly stupid particularly as she caught Dustin's eye and glared at him. "Besides, we're almost there, right, Lucas?"

"Yeah, almost there." Came the voice from the front.

"And Max is in control, so you don't need to worry." Sadie continued to reassure him, a hand combing through his hair as she wiped up his wounds. "Everything's fine, Steve, we're just gonna help save the world, okay?" He was slowly beginning to wake up more and more with every rather sharp corner they took, veering off the road as they reached Merrill's farm.

Max managed to ensure it only struggled slightly as they travelled over the upturned dirt of the farmer's field, and came to a quick spot by the rather telling deep hole in the ground, Steve managing to sit up properly with the relief of living the slightly nightmarish journey travelling through his veins.

"Incredible." Mike breathed out and Max looked pleased, turning the keys in the ignition and turning the car off.

"I told you." She smiled. "Zoomer."