Chapter Nine:
Stupid Jacket
.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"It's not like it was before. It's grown.. a lot." Hopper explained as Ramona mindlessly picked at the gauze on her arm. "And I mean, that's considering we can get in there. That place is crawling with those dogs."

"Hey, hey. Stop messing with that. I did a good job." Steve said quietly, pulling her hand away from the bandages.

"Did you, Harrington?" Ramona countered, putting a hand on her hip and raising an eyebrow, "Did you.. really?"

Steve scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Uh, yeah. I did, García. I did."

"I said, uh, demo-dogs.." Dustin said slowly, "Like.. demogorgan and dogs.. You out them together.. sounds pretty badass-"

"How is this important right now?" Hopper cut the boy off, his voice raising.

"It's not.. I'm sorry." Dustin apologized, fiddling with his fingers as he looked down at the table.

"I can do it." Eleven said, causing Ramona to close her mouth.

"You're not hearing me." Hopper replied, "I-"

"I'm hearing you." Eleven cut him off, "I can do it."

"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies." Mike explained, pain clear in his eyes as he looked around.

"I thought that was the whole point." Max knitted her eyebrows together.

"It is, but if we're really right about this.. I mean if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's armry-"

"Will's apart of that army." Lucas realized.

"Closing the gate will kill him." Mike continued.

"Oh, fuck no." Ramona shook her head, "There is no way on God's green earth I'm letting that kid die. Hell would have to freeze over first. Over my dead fucking body-"

"Jesus, García." Steve cut her off, raking a hand through his hair. "Neither of you are gonna die."

"I have an idea." Joyce said quietly.

"Huh?"

"I have an idea!" She said, her voice louder as she stood up and walked into the hallway. "Follow me."

Ramona shrugged, motioning Steve to join her. The girl's heart fell to her stomach when she saw him laying in the bed.

"He likes it cold." Joyce realized as she walked over to the open window.

"What?" Hopper looked down at her.

"That's what Will kept saying to me." Joyce explained, shutting the window. "He likes it cold. We keep giving it what it wants."

"If this is a virus.. and Will's the host, then-" Nancy started, trailing her eyes down to Will.

"Then we need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan continued.

"So if he likes it cold.."

"We use heat." Ramona said, narrowing her eyes at Steve as he moved her hand from her upper arm again.

"We need to burn it out of him." Joyce confirmed.

"We need to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time." Mike said.

"Like my house! Except not my house." Ramona said, realizing seconds later why that would be a bad idea. "She's probably gonna fuckin' kill me when I get back.. I've been gone a while."

"Somewhere far away." Dustin said.

"Like my cabin." Hopper realized, "We'll do it at my cabin."

~~

"Harrington, you okay?" Ramona asked quietly, watching as Hopper and Jonathan's cars disappeared. He sighed, looking over at her and sending her a nod.

"I'd be better if you'd stop messing with the damn bandage, García!" Steve grumbled, pulling her hand away from her bandages again. "Seriously, this is how stuff gets infected. Quit it."

"Whatever." Ramona muttered, "Si hubieras hecho un mejor trabajo, ¡no me dolería tanto!"

"Jesus. Just get in the house, all of you." Steve pointed to the house, causing Mike, Lucas, Max, and Dustin to obey and go in. "And if it's gonna be such a big deal.. Here."

Ramona rose an eyebrow as she looked down at his hand, trailing her eyes back up to meet his. "Your jacket?"

"It's- It'll stop you from itching it. Just put it on." Steve pushed his hand closer to her. "Do it."

"Vale, vale, lo estoy haciendo, relájate." Ramona muttered, taking the piece of fabric from his hands, slipping her arms through the holes. She put her hands on her hips, sending him a pointed look as she gestured to the jacket she wore, that fell to just below her hips. "There. Happy?"

"Very, now get inside." Steve smiled sarcastically.

"Oh, anything for you, King Harrington!" Ramona dramatically put a hand to her forehead as she stepped into the living room.

"Steve! Take this." Mike said, handing the older boy the dead creature wrapped in a blanket.

"Wha- Why?" Steve asked, grimacing as he looked down at the creature.

"Just do it." Max shook her head, pointing to the kitchen. "And go there."

"Uh.. Okay.."  Steve said slowly, gesturing with his head for Ramona to follow him.

"Dusty roads.. uh.. What in the ever loving fuck are you doing?" She said slowly, watching as Dustin carelessly tossed the fridge shelves onto the ground.

"There. That should be enough room." Dustin dusted his hands, "And I'm preserving."

"Is this really necessary?" Steve asked, looking over at Ramona, who shrugged as she rolled up the sleeves of his stupid jacket, letting out a huff when they immediately unraveled themselves again and covered her hands.

"Yes, it is! Okay? This is a ground-breaking scientific discovery! We can't just bury it like some common mammal, okay? It's not a dog!"

"All right, all right, all right." Steve said slowly, harshly putting the dead demo-dog in the fridge, "But you're explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?"

Ramona yawned, raising her hand to cover her mouth. The scent of pine mixed with hair products flooded her nose, causing her to drop her arm immediately as she cleared her throat. Ramona laughed, an amused expression crossing her face as she watched Steve struggle to get the creature into the fridge. "Jesus, a little help here!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Dustin asked plainly.

"Get the door, man." Steve struggled.

"The door? All right, I got the door." Dustin said, holding the door in place

"Ew, Jesus!" Steve grimaced as his arm became coated in the mucas as he pulled his arm from under the creature.

"Damn.." Dustin said, slamming the door just before the creature could fall out.

"That? Now that was fucking disgusting." Ramona laughed, "Bet you wish you still had this."

Steve rolled his eyes as she disappeared into the living room. He looked to Dustin, who already had his eyes on him. "What?"

"You have the electricity." Dustin said.

"What? The.. the electricity? With García? No, no, no.. No, no. No way, she's... no." Steve shook his head quickly, "N-"

"She's wearing your jacket right now, Steve." Dustin pointed out.

"Well, yeah, so she would stop messing with those bandages-" Steve defended.

"That you put on her."

"Right, because... so she wouldn't bleed out." Steve explained, "And it wouldn't get infected or anything."

Dustin hummed, "Sure. Tell yourself whatever you want."

Steve blinked, "We don't have the electricity!"

"Okay."

"We don't." Steve insisted, "I-I.."

"You can't say you hate her, you don't." Dustin interrupted, "Continue."

"I don't even.. we're not even friends."

"Right, sure." Dustin pursed his lips, "And it's demo-dogs, Mike!"

"The chief will take care of her." Lucas said, trying to calm Mike down.

"Like she needs protection." Max huffed, shaking her head. Ramona stretched her arm out, dropping her hand from her upper arm as Steve entered the room.

"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line you execute it, all right?" Steve said, wiping the mucas from his arms, sending Ramona a pointed look.

"Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game." Mike said, "And second of all, we're not even in the game, we're on the bench!"

"Ri- So.. My point is.." Steve stammered, flipping the towel to rest on his shoulder, "Right, yeah, we're on the bench.. so, uh, there's nothing we can do."

"Awesome!" Ramona said sarcastically.

"That's not entirely true." Dustin pointed out, "I mean, these demo-dogs, they have a hive mine. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away."

"So, if we get their attention.." Lucas said slowly, realization falling over the group.

"Maybe we can draw them from the lab." Max looked up at Lucas.

"Clear a path to the gate-"

"Yeah, and then we all die!" Steve shook his head.

"That's one point of view."

"No, that's not a point of view, man, that's a fact."

"We just have to make sure you children don't die horribly." Ramona said, "Including me."

"How are we-"

"I got it!" Mike pushed past Dustin and Lucas, walking over to the wall. "This is where the chief dug his hole! This is our way into the tunnel, so.."

Ramona huffed, spinning on her heel as she followed the tall boy around the house. "Here, right here, this is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here.. Maybe if we set this on fire-"

"Fuck yeah, arson!" Ramona cheered.

"Oh, yeah? That's a no." Steve pointed at them.

"The mind flayer would call away his army." Dustin ignored him.

"They'd all come to stop us!"

"Hey!" Steve clapped, trying to get their attention.

"We circle back to the exit."

"Guys!"

"By the time they realize we're gone-"

"El would be at the gate!" Max said excitedly.

"Hey, hey. Hey, Hey! This is not happening."

"But-"

"No, no, no, no no! No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, I promised I'd keep you alive, and that's exactly what I plan on doing! We're staying here. On rhe bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?"

"This isn't a stupid sports game."

"I said, does everybody understand that?" Steve repeated, casting glances at Ramona. "I need a yes."

The sound of an engine revving tore Ramona's attention from Steve.

Max's face fell as she ran over to the window, "It's my brother. He-He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me, he'll kill us!"

"Fan-fucking-tastic!"

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

{ A/n: Bitch they're so in love }

{ Translations: If you had done a better job it wouldn't hurt as much, okay okay im doing it relax,