Chapter Text
All Steve had wanted was a chill day, probably with Robin and whatever old movie she had picked out.
But no, he got stuck with taking Medium Size Wheeler to the Byers/Hopper-Byers house, because apparently Mrs Wheeler didn’t want her kid out and about on his own in a town where the ground had cracked open revealing a fiery hell just months before. Go figure.
He'd just turned the corner of Maple when Robin had noticed the two men, one in a hospital gown. Steve had agreed that this was odd and concerning considering the hospital was nowhere near here, plus they were barefoot and the curb had some broken glass at the bottom of it.
He had slowed the car to what Robin referred to as an “Earth killing stop” (the engine was still going, it’s not like she was wrong) and was about to lean out and ask the men if they were OK, but Mike beat him to it.
“What’s up with your outfits?”
Great start, kid, that’ll definitely come across as polite and concerned.
“What the fuck, Mike?” Steve turned and attempted to whisper at the backseater.
He cleared his throat and moved to lean past Robin, an uncomfortable position for both of them, and gave an apologetic smile to the men.
“Sorry about him, we were just wondering about the whole . . .” Steve’s eyes trailed down and landed on a tattoo on the white man’s wrist: TT2205
He’d never seen that kind of tattoo before. At Least, not the first four characters of it. The bold 05, however, had a striking resemblance to the numbers inked onto the skin of a very special kid he knew.
“Hospital . . . gown . . .”
Short hair, hospital gown, bare feet, number tattoo. He glanced back at Mike and saw a grave look on his face. Mike recognized it, too, and he was much more familiar with Eleven’s wrist than Steve was.
“Fuck.”
“Uh,” came the voice of the man whose wrist they were staring at, “Sorry, we were just, uh, on our way to the -”
“Library.” The other man interjected. The white man gave him a confused look, but nodded.
“Yes, the library, where we will be getting books to research,” he looked around quickly, “trees.”
“Yes, the Coast Redwood is the largest species of tree on Earth.” The black man in sweats nodded.
Steve shared a look with Robin and then Mike. Mike seemed lost for words but his face seemed to be demanding Steve get the two men into their car and to some kind of interrogation room.
“Right, so,” Steve began, mouth dry, “We could take you to the library, or we could take you back to one of our houses? We have real clothes and shoes and stuff.”
The men were about to decline the offer when Robin’s voice cut through, eyes locked onto both of the men’s pairs of eyes, somehow.
“We were also going to the library, actually. Doing some science research. We’re kind of lab rats.” She emphasized the word lab enough that if the men were from where they thought, they’d get it.
And they definitely got it. The white man’s eyes widened and he went to cover his tattoo with his other hand. He turned to his companion and jerked his head to the side, signaling an escape, but before they could move Mike was jumping out of the car and reaching out to grab the white man’s wrist.
“Mike, wait, don’t jump them!” Robin was clambering out of the car after him, followed by Steve.
The black man moved in front of the white man seemingly instinctively, holding himself in a protective yet non threatening stance before Mike.
“I’m sorry, we’ll just be on our way now, no need for a conflict.”
Both Steve and Mike went to say something, but thankfully, Robin beat them to it.
“No, we’re sorry, we don’t mean any harm, we just want to chat.”
Both men remained still, Sweats Man glancing at Hospital Gown Guy, as if asking a silent question. Hospital Gown gave a loose shake of his head, shrugging. He cleared his throat and stared at the younger three. Steve was beginning to feel like they weren’t the ones in control of the interrogation any more.
“What do you know about the lab?” His voice was quiet, Sweats Man was glancing around in a way that should have been paranoid and panicked but on him looked as if he could have simply been admiring his surroundings.
All three teens opened their mouths to answer, but the youngest got his words out first.
“We took it down. We - we know another experiment. She’s -”
Robin cuts Mike off, probably not trusting him to not spill too much. “- Different. Than you. But close enough that we can recognize you. If you’re from the lab you know you aren’t safe here. Steve’s house is big and lonely, we should go there.”
Steve wanted to take offense to the ‘lonely’ part of that description but she wasn’t exactly wrong. His parents had made the permanent move to Indianapolis shortly after the gates opened. It was only at his insistence (which must have looked incredibly childish to Mr. and Mrs. Harrington, who watched their adult son almost throw a tantrum over the idea of leaving Hawkins. Steve wouldn’t get it if he were them, either) that he stayed behind and kept the house. His parents were still expecting him to clear out at some point so they could sell the house, but they weren’t pushing for it to be soon. Very few people were looking to move into the hellmouth of a town, even if the gates had been sealed up within a few weeks of them opening.
No, the only problem with that suggestion was that Steve’s house had some nosey neighbors. It was in a rich part of town with semi-wealthy suburbanites constantly scrutinizing yards for the slightest thing they could call the HOA about. After the events of March many people had gotten closer to each other - become more accepting of things out of the ordinary. The more affluent, however, had shrouded themselves in self pity and patronizingly fake sympathy for the worse off while blaming the horrors on the poor and the outcasts behind closed doors. Many still blamed Eddie for the murders.
It would be better, Steve thought, to use the old Byers house. The family was now living in a bigger two story a few streets away from their old abode. Everybody stayed far, far away from that place. Some people thought it was cursed, others just didn’t want to relive the memories. The elderly couple who moved in the previous fall left as soon as the ground cracked open and started vomiting flames.
“Actually,” Steve started, mostly talking to Robin, “Could we use the Byers’ old place? Lower-profile.”
Hospital Gown Guy made eye contact with his friend and shook his head again. Then he turned towards Robin and nodded.
“We will come with you. But, you will tell us everything and be warned that we have experience as police detectives and we’ll be able to tell if you lie to us.”
All three teenagers nodded and Mike popped open the backseat door for the men. The men climbed in and Steve started the car again. Looks like their troubles weren’t over yet.