Chapter Text
Ever since Steve had had a plate smashed over his head and led the rat pack through the tunnels with nothing but stubborn determination, a swollen face with an almost certain concussion, and a bat with nails littering the surface, the kids had seen fit to include him in as much of their activities as they could.
Dustin had been the first to welcome him to The Party, though he’d barely needed to say much to convince the others to agree. It was sweet and Steve was happy to be part of the group because they all understood in a way not many other people did - it wasn’t as though Steve could reference the second almost-end-of-the-world with the other residents of Hawkins after all. It was also a bit embarrassing that Steve’s only two friend groups consisted of his ex and her boyfriend, and a bunch of middle schoolers. He tried not to let that get to him too much though, and barely focused on that fact when the little shitheads bugged him (not that he’d ever needed much needling) to join them in their D&D games, gathering in his large, empty house or the Wheeler’s basement. That had only been awkward the first couple of times he’d had to explain his presence to Karen Wheeler before her curiosity and suspicion turned to warm welcome.
They didn’t just play Dungeons and Dragons, sometimes they’d all sit around in various positions of comfort with snacks nearby and read nerd comics, yelling at each other when story lines didn’t go as expected or sitting Steve down to patiently explain the plot when they started him in the middle of a series because they decided “the beginning is useless Steve, promise, it’s best from issue thirteen!” Then there were the movie nights - though those only took place at his house - where he’d rent some horror or sci-fi from Family Video and they’d cram onto the sofas and armchairs to watch it together. Dustin was still convinced that with enough practice El would be able to use her powers to explode heads after the group watched Scanners. That lengthy conversation hadn’t been Steve’s favourite way to spend a school night and he banned all other horror movies until weekends from that moment on, to the dismay of the others.
When it came to D&D however, Steve had been pleasantly surprised. He hadn’t been sure he’d like the role-playing game, thinking it would be lame and too nerdy for him to get his head round. Just like with the comics, the rat pack had been happy to sit him down and read out the rules and explain anything he didn’t understand. They were more excited than he was when he finally agreed to playing a few weeks after the incident with the tunnels and the gate, and it was hard not to get caught up in that enthusiasm.
They gathered at his parent’s house one Saturday morning and spent the whole day helping him and Max (who was also being eagerly pulled into the Dungeons and Dragons fray) create their characters; Steve was glad he wasn’t the only one new to the game and could tell she felt the same way. The Party even exclaimed that once Eleven wasn’t on house arrest anymore they’d help her make a character too so they could all play together, and Steve found the staunch comradery endearing.
Steve’s character was a level 1 barbarian, a tiefling travelling the land with a thirst for danger and a cursed longsword always on his person. He named the character Gunk - to Lucas’s disgust and Dustin’s glee - and had the unruly tiefling meet the rest of the party by jumping headfirst into danger alongside them, which Steve found to be an amusing little nudge to real life. Max on the other hand made a dark-elf rogue with a pair of poison daggers and a moody disposition. The character suited her well, especially when she declared that Vee had been dragged into the campaign against her will and thought the whole thing was stupid.
She was clearly having fun in their campaign though; Steve was too. Even though it was ‘just a game’, the stakes felt real when they fought interdimensional monsters, or saved a town from poisoning, or overthrew a heinous plot to kill the kindly Queen. Even the banter between their characters when resting at camps was fun and heart-warming and even a little tense at times.
Their current campaign had led them to Braxia, where they’d finally discovered the dragon who had been scorching the land surrounding the townspeople and killing citizens with a rotten fury. What ensued was a tense fight. Max had already fallen, and so had Lucas, leaving Dustin, Will, and Steve. It was Steve’s move and he had to hit the creature or doom Gunk to unconsciousness.
They were clustered in the Wheeler’s basement, around a collection of smaller tables shoved together to form a bigger one. Sheets of paper littered the surface, though Mike headed the table, his notes and dice hidden behind a screen with a fiery battle scene on the back, a gift from Nancy after everything that had gone down.
Steve held his D20 - yes, he had his own set of dice, the others did too thanks to Steve’s dad's ever present funds - between his clasped hands, palms clammy from nerves and anticipation as the others shouted and Mike watched from behind his DM screen.
“C’mon Steve! Roll above a fifteen!” Dustin shouted, fists clenched on the table and eyes fixed to Steve’s hands. He was stood from his seat, and so was Lucas, as they watched with baited breath. Max and Will on the other hand were sat, though the latter looked equally as nervous as his frantic counterparts. Max rolled her eyes. Steve might have joined her if he wasn’t also nervous as fuck.
“I’m trying, shithead! I’m magicking it or whatever-”
“Manifesting,” Will added helpfully and Steve gave him a nod of thanks with the tilt of his head.
“Yeah, that. I’m manifesting a freaking twenty. Or at least a seventeen.”
“You’ll get a five.” Max said with confidence.
Dustin shot her a baleful glare. “We need Gunk, Max! We needed Vee too before you rolled a nat one-”
Steve saw Max bristle and wasn’t ready to deal with an all out bickering session on top of saving Gunk’s life, so he interrupted Max before she could reply by throwing the die onto the table. The sound of it clashing with the surface drew everyone’s attention to it and the Party watched with apprehension as it slowed to a stop. Steve leaned over the table with baited breath, barely able to comprehend what it landed on before Dustin was jumping in place.
“Yessss! Eighteen! Steve, you rolled an eighteen! That’s twenty-three with your hit bonus!”
Steve laughed in disbelief and glanced around at the others, all wearing bright grins and letting out their own exclamations of joy. Even Mike was smiling despite it being his villain they were getting a hit in on. Steve raised his hands for high fives and received four as the other adventurers stood to take it in turns.
“Awesome awesome!” Steve exclaimed once they’d all taken their seats again. “I want to stab the dragon. No, slash, with my longsword. Right on his stomach, that’s where he’s vulnerable right?” He looked at the others in turn at that, since he was still trying to grasp all the rules of both the game itself and the universe they were currently in.
“That’s right,” Will said with a big grin. “Dragons have a soft underbelly.” He spoke with confidence as if dragons were a common feature at the zoo and not a mythical creature; as if that were a well-known fact.
Steve nodded. “Great, then that, please.” He turned his focus to Mike who was looking down at something - maybe his notes or something, Steve didn’t know.
“Alright.” Mike finally replied after a couple seconds of silence. “Roll for damage.”
Steve picked up his d8 and shook it in both hands, blowing into them and closing his eyes after bringing his hands to his forehead. The kids protested at his theatrics, shouting at him to get on with it, but when Steve opened his eyes he saw the grins on their faces and the anticipation in the way they leaned towards him. He rolled the die and shook his hands out to release some of the tension in his posture.
The die landed on 6.
The kids went wild, shouting over each other. Even Max joined in.
“What’s the modifier?!” That was Lucas.
“D8 plus three!” Max piped up.
“That’s nine so far!” Max glared at Dustin for saying the obvious.
“The modifier?!” Lucas yelled again.
“It’s strength! Add your strength!” Mike shouted over them and they all whipped their heads to Steve at once. He balked at the sudden attention, but held up his character sheet after fumbling with it and nearly dropping it on the floor, squinting at the text.
“It’s plus five.” He said eventually, when it looked like the others were about to explode.
Dustin looked up, running through the numbers in his head. He opened his mouth, but Will beat him to it.
“Fourteen!”
Everyone’s attention zeroed back in on Mike, who looked equally as frazzled as Steve had felt under the same scrutiny. That wasn’t going to stop Steve from staring holes into Mike. He certainly handled the attention better than Steve had.
“You hold the grip tight as you swing your sword up towards the deadly Juggernaut, slashing him deep on his unarmoured underbelly. You hear a mighty screech of pain as the hit hurts the creature, rendering it momentarily stunned from the attack. The Juggernaut wobbles in place, great thumps shaking the earth as the dragon stumbles backward, injured but not dead. Will the Wise, what do you do?”
Will rubbed his hand on the back of his neck as everyone swivelled in their chairs to look at him. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he got the chance a shout came from upstairs.
“Mike! It’s getting late! Your friends need to go home, it’s a school night.” Karen Wheeler walked down the stairs as she spoke, volume descending the closer she got to the group. She looked at each of them in turn, and Steve was glad her gaze didn’t linger on him; that she didn’t treat him any differently even though he was a senior in high school playing tabletop games with a bunch of middle graders. It was already weird enough, when Steve thought about it like that. They were still his friends though, and it wasn’t like he knew anybody else who played D&D, and now they’d gotten him interested. So really it was their fault he still spent so much time with them, but if he said that aloud they’d probably be proud. Shitheads.
Steve stood up, putting his backpack on the table to tuck his character sheet into one of his textbooks, dice thrown haphazardly into the bag. He’d deal with that later. “Alright, c’mon shi…” He trailed off, but one glance at Mrs Wheeler told him she knew what he was about to say and clearly disapproved.
Steve cleared his throat and tried again. “Get your stuff together and I’ll drive you home.”
“What about our bikes?” Dustin asked, stupidly, and Steve rolled his eyes.
“Put them in the back. Or leave them here. I’ll take you to school tomorrow.”
Dustin fist bumped the air, hissing a jubilant “Yess!” and Steve knew he was fully intent on leaving his bike here for a freely offered lift tomorrow. One look at the others confirmed they’d be doing the same.
“You better give me a lift too.” Mike frowned, arms folded. He was going for intimidating, but Steve was endeared.
Karen Wheeler, not so much. “Michael! Be polite.”
“Please.” Mike added glumly, but the tips of his ears were red from the embarrassment of his mother calling him out in front of everyone.
Steve grinned and shouldered his backpack. “Of course, room for everyone.” If someone sat on someone else, or they all huddled in on the backseat, he didn’t say in front of Mrs Wheeler, but they all knew anyway from past lifts with him.
They all looked a bit put out by that until Max piped up. “Billy has to take me to school, so I’ll pass tomorrow.”
“Alright.” Steve nodded, while Dustin breathed a sigh of relief and Lucas elbowed him, whispering about how Dustin always stole shotgun anyway so why was he so worried. “I can fit your bike in the trunk now.”
The rat pack shared a look of content before they were all herded upstairs by Steve and Mrs Wheeler and Mike big them goodnight before they all packed into Steve’s BMW.
“It sucks that we couldn’t finish the campaign.” Max said from her space at the front where she’d finally elbowed Dustin out of the way. The three in the back were engaged in a heated discussion, from the sounds of it arguing over which of the X-Men characters had the coolest power. Lucas and Will agreed on Angel, but Dustin was a steadfast supporter of Beast. They were all wrong of course, because even if he wasn’t always a part of the X-Men, Magneto was obviously the coolest character.
Either way, Max was looking at Steve expectantly, so he nodded in response, eyes on the road. “You know what? I agree. Didn’t think I’d ever get so invested in a game.”
The pair shared a conspiratorial glance, grinning wide.
“Yeah.” Max said and looked down at her knees. “I thought it was stupid, for nerds, but it’s… fun. I feel like I can escape.”
She didn’t have to delve into that for Steve. They were both escaping the same thing after all. “You and me both, kid.”
They smiled at each other and then Max reached out to fiddle with the dial on the radio, glee in her eyes, and Steve figured she probably didn’t get to do that in Hargrove’s car. A silence settled over the pair as Max picked a station, bobbing her head to the music. Steve turned it up to drown out the trio in the back, not that it shut them up. Max giggled into her hand, which made it worth it.
Eventually all the kids were dropped off at their houses - Max being the exception when she asked Steve to park around the corner so she could bike up to the house - and Steve was at the house on Loch Nora. It was quiet, and dark, so Steve turned on all the lights in the hall, lounge and kitchen, then headed upstairs to his room.
He kicked his shoes off and pulled his radio out from under his bed, shoving it in his backpack before getting ready for bed. When Steve was finally laying down, curtains shut tight but eerie blue glow still stubbornly slipping into the room, he looked up at the ceiling and resigned himself to another mostly sleepless night.