10/29/2020 12:10 PM  breakdown. BREAKDOWN STRANGER THINGS // DRABBLE No one had ever tried to stop her before. NO ONE. When Nancy Wheeler decided to run away, no matter what or why she always got to go. Maybe it was the aura she gave off, or that she was too little and fast to be caught anyways. Perhaps that she was so frustrating that no one even wanted to talk to her until her roiling boil of anger had at least cooled to a simmer. But for whatever reason, the people in her life always watched her go. Even if deep down, she'd wished they would follow her. Steve had let her stomp off furiously when he'd been more concerned about his parents discovering the party than he'd been about her best friend. Her mother had allowed her to rush off to her bedroom last fall with only a half-hearted shout of her name just hours later, not pursuing her to understand how upset her daughter had been that Barb was missing. Jonathan himself had let her go once at the hospital, not even turning (that Nancy had seen) when she slipped out of the room and temporarily out of his life. Hell, even the DEMOGORGON had let her go; it had allowed her to escape the Upside Down back into their world without chasing her through the opening. In fact, she'd needed to summon it herself with blood to get it to find her again. No one had ever tried to stop her. The LAST thing she'd been expecting was for Jonathan Byers to break that tradition. Nancy jumped slightly when he grabbed her out of surprise, the muscles in her arm tensing automatically as a reflex. Like she might tug her way out of his grip at any second, poised to fight for her escape. But she DIDN'T; at least, not yet. Because then he was talking, and he was looking at her with those eyes. Standing so tall and sure in front of her that she was forced to tilt her head up slightly to look at him. And Nancy found herself unable to move at all. Her legs were cinderblocks underneath her, mooring her to the same spot in the dirt. Her arms hung limp at her sides, somehow still managing to hold onto the bottle and cups despite having no strength to do so. It was suddenly hard to draw in deep breaths, all the oxygen in the air having been sucked out the minute Jonathan's hand grabbed her sleeve. Her mouth was dry, her lips feeling chapped, and she struggled to hold his gaze when he was LOOKING at her like that. She couldn't honestly say she'd seen anything like it before, not even that night. And suddenly, to Nancy's ultimate HORROR? A single teardrop escaped in the chaos of her surprise, sneaking past her ironclad defenses and down her cheek. She'd been given the warning by her body and ignored it, becoming the architect of her own demise. With one arm being held by Jonathan and the other holding their drinks, she was powerless to stop or hide its slow descent across her face. She was half tempted to turn her head but immediately discarded the idea. He'd SEEN it; it would be impossible for him not to have seen it. No sense in trying to hide it, no matter how much she wished she could. God, did she want to she could? Because honestly, this night couldn't get much worse for the petite monster hunter. She'd shared more about Barb than she'd shared since her disappearance, opening the flood gates of vulnerability that she now couldn't seem to close. She made an ASS out of herself by snapping at him about not understanding her feelings, knowing full well how difficult even hinting at those sorts of things was for him. Now she was crying in front of him (ok, it was just one tear but still), feeling exposed in a way she never had before. F*** it, she thought to herself. It was already too late to try and save her dignity, might as well just thoroughly eviscerate herself and get it all out there. "... If I wanted someone like Steve, I'd be with Steve," Nancy said slowly, testing out her voice. A little quiet, but otherwise back to normal. At least the shakiness was gone. "And trust me, I wish I DID still want to be with him. Because you ... are so frustrating. And distant. A-and closed off. And HARSH, sometimes, even when people don't deserve it." she listed, shaking her head. "But you're also ... selfless. And passionate. And loyal. And a million other things I'd love to learn if you'd just let me."   0 Comments

10/28/2020 11:56 PM  Overwhelmed/Halloween party. overwhelmed HALLOWEEN PARTY // drabble It had all been going so well. TOO WELL, now that she thought about it. Stacy was throwing her ANNUAL HALLOWEEN PARTY again, and Nancy had dragged Jonathan along. For a re-do of sorts, to reclaim the mess that had been last year and make a much happier memory around that party. And for a long time it had been GREAT. While refusing to dance himself, Jonathan had stayed dutifully at her side all night as she spun around on the dance floor. They’d talked to a few people, traded slow kisses in the corners, been teenagers in love for a night. In fact, the only time they’d split up was when Jonathan went to the bathroom and Nancy went to the punchbowl to fill up her drink. One of the Hawkins football players was already there, SEVERAL more drinks in than she was, and immediately began chatting her up with half-lidded eyes. It had all been going so well. Until, of course, Jonathan PUNCHED the aforementioned football player. In the face. Utter pandemonium had instantly erupted. As he fell, the football player knocked over a few of the people standing behind him. The gaggle of costumed high schoolers CRASHED to the floor, sending the freshly refilled punch bowl flying in the air. It DOUSED everyone standing within a ten foot radius with the neon red liquid, causing shrieks from stunned partygoers to echo through the house. Since no one had been paying that much attention, everyone lost in the haze of alcohol and music, not a soul seemed to know who had thrown the punch or why. And the football player was too distracted by the blood gushing from his nose to answer any questions. Which had been exactly the distraction Nancy needed to get them out of there. With a firm TUG on Jonathan’s jacket sleeve, the two of them had dipped out the side kitchen door and escaped in his car. She could still hear the confused teenage SCREAMING half a block away. Her anger having subsided only slightly in the long (AND SILENT) drive back to her house, Nancy had been planning on marching hotly into her house without so much as a ‘goodbye’ to her boyfriend of almost a year. But when he’d shot out of the driver’s seat to follow her up the driveway, meekly offering his explanation for what he’d done as her hand fell on the doorknob ... she couldn’t. Nancy HEAVED a sigh, turning around to face him. Her costume, for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW, was ruined. She was ANGRY, just like last year. But unlike last year, she was sober enough to hold this kind of conversation. And she LOVED him enough that the anger couldn’t possibly last long. Not when jealousy had been the thing to drive him to act so stupidly. She took a seat on the edge of their walkway, resting her elbows on her thighs and nodding towards the piece of concrete next to her like he should join her. She’d been careful enough to select a spot that didn’t receive much light from the front door, hiding them in the shadows from any member of the Wheeler house who might’ve been curious. Nancy was quiet for a minute, chewing on her bottom lip as she decided what to say. “... Jonathan, you’ve been my WORLD for the last year. Longer than that, even...” she admitted with a frown, shaking her head. “I love you. I’ve ...shared every part of me with you. Even the ugly parts. We sleep together more nights than we don’t. We talk about the future together. What ... could there possibly be for you to be jealous of between me and some random drunk guy at a party?”   0 Comments

09/09/2020 11:12 PM  all love./drabble all love but it's all love // drabble Nancy IMMEDIATELY shook her head no, her freshly cropped brown curls swinging in front of her face. She doubted he was crazy, especially since CRAZIER things had happened to them in the last few months. Government coverups, friends, going missing, using virtually all the snow-melting salt within the city limits to make a DIY-Sensory Deprivation Chamber. And after fighting literal monsters and falling into a separate dimension through a hole in the base of a tree (AND developing feelings for Jonathan Byers), the idea that her brother had heard the missing Eleven's voice over the static on his walkie-talkie wasn't remotely jarring to her. Especially not when he'd been trying to reach her on that same device EVERY NIGHT since she'd vanished. Not that Nancy would ever tell him she knew about that. It would just embarrass him so much, he'd stop confiding in her. They'd only JUST opened those lines of communication; she wasn't going to carelessly close them again with a comment like that. "You're a lot of things, Mike. Crazy isn't one of them." Nancy reassured her little brother, shutting the chemistry book in her lap as she abandoned all pretense that she would keep studying. If it had bothered him enough to seek her advice? Clearly, this was more important than the lab report she had due at the end of the week. Patting a spot on her duvet cover as an invitation for him to sit down, she produced a fresh sheet of paper from her notebook and started jotting down THE FACTS. How he'd heard HER say HIS name, barely above a whisper, in response to one of his many attempts. Nancy tried not to let it show how much that notion broke her heart - to think of them, wherever Eleven was, calling for each other without any hope of hearing an answer. Clearing her throat, Nancy glanced back up at her brother. "Is this the first time she answered you?" she asked, blue eyes wide in interest. She didn't even QUESTION his assertion that it had been Eleven he heard. Nor would she - she believed Mike, even if he was starting to question himself.   0 Comments

08/27/2020 11:14 PM  no excuses. no excuses NEVER settle // drabble Nancy knew, were the roles reversed that she'd NEVER settle for all the lies and half-truths being told directly to her face. About what the kids had been doing at Hawkins Middle School that night two years ago. Why Nancy had come home a year later looking like she'd been dragged through the dirt after running two marathons, or their little band of misfits had been the ONLY people to escape the massive Starcourt Mall fire earlier that week. While the stories themselves were somewhat plausible, carefully constructed by the professionals to be that way, none of Karen Wheeler's children were GIFTED liars. In fact, they were pretty terrible. Mike always ended up protesting too much, his excessive energy giving him away, while Nancy's lack of a poker face told everyone what they needed to know with just one glance. Besides, to a keen eye? There were big HOLES in the stories. How had Nancy managed to total the brand new station wagon in a fire, if that's what it was? What was that large amount of people even doing there so long after closing? And why, when asked about it, could NO ONE give a straight answer about any of it? Nancy knew it bothered her mother, realizing that her two eldest children were lying to her about something so big. But how could she DARE to tell Karen the truth? To open that door to monsters and mayhem that she'd worked so hard to keep the rest of her family away from? "... Mom?" Nancy began cautiously, glancing up from her usual perch on top of the kitchen island. Delicate fingers curled around the edge, she exhaled her shoulders away from her ears and frowned. Trying to find a compromise, an olive branch towards the truth - Karen deserved at least that. "You know that ... the story I was working on? The one you told me to finish? Well, it ... it's BIGGER than I thought. It's connected to ... what happened to Barbara. And the mall. I ... I promise to tell you all about it someday when I'm ready. But for now, can you just ... just TRUST me when I tell you that ... it's all over now?"   0 Comments

08/11/2020 12:45 PM  The Ceiling Is Beautiful|monthly drabble TheCeilingIsBeautiful monthly drabble // ft steve It had taken a LOT of coaxing to get Nancy to attend the party. After her less than stellar performance around Halloween, she'd been trying to keep herself from the temptation of alcohol as a coping mechanism. Even if she needed it, she knew that when intoxicated? The darkest, ugliest, most hurtful truths came spilling out of her mouth as freely as if someone had asked her the time of day or the weather. But with their SAT practice tests behind them, a few of the other girls had convinced her to come out and CELEBRATE with them. Of course, now she wished she hadn't said yes. It still wasn't easy, seeing Steve anywhere. She noticed him first, eyes drawn by the motion of the opening front door. Last she'd checked they were on FINE terms, Steve having promised her that everything was okay, but ... it was still hard. Breakups always were, especially when they weren't clean or clear. The whole room had fallen somewhat yet with ANTICIPATION AND GULIT, wondering what was going to happen between their king and his former princess. And that lull in the conversation had enabled Nancy to HEAR steve voice the minute his eyes locked on hers. Nancy instantly felt like she was going to be SICK and not from the alcohol in her system. It was really time for her to go. She always felt so much for people and how much they feel. Nancy numbly gathered her purse and headed for the exit. Nancy said in a clipped voice, fighting gathering tears as she pushed past him to the door.   0 Comments

08/06/2020 08:22 PM  Someone you loved. Part 2. SOMEONE YOU LOVED PART 2 //GROUP REPLY Not for the first time, Nancy caught herself being endlessly GRATEFUL that Joyce knew everything. The truth about last fall, where Barbara's body indeed lay. What had happened to Will, about the monsters that had crawled out of the Gate and into this very house. That there was an adult who knew about the mental scars Nancy tried to HIDE from her own mother, who could understand that her life was going to be different than she'd ever planned from now on. It made the Byers' family home a place where Nancy could truly EXHALE. She could drop the carefully constructed facade she kept up for the benefit of her family and remaining friends and feel whatever emotions came to her naturally. Joyce would never judge her, and not just for Jonathan's sake - but for her own. It was a kindness that Nancy knew she could never repay, to use of this little haven as much as she wanted, but helping whenever she could. Like going through hoppers, boxes might do something, find anything. Maybe THAT was why Nancy was so determined to keep Jonathan close to her. To not lose anyone else, not even temporarily. Shaking her head at Johnathan's words from before, Nancy tried to move on to another subject. He didn't know any of the BULLSH*T that she been through when he was away from her- of course, she must look like to from his perspective. She then turned, hearing Joyce's voice in the distance. "I ... I can't EXPLAIN it to you. what I feel, but right now, we have more important things to do." Nancy said as calmly as she could, even as a bit of nervous. she realized the biggest fear is finding her boyfriend dead somewhere, and she was somehow taking it out on him. "were coming right now." Nancy followed Joyce's sounds as she softly spoke to her. Out of the bedroom, she wrung her hands nervously as she tried to think of an explanation that would make this any better. But none came.   0 Comments

08/05/2020 01:20 PM  Someone you loved. someone you loved GROUP REPLY // Now the day bleeds For a moment, Nancy was too stunned to respond. She just stood there, mouth slightly agape and mind RACING to try and catch up to her new reality. To the sight of Jonathan standing there, dressed exactly how he usually he wore, asking her of all people that kind of question. Did he remember all the people that died about like Barb, somehow? How her best friend had died so horrifically because of Nancy's selfishness, how the trauma and GUILT of it all still plagued Nancy even to this day? Did crossing over to the other side give you some kind of omnipotence, access to shared knowledge, and wisdom beyond human understanding? Or maybe ... maybe it really WAS a simple question. At least, it wasn't dramatic as he was making it to be. From a relative outsider's perspective, a desire to know what her death had done to the family she'd left behind. What it meant for her to be gone, since she couldn't experience it for herself. I..." Nancy began slowly as if testing out her vocal cords to make sure they still worked. Scratchy, strained, but definitely audible; she supposed she'd have to settle for that. "... It's HORRIBLE, you know that," she said bluntly, lifting slightly misty eyes to meet Jonathan's eyes. God, her stomach threatened to roll at the thought of it, but she managed to hold it together. "It's like ... trying to live without a LIMB for the rest of your life. Feeling it there, like a phantom, but it's gone. Like you're just... incomplete somehow." Nancy continued, although she didn't know how much longer she'd last. "God, I hope they knew we care about them," Nancy whispered to her, managing a small smile even as a tear escaped her eyes. "Living life without people you care about is the hardest thing to be to ever done. And I'm just trying to survive it but ...to have a life outside this town".   0 Comments

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