Chapter Text
And it's over
(never let me go, never let me go)
And I'm going under
(never let me go, never let me go)
But I'm not giving up
(never let me go, never let me go)
I'm just giving in
(never let me go, never let me go)
——————————
“Will you stay, please? Just stay in Hawkins for a little longer?”
Fuck Max for asking them to do that, honestly. Her tears and sniffly little broken voice manipulating them into giving in. They agreed to one night. They’d get a motel room outside of town, they’d bring her and they’d have one last hoorah for old times sake. Then the waterworks came. Then she played the Neil card, the weasely little bitch, and they relented. Only for the summer, they’d said. Once they know she’s safe and she’s back in school, they’re back to California. But they’d promised her the summer.
So now, here Sam is, waiting for Billy to pick her up from her new job at a bookstore in Starcourt, putting out her second cigarette and sighing. He’s late. Again. He’d taken a job at a garage in the next town over, hoping to avoid Neil at all costs. It was safer for him to be out of the city limits if he was going to be working full time, that’s for sure! That was made abundantly clear when Neil spotted them at Big Buy a week after graduation and tried to follow them home. Billy had to gun it down a long stretch of windy roads way out on the outskirts of town and loop back around to get home on the opposite side of town on the dirt back roads to lose him. Lesson learned. They’re not safe here. The garage doesn’t pay as much as Jorge’s, but it pays more than the pool that they both had initially been hired at at the start of the summer. Billy quit after about a week when he got the full time position at the garage, but Sam still picks up a shift here and there. As much as they told Max they’d be here for her during the summer, they were just as much using it to stockpile as much cash as they could before they headed back to California.
Sam sighs and stands up, tossing her purse back on her shoulder as she makes her way back into the mall. The cool thing about working here is getting to annoy Steve and rag on him for his stupid work uniform. She and Billy both found it very hard to believe that Scoops Ahoy was the only place that would hire him, but he doesn’t seem too gung ho to find something else so they only bring it up sometimes. And Robin, Steve’s new coworker, makes fun of him enough for them anyway. She’s cool, Sam’s decided. The first time she went in to talk to Steve she’d nearly shouted at Sam across the store.
“Holy shit! I thought you would’ve skipped town by now!” She said and promptly clamped a hand over her mouth like she hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “Sorry, I just figured-“
“It’s okay,” Sam laughed, waving her off. “I’m glad we made such an impression on the town.”
“Uh, definitely!”
So, yeah, she likes Robin. Billy got a much similar reaction the first time he wandered into the shop to find Sam.
“That’s still so weird to see,” Robin had laughed when Billy kissed Sam at the counter. Her eyes immediately going wide as she stared at the spot of the counter she was wiping down. “Not that it’s weird, it’s just knowing how you were at school and-“
“Okay, don’t give yourself an aneurysm,” Billy chuckled.
Sam dodges groups of kids on her way to the ice cream shop, knowing Billy will come find her in there if she’s not outside when he shows up. Spotting a certain curly headed kid sitting with Steve in a booth at the front of the store when she approaches.
“When’d you get back?” She asks a little aggressively, throwing her purse into the booth and plopping down in front of Dustin. Both of the boys jump a little and she smirks as she scoots into the booth.
“Yesterday,” Dustin says with a small smile and Sam gives him an approving nod.
“How was it?” She asks flatly.
“It was great! I made so many cool things! I was just telling Steve about this one invention-“
“Yeah, I don’t care about any of that,” she cuts him off waving a hand at him.
“He got a girlfriend,” Steve supplies before Dustin can vocalize the scoff no doubt already locked and loaded in his throat.
“Oooo now that I wanna hear about!” Sam says and Dustin lights up.
“Her name’s Suzie,” he starts.
“Nice,” Sam nods.
“She’s so smart! Like beyond smart! Probably the smartest person I’ve ever met!”
“Cool,” Sam nods, drawing it out a little earning a look from Steve.
“And!” Dustin says excitedly. “She’s hotter than Phoebe Cates!”
“Phoebe Cates, huh?” She asks and smacks her gum as she raises an eyebrow at the kid and he nods smugly. She glances over at Steve who rolls his eyes and looks back to Dustin. “Hot. Good for you.”
“Thank you!” Dustin practically shrieks, gesturing at her with a hand and looking at Steve. “See, Steve? That’s supportive.”
“Wha-“
“Hey, baby,” Billy cuts Steve off as he comes in the shop, leaning down and humming against her lips as he kisses her. “Sorry I’m late.”
“It’s okay I just walked in here,” Sam smiles and takes another kiss. “Short stuff was just telling me about his new girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend?” Billy huffs with a small laugh.
“Suzie,” Sam nods. Billy raises an eyebrow and looks over to Dustin.
“Mhm!” He smiles proudly. “Hotter than Phoebe Cates, man, I’m telling you.”
“Really?” Billy says a little impressed and Dustin does the same smug nod he gave to Sam. “Good for you, kid.”
“Okay,” Steve complains as Dustin gestures to Billy and looks at him.
“Dude, what’d you say to him?” Sam chuckles.
“Nothing!” Steve shrugs, his voice going up a pitch or two.
“Sure, whatever you say, man,” Billy chuckles. Sam’s eyebrows knit when she her eyes land on the book on the table. Her head tilting a little trying to read the title.
“Russian to English translation?” She laughs, raising an eyebrow at Dustin. “What kinda nerd camp did you go to?”
“No, no, this is a uh…”
“Passion project,” Steve finishes for him quickly.
“Passion project!” Dustin echoes enthusiastically.
“You’re fuckin’ weird, kid,” Billy chuckles. “Ready, baby?”
“Yep,” Sam smiles. “Good luck with whatever,” she tells Dustin and Steve as she slides out of the booth and grabs Billy’s hand.
“Yeah, whatever, nice to see you too!” Steve shouts after them as they leave.
They’re used to the staring by now. The people moving out of their way whenever they’re together. It’s been about a month and a half since graduation and, for some reason, people still haven’t gotten over the step-siblings turned lovers story that’s been circulating town. They hear some of the rumors, some funnier than others, but none of them got the story quite right. It’s easier to just leave it alone, no matter how aggravating it is to have underclassmen and the gossipy moms watching them like zoo animals everywhere they go.
Nevertheless, they head out into the warm July day and to the car. It’s more humid here in the summer than it is back home, believe it or not, which makes everything feel sticky and the heat makes leather seats of the Camaro burn if you put bare skin on them. It’s not as miserable as the winter, but Sam still finds it in her to complain every day which Billy always laughs at.
“How was your day, baby?” She asks once they’re in the car, hovering her hips over the passenger seat as Billy cranks the A/C.
“Fuckin’ hot,” he scoffs and she chuckles. “And busy, but it was good.”
“Good,” Sam smiles at him. He huffs a laugh and digs a dirty shirt out of the back seat and tucks it underneath her so she can sit without her legs getting burned in her shorts.
“There,” he smiles and steals a quick kiss.
“Thanks, baby,” she smiles softly and quickly takes another before he pulls away and starts driving them home.
They lucked out and got a free place to stay from Hopper of all people. Apparently his old place had been vacant for a while since he’d take in El, but he held on to it as a cover address or whatever. She’d stopped listening after he said ‘you guys can stay at my old place.’ It’s a shithole, but once they got it cleaned up a bit, it’s actually tolerable. Still a shithole, though.
“I’ll make dinner while you shower?” Sam asks as they make their way into the small trailer. “We gotta leave in like an hour, right?”
“We could probably be a little late,” he smirks and she rolls her eyes with a smile. “Yeah, an hour. What’s for dinner?”
“What do you want?” She asks and makes her way into the kitchen.
“Whatever’s easy,” he says and kisses her head before heading off to shower and get ready.
One shower, two wardrobe changes, and a box of mac and cheese later, they’re back on the road heading to The Hideout for Eddie’s show. They never actually told him they weren’t leaving town, just showed up the Tuesday after graduation and watched his band play. The look on his face when they spotted him was priceless! The band relentlessly teased him all night for fucking up the intro to Jawbreaker which they found hilarious. They’ve been at every show since. Tonight, they walk in just as the band was taking the stage. Sam got them their usual table while Billy grabs them a couple beers. They open with Jawbreaker again, which has become their new thing, and then play an original. Eddie winks at her before they start in on the third song and it takes a minute before she recognizes it.
“No shit!” She laughs loudly as Eddie starts singing Young Turks.
“No fucking way he’s singing Rod Stewart,” Billy cackles.
“Told you it’d sound good metal!”
After the show they hung out for a bit, but left much earlier than they typically would since they both had work in the morning. Eddie plied them both with tequila shots when Billy announced they had to leave in an effort to get them to stick around, but they took the shots, Sam smacked a kiss to his cheek, and they left laughing at the shocked look on his face that his plan hadn’t worked.
Back in the car and headed home, Sam, a little more tipsy than Billy, gives her best rendition of Eddie’s rendition of Young Turks and it makes Billy laugh so hard he can barely breathe. He glances over at her, smiling brightly as she laughs and suddenly the car jolts. It feels like something came alongside them and shoved. The tires start squealing and he tries his best to regain control, but it’s too late. The passenger side slams into a telephone pole. He groans from the impact, his head hitting the steering wheel and he can feel the blood trickling down his forehead.
“Fuck,” he grits out when he lolls his head back and gets a look at the cracked windshield. “Sam?” He says softly as she groans, blood running down the side of her head from where it hit the window.
“‘M okay,” she mumbles, decidedly not okay as her eyes flutter.
“Okay, just hold o-“ he cuts himself off when a strange figure darts across the dirt in front of them. “Shit,” he mumbles under his breath, looking back over to Sam and out over the dirt lot. “Baby, you with me?” He asks, gently patting her cheek and she hums. “Okay,” he nods. Cursing under his breath as he tries to get the car running again and it doesn’t catch. “Stay here. I gotta check this out. See what we hit.”
“Mhm,” she hums as tries to force her eyes to stay open.
“Just stay here. Stay awake.”
He doesn’t wait for a response, just slides out of the car. He hobbles for a moment, looking out over the steelworks building they’ve apparently nearly slammed into. Getting his bearings as he goes around to her side of the car, growling when he sees the damage. He tries the door and it doesn’t budge. ‘Fucking perfect,’ he thinks. Kicking the bumper as he winds the car back to the driver’s side. He eyes the windshield for a moment, his eyebrows knitting together as he runs his fingers through some snot looking goo covering the webbed glass.
“What the hell?” He mumbles to himself, gasping when he sees another creature off in the distance that he swears sounds like those damn tunnel dogs. His head pops up, and he looks around slowly. Carefully making his way to the trunk to grab…something. Anything he has to kill one of those faceless assholes. Just before he opens it, something grabs his ankle. And suddenly he’s face down on the ground being dragged. He fights against whatever it is as hard as he can until it slams him hard into a wall of metal. He groans and yells, grasping for anything he can hold onto as it drags him through the building. He finally gets hold on the stair rails. Gripping as hard as he can as he tries to pull himself away.
And then it’s black.
And he can hear himself screaming.
And he’s sure he’s dying and then
‘Sam.’
And he’s running.
“Get back in the car!” He shouts as he sprints out of the decrepit building towards her as she’s crawling out the driver’s side door and she freezes. “Now! Get in the car!”
She dives back in and shimmies over to the passenger seat and he’s quick behind her. Fumbling to start the car for just a moment before it roars to life like nothing had even happened, and he’s quick to put it in gear and floor it out of there.
“What the hell was that?” Sam shrieks.
“I don’t know,” Billy answers honestly, the panic evident in his voice.
“What happened?” She asks quietly, her voice going up a few octaves as she stares at him.
“I don’t know,” he says again. “I don’t know, but something’s wrong.”
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, baby,” he says again. “But everything’s fine.” ‘What? That’s not me.’
“You just said something’s wrong. How is everything fine?”
“We’re fine,” he corrects. ‘Is that me?’ “We’re fine,” he says again, willing himself to believe it. He takes her hand and brings it to his lips. “We’re okay, baby.”
“Okay,” Sam breathes out skeptically. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
‘No.’ “I’m okay, baby,” he says softly. “Car’s not,” he grumbles. “Are you okay? You hit your head pretty hard.”
“Yeah, ‘m fine,” she mumbles and he doesn’t believe her.
Miraculously, he gets them home in one piece. Parking haphazardly outside the trailer and helping Sam crawl out the driver’s side. He’s freaking out on the inside, he must be going crazy, but he’s more concerned about Sam. He helps her inside and to the bathroom, looking over her injuries which, thankfully, seem minor. Just a lot of blood and a small cut or two. But that bump on the head is concerning. He mentions going to the hospital which she immediately turns down and he doesn’t argue. So instead, he helps her into the shower and joins when she insists on cleaning him up too and doesn’t complain as she gently dabs his forehead clean of blood. He doesn’t even complain that she’s turned the water hotter than the seventh level of hell, though he very much wants to.
After their shower, they both barely get dressed before they’re falling into bed. The thump on the head mixed with the alcohol in her system has Sam going down fast and hard and she’s asleep practically as soon as her head hits the pillow. Snuggled deeply into Billy’s side with her arm and leg thrown over his body. He feels insanely sober and not at the same time. His head feels fuzzy, but not like drunk or high fuzzy. Just…wrong. He can’t even bring himself to close his eyes as the events of the evening replay in his mind over and over. He could’ve sworn he saw one of those tunnel dogs. He knows he heard one, at the very least. Maybe he should’ve told Sam. He should tell her in the morning. But what are they supposed to do about it? Get Harrington and the kids and go monster hunting again? Fat fucking chance that’s happening. He’s not risking Sam getting hurt. Or worse.
His breath speeds up slightly as he pulls her closer. His skin feels like it’s on fire where they’re touching. But she’s okay. She’s safe. He just hopes whatever that was was some concussion induced fever dream. He must’ve hit his head pretty hard too, because whatever is happening is terrifying. It’s like he’s not the only one in his head anymore. There’s another voice. A dark voice. Something slowly creeping out of the corners of his mind. He can’t convince himself to sleep, too afraid of what might happen if he looses consciousness again. Because it would definitely be again, right? It would have to be because the mantra this thing in his head is spitting is definitely not him.
“What do you want?” He finds himself asking into the air, quiet enough that Sam doesn’t stir.
‘To build. I want you to build.’
“To build what?” He asks breathlessly, his heart hammering in his chest.
‘What you see.’
“I don’t understand.”
Suddenly, flashes of himself on a road with people behind him flood his mind. Almost like a memory. But, he’s not himself. He’s standing in front of himself. It’s like a mirror. Like him versus himself. He slowly slips his arm out from under Sam’s head, untangles her limbs from around him, and slips out of bed. He makes a b-line for the bathroom and gently closes the door behind him. Flipping on the light and cranking the sink faucet as high as it’ll go, gripping the counter top as he stares at himself. His hair still wet, sweat dripping down his face, his chest heaving.
“I don’t understand,” he says again, a little louder than before and another flash of memory fills his head. “What do you mean? I don’t understand!”
‘Bring her to me.’