chapter three,
the monster and the superhero

･ ｡ﾟ☆ "delivery service!" the group burst through the door of reefer rick's hidden shed, smiling widely and holding up bags of groceries - making a paranoid eddie munson jump back in surprise. "so we got, uh, some good news and some bad news. how do you prefer it?"

"bad news first, always." eddie shrugged, shovelling handfuls of honey comb cereal in his mouth.

"alright," dustin nodded. "bad news: we tapped into the hawkins pd dispatch with our cerebro, and they're definitely looking for you. also, they're, uh, pretty convinced you killed chrissy."

"like, 100% kind of convinced." max added.

"and the good news?"

"your name hasn't gone public yet," robin explained. "but if we found out about you, it's only a matter of time before others do too. and once that gets out, everyone and their shallow-minded mother is gonna be gunning for you."

lola nodded. "and that's basically every little shit in town, so- you're basically screwed."

"hunt the freak, right?" eddie murmured.

"exactly."

"shit."

"so, before that happens, we need to find vecna, kill him, and prove your innocence."

"that's all, dustin?" eddie scoffed. "that's all?"

"yeah, no, that's pretty much it."

"listen, eddie, i know everything dustin is saying sounds totally delusional, but we've actually been through this kind of thing before." robin shrugged, pointing at lola, steve, dustin and max. "i mean, they have a... a few times, and i have once. mine was more human-flesh-based, and theirs was more smoke-related..? but the bottom line is- collectively, i really feel like we've got this."

"we usually rely on this girl who has super powers."

"yeah, el." lola added. "but those went bye-bye, and now she's lives in california with the byers."

"so we're technically in more of the... kinda... brainstorming phase..?"

lola nodded optimistically. "yeah! but- but it's fine! robin's really smart! she makes good plans! and- and, dustin and max are really good with investigating stuff. steve's good with a bat, so there's something. and uh- i'm okay with moral support!"

"moral support..?"

"yeah, there- there's nothing to worry about." dustin spluttered, smiling.

there was the sudden sound of police sirens wailing, and eddie cursed, everyone rushing him to hide under the tarp. "tarp! tarp, tarp!"

"let's check it out?" lola suggested, and robin nodded, following her out of the door.

steve, dustin and max shared a look, watching the two girls leave. "...well i guess we're checking it out."

"why does she think she's in charge all of a sudden?" dustin grumbled. "and why does robin always do whatever she says?"

steve pushed the boy out of the door. "get in the car."

"and after you talked to wayne, what happened?" an officer asked nancy.

"i heard barking from the dog, and then... he was just gone."

"did you see anyone lurking about? anyone who looks like they shouldn't be there?"

"no. no, no, there was nobody there. i already told this to officer daniels. did you look into victor creel?"

"what?"

"wayne got it in her head that the old nut did this." officer daniels explained.

"victor's locked away tight, honey. you don't need to worry about him, alright?"

steve stopped the car when they they reached the road blockage, where a gaggle of news vans surrounded the police tape - nancy stood in the middle of it all next to two police officers.

"now, you said the last time you saw fred, he was by the picnic tables. do i have that right?" nancy wasn't paying attention aynmore, watching her group of friends file out of the car, smiling fondly and sending a small wave. "miss wheeler? is that correct? does the picnic table ring a bell?"

･ ｡ﾟ☆

"so you're saying that this thing that killed fred and chrissy, it's from the upside down?" nancy asked, eyebrows furrowed. she, steve, robin, lola, dustin, and max were sat around a rusting picnic table in the middle of the trailer park.

"if the shoe fits."

"our working theory is that he attacks with a spell.. or a curse?" dustin explained. "now, whether or not he's doing the bidding of the mind flayer or just loves killing teens- we don't know."

"all we know is that this is something different. something new." max added.

"it doesn't make sense." nancy shook her head.

"it's only a theory."

"no, fred and chrissy don't make sense. i mean, why them?"

"maybe they were just in the wrong place? they were both at the game."

"and near the trailer park."

"...we're at the trailer park." steve frowned, looking around. "uh, should we maybe not be here..?"

"there is something about this place." lola nodded. "it's like.. it's haunted or something."

"fred started acting weird the second we got here."

"acting weird as in...?" robin frowned, concerned.

"scared, on edge, upset.."

"max said chrissy was upset too."

max nodded. "yeah, but not here. she was crying in the bathroom at school."

"serial killers stalk their prey before they strike, right?" robin began. "so, maybe fred and chrissy saw this vecman-"

"-vecna." dustin corrected.

"i don't know about you guys, but if i saw some freaky wizard monster, i would mention it to someone."

"maybe they did." max frowned. "i saw chrissy leaving miss kelly's office. if you saw a monster, you wouldn't go to the police. they'd never believe you. bur you might go to your-"

"-your shrink."

"we should talk to miss kelly. see what she knows. it could be a lead?"

"don't guidance counsellors have that, like, confidentiality rule?" lola asked.

"i'll find a way." max nodded, getting up from the bench, and the group headed towards the car.

nancy strayed away, instead of following the others towards steve's car, she headed to her own.

"nance. nance! where you going?" steve called.

"there's just something i wanna check on first."

"something you maybe wanna share with us?" dustin frowned.

"i don't wanna waste your time - it's a real shot in the dark." nancy shrugged.

"yeah, okay." the harrington boy scoffed. "are you out of your mind? flying solo with vecna on the loose? no way- no. it's too dangerous. you need- you need someone to... here." he chucked his car keys into robin's hands, the buckley girl scrambling to catch them. "i'll stick with nance. you guys take the car, check out the shrink."

"uh, i don't think you want me driving your car." robin shook her head.

"why?"

"i don't have a license."

"why don't you have a license?"

"i'm poor."

lola opened her mouth to speak, and steve immediately cut her off. "nope. no. don't even think about it."

"what the fuck!"

"don't you remember last year when you fucked up the toddfather?"

"okay, but that was on purpose." lola scoffed. "sorry for trying to save nancy's life, next time i'll just let her die. let her get ran over by-" she paused, remembering max was behind her.

"i can drive." max shrugged.

"no, never again. please, anybody but you! no."

dustin shrugged suggestively.

"no chance."

"come on!" dustin rolled his eyes.

"no."

"alright, okay." robin rolled her eyes, taking one of the radios from dustin's backpack and giving steve his car keys back. "this is stupid. us ladies will stick together," she tugged lola's wrist, moving to stand next to nancy. "unless.. you think we need you to protect us?" she grinned teasingly at steve, walking off and chuckling.

"be careful!" steve called after them, the two wheeler girls following robin to the car.

nancy sent her sister an annoyed look, and she shrugged, whispering under her breath, "play nice."

･ ｡ﾟ☆

"okay, help me get this straight," robin began, as the trio of girls wandered into hawkins library. "eddie's uncle, wayne, thinks that victor creel escaped from pennhurst asylum and that he's the one running around committing these murders?"

"this is what my life has come to." lola huffed, pushing open the door to the library.

"but victor committed the eyeball murders, like, way back in the '50s. so, that means these murders predate eleven in the upside down by about 30 years- which makes spooky victor creel like 70 years old."

"yep." nancy replied staley, ringing the bell on the front desk, looking fed up.

"so, he's a grandpa murderer, who can turn invisible and lift people into the air?"

"it doesn't make sense. i know." nancy huffed, growing more annoyed and ringing the bell again. "that's why i said it was a shot in the dark."

"i know. i just thought that by 'shot in the dark,' you were being modest - or hiding something super solid up your sleeve that you were gonna wow us with later. but this is like, really, truly a shot in the dark. like, we are snipers with blindfolds on who've been spun around 50 times!"

lola laughed, and nancy ceased to reply, just rapidly ringing at the bell.

"coming!" the librarian called, emerging from the staff room.

"hi. sorry, we're in a bit of a rush." nancy explained. "could we get the keys to the basement archives?"

"of course. give me one sec."

robin sent lola a look, as if to ask 'what's up with her?', and lola shrugged incredulously.

'she's your sister!' robin mouthed.

'so!' lola mouthed back.

"did i come off mean or condescending or something?" robin asked nancy, frowning.

"no."

"right- sorry. it's just, you seem annoyed. you don't know me very well- i don't really have a filter, or a strong grasp of social cues-"

"okay." nancy hummed, facing the wall.

"so if i say something that upsets you, just know that i know it's a flaw! believe me, lola and my mother remind me daily!"

"-i do not!" lola gasped.

"got it."

"alright, ladies!" the librarian returned with the keys, handing them over to nancy. "here you go. have fun!"

"yep. we'll... try."

robin, lola and the librarian all grimaced as nancy walked away, leaving them at the front desk.

"what is it with you wheelers and hating me when you first meet me?" robin asked lola, sighing.

"she'll come around." lola assured, offering a weak smile - although she wasn't too sure of the fact. she rushed forward to talk to nancy, who was speeding in front of them. "nance!"

"hm?"

"i thought i told you to play nice with robin."

"i am playing nice." nancy shrugged. "i'm just focused on getting this done, i don't have time for messing around. and besides, why do you want me to like her so badly? she's your friend, not mine."

"she's not just my friend, she's steve's friend, too." lola added, annoyed. "and it would be nice if we all got along."

"oh, i know she's steve's friend. but i still don't understand why that's relevant."

"because it shows she's a likeable person. and i know you would like her too if you got to know her - i did, and now i'm completely-" she paused. "-it doesn't matter. just be nice. please?"

"whatever, sure." nancy hummed, forcing the most genuine smile she could muster - but lola knew that she was actually going to try.

"thank you, thank you, thank you!"

･ ｡ﾟ☆

"anything.. juicy over there?" robin asked. the trio were sat looking through old newspapers with the microform catalogs. they had been sat in an awkward silence for the past half hour - nancy deep in concentration, lola dishevelled at the prospect of having to sit and quietly read for hours, and robin feeling antsy about the fact that her crush's sister seemed to hate her fucking guts.

"nothing new." nancy sighed.

"yep, same here." robin nodded. "victor seemed like a normal guy. dead family, missing eyes, took a plea deal, sent to pennhurst- blah, blah, blah."

"that's normal guy stuff to you?" lola raised an eyebrow, just thankful the silence was over.

"well, no, but- what are we looking for exactly?"

there was more silence.

"nance?" robin pressed, knocking rhythmically on the side of the microform machine. "any mention of dark wizards or alternate dimensions? things in that vein?"

nancy tilted her head to look over at her. "i don't know- okay? it's starting to seem like this was just a big waste of time!" she stood up from her seat, sighing. "and robin, you're obviously bored, so why don't you just call steve? i'm sure he'll come and pick you up. and i mean, i'm not really in danger here, so..." the girl walked away, heading down the stairs to the library's basement.

robin and lola looked at eachother, flabbergasted.

"does she think i-"

"-i think so."

"but i don't even-"

"-like guys."

"i was gonna say steve, but yeah, that too." robin chuckled, and stood up from her seat. "what do i do?"

"er, i don't know, just go down there and explain to her that you and steve are just friends."

robin nodded, following nancy down the basement stairs - lola at her tail. "you do know that steve and i are, like, totally not a thing, right?"

"what?" nancy looked surprised.

"so, i figure you and jonathan are still going strong 'cause you guys are going to college together, and you're like one of those unstoppable power couples- but i just... i wanted to make sure that you knew that steve and i are just friends. like, platonic with a capital p." robin sighed. "just in case that's adding any- tension between us."

"it wasn't."

"robin does not like steve." lola frowned, growing annoyed now. her sister was stubborn, just like herself, and mike - hell, her whole family was stubborn. but it was still annoying.

nancy hummed. "if you say so." she continued digging through the files. "they're both single, and they hang out alot. i'm not a firm-believer in the whole 'girls and boys can't be friends' stuff, but chemistry wise, they just remind me alot of jonathan and i before we started dating."

"okay, that's just bullshit." lola rolled her eyes. she obviously wasn't threatened by steve - robin is a lesbian. steve's her himbo. it's strictly platonic. that wasn't the issue here. the issue was nancy thinking that robin and steve had more relationship potential than lola and robin? come on.

"i really don't get why you're angry at this, lo."

"i'm not angry." the wheeler girl rolled her eyes again, slamming the drawer she was looking through closed, and walking towards the door that led to the other storage room. "i'm going to see if i can find anything useful in there. don't follow me."

"yep, she's angry." nancy mumbled to robin, who tried to catch lola's eyes, but the girl had already stormed off. "i didn't mean to- sorry if i offended you with the whole steve thing. im just stressed, that's all."

"it's fine, i'm gonna go and check on her." she pointed to the door of the other storage room.

nancy nodded, heading back upstairs. "i'll get the viewing machines upstairs running."

robin softly knocked on the door of the storage closet that lola was inside, leaning on the doorframe. "lola?"

"no." the girl sniffed from behind the door, and robin rolled her eyes, entering the room and shutting the door behind her.

"come on, you know i don't like steve, lola. you know who i am."

"of course i know you don't fucking like steve-" lola rolled her eyes. "this- this isn't about steve!"

"so please tell me what it is about, because i'm really confused, and i hate seeing you upset with me."

"i'm not upset with you!" lola huffed. "i just hate the way nancy feels like you're available, or that there's any realm of possibility that you could be dating anyone! it's bad enough that that vickie girl in band is all over you!"

"all over me? what are you talking about?"

"you know what, i-" the wheeler girl shook her head, putting her hand on the door knob. "i don't want to talk about this anymore."

"well what if i do?"

"i don't care." she sighed, turning back around to open the door. "i don't have anything else to say to you, robin. we have bigger fish to fry. it was stupid of me to even storm off."

robin grabbed her wrist, pulling her back. "stop being a dingus and talk to me."

robin didn't know where she was getting this confidence from. maybe it was the prospect of being locked up in a tiny closet (literally and metaphorically) with the girl of her dreams, or maybe - and she hated to say it - steve's pep talk had worked.

"well done, that's incredibly mature of you. you know, we have things to do here and you're fucking around arguing with me in a storage cupboard! seriously, robin, maybe if you weren't so fucking oblivious to what is going on around you, we wouldn't even have to have this conversation. do you know the amount of times i've given you hints about how i feel, and you still haven't picked up? and basically every single one of those dweebs in your geeky band club have a thing for you - especially vickie may i add - and they can't! and i hate that they do, because you're mine!"

"huh?" robin choked out, feeling as if her brain was malfunctioning, or her mind was playing some sort of cruel trick on her. lola likes her back? no, that couldn't be right. she's not that lucky. she's robin fucking buckley- she eats lunch alone in her english teacher's classroom. "w-what? s-say that last part again?" she rasped.

the wheeler girl paused, before continuing, eyes dropping to the wooden floorboards beneath their feet. "you're so oblivious that it's a little ridiculous, robin. at first i thought it was cute - and i still kinda do - but thats beside the point! do you want me to write it out on my forehead or something?"

"i think its a little hypocritical of you to call me ridiculous - i mean, seriously - you're lola wheeler. you're head cheerleader, you can have anyone in hawkins you want - actually, correction, anyone in indiana! so excuse me if i think it's an outrageous idea for someone like you to like someone like me! especially when you haven't actually explicitly said that you're into girls, let alone me! and i don't care about vickie, or anyone in band, because i don't want anyone but you!" robin exclaimed, letting out a large exhale after her ramble.

"and i don't want anyone but you either! and sorry, i haven't made it clear i like girls, because - news flash - up until that day in the bathroom, i didn't know either! it's confusing! but you make it sound like i'm some slut-bag whore just because i do cheer? like, what the fuck, robin!"

"i didn't say that!"

"you implied it."

"there was no implication!"

"i felt like there was a slight implication."

"okay, whatever!"

"fine." lola shrugged.

"fine." robin shrugged.

they stared at eachother for a moment, glaring. lola feels enough fury in her stomach to fuel a thousand fires. robin feels like throwing up.

lola wants to kiss her.

she's looking up at robin through her eyelashes, and she thinks that if she doesn't kiss her, she might die.

after a minute, robin huffed, ready to go on another rambling tangent about the wheeler girl's behaviour. "and you know what-"

lola wants to kiss her.
so she does.

she interrupted robin before she could properly start talking, gripping the freckled girl's shirt with her fist, and stepping on her tiptoes so she could pull her down to her level, leaning forward and smashing their lips together. robin kissed back for a moment, before pulling away, jaw slack.

"i-i don't know how to do this." her voice is broken, and nervous, and being pressed up so closely against lola really isn't helping matters. this is not real, this is not actually happening. her alarm is about to go off, and her mom's going to scream at her that breakfast is ready - but this doesn't happen. this is real.

lola whined into robin's mouth when the girl's fingers deftly trailed across her torso, stopping at her waist. "you know, i'd say you're doing pretty good."

the buckley girl's heart skipped a beat, and she warily leaned back in, slowly gaining more confidence when she felt the wheeler girl shudder when her tongue dipped inside her mouth. she feels dizzy. is this what it feels like to kiss a a girl? robin's never been so relieved to be a lesbian.

"you're so beautiful," robin whispers, and she loves the way that lola's whimpers vibrate through her throat. she expected her to be way more rough, and leading - but she likes this. she likes how soft and gentle lola actually is, how touching her feels like a gift from an angel.

they melt into the kiss and each other, and it feels so special they both wished that they could take a mental snapshot, or make the moment last forever. lola tastes like candy apple lipgloss, and robin tastes like cinnamon - and its almost the perfect combo. the perfect fit.

however, it was only a matter of time before they were forced to pull away for air, resting their foreheads against one another's and breathing deeply.

"i'm all yours." robin whispered against her lips. "remember that."

"mine." lola echoed softly.

"i wish i knew you wanted me-"

there were footsteps on the stairs above the cupboard, and nancy called out to them. "hey, guys? you find anything?"

"-coming!" they yell in unison, skin hot.

robin scrambled to grab a random box off the shelf as they exited the room, her cheeks flaming read and about to come up with some lame excuse, until she looked down and read what newspaper the box actually was from.

"holy shit, the weekly watcher? i can't believe they have this!"

nancy raised an eyebrow. "don't they write about, like, bigfoot and ufos?"

"first of all, ufos are absolutely real - bigfoot i'm still on the fence about - but may i remind that you we are looking for information on dark wizards? if someone's gonna write about that, it's gonna be these weirdos!"

･ ｡ﾟ☆

once they had loaded up the microform machine upstairs, the three girls began to look at the articles from the weekly watcher - well, actually, the two girls did. lola was sat on a chair behind them, feeling awkward about having just made out with robin in a storage room.

it's not like she hadn't made out with people before - she wasn't a virgin, she'd hooked up with plenty of guys. but never girls. never anyone like robin.

never anyone who made her feel like robin made her feel, or touched her like robin touched her, or understood her how robin understood her.

lola is not used to this.

usually, she gets asked out by a guy. she either declines (85% of the time) or accepts (only when she thinks they have the potential to look good next to her as her king when she finally sits on her prom queen crown). they go out, perhaps to the movies. he tries to cop a feel in the back row, and she never goes out with him again. in fact, she was disgusted by him. that's just how dating works, right?

she doesn't understand how robin is so calm about this - or acting so calm. she's usually a mess, and now the roles are reversed. robin turns around and smiles shyly at her, and lola blushes.

she smiles back. maybe she could get used to this.

"ah," nancy sighed, reading the first headline aloud. "elvis cloned by aliens."

"you never know." robin shrugged, and nancy walked away, disappointed. "victor creel claims vengeful demon killed family: the murder that shocked a small community!" robin read, imitating the voice of a spokesperson.

"ha, ha. that's very funny."

"i'm not kidding." robin shook her head. "get over here. both of you." the wheeler girls sighed reluctantly, making their way towards robin, snd she continued to read aloud. "according to several insiders, victor believed his house was haunted by an ancient demon. victor allegedly hire a priest to exorcise the demon from his home.' hm. pretty novel for the '50s. the exorcist wasn't out yet."

"keep going." nancy frowned, now intrigued.

"okay, so: 'victor claimed this exorcism failed, but it angered this demon, which then murdered his family, removing their eyes. victor believed he was spared as a punishment."

"yeah, well that's pretty convenient for victor."

"yeah, or super inconvenient- victor was declared legally insane by the court, right? what if this is why? i mean, it sounds pretty insane, it just didn't go public because-"

"-the plea bargain. the records were sealed!"

"what if a demon did invade victor's home? it's just, this demon wasn't any old demon.."

"-it was vecna." lola and nancy finished in unison.

after putting everything away, the girls rushed out of hawkins library - night had fallen, and the streets were pretty quiet.

"dustin, do you copy?" robin spoke into the radio.

"yeah, i copy." came dustin's voice on the other end.

"so, nancy'a a genius. vecna's first victims date back all the way to 1959 - her shot in the dark was a bull's-eye."

"okay, that's uh, totally bonkers, but i can't really talk right now."

"wait- what are you doing?"

"breaking and entering into school to retrieve some confidential and extremely personal files."

"can you tell him to repeat that?" lola raised an eyebrow.

"lola said repeat that."

they could practically hear the henderson boy roll his eyes. "just get your asses over here, and stat! we'll explain everything."

"i thought they were talking to miss kelly?" nancy frowned in confusion, unlocking the car.

"we leave them alone for two hours." robin rolled her eyes, pushing down the radio antennae.

･ ｡ﾟ☆

lara speaks im gonna be writing
a nancy wheeler fic after this :)