Chapter Text
Day 001
For the second time in his life, Hopper had found a mysterious child in the woods.
It wasn't planned. He hadn't even set up any boxes of eggos or warm coats. It was completely out of the blue, and it makes Hopper think that there's some sort of homing device that's sending these magical children frolicing to his front door.
He was just checking on his wire traps, just in case any animals got caught in them, or if they'd been triggered while he was gone. But instead he spotted a small, shaking form underneath a tree. The older man sighs, and approaches the figure slowly, trying not to startle them.
He thought it might've been an animal, or maybe some dumb kid who got hurt from one of the snares. Maybe even El, wanting fresh air, reaffirming that she wasn't trapped anymore. That she was free. But it wasn't any of those things.
He thinks he's dreaming when he sees the kid's face.
Their hair was shaved to the scalp, and they had needle marks, new and old, travelling down their throat. Tears and blood stained their hospital gown, which was left in tatters. They were pale and thin, underfed and left in the dark for far too long.
Then Hopper saw their face. The face of a kid he had let down. A kid he had tried to save but was too damn late. It was a shock to his system. It made his hands shake and his throat close over, his chest becoming unbearably tight. He remembers the watery smile, the resigned look in his eyes. "Please, take care of them." Those words, that voice, has haunted him like a ghost, like an unbearable weight on his shoulders that would never go away.
Shoving away his emotions, steeling his heart, Hopper took in one deep breath. In, and out. He has to stay calm. "Hey, Steve." His voice is tentative and quiet, two things which he never usually is. But he can do this, for him. For a kid who went through way too much. A kid who's just escaped hell. "What are you doing here?"
The boy shrank in on himself, pulling his head between his knees. "S...Sorry." His voice quivers, soft and broken. "Bad… Pla…place…"
Hopper's eyes widened, thoughts immediately going to Eleven, his little girl. The Bad Place, The Lab, Brenner. The Chief lightly places his hands onto Steve's shoulders, making him flinch. "Hey, it's okay. I'm not taking you back. You won't ever have to go back, you hear me?"
"But.. Papaー" Steve began.
"Won't ever hurt you again. I promise." Hopper pulls him into a hug, scooping the teen into his arms. Steve startles, trying to wriggle and writhe out of the man's grasp, going limp not soon after. His left arm slips from Hopper's chest, revealing the numbers on his wrist.
007
__
Six years ago…
He sat inside the strange machine his parents called a 'car,' looking out the 'window,' watching as the colourful images breezed past. He hadn't seen so many colours before. He didn't think he'd ever get used to it.
The way they all blended together, blurring and bending in ways he had never imagined. He felt like someone had told him about this, once, about all the different colours, but he couldn't quite remember who.
The vehicle rolled to a stop outside of a building Seven hadn't seen before. Then again, he wasn't allowed outside until today. It had only happened so he could attend something called 'school.'
And now that he saw it, he really didn't want to go to whatever this 'school' was.
Kids. Lots and lots of kids were flooding into the building ー how could they all even fit? ー and it made Seven's heart seize up in his chest. He didn't want to go. He really didn't want to go. But it wasn't like he had a choice.
The door opened abruptly, and he stumbled out, barley catching himself. It was bright outside, but not the normal bright. It was vibrant. Too vibrant. Seven took in a deep breath, and kept his eyes on the ground.
The man who drove him didn't say anything, just handed him a bag and note and left him there. His eyes scanned the building, taking in all of the details. It was all so forgien, so new. So Seven just kept his head down and started walking. He tried to block it all out. The noises, the smells, the colours. No matter how wonderful they were, how new, he just couldn't deal with them all. It was too much.
He kept his eyes trained on his shoes, his very, very white shoes. For some reason, he despised how white they were.
"Do you know where you're heading, sweetie?" A person. Adult. Authority. They would know why he was here, in this strange place full of wonderful and terrifying things. They could tell him what his orders were, what he was sent here for.
Though he felt a pang of shame at the thought. Shouldn't he already know why he was here? What good was he if he didn't even know what he was supposed to do. They told him all they needed to, he should be able to figure out what they want from him on his own. Just like he had to withー
With who?
"Uh.. Sweetie?" The adult had a nervous look on her face, slowly getting closer. He didn't know what to do. What to say. He didn't want to say anything. Didn't want to be here. Didn't want to look at his shoes. He wantedー wantedー
He handed the person the piece of paper in his hands. They seemed surprised, but took it, and her eyes seemed to light up at it. "Oh, you're a new student! Do you need help with getting to your first class?"
He knew he shouldn't accept the help. Knew it would come at a price, a price he couldn't pay. He couldn't, shouldn't…
He nodded, and followed the adult to his 'first class'.
Brrrrrrrrring!
The alarm sounded when Seven stood in the doorway that the adult had led him to. It was familiar and forgien all at once. Nostalgic in a way that made him feel sick.
He jumped slightly at the loud noise, squeezing his eyes shut. Alarms meant… What did they mean again? It was something important, he was sure.
His head was… fuzzy, as though someone had shoved cotton in his ears and mouth, leaving his tongue dry and heavy, with his head pounding beneath his skull. The world, when passing him by with all the colours and the lights, it didn't seem strange. The smears of colours didn't seem off to himー though to be fair, he had nothing to go off of.
But now, the hard tile floors were blending together beneath his too white shoes. The footsteps that seemed too loud moments ago were now soft and distant, nothing but buzzing in his ears.
He gripped onto the fabric of his bag a little tighter, feeling the coarse fabric through his trembling fingers. It felt harder to breathe, for some reason, as though his throat was closing up. There was a stone sitting on his chest and his legs felt too heavy. He didn't want to be hereー he wanted toー needed to seeー
Seven didn't know.
The room was filled with kids ー too many, way too many ー and he made sure to not look at anyone as he slowly entered. He was just past the threshold when an arm stopped him in his tracks. "Hey there, kiddo. I'm not letting you off that easy." The man who just held him in place gave Seven an easy smile, but didn't release him from the hold on his shoulder. The touch burned his skin, making all the hairs on his arms stand on end.
"Alright class, this is our new student, Steven Harrington." The adult smiled, looking down at him. "Why don't you say 'hi' Steven?" Seven looked around. Who was Steven? He was Seven, he had always been Seven. Was he Steven? How could that be possible?
"I don't want you to question anything." The light in his eyes was bright. He didn't like the bright lights, they always made his head hurt. "Follow the rules, blend in. Copy those around you, and you won't find it hard to fit in."
Seven stared straight ahead. Eyes blank and glossed over. "Don't question anything… Follow rules... Blend in… " he muttered, wishing the light would go away. It was starting to hurt his eyes.
"You wouldn't want to disappoint us, would you?"
Right. He had to follow orders. Which meant he was Steven now.
"…even?" The adult looked at him, a look in his eyes Seven couldn't recognize. "Are you alright?" He just nodded in response. "Well, why don't you just tell the class what you like the most? Then you can go take a seat over there." He pointed towards a vacant seat near the back of the class. "sound good?"
Orders were orders.
"H...Hi" his throat was scratchy, as though he had been screaming.
They always had to be followed.
"I'm… Steven." It hurt. It hurt . He didn't want to.
Even if you don't want to.
"And… I..ーI like… colours." He finished, taking in another large gulp of air. Seven hated talking. They always told him not to speak. It was bad. And he didn't want to be bad. Being bad meant punishment. He hated punishment.
Seven went over to the seat the adult had pointed to, not too fast or too slow. He wasn't supposed to run, but he knew how much they hated it when he was too slow. He only just caught onto the weird muttering and pointing sent his way, though he didn't understand why they were doing it. He could barely even understand what most people were saying, just able to grab the important parts of conversations if he was paying attention.
"Well, now that that's over. Please open the first page of the syllabus on your desks so we can discuss what my class will be for you all this year."
__
"Hey, you're the new kid!" A voice sounded from the bustling of the cafeteria. A short boy with a smattering of freckles across his face slid into the seat next to Seven. He had short, black hair, and missing teeth, along with a black eye. Despite that, he had a bright smile on his face. Seven liked that smile, he decided. It was nice.
"D-..Yes…" Seven mumbled, picking at his fingers. The skin around the edges of his nails were peeling off, it bugged him. A small spot of blood bubbled up from his thumb, and he watched it roll down and leave a trail of red behind. He found it was easier to look at that than the other boy's eyes.
"Okay, then come with me." The short boy ordered. And with that, he got out of the seat and left, assuming Seven would follow. Which he did, getting up without a sound, following the other boy.
After a moment, the strange boy started to speak again. "You've got a funny accent, where're you from?"
Seven didn't know what 'accent' meant, and he didn't know where he was from. He just wasn't there… then he was. There wasn't any more to it than that. But, apparently, it was supposed to be something he knew. "I do not know." was all he could come up with.
"You're weird, I like it." The child snorted, patting Seven on the back. Seven tensed, bracing himself. But when the pat came, it.. didn't hurt? That was new. Seven found that he liked it. Just like he liked the boy's smile.
"I'm Tommy, by the way. What's your name?"
"Sev-" That wasn't his name here. It was different here. He could be different too. "Steven."
"Okay, Steve. We're gonna be best friends!"
ー
It wasn't so bad in Hawkins, as Seven found out.
He also found that he liked the outdoors. The colours stopped hurting his eyes after a while, and he enjoyed them even more after his eyes stopped burning. He found that his favourite was one called 'yellow', and he always wore little rubber yellow bands so he could look at them whenever he wanted to.
Tommy had introduced him to Carol when he took Seven away from the bench. It surprised him, to see people who were… nice. That was another new word he learned. He learned a lot from this new place. Like nature. Which had different animals and grass and trees and bugs. He spent hours out in the nature by his house, surrounded by all these wonderful things.
He loved to sift his hands through the grass, feeling his fingers dig into the soft earth. The sound of the birds chittering in the sky. The wind breezing by. He laid on his stomach, looking at the tulips and roses and lilies in the garden. But he grew bored of those flowers quickly. They were too perfect. The garden right outside his home was too perfect. Seven much preferred the forest just beyond it. The mangled roots and twisted underbrush with cawing crows and the deer galloping past.
It was all so gnarled and broken and beautiful all the same. He liked to touch the vines, to watch the fish in the streams, and stare into the sky. He never wanted to leave the forest, especially when it grew dark.
When the leaves turned black, the wildlife was silenced, the wind stopped, and all that was left was the sound of his breathing. It gave him a sense of bittersweet nostalgia. Gave him an ache in his chest he couldn't quite explain. But still, he remained. Until he lost the feeling in his hands, until his eyes stung and his chest hurt. He stayed, and stayed, and stayed. Only returning because an adult came to collect him, saying it wasn't safe to be outside for so long.
He didn't understand, but he obeyed.
But the ache stayed.
There was a reinforced curfew after that, and he wasn't allowed out after dark anymore. Though he wanted to argue, wanted to go back to the darkened woods, to feel that nostalgia again. To stop the pain in his chest. But he obeyed. He never said a single word against the man with the shiny badge and fancy hat, but still watched the forest from his window until his eyes were so heavy that he couldn't keep them open any longer. He didn't get in trouble after that, and so he kept looking. Kept dreaming about the vines, the darkness, the cold.
"Hey, psst!" Seven kept his eyes on the page, trying to figure out how to grip his pencil properly. Every time he held it, it always fell out of his hand not long after. He still wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do with it after the challenge of holding it. He tried to copy everyone else around him, but he couldn't make sense of the strange printing in front of him. It seemed familiar, but was foreign all the same.
"Psst!" A small wad of paper smacked the back of Seven's head, making him turn to face his friend. He hadn't gotten a grip on any social aspects of life yet, which was why Tommy's actions in class always confused him. Tommy was always loud, brash, making so much noise that Carol had to smack to get him to shut up. But he was always quieter during school, but made weird sounds and threw things at him instead. It was strange, to say the least.
"Finally! I've been trying to get you to notice me for ages! " He whined, his torso flopping onto his desk.
That confused him, all Tommy had been doing was making strange noises. How was that trying to get his attention? "What do you.. mean?"
Tommy huffed. "You really are dumb as rocks, Stevie." The boy flicked his pencil to the back of Seven's head. "'Psst,' is like… a code! Yeah, a code which means 'I wanna talk to you.'"
Oh. Oh! That made sense. "Oh, alright.. What… did you want to.. say?"
"I wanted to let you know I'm coming over to your place after school, okay? Carol too." He grinned, his freckles bright against his pale skin.
Seven just nodded, getting back to his page of strange symbols not soon after. He always liked it when Tommy and Carol came over. It never felt like an order, either. Though even if it was, Seven wouldn't mind it.
School rushed by fast after that. Seven was still learning so many new things, so despite his best efforts, he kept getting disappointed looks from his teachers, and crosses on all of his work. He didn't understand what he was supposed to do, and no one seemed too bothered to teach him how anything worked. It was like he was dropped into an alien world, and he was expected to already know how to do everything without any help at all. It was sink or swim, and he didn't know what swimming was.
So when Tommy and Carol joined up with him at the end of the day to walk to his house, and he told them about his problem, he was surprised by their optimism. "Hey, it's okay, Stevie. Everyone has to learn this at some point or another."
"Yeah! You're just learning a little later than everybody else." Carol chimed in, bumping her shoulder into Seven's. He couldn't stop the smile from blooming on his face.
Tommy grabbed his hand, pulling him out of Carol's grasp. "Say, do you.. remember anything about where you were before?" The freckled boy looked into his eyes, his bright smile a little smaller than a moment ago.
Seven paused for a moment, contemplating the question. "...I do not know." Which was true. He had these… flashes, moments of remembering something , but it slipped through his fingers before he could fully grasp it. He also had strong feelings about certain things, like how rainbows made him feel sick, or how the colour white made his blood boil. He didn't really know why he had these reactions, or what the somethings were, and Seven didn't really think he wanted to.
"Really? Nothing at all?" The boy pressed, concern shining in his eyes. Tommy only got like this when they discussed Seven's life. It's why he didn't like to. He didn't like to see Tommy not being a big ball of sunshine filled with energy. He didn't like it when his best friend was anything but happy.
Seven just shook his head. "Well, what about why? Do you know why you weren't at school?" It was Carol this time, she seemed worried too, and put her hand on his shoulder. It burned his skin. He averted his gaze to the grass.
Why? That..
"Repeat after me, alright. Can you do that?"
Seven nodded.
"I was very sick."
"I was.. very sick." He muttered, still looking at the grass.
"My parents took me to the doctor."
"My parents took me to the doctor." He could feel their eyes boring into his skull. It burned.
"And they had to keep me there."
"And they had to keep me there." Their hands burned. Everything burned. Burning. He was burning, he had to stop the burningー
"Oh, that sucks Steve. I'm sorry for asking." Carol let go of his shoulder, slipping a cheery smile back on her face. "It doesn't matter if you have a little learning gap, we'll help you catch up and you'll be at the top of the class in no time at all!" She giggled, grabbed Seven's other hand, and skipped off, making the two boys trip and stumble after her.
The burning stopped, but Seven could still feel Tommy's eyes on the back of his head.
ー
Study sessions became a common occurrence after that. Usually hosted at Seven's house due to his (nonexistent) frequently absent parents. They caught him up on the basics, like reading, math, history, and other pieces of knowledge that were apparently vital to know for school. But, it seemed that they all got in a bit over their heads, because none of it was sticking. That, and his gap seemed to be bigger than both Tommy and Carol expected.
"Does that make any sense?" Carol looked towards him, an expectant look in her gaze. No, he wanted to say. None of this makes any sense at all.
"Uhm…" was all that came out, and it caused the girl to huff, a stern look coming across her face.
"Come on Steve! If you don't understand it, just tell me! I know this is all new for you, but if you don't tell me what you're struggling with, then we won't get anywhere!" She threw her hands up in the air, dropping the book in her lap on the floor.
"...Sorry.." Seven mumbled out, picking at the skin on his fingers. He tried, really, he did. It just wasn't making any sense. It was so familiar, yet he just couldn't… understand it at all. He really was as dumb as rocks.
Getting up to retrieve the book which Carol dropped, Tommy stretched out his back in the process, hearing a satisfying 'pop' for his efforts. "Well, why don't you just ask him if anything looks interesting to him, and we'll start there." He plopped himself on the only chair in the room, while Carol and Seven sat on his bed. The room was simple, bland, and way too white for Seven's liking.
Seven looked at the different sheets of paper, trying to find something that caught his eye. The English always gave him a headache, so he quickly moved on from that. Science was cool to look at for labs, but the rest was words, and he realised that he didn't like words very much. They would never stop moving around the page, which was so frustrating. So he pushed all the word-related ones aside. Then, beneath all of that, was something which made him freeze.
Numbers.
Lots of numbers.
He was running, running from someone. His feet echoed in the halls, the vast, whitewhitewhite halls. His gown billowed in the wind, almost making him trip on the long piece of fabric. But he didn't stop. He couldn't stop.
The tiles breezed by, blurring together and blending into the walls and floor. The fluorescent lights flickered above him, and he still did not relent.
He turned a corner, then another, bending around the twists and turns of the maze. He didn't notice the white turning to red, or the blaring alarms. He had to go. He had toー
Had toー
"Steve?" Seven jumped, ripped from his trance. He shook his head, wiping his eyes. They were wet.
"You find anything?" It was Tommy this time. Seven just nodded, pointing to the sheet of paper with all the numbers. Tommy Scrunched up his face. "Math, really?" When he was met with expectant silence, Tommy relented, sighing. "Oh, fine. Only for you, Stevie."
ー
Seven started to like going to school after that. Not because he liked school , but because he looked forward to seeing Tommy and Carol. They were the only ones who actually bothered to talk to him, to help him, and show him the ropes of the world. And their efforts weren't for nothing. Seven started to make sense of the symbols, and received a few shocked looks from teachers when he started to raise his hand in class. Sure, he wasn't right some (most) of the time, but at least he tried. At least he was trying.
Though, out of everything school had to offer, Seven enjoyed the free time the most. Where he could just sit and talk with Tommy and Carol outside in the grass, eating their lunch. They talked about anything that came to mind, with Tommy and Carol getting into petty fights and Seven having to be the mediator ("Sharks are way cooler than tigers, right, Stevie? See! He totally agrees!" "I don't think he even knows what a shark is, dummy!"). Trading food until whatever he actually ate was completely different from what he initially brought. It was nice, Seven liked the warm, bubbly feeling it always brought to his chest.
Today, Seven was munching on Tommy's goldfish, mesmerised by the little faces ー they just look so happy, Tommy! Look! ー and drinking Carol's juicebox, while his two friends fought over the bag of gummies he brought.
It was a nice day, with birds picking at the leftovers of kids while said children ran across the fields, playing one sport or another, and teachers pretended to supervise. Seven looked up at the sky, grinning to himself. He never wanted to lose this.
"Hey, Steve, whatcha thinkin'?" Carol plopped her head on his lap, causing his thighs to burn. He ignored it.
"..Notー Not much." he admitted, looking at Carol's nose instead of her eyes. Looking into her eyes made it worse, and he'd rather not have a headache for the rest of the day.
She just pouted, crossing her arms. "Come onnn, Steve! You've been super quiet all break! You've gotta be thinking about something!"
Seven was going to admit his rather mushy feelings, but before he could, someone called out to them. "Hey, if it isn't the freaks!" It was a few kids from their year, the ones who were always walking around like they were better than everyone else. They had shoved Seven around whenever he was alone, calling him strange words and laughing when he didn't understand. He didn't really like them, but never once spoke of them.
"We've been looking all over for you three." The leader spoke up from the gaggle of kids he had led over to them. "We wanted to give your freaky friend over here a proper Hawkins welcome." The boy pointed to Seven, and immediately, two kids picked him up off of the ground, dragging him towards the leader.
Tommy and Carol tried to protest, but were blocked by the other kids. The leader smirked, looking down on Seven, though it wasn't hard. He was even shorter than Tommy.
"You don't belong here, freak." He spat on Seven's cheek. "And you never will." He cracked his knuckles. "So, let's play a game." He wound up his fist, pulling it behind his head. "How many punches will it take for you to talk like a normal person?"
He brought his fist down.
Pain exploded on Seven's face, knocking his head to the side. He didn't cry out, didn't flinch, didn't do anything to stop it. Though that didn't mean it didn't hurt. That he didn't want to cry out. But the little voice whispering in his head told him to stay limp, don't let them see your pain, they'll get bored with no reaction.
Obey.
Another hit, and Carol's screaming. Tommy's using his fists to try and get to him, charging at the kids. But he couldn't see it, couldn't hear their shouts of his name. Didn't notice when Tommy was knocked to the ground and beat into the dirt. Didn't see that Carol was thrown into the chain link fence they were sitting near, her head hitting the metal pole. All he could notice was the burning in his arms. It was like fire branding into his skin. He wanted to scream, cry, kickー
Another hit.
He wanted to struggle against the bodies holding him still, to fight tooth and nail to stop the burning. To stop the painー
Another hit.
His vision started to cloud, blood trailed down his cheek.
Another hit.
His arms felt like they were on fire, they were melting. They were burning.
Another hit.
Burning IT WAS BURNINGー
Anotherー
His jaw popped out of place, stretching. Strings stitched themselves along the inside of his larynx, which was wider than before. The fire which had spread to his stomach erupted out of his being, pushed out of his body in the sound of an inhuman screech.
"STOP."
Everything went eerily quiet. Too quiet.
Frozen.
And just like a blink, it was as if nothing ever happened. The group of kids walked away without another word, seemingly in a trance.
The trio walked home without another word.