Even Stranger Magic

Epilogue:

"Love should be without conditions. Love should not come with strings attached or qualifiers added."

*****

Billy Hargrove stood in the doorway of the house he had lived in for so long with one final box in his arms. The box wasn't important, it was mostly his hair stuff, cologne, toothbrush… What was important was that Billy didn't want to leave.

In the last two years, the pool house had been his. It had been his home, really. Maybe the first one that he really had. It wasn't just a place to sleep and hide, but a place that had been safe enough for him to live.

Billy grew up more in that pool house than he ever did with his dad.

"Hard to believe it's been over two years now."

Steve snuck up on Billy and Billy only nodded while he pretended he was stalling to check for more of his stuff. Steve knew it was bullshit the same way that Billy did - Steve had helped him pack the last week.

"Are you going to hit me if I say it's not going to be the same without you here?" Steve asked him.

"I will if you say some sappy shit that's going to make me cry," Billy warned him, only partially kidding. Billy really didn't want to cry about it - it wasn't sad. When Steve got back from England, Billy could come visit anytime he wanted.

Billy wasn't even being evicted, he wanted to move out. Billy had a new home, his own home, and that was where he belonged. It shouldn't have been making him feel all soft and pathetic to leave a place that he slept.

"When does Heather get here?" Billy asked.

"She'll be home from ISU tomorrow," Steve said. "Robin drove back last night to get some stuff from her parents house."

Billy nodded and reminded himself that Steve wasn't replacing him or some dumb shit like that. Robin and Heather needed a place to stay, Steve was going overseas for the summer, Billy was moving out.

Everyone was moving on, it wasn't sad it was just life or whatever.

Steve watched with his big sad eyes when Billy pulled the door shut and then he fell in step beside Billy on the way to the Camaro. They passed by the garden that Billy planted for-fucking-ever ago and Billy grinned crookedly at the corn that was sprouting, the flower bushes that had began to blossom when spring hit.

"Remember when Sirianna threw up in the garden?" Steve grinned a little bit too then when he brought up the most epic party they had thrown together.

It was their senior Halloween party…

"Billy!" Sirianna stumbled out of the pool house and practically fell in Billy's arms. Billy wasn't complaining, he liked her better in his arms.

"Oh, baby." Billy chuckled at the fucking lovesick look on his girl's face. "You're drunk drunk."

"Pst, come here!" Sirianna grabbed Billy by the hair and pulled his head down while he held back a hopeless groan.

"I've never had alcohol before," she whispered, loud as shit, in Billy's ear.

Yeah, that was why Billy gave her a beer before he went to hit the keg with Steve. Billy looked past her to see Jason Carver looking guilty as shit in the pool house.

"Come on, man, I had no idea," Carver said. "It was two shots with Chrissy."

Billy held Sirianna up and looked over near the pool where the music was loudest and where Chrissy and Eddie were dancing all over each other. Chrissy was drunk, Eddie was probably stoned.

"Why aren't we dancing?" Sirianna asked. She pouted at Billy and damn if it wasn't the prettiest pout, all sparkly and cute from the makeup she had smeared on her face. "Dance with me?" she asked him.

How was Billy supposed to say no? They danced together - Sirianna was shit, but drunk and cute - for about ten minutes before Sirianna's face twitched in what looked like pain to Billy.

"Babe?" Billy saw Sirianna as she began scanning the yard, probably looking for her brother. "You good?"

"No, it's—" Sirianna broke off and Billy groaned when she twisted to the side hard and immediately started puking… right on the fucking garden.

"Yeah." Billy didn't smile because the night didn't end real fucking great, but he appreciated Steve putting in the effort.

Steve stopped trying to make a conversation when he watched Billy load the last box in the Camaro. There was still the doghouse Billy built after his first full summer living with Steve, but he was leaving it there for when Steve got home and would demand to have Ziggy stay over. Billy stood by the driver's door, looked around the yard, and tried to not act like a bitch.

It wasn't the end of the fucking world. It was a good change - Billy was ready to move out.

"I kind of hate this," Steve said.

"Yeah." Billy sighed. "Me too."

Before he could change his mind, before he could tell himself that he was nineteen years old and didn't need to hug up on Steve, he reached out and grabbed Steve to pull him toward him.

"I love you, man," Billy said. "Thanks, for everything."

Steve seemed surprised by the hug at first, he stood there awkward as fuck and stiff as hell, but he relaxed eventually and then hugged Billy twice as hard as Billy was hugging him.

"I love you," Steve said, all choked up and twice as much of a bitch as Billy was acting. "You're my best friend, Billy. I'm so proud of you."

Great, Billy was going to cry.

Billy broke the hug off once it went past ‘two friends hugging like brothers' and probably got close to ‘this shit is gay as hell'. He grinned at Steve and blinked so he didn't start crying over it all.

"I'll see you at the ceremony tonight?" Billy checked.

"Yeah, I'll see you there," Steve said. He sniffled and Billy was quick to hop in the car and turn the ignition over. He backed down the driveway slowly and winked when Steve raised his hand in goodbye.

It wasn't supposed to be fucking sad, Billy wasn't even leaving Hawkins. He was only driving across town to his girl - his new home that they would share.

So maybe it was a little sad, but Billy was starting to think that there would be a happy ending anyway.

*****

"Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud."

*****

"Sophomores!" Max laughed when she raised her cup with her friends and they all clinked them together. It was the first day of summer vacation, the first real day that Max could call herself a sophomore.

Everyone was excited, riding the high of finishing their freshman year together.

Lucas made the basketball team, Dustin took over as Dungeon Master in Hellfire, Will had finally told Mike how they felt and they were sitting suspiciously close together in the backyard. El had gotten C's, which were freaking awesome.

The sun was shining, all of her friends were happy, Max's girlfriend was right beside her. Life really couldn't get any better.

"Hey, kids." The backdoor of their house opened up and Max kicked Lucas when he rolled his eyes at the cheery voice that called out to them.

"Be nice," Max hissed at him.

"He's so annoying," Lucas whined.

"I like him," El said quietly.

Which was why Max loved El. Like, she loved Lucas, but not in a ‘let's makeout and hold hands and please please please can I touch your boobs' kind of way. But Max also loved El in a ‘please hold me when I'm scared and tell me all your dreams and let's grow up and take over the entire world together to make it a better place' kind of way.

Love was really freaking complicated.

"Hi, Bob." Max grinned up at Bob and felt a laugh bubble in her stomach when she saw that Bob had a bag hidden behind his back.

Bob was kind of awesome, even Billy said so. Max had been thrilled when her mom decided that Neil ‘pretending like he never had a son' was ‘sick and twisted' and finally left his scum-ass. Max thought they were going to have to leave Hawkins, which really freaked her out. Leave Hawkins? And El? And Billy and Sirianna? No thanks.

Max was pretty sure that someone - probably Sirianna's god-dad or El - had done some magic on Neil and next thing Max knew, he was leaving. Billy had helped him move out, and - and that had kind of sucked, actually…

"What are you doing here?" Max hissed when she saw her brother strolling up to her house. Neil was still there, he was supposed to be gone before Mom got back from her new job at RadioShack.

"I - I don't know." Billy had a cigarette dangling from his lips, it wasn't lit and there was something kind of panicky about him. "Is he going back to California?"

It was Dallas, actually.

"Boston," Max lied with a straight face. Boston was somewhere up north, probably somewhere cold. Billy wouldn't go there and Max didn't want him freaking out if he ever had to go to Texas.

"Damn." Billy stuffed his hands in his pockets and Max didn't like the look on his face, the look like he was about to do something really stupid. "I just wanted to…"

Billy's voice trailed off and Max closed her eyes when she heard heavy footsteps on the porch behind her. She already knew, she freaking knew, who had walked outside and must have spotted Billy. As long as Neil didn't say anything —

"Need a hand?"

Max's eyes flew open and she couldn't do anything when Billy suddenly strode past her to get to the porch. Max wanted to stop him, to ask what the hell he was doing, but - but she kind of got it.

Neil was leaving and Billy might never see his dad again. It didn't matter if Neil was an asshole and a jerk and that he beat Billy for ten years straight - Max could like tell that Billy was sad.

So Max had to follow them inside and she had to watch Billy make small-talk with Neil while Neil packed up all of his stuff. Neil talked to Billy a lot, about how ‘shitty' Hawkins was and how he was ‘ready to be out of town'. Billy didn't talk as much, he just looked upset while Neil talked and they moved boxes.

It made it kind of bittersweet when Neil finally finished with his belongings and left… Max sat on the porch with Billy for a long time - neither of them said anything, Max just held his hand like she knew El did for her brother when he was upset.

It was better when Mom started dating Bob. Max hadn't been surprised when she first started bringing him around, her mom was never single for long. But Max was surprised when she started getting to know Bob and realized he was about as different from Neil as day to night.

"I had the craziest day!" Bob sat right down on the grass with the rest of them and Max was grinning even though the boys rolled their eyes. Except Dustin, Dustin leaned in like maybe he thought Bob really did have a crazy day.

"I was driving home from work, minding my own business, when I saw a sign at Jasmine's Jellies. It said ‘free candy to awesome sophomores', can you believe it?" Bob huffed and shook his head. "I was pretty bummed, since I'm not a sophomore, but I thought you kids might want some…" Bob pulled the bag from behind his back and dumped out a freaking crap ton of chocolate all over the ground. "Candy!"

"Candy!" Will and Dustin dived right in the pile while El kicked Lucas and shook her head with a little smirk. He who mocked Bob was he who did not get the king size Crunch bar that Bob probably picked out just for him because Bob was the kind of guy who remembered what candy Max's friends liked.

"Thanks, Bob," Max said, smiling widely at the nicest freaking guy her mom had ever even had a conversation with. "You're like the best, you know that?"

"Me? Nah." Bob chuckled while he pushed himself back up, out of the danger zone from where everyone else had started in on the candy and echoed thanks to him. "You kids are the best, I'm just here for the ride."

Bob was a massive dork when he struck what he must have thought was a cool surfer pose - Billy would mock the hell out of him - but Bob was also the nicest guy.

"That guy," Dustin had a mouth full of jellybeans and Max could hardly understand him, "is a dork."

Max looked around at her circle of D&D playing, video game loving, AV techy, geeky friends and shared a look with El.

Dustin really didn't have room to call Bob a dork, none of them did. Max couldn't fight about it though, not when she saw Mike going for the Reese Cups that were so obviously bought for her.

*****

"Love does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

*****

It had been Halloween when Jim sat at his desk and had Joyce straddled across his lap like they were high schoolers in detention. Joyce had on a pair of cat ears, Jim's baton was digging in his hip, and damn if he wanted to move from where they were at.

"We could just get married," Joyce suggested, biting on Jim's neck and following it with a kiss. "Me, you, our fifty fucking kids…"

Jim groaned and threw his head back, acted like he didn't want that exact thing. They were already talking about living together, moving both of their families to a place big enough for five teenagers. It made a lot more sense than the sneaking around, the trying to find time together when they weren't working or busy or dealing with some new puberty-induced crisis.

"You really think that's how you seduce me?" Jim asked gruffly, looking at Joyce through lazy eyes and thinking that she was just as beautiful as she had been thirty years ago - more, really. Joyce was a beautiful pain in Jim's ass and he'd marry her that minute if he thought she was serious.

"Mm, I think you like it." Joyce smirked coyly while her hand moved up Jim's leg, calling his damn bluff. "What's that, Hop? You getting hot thinking about a white picket fence, family dinners, sex in our bed every night?"

"In the bed every night?" Jim pushed Joyce off him and caught her at the last second, pulling a yelp from her while she grinned and he abruptly pulled her right up on his lap. "If that's what your idea of marriage is then I'm not interested."

He was lying, Jim already had the damn ring. He thought Joyce was the one who wasn't interested - how many times did he hear her say that marrying Lonnie had been the biggest mistake of her life?

"Fine, we'll fuck on the yard like animals," Joyce said, breathless and smiling and beautiful. "We'll traumatize the entire neighborhood."

"That's more like it."

The kids were all at a Halloween party at Steve Harrington's place; Jim was considerately ignoring any calls about noise complaints from that area. There was nothing keeping Jim from bending Joyce over his desk and ignoring everything else going on in life for a few hours.

When they were finished, when they were naked in Jim's office sharing a cigarette and acting like some dumbass teenagers, Jim figured it was a night for dumbass decisions.

"Here." Jim pulled himself up to his desk and grabbed the ring box out of his drawer. He pretended that his heart wasn't racing when he tossed it to Joyce, he acted like it wasn't some big deal at all. "If you want it," he said, casual as fuck all.

"Jim…" Joyce opened the box slowly and Jim couldn't tell what she was thinking, for maybe the first time. She looked down at the ring for a long time and when she looked over at him again, Jim got it.

Joyce wanted that damn ring - she wanted Jim. Joyce wanted all the things Jim did and she laughed first, laughed so loudly it almost scared Jim.

"What a lame proposal!" She slid the ring on her finger - Jim probably should have done that - before she launched herself across the room to grab Jim. Jim started laughing too and he couldn't remember whose idea it was to get married then and there, hers or his.

It might have been both, they might have said it at the same time.

Jim called in Powell and then he and Joyce drove straight to Sirius Black's house, asked how quick he could get them to Vegas. If he could pop in Jim's yard every damn day, he could do Jim one fucking favor.

Jim didn't remember later whose idea it was, his or Joyce's. All he knew when he returned to Hawkins on November 1st was that it had been the worst decision Jim ever made.

"Jim?" Joyce walked up behind Jim in the doorway of the recently emptied bedroom. She didn't say anything, she only slipped an arm around Jim's waist and leaned her head over on his side.

Jim didn't have anything to say - he just looked at the empty bedroom and wished his kids were home. He wished that El was in the kitchen begging Jonathan to make her some waffles. Or that Sirianna was there, filling the house with her new rock album. Jim wished the most that Harry was there, curled up in some corner reading a book.

"Sirianna's just down the road," Joyce reminded Jim softly when he didn't have anything to say. "She's not gone, Jim."

Jim nodded, he knew that. It didn't change the fact that her bedroom was empty and Jim never planned on going from five kids to three before the twins were even eighteen. Jonathan wasn't moving out yet, though Jim knew he'd been accepted to a few colleges he wanted to go to. And El and Will were too young to move out yet, but it didn't mean that the house still felt too damn empty.

"You never think that you're going to miss the noise and the mess and the chaos until it's gone," Joyce said.

Jim thought of his first daughter, Sara, and he thought about her giggles and laughter and all the times Jim had been too busy to play with her. Jim had sworn when he took in the Potters, when they added El not much longer, that he wouldn't take a second for granted again.

He did though, Jim took it for granted again. Jim didn't think about a time when Harry and Sirianna wouldn't be there.

"I need to get dressed." Jim turned and kissed Joyce's head affectionately, knew that he wouldn't be half the man - half of a functioning human - if it weren't for her. "I love you," he told her.

"I love you." Joyce had pity in her eyes when she looked up at Jim and she tried to smile, tried to hide it from him. "You better hurry, old man," she said, trying to add some levity to the situation. "The kids graduate in an hour."

*****

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."

*****

"Eddie!" Chrissy's heart did flips in her chest when she walked down the stairs of her house and saw it was Eddie waiting at the front door. Eddie's face split in a wide smile when he saw her and Chrissy jumped the last few steps just so she could fly across the foyer and land in Eddie's arms.

"My queen!" Eddie held Chrissy and spun her around until she was dizzy. When he put her on her feet, Chrissy smiled up at him and took in all the subtle changes that happened since spring break. His skin was a little more tan, Chrissy could see the black ink of a new tattoo peeking out from under his shirt sleeve. Eddie had on enough makeup to seriously piss off Chrissy's mom… he looked great.

"I've missed you," Chrissy told him. "How many more days?" she asked immediately. She knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it again.

"Twenty-two days until we're together again." Eddie lifted Chrissy's hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. It didn't matter that they had been together for over a year - almost two years - Eddie had a way of making the most innocent actions seem so romantic it couldn't be real.

"How's the apartment?" Chrissy took Eddie by the hand and started pulling him upstairs. Mom could make all the faces she wanted, Chrissy didn't care. In twenty-two days Chrissy would be out of Hawkins, away from her parents, alone with just her boys.

"Oh, bad news, babe." Eddie had a sparkle in his eyes when he jumped on Chrissy's bed and made himself comfortable. Chrissy shut her door and then jumped on the bed beside him, not worrying about her hair or makeup as much as she was soaking in the comfort of knowing Eddie was there.

"Don't tell me, you repainted," Chrissy teased him. It couldn't really be bad news or Eddie would have told Jason - they had a silly idea that when there was bad news they would tell Chrissy as a team. They had done that when Eddie was accepted to Los Angeles City College… and, okay, maybe Chrissy had been horribly proud and heartbroken and wound up needing them both. But Chrissy just had a feeling that nothing bad was really going on.

Unless Eddie really did paint the apartment they were all meant to share black… then Jason was going to bitch and it would be a bummer to spend their first week living together repainting everything.

"No need," Eddie said. He took Chrissy's hand and there was such an excited light in his eyes that Chrissy started to feel even more excited. "We're not living in the apartment," he said. Eddie turned some so he could grab something - a cassette case - from his back pocket. Chrissy took the case and she heard Eddie, she knew how to read, but it didn't click in her head for a long moment…

"Because I bought a house."

Hellfire Dreamscape

Chrissy had to flip the case over to start scanning the back, ignoring the titles for a moment to find what she knew - what she always knew - she would find at the bottom:

Written & Performed by Eddie Munson

It was… it was a cassette tape. It was Eddie's cassette tape. It was —

"YOU PRODUCED AN ALBUM?!" Chrissy thought she was going to explode when she flipped over and saw Eddie was absolutely beaming with like half of the pride in himself that Chrissy was feeling.

"YES!" Eddie laughed and they were hugging and maybe Chrissy was crying but he did it - Eddie freaking did it!

Chrissy knew he could, she knew it. Chrissy never doubted that Eddie could graduate high school, she never doubted that he was going to find someone who recognized his talent in LA. Chrissy loved knowing that Eddie's dreams, all of their dreams, were coming true.

"Does Wayne know?" Chrissy asked after giving Eddie about 500 congratulations kisses.

"Only you and Jace," Eddie said. He laced their hands together and his were covered in rings, shining silver rings to match his earrings and necklaces, Chrissy only wore the one that her boys bought for her last Christmas. "I was thinking we'd tell him together tomorrow?" he asked, smiling so sweetly and shyly that Chrissy wanted to just wrap him up and kiss every inch of him.

"We could go now!" Chrissy said. She couldn't wait to see Wayne's face when he saw Eddie's album. Actually, Chrissy snatched the album up and started reading the back while Eddie said how he didn't want to ‘steal Chrissy and Jason's spotlight'.

As if graduating high school was anywhere as cool as being a rockstar.

Most of the songs Chrissy knew, she heard them and had demos for that she and Jason listened to almost constantly.

‘Unholy Temptation', that was Chrissy's favorite song. ‘Blood in the Dust', ‘Razor Edge of Rust', ‘Samhain Symphony'…

"Oh." Chrissy sucked in her lower lip and bit it when she saw the fourth song on the album. It was a beautiful song, Eddie had the best range on that one, but…

One minute Chrissy was buzzed and dancing with Eddie, winking at Jason and thinking about their own Halloween Post-Party they could go to after the rad party at Steve and Billy's place.

The next minute everything was frozen, cold and icy, and Chrissy felt her chest seizing up with fear that was so real she felt like she was being ripped in half with it. Eddie was there and he was holding her, pulling her in his chest, then Jason was there, grabbing them both and not giving a fuck who saw him.

"We need to go," Jason said. He was shivering and shaking, his breath came out in the same clouds that Chrissy's were. Chrissy was totally game on leaving, but she had to check on Sirianna first.

Something was seriously wrong and it wasn't just them who noticed. Other people were screaming, crying. Chrissy saw Sirianna's sister El running across the yard, screaming for Harry.

"SirI!!" Chrissy's head was pounding and she didn't know why she was thinking how she wasn't enough, wasn't good enough, not pretty enough, nobody really loved her… Chrissy couldn't even like focus on the shit that was bouncing around in her head, she couldn't find her best friend.

"Chrissy, we need to get out of here, now," Jason said firmly. He started pulling Chrissy by the hand, Chrissy had Eddie's hand in an iron hold so they didn't lose each other in the rush of everyone trying to get out of there.

Chrissy didn't mean to start crying, but she was sad, miserable, and scared. Siri wasn't anywhere and Harry was gone and Chrissy just needed to know her best friend was okay.

Jason almost had them to his car when there was an explosion behind him and they all turned around and saw the sky itself ripping open. Chrissy froze and Jason, sweet Catholic Jason, started cussing worse than Eddie ever did when monsters began falling from the sky.

"Mother fucking son of a bitch…"

That was when Chrissy found Sirianna and Harry. Both of them were running toward the monsters, their hands locked between them. Chrissy couldn't leave, she wouldn't.

Chrissy didn't know what the fuck was going on, but she wasn't going to leave while her friends were in danger.

"I have a different one for Sirianna," Eddie said, covering Chrissy's hand with his. "She doesn't have to hear it."

It was a beautiful song, haunting and lyrically brilliant, but… but if Chrissy couldn't listen to it without crying and thinking about the night that inspired it, she knew Sirianna couldn't either.

*****

"Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

*****

Sirianna twirled her wand in her hand while she walked through her house, looking it all over one more time. Everything was clean, cozy, decorated just the way that Sirianna and Billy wanted it to be.

There were some decorations that weren't theirs, that had once been Benny's, but Sirianna couldn't bear to part with them. Billy made a gross face about the antlers mounted on the wall, but they reminded Sirianna of the time Benny sat outside the trailer with a shotgun because he knew Sirianna was scared.

It was Sirianna's home, but it would always be Benny's house.

Everything was as perfect as it could be, as perfect as Sirianna thought it could be.

A loud woof from Ziggy pulled Sirianna from her thoughts and she had to act quick to keep from getting dirty paw prints all over the front of her dress when he ran to her.

"Hey, no!" Sirianna pointed firmly at Ziggy and leaned forward some so he couldn't get to the fabric. "Don't you dare," she warned him. "I'm not going to graduation dirty."

"Or what?" Billy sauntered through the back door and smirked at Sirianna while he looked her over appreciatively. "If I get you dirty will you spank me? Call me a bad boy?"

"No." Sirianna narrowed her eyes when Billy grabbed her, even though she knew he wasn't going to destroy her dress. "As punishment, I will never spank you," she said.

"Oh, kitten, those sharp claws." Billy winked before he ducked his head and kissed her, taking his time to try and distract her - or cheer her up, something.

The distraction of the day was supposed to be them both finally moving in the house together. It had been Sirianna's for some time, as was the restaurant down the trail. They had decided to wait to move in until the day of graduation - something sweet to offset the bitterness of the day.

"I've got a surprise for you," Billy said when they broke apart, just an inch between their faces.

"I hope it's not another ring," Sirianna said, working so hard to tease Billy when all she wanted to do was cry.

Billy glanced at the diamond ring on Sirianna's left hand, the one that he gave her last October when they went to California together. It was Billy's idea to get away from Hawkins on the anniversary, one that Sirianna had jumped on.

It was just the two of them for almost a week. They didn't go visit Eddie, they didn't invite anyone. Sirianna made sure her family knew where she was, and then they found their own peaceful blues together - Billy in the water, Sirianna in the sky.

And one day after Sirianna lost half of her soul, Billy gave her his heart and promise for the future.

"It's not," he said. "Hop'll make good on that threat to shoot me if we don't wait until after July to get married."

Sirianna curled her lip at the reminder of Hopper's reaction to Sirianna coming back from California engaged. He had been protective and absurd; Sirius had responded appropriately.

Sirius had been ecstatic for them and told Sirianna that he knew they were meant to be, that he knew Billy was her James. Sirius also immediately said he would pay for the wedding, which turned into an argument with Hopper on which ‘father of the bride' was going to pay.

It had been ridiculous.

Sirianna's brief look of irritation was wiped away when Billy grabbed her by the waist and threw her over his shoulder. She squealed and kicked her heels, demanding Billy put her down.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Hargrove, is this how we handle patients?" Sirianna asked hotly.

"If the patient is hotter than the fire trapping them? Fuck yeah, it is." Billy grinned at her and even if he was older, even if his beautiful blonde curls were gone and he looked so mature and grown with his neatly trimmed facial hair, it was still the same boyish grin that had always given Sirianna the worst case of butterflies. He carried Sirianna outside and started walking down the trail to the diner, ignoring her complaints all the while.

"I'm filing a complaint with your captain," Sirianna sniffed. "Also, you better not fall in love with some woman trapped in a fire."

"Babe, be fucking serious," Billy snorted. "You're a fucking handful, I don't need two chicks driving me crazy and bossing me around."

"I am not bossy!" Sirianna cried.

She kind of was, but Billy never seemed to mind. Billy scoffed playfully and only put her on her feet when they made it to the back door of the diner, Ziggy right behind them with his tail wagging as excitedly as Billy's blue eyes were sparkling.

"You ready?" he asked. Sirianna glanced at the back door and nodded slowly, knowing she could only bear to go inside because Billy was there.

"I'm covering your eyes," Billy said. He slipped behind her and placed one hand over Sirianna's eyes, washing her in his smell and leaving her in the darkness.

Not alone, never alone.

"Slow steps, baby, don't trip," Billy murmured. He helped her walk forward and held the door for her. Sirianna could smell restaurant beneath the smell of Billy and it made her terribly nostalgic - sad and happy both.

It was time for the diner to open, time for her diner to open, but it would always remind her of the man who took her and Harry in, treated them like family, and left Sirianna his legacy after only a brief time together.

Sirianna knew the direction Billy led her and she couldn't help but to childishly hold her breath, waiting for the grand reveal. The diner would open the next day, but all of their family and friends would be there that night after the graduation ceremony at the high school. Sirianna hadn't seen the dining room of the diner yet, Billy and Sirius had put together all of the new furniture and decorations that Sirianna chose - they insisted it needed to be a surprise.

"Three… two… one…"

Billy dropped his hand from Sirianna's face to her waist and Sirianna couldn't stop the quiet gasp that her inhale made when she saw it for the first time.

Everything looked similar, but it was new enough to not be painful. The booth lining the front was silver, shining, with eight stools lined up in rotating colors of red and green. The booths were rotated with the same colors, the seats were leather while the tables themselves were all lined in sparkling silver. The floor was gleaming, new and not yet greasy with years of use.

Best of all - hanging above the door was the old sign for the diner, the neon red sign that said ‘Benny's Burgers'. Sirianna renamed the restaurant, but couldn't stand to part with the sign. It had been broken over the years, Sirius must have fixed it so that it could be hung in a place of honor.

"Billy… it's perfect," Sirianna said, tearing up. It was perfect, it was exactly what Sirianna had pictured, the very vision she wanted brought to life.

"Don't cry yet, babe." Billy slowly turned them around so that Sirianna could see the silver podium where the new fancy cash register sat… so she could see the photo of her brother framed and smiling at her and every customer who stepped into the diner.

Sirianna didn't know who took the photo, though she suspected it was Jonathan. It had to have been taken at Steve's house, Sirianna recognized the pool water reflecting up on Harry's face. It was a candid photo, a truly rare one of Harry in the middle of a laugh, as perfectly handsome and young as he had been the last night of his life.

"They're called portals!" Harry yelled to Sirianna while they both ran toward the tear in the sky, the one that was bringing creatures and monsters in Hawkins once again. Sirianna knew what some of them were called, she was more prepared with her research and wand than she had been last time, but she was still scared.

"Can you close it?" Sirianna asked, pulling her wand when she saw a flesh-eating slug opening a massive mouth full of teeth near one of El's friends.

"I - permanently?" Harry stopped and looked around, he took one second to take in the chaos already descending down on their classmates, their friends. "Yeah," Harry said. He looked at Sirianna and she didn't know then what the fire in his eyes was, the flames that made his eyes seem ten times as bright in the night. Sirianna only knew then that Harry was brilliant, Harry knew more about the magic lining the space between Hawkins and the Upside Down than anyone else.

"I can do that," Harry said. Sirianna had been proud of how confident he sounded, how sure he was. Sirianna had been proud of him tenfold when he was the one to let go of her hand, when he was the one to run to the ‘portal' while Sirianna rushed to help everyone else.

Sirianna didn't realize it until later that the flames in Harry's eyes, the fire burning, was more bravery than Sirianna - the twin chosen for Gryffindor - had ever shown in her life.

Sirianna was named after their mother, but she had lived on through Harry.

"Baby? Is it too much?" Billy stroked Sirianna's hair while she stared at the photo of Harry that she had never seen before. "If it's too much, we'll take it down. I thought - if you don't want to see it every day—"

"It's perfect," Sirianna whispered.

It was as perfect as it could be in the life that Sirianna never imagined living without her brother.

*****

"I see many different forms of love through this gym today," Jason said, looking solemnly through the crowd on what was supposed to be one of the biggest days of his life. It meant a lot to Jason to be there, giving the valedictorian speech, it meant a lot to him to know that he had graduated, he was finished with high school. But the biggest days of Jason's life were waiting in the future, he knew that as confidently as he knew anything.

"There's the love of a family," Jason looked around at the families filling the room - the traditional ones like his and Chrissy's, the less traditional one that existed between Wayne and Eddie, and the completely unconventional one of the Byers-Hopper-Hammond-Black-Potter mess.

"The love of a friend…" Jason's own friends were there, his classmates in their black gowns, Billy Hargrove in his dress blues from the fire department, Steve in a simple pair of dress pants and a black shirt.

"A romantic love…"

Without hesitation, Jason saw Chrissy in the front row, sitting proudly as class president and smiling at him - reflecting his own pride back at him. He then looked for Eddie, winked just because he could, and saw the other relationships in the room. El Hopper was there, holding hands with Max Mayfield. Another younger couple, Will Byers and Mike Wheeler, were also shyly holding hands - well, pinkies, anyway.

There were ‘normal' couples - Jonathan and Nancy, Sirianna and Billy - but there was something special about the couples who weren't hiding anymore. The couples who Jason once thought were unnatural and who were unashamed to show that they were in love with someone special and they didn't give a damn who knew.

Those couples worked for their love and Jason thought there was something about that that meant they would end up together at their end, still choosing each other.

"This gym is filled with love and love is one thing that none of us should ever take for granted," Jason said. "Our eduction will help us pave a future, the love that surrounds us will make it a future worth living.

"To the Class of 1986," Jason reached up for his cap and his classmates all mimicked him, "I hope your future is as full of love as this gym is tonight."

The students who had grown together, challenged each other, changed each other, all took their caps off at the same time and threw them in the air. The only cap that didn't move was the one sitting in the empty chair beside Sirianna, the one left for Harry Potter-Hammond in memory of the boy that would never get a chance to earn his diploma.

*****

"Harry!" Steve had his bat in hand and ran after Harry. Harry was running directly inside the portal - like the freaking portal that monsters were spilling out of.

Steve ran around the black ghosts, he swung his bat through the two heads of one snake that was headed for Tommy, then vaulted over a little creepy goblin thing made up of smoke and mist.

Harry waited for him, just at the mouth of the portal. His hand was stretched out and Steve didn't hesitate to take it - if they were going to kick some magic monster ass, Steve wanted to do it together.

"How did it open?" Steve asked, having to yell to be heard over the growls and screams, the magic and the painfully mortal mixing together.

"The veil is thinner on Halloween and it's always thin in Hawkins," Harry said. He was so freaking smart, it was insane how anyone ever thought he wasn't. Harry probably knew more about magic than anyone in the world. "One push and it ripped right open."

"Gotcha," Steve said. And he did, kind of. "How do we close it?"

"It's - er - complicated," Harry said. He pulled Steve further in and everything was the sick mirror image of Steve's own yard, twisted and morbid with bugs and the thick stench of dark magic and blood.

"Listen." Harry was as serious as Steve had ever seen him when he pulled Steve right to him, kind of stronger than Steve gave him credit for. It was a bad time to think the whole thing was kind of sexy… a really bad time.

"I need you to help me and you've got to listen to me," Harry said quickly. "I know how to close it, but you've got to be ready to run when I say to."

"Yeah, okay," Steve agreed. He trusted Harry, Harry knew what he was doing - probably. Steve had been ready to say that, that he trusted him, when Harry - shy, quiet, introverted Harry - pulled Steve even closer and kissed him.

They had kissed before, it wasn't their first kiss. Their first kiss had been on Steve's front porch when Harry showed up and told Steve he loved him.

Literally, Harry walked up, knocked on the door, and said "I love you" when Steve answered it. Then Steve kissed him.

It was sort of the easiest relationship Steve ever fell in, even if it took them almost a year to get to it.

That kiss still felt urgent, intense. Steve was content for a few seconds, just kissing Harry, before a scream ripped them apart and reminded Steve that there were like really important things happening.

"To be continued," Steve grinned, inappropriate considering the massive outbreak of monsters and all. Harry nodded and then they were running together, running to the pool that was empty in the Upside Down. Harry jumped down in it and raised his arms up and Steve began circling the pool, keeping every monster away from Harry.

Harry was chanting and Steve could feel the power washing off of him, it was definitely sexy and Steve didn't care if it was a bad time to notice it. It wasn't like Steve was delaying saving the freaking world (town? saving the town at a minimum) by ripping Harry's clothes off, he was just thinking his boyfriend was sexy as hell while he bashed in any monster that tried to attack him.

When a rush of power flew outward from Harry, flowing through the yard and nearly buckling Steve's knees, he heard Harry's sharply yelled order - "RUN! NOW!"

Steve looked toward the portal opening and saw that it was closing, slowly stitching itself back together. He could also see Dustin on the other side, laying on the ground while one of the black-cloaked ghosts reached a rotting hand out for him.

"DUSTIN!" Steve started running, knowing Harry could catch up. Harry was fast as hell, something Steve liked to credit himself with after months of conditioning for the swim team.

Steve ran across the Upside Down yard and jumped through the portal with his bat swinging, hoping to distract the monster since he knew the bat wouldn't actually kill it. The monster turned toward Steve and began floating to him, horrible rattling sounds coming from its chest all the while. Steve was ready to fight it off with his fists if he had to - the horrible memories playing in his head were nothing when the anger that it tried to hurt Dustin shined through.

Then a silver animal made of mist and magic flew past Steve, protecting him from the monster. It wasn't Sirianna's animal and Steve started to look around, wondering who had a silver owl fighting monsters on their behalf.

Steve darted around where the monster was cringing away from the owl so he could grab Dustin and haul him to his feet.

"You good?" Steve asked, panting from the fight so far.

Dustin shook his head wordlessly and raised a hand, pointing at something behind Steve. Steve spun around with his bat, ready to fight whatever it was that had Dustin's eyes wide and his face losing all the color that was left in it.

The portal was nearly closed, there was only a sliver that Steve could see through it. What Steve saw, what Steve saw clearly, was Harry still inside of it. Harry's face was twisted in concentration and his hands were moving wildly, pushing and pulling magic around to close the portal.

Harry was closing the portal without leaving it.

Harry was inside the portal.

Steve started running, he was running before Sirianna's scream pierced through him and she hit her knees in what had to be absolute pain that her twin was feeling —

"BUBBY!"

The last thing Steve saw in the Upside Down was a final burst of energy, one that blew the boy he loved to a million pieces of light just before the portal closed for good.

Steve walked out of the diner and sat on the curb out front, just taking a minute to breathe. It wasn't that Steve wasn't happy for his friends, it was that there was the taste of heartbreak in the air and he knew everyone else felt it.

Sirianna hadn't stopped crying all evening, Hopper looked miserable every time he saw the photo of Harry in the diner. El was quiet, Sirius was doing that thing he did where he tried to act twice as happy when he was fifty times as miserable on the inside.

So much for one last good night with his friends.

Steve knew he told Billy that he was going to return in the fall, that he just wanted to see England - see where Harry was born, where his tombstone had been updated and rested. Theo and Steve had exchanged a few letters, they had plans to meet up and talk, bury the hatchet that they both acknowledged should never have existed to begin with. And Steve did want to see and do those things, Steve just wasn't sure that he was going to return to Hawkins when it was all said and done.

He was happy for Billy, happy that he had set himself up for an amazing life in Hawkins. Sirianna had the restaurant, Billy had the fire department. They were planning a wedding, Steve was going to be best man. Steve was happy for all of his friends in Hawkins, the people who surrounded him and made him feel more loved and accepted than his family ever had, but Hawkins didn't feel like home anymore.

Hawkins had become a place so full of memories with people that he'd never see again that it was painful just driving to the gas station. Steve's house was in Hawkins - the house that was officially transferred to his name by parents who never bothered to even include a return address with the deed - but Steve didn't think his home was in Hawkins anymore.

Everyone was growing up, moving on, building a life and a future. And that was great, Steve wanted that too, but he wasn't going to find it there, not anymore.

Steve pulled a cigarette from his pack and leaned back against the diner wall, looking up miserably at the glowing sign — HARRY'S PLACE

That was Harry's legacy… a diner named after him that was full of people who had loved him. It didn't feel like enough, Steve didn't think anything would.

Harry gave his life to save everyone, he gave his life to make sure no more portals were opening anywhere, to keep everyone safe from the monsters in the Upside Down. A diner was a great start, but Steve thought there should be like statues built talking about his sacrifice and bravery.

That was why Steve needed to leave, he needed to see a place that wasn't full of memories of Harry. Steve wanted to know more about Harry's past, he wanted to see his empty grave, and he wanted to see proof that Sirius was right, that in the magical community there were people who knew what Harry had done.

Steve sighed and started packing down his pockets for a lighter, he was sure he had one somewhere. Just when he found it and raised it to light his cigarette, he heard someone talking outside —

"Cigarettes contain polonium-210, a radioactive element found in uranium ore."

Steve jumped to his feet so quickly that it was one solid movement - on his feet, cigarette and lighter fallen to the ground and immediately forgotten about. There was someone across the parking lot, a dark shadow that Steve couldn't make out from the distance. They started walking toward him and Steve held his breath because it wasn't - it wasn't…

"Hi." Harry stepped out of the shadows and it was Harry, it had to be. There was nobody else in the world with eyes that shade of green, hair that dark and messy - much longer than it had been. There was nobody who still wore Steve's basketball hoodie, the one he got for his senior year, exactly one year after Steve graduated.

Steve tried to say his name, tried to say anything at all, but his heart was racing and everything seemed to begin spinning very quickly around him.

Harry was dead, he was dead. Steve saw him explode, right? Yes. In the twist of magic, Steve saw it happen. Steve saw him die.

Yet there he was.

"You - er… you said to be continued…"

Yeah, yeah he did.

Steve didn't know what happened, he didn't care just then. Steve cared that Harry was standing there with his big eyes watching Steve and Steve was crossing the distance between them, closing it quickly. Steve cared that Harry was solid, real, when Steve grabbed him.

Steve cared that it was Steve who kissed Harry for the first time, Harry who kissed him for the last time, and that they kissed each other then.

That was all that really mattered.

And they truly all did live happily ever after…