ᵖᵃʳᵗ ¹⁸ - ᴄʟᴏsᴇᴅ ɢᴀᴛᴇ
❛ ʏᴏᴜ'ʀᴇ ʙᴀᴅᴀss ❜
There was silence, and it was deafening.
All he could see were stars, his heart fluttering in his chest, something he's never felt this intense. He couldn't process anything around him.
All he knew was Mike and El were hugging, sobbing about how happy they were to see each other.
But all he saw were stars. Looking into Lucas' eyes for the first time in almost a year, he felt a smile pulling on his face, taking a step closer.
He didn't know when but he found his arms around Lucas, the boy holding onto Ven tightly as if he would disappear again.
"You're here," Lucas mumbled into Ven's neck.
Ven felt shocked, he was shocked the boy would hold him this tight in front of everyone, but the small boy basked in the comfort.
"Is that?"
Dustin closed his gaping mouth, his lips pulling in a grin when he saw the two boys hugging. The curly-haired boy nodded at the redhead beside him. "It's Ven."
The redhead stared at Dustin before her blue eyes trailed to the two boys tightly holding each other, her brows furrowing in thought.
"The hell is this? Where have you two been?!"
Ven pulled away with a tight smile, his eyes going towards a worried-looking Hopper.
"Where have you been?" Eleven glared, pulling away from Mike.
Hopper came over, wrapping his arms around El and Ven, the two sinking into the man's embrace as he kissed their foreheads.
"You've been hiding them," Mike said, anger dripping in his voice.
Hopper released the two and walked over to Mike, leading the boy into another room for a talk.
Eleven and Seven walked over to Dustin and Lucas again, bringing them into a group hug.
"We missed you," Dustin stated, squeezing the two tighter.
"We missed you guys too." Ven sighed, pulling away from them.
"We talked about you pretty much every day," Dustin added.
The group smiled at each other feeling happy and content, Dustin wanting to ask why they were dressed like emo people though he restrained himself.
"Hi, I'm Max," A voice cut through El and Ven turned, seeing a redhead with bright blue eyes, her smiling at them while holding her hand out.
"I heard a lot about you guys," she said next, her eyes lingering on Ven when she said those words.
Eleven glared, ignoring Max's hand and walking past her towards Joyce who eagerly took El in her arms.
Ven stayed still staring at the girl, this was her...the girl who Lucas liked...she was pretty, he couldn't deny that, but could she make him happy?
"H-hi!."
He cleared his throat, shaking her hand before pulling back with a tight smile walking over to Nancy.
Nancy chuckled, wrapping her arms around the young boy, squeezing him. The boy awkwardly returned the gesture.
"What did you do to your hair?" she questioned, looking at the bleached ends that still were standing somehow.
He rolled his eyes, "I didn't really have a choice." he grumbled, remembering how persistent Dottie was.
Joyce came over, giving the boy a hug.
"Does he not like me?" Max asked, turning towards Lucas, catching him staring at Ven, making her raise her brows and wave her hand in his face. "Hello?"
"Oh--he just has a hard time with new people," Lucas reassured the girl.
Max nodded, her eyes going back towards Ven, catching his eyes as he stared between her and Lucas with a look she couldn't explain.
Ven's attention snapped to Mike who walked in, heading straight towards Ven.
Mike went in for a hug but Ven dogged it, putting his fist up instead. Mike frowned but gave the boy a fist bump. "I missed you, Ven."
Seven held his head up, not wanting to admit that it felt nice that they missed him. "I would miss me too, Wheeler. I'm great company."
Mike blinked before letting a soft chuckle out.
Everyone gathered in the kitchen around the table, El and Ven standing side by side, looking down at a piece of cardboard that said. 'CLOSE GATE' in red crayon.
Joyce spoke to the girl, pointing to the paper. "You opened this gate before, right?"
"Yes." El nodded, glancing at Lucas who stood next to her brother, glaring at Max who stood in between Lucas and Mike.
"Do you think if we got you back there, that you could close it?"
"Yes."
"It's not like it was before. It's grown. A lot. And, I mean that's considering we can get in there. The place is crawling with those dogs." Hopper ran a hand over his face, looking around the table.
"Demo-dogs." Dustin interrupted.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"I said, uh, Demo-dogs. Like Demogorgan dogs. You put them together, it sounds pretty badass." Dustin stuttered, Ven rose a brow but smirked.
"How is this important right now?" Hopper squinted his eyes, shaking his head.
"It's not, I'm sorry."
"I can do it," El stated, ignoring the disproving look of Hopper and Mike, focusing on the proud one from her brother.
"You're not hearing me," Hopper said.
"I'm hearing you. I can do it."
"Even if El can, there's still another problem. If the brain dies, the body dies." Mike commented.
"I thought that was the whole point?" Max piped up, Ven stared at her for a moment longer, Lucas catching it making him furrow his brows at Ven.
"It is, but if we're really right about this...I mean, if El closes the gate and kills the mind flayer's army..."
"Will's a part of that army," Lucas said, his eyes leaving Ven.
"Closing this gate will kill him." Ven looked down, feeling the sadness and determination coming off everyone.
It was tense and silent before Joyce popped up from her seat and began walking towards Will's room.
"He likes it cold," she said when she realized the group followed.
"What?" Hopper asked the woman softly.
"That's what Will kept telling me. He likes it cold." she closed the open window, looking over her shoulder. "We keep giving it what it wants."
"If this is a virus, and Will's the host, then..." Nancy furrowed her brows, crossing her arms over her chest.
"We need to make the host uninhabitable." Jonathan nodded.
"So if he likes it cold...."
"We have to burn it out of him," Joyce fiercely said.
"We have to do it somewhere he doesn't know this time," Mike added.
Dustin nodded, "Yeah, somewhere far away."
Ven and Hopper shared a glance.
"We have somewhere," Hopper stated.
──
He sat on the couch, his cheek rested upon his fist.
Lucas was awkwardly sitting in between Max and Ven, tapping his fingers against his leg, glancing at the boy next to him.
Seven could feel his eyes but he remained trained on the pacing Mike. "Can you stop that?"
"You didn't see it Ven, that place is swarmed with dogs," Mike explained.
"Demo-dogs!" Dustin exclaimed walking into the living room with Steve behind him.
"The chief will take care of her." Lucas took a deep breath.
"Like she needs protection." Seven and Max said at the same time.
Ven looked at the girl, a smirk lifting on his lips, Max smiled, looking down with a blush. Lucas looked between them, his stomach flipping but he brushed it off, smiling at them both.
Ven looked at the boy confused, feeling a flash of nervousness shoot out of Lucas.
"Listen, dude, a coach calls a play in a game, bottom line, you execute it. Alright?" Steve began speaking.
Mike squinted at the older boy, "Okay, first of all, this isn't some stupid sports game. And second, we're not even in the game. We're on the bench."
Seven looked between the boys confused with the sports talk, Max glancing at the boy with a laugh.
Steve stuttered, "So my point is..." his eyes darting between the kids as they rose their brows at him. "Right, yeah, we're on the bench, so, uh, there's nothing we can do."
"That's not entirely true. I mean, these Demo-dogs, they have a hive mind. When they ran away from the bus, they were called away." Dustin took a seat on the armrest where Ven sat by, giving him a brief smile.
"If we get their attention..." Lucas started.
"Maybe we can draw them from the lab." Max continued.
"Clear a path to the gate." Mike nodded.
"Then we die," Ven mumbled, leaning his head against the couch, his head pounding.
"Always so positive." Dustin grinned sarcastically, Ven returning it.
"No, that's not a point of view, man. That's a fact." Steve mumbled as he put his hands on his hips.
"I got it!" Mike yelled out as he ran to the kitchen--with everyone following--, crouching down to point to one part of the many drawings of Will's that were taped around the house--something Ven chose to ignore.
"This is where the chief dug his hole. This is our way into the tunnel So..."
Everyone followed him back into the living room, Mike standing in the center of it all, where all the tunnels intersect.
"Here. This is like a hub. So you got all the tunnels feeding in here. Maybe if we set this on fire..."
"Oh, yeah? That's a no." Steve sternly said but was completely ignored.
"The mind flayer would call away his army," Dustin said.
"They'd all come to stop us," Lucas exclaimed.
"Hey!" Steve shouted, Ven glanced at him with a raised brow, biting his lip to stop the laugh.
"We circle back to the exit." Mike smiled.
"Guys." Steve tried to get their attention again.
"By the time they realize we're gone--"
"El would be at the gate." Max breathed out.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! This is not happening." Steve clapped, finally getting their attention.
"But--"
"No buts. I promised I'd keep you shitheads safe, and that's exactly what I plan on. We're staying here. On the bench. And we're waiting for the starting team to do their job. Does everybody understand?" Steve pointed at each of them.
"This isn't a stupid sports game." Mike glared.
"I said, does everybody understand that?" Steve glared back, whipping the towel off that was on his shoulder, putting his hands on his waist."I need a yes."
Silence filled the air as they all glared at Steve--except Ven who kinda felt bad--when a loud engine roared making everyone tense.
Max ran over to the window looking through it in panic, "It's my brother. He can't know I'm here. He'll kill me. He'll kill us."
"I'm gonna go out there," Steve said.
Ven gulped, feeling anger in his veins making him take a deep breath and try and hold himself together.
"You okay?" Max questioned, Lucas, whipped towards the boy seeing him struggle.
"Sev?"
The boy's eyes opened, Lucas seeing anger, "Wear your headphones."
"No. Nuh-uh." Ven shook his head, rubbing his forehead, the coldness of his hand feeling good on the hot skin.
"Well, well, well," Billy said, slamming the door behind him, "Lucas Sinclair. What a surprise. I thought I told you to stay away from him, Max."
Seve glared at the boy stepping in front of Lucas protectively, Lucas sighing knowing the boy won't listen to him.
"Billy, go away." Max looked up at her step-brother with a glare.
"You disobeyed me. And you know what happens when you disobey me."
A deep hatred built-in Ven as he stared at Billy. He's heard those words, he knew what they meant, glancing at Max who's eyes fluttered his way.
"Billy..."
I break things."
Billy pushed Seven out of his way, grabbing Lucas by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall. "Since Maxine won't listen to me, maybe you will. You stay away from her. Stay away from her! You hear me?"
"Get off of me!" Lucas shouted, kneeing Billy in the groin causing him to groan bending over in pain.
"So dead, Sinclair! You're dead."
Steve--who was previously grunting on the ground outside-- stepped in, "No, you are." before he proceeded to punch Billy in the jaw.
Ven cupped Lucas' cheek in his hand. "You okay?"
"Yeah." Lucas breathed out, looking at Max whose hand was on his shoulder.
They focused back on the two older boys.
"Looks like you got some fire in you after all, huh? I've been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody's been telling me so much about." Billy smirked, licking the blood from the corner of his lip.
"Get out." Steve snarled.
Ven stayed silent as they shouted encouragement at Steve who was punching Billy repeatedly.
Billy cackled, his hand grasping a plate on the counter, smashing it over Steve's head.
Steve tried to get away, but Billy walked after him quickly, punching the high schooler and grabbing the collar of Steve's jacket and staring into Steve's dazed eyes.
Billy began punching Steve a wide grin on his face as Steve began to turn black and blue and lost consciousness.
Billy stopped when Steve passed out, turning to get Lucas again but before he could, Ven stepped up kicking the dude in the dick making Billy shout out and bend over, while he was bent over Ven punched him in the nose.
Max grabbed a needle filled with a sedative, stabbing her brother with it in the neck injecting him before stepping back with Ven.
The two looked at each other with a smirk on their faces, Lucas watching with wide astonished eyes.
Billy felt to the ground, "The hell is this?" he asked as his vision became blurry.
Max glanced to the side, seeing Steve's nailed bat, grabbing it, she stood over her brother, raising it in the air with a fierce look on her face.
"From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone, do you understand?" She said, glaring at him harshly.
"Screw you..." Billy slurred.
Max let out an angry grunt, slamming the bat in between his legs dangerously close to his penis before raising it again. Say you understand! Say it! SAY IT!"
"I understand."
"What?"
"I understand...."
Billy passed out making Max shake her head with a scoff, throwing the bat down. She blushed, seeing Ven watching her with a proud grin while the others were frozen in shock.
"What?" Max rolled her eyes, walking over more towards Ven since he wasn't looking at her weird like the others, sending a smile towards him when he turned to her.
"You're badass."
"I know."
──
Ven rolled his eyes as Mike complained once again.
Max had stolen Billy's keys which led them to now, her speeding down the road, Lucas in the passenger seat with Ven in his lap, Lucas with an arm around his waist while the other hand held a map.
Mike and Dustin were in the back, Dustin caring for a still passed out Steve that sat in the middle.
"Careful!" Mike shouted as Max took another turn.
Ven twisted to look at Mike with a glare. "Shut the hell up, she's trying to concentrate!"
Mike rolled his eyes but stopped.
"Nancy?"
Ven looked back again with furrowed brows seeing Steve squinting at Mike who had a look of disgust making Ven snort.
"Turn here!" Lucas said.
Max grumbled, "You said to keep going straight!"
Ven ignored the duo watching as Steve confusedly looked around.
Max turned to glance at the back seats, furrowing her brows at Steve who began to panic when he realized a 13-year-old was driving a car.
"Oh my god!" he cried out, scrambling to sit up straight.
"Relax she's driven before," Dustin reassured, putting a hand on Steve's shoulder.
"Yeah in a parking lot." Mike snarkily said.
Lucas and Ven sighed. "That counts." Ven turned as much as he could in Lucas' hold, ignoring the smile Lucas sent him, though his stomach twirled.
"They were gonna leave you behind." Dustin snitched, looking at the teen as Steve kept mumbling 'oh my god' repeatedly, getting more loudly each time as he became more aware of his surroundings. "I promised that you'd be cool, okay?"
Max sped up the car, Ven smacking against Lucas' chest, making him hold the small boy tighter. Steve started shouting in panic, Dustin and Mike started yelling back and forth over Steve.
"Everybody shut up, I'm trying to focus!" Max snapped, trying to keep her eyes on the road, her fingers nervously tapping on the steering wheel.
Lucas snapped his head up, looking towards the street sign exclaiming towards Max, "Oh, wait, that's Mount Sinai. Make a left."
"What?" Max asked, glancing at Lucas before looking back at the street, seeing she was close to passing it.
"Make a left!"
All the boys--minus Ven-- shouting in panic as Max took a sharp turn, running over a mailbox in the process before straightening out.
'Pussy's' Max thought, rolling her eyes at the boys who sighed in relief.
Seven let out a laugh at the thought, Lucas looking between the two confused while Max glanced at the boy in his lap.
When they made it to the pumpkin patch, all the kids put on their goggles and gloves, placing a cloth over their mouths and nose, Lucas, Mike, and Dustin holding flashlights.
"Hey, guys!" Steve called out in a warning tone, leaning against the blue Camaro as he watched Mike walk past him carrying a can of gasoline and rope. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"
No one answered him, just continued what they were doing.
"We are not going down there right now. I made myself clear. There's no chance we're going to that hole, all right?" Steve yelled as Mike tied a rope to the front of the car. "This ends right now!"
"Steve, you're upset, I get it. But the bottom line is, a party member requires assistance, and it is our duty to provide that assistance. Now, I know you promised Nance that you would keep up safe. So keep us safe."
Steve gaped at Dustin who snapped, glancing at the bat in the curly-haired boy's hands.
After Mike set up the rope they all one by one jumped down the big dug-up hole in the middle of the pumpkin field.
Seven looked around shivering as he took in the cold, darkness with white specks.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's this way," Mike exclaimed, looking down at the drawing of the map, leading the group.
"You're pretty sure, or you're certain?" Dustin raised his brows, raising his voice from the back of the group.
"I'm 100% sure. Just follow me and you'll know." Mike yelled out.
Seven exhaled, sensing the slight doubt coming from Mike but decided not to say anything, walking alongside Max behind Lucas.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hey, hey, hey, hey. I don't think so." Steve interrupted as Mike went to walk, "Any of you little shits die down here, I'm getting the blame. Got it, dipshit? From here on out, I'm leading the way. Come one, let's go."
Steve grabbed the flashlight from Mike's hand and started leading the group.
Lucas slowed down moving to walk next to Dustin, now watching Ven and Max walk in front of him, his eyes squinting when he saw the glances Ven would throw at the redhead.
"Jealous?" Dustin whispered so quietly Lucas barely heard it.
Lucas looked towards Dustin, his brows furrowed, catching the glance Ven threw over his shoulder.
When Ven focused back in front of him, Lucas scoffed, "What, no."
Dustin rose a brow, his eyes darting between the three, his eyes widening before shutting up completely.
"Are you okay?"
Ven's head snapped towards a concerned-looking Max, "Yeah why?"
"You look uncomfortable," she stated with a shrug of her shoulder, her eyes scanning the slightly shorter boy.
He was shorter than everyone at this point, he thought while fighting the urge to roll his eyes.
"I'm fine," he said.
Max opened her mouth to say something but was stopped when Ven caught her from walking into Mike.
Ven looked around when the group stopped, they all gazed around the big space they stopped in, it was like they were in a big slimy circle.
Slime coated the ground and walls and above them, dark and sticky, vines all over which Ven was surprised he didn't trip over them.
They were in the hub, the center of it all, he could tell by how all the tunnels connected to this big space.
"All right, Wheeler. I think we found your hub." Steve said.
"Drench it." Mike demanded, being the first to start covering the walls and ground with gas from the can in his hand.
Everyone followed suit, covering the ground of slime and dirt with gasoline, making sure they soak each and every spot they could.
When they finished they all stood at the entrance of the tunnel they came through, Steve in front holding a lighter in his hand with the kids around him waiting in anticipation.
"Light her up." Dustin looked towards Steve with a grin pulling at his face though the others couldn't see with the mask.
"I'm in deep shit," Steve mumbled, flicking the lighter open, starting the flame, and throwing it in.
The group watched the fire begin to grow, Steve pushing the kids to start running.
They all ran, their hearts beating rapidly in their chests, in the process Max grabbed Ven's hand making sure he kept up since he was lagging in the back.
Steve shouted, "Come on!"
Ven stopped when he heard Mike shout out for help, not even noticing the boy was away from the group.
The boy panted turning back and running towards Mike, Max the only one noticing.
"Guys!" Max yelled, catching the attention of the group, the group looked to see a panicked Max who hurriedly followed after Ven.
Ven stopped seeing Mike lying on the ground crying out with a vine slithering up his leg, the boy flinched when the group made it to them.
Steve quickly went into action, hitting the screeching vine making it die, and loosening its grip on Mike, Ven seeing the opportunity and pulling Mike off the ground checking if he's okay before awkwardly pulling away.
"We gotta go," Dustin said.
Everyone froze as a growl echoed behind them, they all slowly turned seeing a demo-dog standing in their way.
Steve rose his bat, Dustin stopping him, and began to talk down the monster who he called 'Dart'.
Ven watched, appalled by the whole thing, nervousness dripping from his skin.
He zoned out watching the monster but snapped out of his thoughts when someone grabbed his sleeve and dragged him past the monster who was now calm.
The boy turned to see Max, glancing at her hand that was on his shirt watching as she awkwardly took her hand away, her eyes going to Lucas who gave her a thumbs up.
Ven glared when screeching filled his ears, multiple thunderous footsteps were headed their way.
"They're coming!" Mike yelled out.
The group ran to the hole they came through, one by one--with the help of Steve-- they climbed out.
Max grunted, pulling Ven over the edge, the boy landing on the ground before the two helped Lucas up.
The screeching grew closer making everyone panic, Steve trying to get Dustin up the hole but he failed.
Everyone froze watching an army of demo-dogs race past Steve and Dustin, who were huddled together. The monsters not even paying mind to the boys were now amazed.
When the monsters were gone the two rose from the hole. The group stood in silence for a bit, though it wasn't silent for Ven since he heard all the crazed thoughts from everyone.
Buzzing caught everyone's attention, their eyes going towards the car, their eyes squinting when the headlights glowed brighter than normal before slowly fading back to normal.
Ven's lip ticked up into a smirk, "Ellie did it. She closed the gate."
──