PLEASE, ALL OF YOU LITERATI SHIPPER, WATCH THIS!

BABY YOU WILL NEVER MAKE A MAN OF ME

john d bad from america's next top simp

don’t wait for me, don’t wait for me it’s not a happy ending

(dean/cas - bells in santa fe by halsey - repost due to tumblr glitch!)

chapter six: e pluribus unum

“There’s my pretty girl!” Steve giggles, head lolling to the side as he admires you. “Isn’t she the prettiest, Robin?” Robin giggles as well, her face just as bruised and bloodied as his. “So pretty!”  “Oh God,” despite their injured state, the two teens are in an unusually good mood. They giggle like school girls, Robin even bats her eyelashes at you. Something is off with them. “How hard did they hit your heads?”

Summary: things get hot and heavy in the face of death, mean russians kidnap your hot almost-boyfriend, you have a philosophical discussion about nerdiness with the kids, acid becomes your new favorite weapon, and steve and robin try drugs together. yippee !

Rating: general, some swearing

Warnings: fem!reader, use of y/n, violence, cursing, blood and mentions of death, use of weapons

Words: 6.7k

Before you swing in: oh BOY do i have a lot to say about this chapter ,,, but for now i will hold off. pls, enjoy her. youve all waited so very patiently for this moment, and im SO excited to see what yall have to say <333

-

“The gate,” you, Steve, and Dustin breathe out at the same time. You stare at the machine before you; the gravity of the situation settles upon all of you as the machine continues to send pulses of light into the entrance of the Upside Down. 

The lights flash, the blue flickers across your face as countless men in lab coats marvel at their creation, and your hands tighten into fists. What they have created will only undo the endless hours you have spent trying to protect everyone, it diminishes every sacrifice that has been made, it taunts the blood that has been spilled. 

You hate them, you hate what they have brought back into your life. 

“We have to get out of here.” No one argues with you, and quickly you guide everyone downstairs.

“What’s going on?” Robin asks as you gently push her down the stairs, quickening her pace. The urgence of your actions, however, only alert her that something is wrong. “Why do you guys look so scared?”

Days of hiding the truth from her have finally caught up to you, you can feel it, and yet there isn’t anything you can really tell her. Not yet, at least; there isn’t enough time. Hurrying down the stairs, you shake your head at Robin. “It’s a lot to explain.”

“I don’t understand, you’ve seen this before?”

She’s always been too perceptive.

You hate her genius mind. 

“Not exactly.” Steve takes over now, trying to help.

Robin’s voice raises, she’s becoming inpatient. “Then what, exactly?”

Two of them argue and Dustin joins in, though you ignore them and reach the last step to start looking for any possible weapons in the room. If you guys have even the slightest chance of making it out of here alive, then you’ll need more than your switchblade and Steve’s surprising new combat skills. 

As your eyes scan the room, you realize, too late, that the Russian guard Steve had knocked out only minutes ago is now gone. Horrified, you frantically whip your head to find him, but the man is gone. 

Wonderful. 

Erica notices this too. “Um, Steve? Where’s your Russian friend?”

With impeccable comedic timing, lights begin to flicker above you as an alarm sounds. Seems the Russian guard snitched, then. 

“Oh, shit!” Your switchblade finds its way into your hand. This just keeps getting worse and worse.

Steve curses as well and sprints to the door to open it, trying to find another way out, but instead he finds a swarm of guards all staring back at him. Cursing again, he slams the door shut. He doesn’t have to say anything, you know by the look on his face that you’re in deep shit. “Go, go, go!”

Blindly you shove Dustin and Erica into the nearest door, tugging at Robin, and Steve takes the rear as the group starts to run. Your senses are in overdrive, your head swims with anxiety and your eyes flicker to any possible way out. Your legs ache with exertion, but you have no fucking idea where you are. 

You make a sharp right and open a random door, but almost immediately you stumble to a halt when you see that it’s the room to the goddamn machine opening the Upside Down. Of course this is the room you chose. The scientists all stare at you, and you really wish you had stayed in bed yesterday. “Fuck!”

“Go, Y/N!” Dustin yanks on your arm and goes left, finding stairs to run down.

You risk a quick look over your shoulder and your heart drops when you see that the Russian guards are close behind. “We got company!” You’re on the landing platform now, too close to the machine and the gate for your own comfort. Dustin screeches as he shoves a Russian against the railing. You wince, feeling bad despite the horrible circumstances. “Sorry!”

“Why are you apologizing to the Russians–holy shit–” Gripping the back of your brother’s shirt, you save him from face planting into the giant laser beam. “Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!”

Steve and the others have joined now, and you realize how helplessly cornered the five of you are. You’re standing on the edge of the platform and the laser’s heat can be felt even six feet away while twenty armed Russian soldiers approach from behind. 

Defeated, helpless, terrified, you turn to the person whose hand rests gently on the small of your back; the only person who gives you solace. “Steve.” 

It’s all you can say, your knees feel weak and your body turns to his, helpless. You don’t know what else to do. Steve’s eyes find yours, he can feel Dustin looking to him for help as well. Robin, Erica. Everyone is looking to him, and yet he’s just as terrified. 

“This way!” He doesn’t know where he’s going, he just knows that he has to protect you. Running back down the stairs, he shoves a guard that blocks the path and you’re right behind him, pushing barrels at more guards that round the corner so that no one else can follow. 

“Go!” You wave the others ahead, now taking the rear with Steve. The two of you do whatever you can to slow the Russians down as Robin leads the kids towards another door. You’re all blindly running through the endless walls of the facility.

The door flies open and everyone rushes into the room. 

Everything happens quickly after that.

Steve slams the door while you hold the kids behind you, away from the door and fearful of the bullets that may rain through it. Steve braces his back against the door. The Russians pound the frame from the other side. 

Madly looking around for any sign of an exit, your body fills with unbearable dread when you realize that you’ve locked yourselves in a room without any way out. 

Dustin’s scared hand grips at your arm. He seems to realize what you already have. “Shit!”

“Robin!” Steve calls out to her, desperate. He’s rapidly losing his footing to hold his position as the guards’ fists rage a relentless war. “Help me, come on!”

She runs to him and throws her back against the door as well, and the distress in Steve’s voice only hastens you as you run around the room. There has to be a way out. You refuse to die like this, far below Hawkins and the sunlight you’ve come to love within the small town. 

Breath quickening, you rush up the steps within the room and drag Dustin along with you. Robin’s face is red now, Steve’s feet keep slipping, and from the force of which the door they hold thuds, you know the guards have started to throw their own bodies against it. 

Something creeks below your foot. You look down and inexplicably hope jumps into your chest. There’s a vent grate, this entire underground facility is full of air ducts, it’s how you got into this entire fucking mess in the first place. “Here! I found something!”

Erica joins you and Dustin and quickly the three of you pry the vent open. You help Erica lower herself inside, instructing her to start crawling, now, when Dustin shouts down to Robin and Steve. “Come on!”

“Go! Just get out of here!” Steve screams back, groaning as the pounding on the door becomes more and more violent. 

Your hand, which had been on your brother’s back, ready to help him inside the air duct next, stills. Your entire body freezes as you look over at Steve, ice cold fear crawls up your neck; doubt creeps in as you realize, far too late, that there isn’t enough time for them to escape into the vent. 

There never seems to be enough time. 

But you have to try anyway. All you ever do is try, you will die trying, you just can’t let it be in vain. “Steve, Robin, let’s go!”

Steve clenches his teeth as another body throws itself against the door. Through his exertion he can see how pale you are now, the realization that dawns on you that you will have to leave him behind, and Steve wishes he could kiss the despair off of your pretty face. “No! Just go and get some help, okay?”

“I–I can’t–” Dustin tugs at your shirt to come with him, but your body is unmoving. You can’t, you won’t leave them behind, Steve’s biceps strain against the doorframe and Robin groans in pain, and yet your brother’s fearful grip on you reminds you of your responsibility to him as well. To protect him, to get Erica home, be with them.

But Steve is in danger. He needs you.

You don’t know what to do. 

“Y/N!” Dustin calls after you as you tear yourself away from him.

Blindly, as your vision darkens and the terror in your body threatens to consume you, you stumble down the steps towards Steve. You need to be close to him, it’s all your mind and body can register as the roaring in your head nearly deafens you.

As soon as you’re in front of him, grasping at his shoulders to try and take him with you, Steve pushes you away. “Y/N, you need to leave–”

“I’m not leaving you!” The shrillness scares even yourself, the sheer desperation to stay with Steve comes deep from within your chest as you scream at him. You’re panicking now, angry at him for even considering the idea that you’d ever leave him. As if you haven’t just gotten him back.

You’re never letting go of him now that you have him. 

Not again. 

Robin tries to reason with you herself, distantly you think she pleads with you, but your vision tunnels and all you can see is Steve. Your body hums with the need for his.

“Y/N, listen to me,” Another thud against the door, Robin’s foot slips, and Steve has to throw his head back and brace for yet another impact. He’s angry at you, too. For not listening to him. For how you’ve always blindly sacrificed yourself, harmed yourself to protect others.

Steve won’t let you hurt yourself anymore, not when he can save you.

Not again.

“The kids need you–”

“I need you!” Tears wet your face now, you’re clutching at Steve’s shirt as Dustin continues to scream at you to run, to not abandon him, and it feels as if you can’t breathe as words begin to tumble from your mouth with hysteria. “We–we can run, right now! You’re fast, and–and Robin can jump and–”

Steve’s lips crash against yours. 

He’s weak and scared and helpless; this is the only way he knows how to get you to listen. 

You breathe in sharply as his lips move against yours, you melt into him. He pours everything into the kiss, your teeth knock against his and your hands find his hair, tugging at it as Steve tries to convey everything that time won’t allow him to. 

The kiss is rushed, it’s messy and it’s aching, and through it Steve begs you. To love him despite the fact that he has to leave you, that he’s doing this for you, he begs you to remember him, and selfishly he kisses you because he doesn’t want to die knowing he’s wasted half the damn summer without ever knowing how your lips felt against his. 

It isn’t death that terrifies Steve, it’s the idea that he almost died without knowing how you tasted. 

When Steve finally pulls away, you’re too shocked to move. His lips are tinged pink and his brown eyes are dark in the lighting and you’re both breathless. Your hands remain in his hair, all you can register is how the strands feel between your fingers and that Dustin is now at your side, yanking at your arm to follow him back towards the vent. 

Numbly you allow Steve’s hands to help Dustin move your limp body, your feet rise to reach the steps. The warmth of Steve’s body is gone now. Faintly you feel your brother’s firm, but gentle, hands as he shoves you inside the vent.

There’s a tugging within your chest suddenly, an overwhelming sensation to turn around, and abruptly you come back to yourself. The roaring in your head quiets for only a moment, the lights are bright and Dustin’s fingers dig into your skin, yet still your eyes find Steve.

He’s far below you now, the Russians have almost broken through the door, and his kiss still sears your lips. Urgently, viciously, you scream the only thing you can think of that encompasses all the love and terror within you, “Come home to me!”

Steve opens his mouth to promise you that he will, he always will. You can hear the promise even before he’s said it, but the doors burst open and Dustin slams the vent’s grate down. 

You ran out of time. 

The echo of the grate’s slam rings in your ears. 

– 

Erica is the one that guides you through the air ducts. 

You haven’t said anything since leaving Steve and Robin behind; it’s been hours now, and yet still you do not speak.

Dustin crawls behind you, worried. He watches your body shake slightly as you crawl through the narrow space. His stomach lurches when he notices how white your knuckles have become from how tightly you clench your fists. 

You’re clinging onto what little resolve you have left, it’s evident to Dustin, and he worries about when, not if, you’ll finally snap. He knows that now isn’t the right time to initiate a code blue, but he’s concerned seeing you so broken. He hates that he can’t do anything, that he dragged you away from the others. 

The air inside the ducts is warm, almost nauseatingly so, and the ringing in your ears has yet to fade. Steve’s kiss still burns your lips. His promise to you, that he would return and come back home to you, the promise that he couldn’t make, drowns out all of your other thoughts. 

Come home to me.

He hadn’t had time to answer you. 

The thought nauseates you more than the sickening heat that surrounds you. You left him. Robin, too. 

You left them both behind, just like you left Will behind the night the Demogorgon got him. And the kids, that night when you abandoned them at the middle school and left them vulnerable to that fucking monster. And Jonathan, when he thought his brother had died and you were too lost in your self pity when he needed you the most. 

Now, after promising Steve you’d stay, sworn in the passenger seat of his car as the snow fell around you both, you’ve left him once more. 

Take all the time you need, I’ll be here.

The promises you’ve made burn so deeply that a wince escapes your lips, and Dustin quietly asks if you’re okay. 

“‘M fine,” you manage to rasp out, crawling forward despite the tormented tugging that begs you to turn around.

You hear Dustin’s lips part, he doesn’t believe you and wants to argue, but you keep your head turned away from him and he instead settles on sighing. You’re not ready to talk about it, not yet. Not now, not when you feel as if you’ve lost a piece of yourself. 

Erica turns a corner and starts to slow down. “Fans up ahead.”

“Great,” Dustin groans when he sees the giant blades spinning, blocking the way forward. “Think we could time it right and jump through them?”

“If you wanna lose a head, sure.” Erica snorts, unpleased with the risky idea. “Don’t you have tools in those lame ass cargo shorts you’re wearing?”

“My cargo shorts aren’t lame…”

You sit quietly as Dustin and Erica try and figure out what to do. You’re still in shock, you can’t gather the energy to try and help them. It’s like a switch has been flipped inside of you, deactivating your ability to do anything other than be plagued with the crippling sensation of loss. 

Eventually Erica convinces Dustin to try and break into the control panel next to the fans and shut them down manually. He pulls a screwdriver from one of his pockets (to Erica’s utter amusement), and starts unscrewing the bolts. Through it all, you remain quiet, and when Dustin looks over at you, he finds you staring blankly at the walls with an almost lifeless gaze.

He sighs. Needing to distract himself, Dustin figures now is as good a time as any to explain everything to Erica. The Russians, why they’re here, why you’ve almost lost your mind trying to protect everyone. “It all started the night Will disappeared, two years ago.”

Dustin explains the Upside Down, the Demogorgon and how it was able to travel to their world through a gate El had accidentally opened with her powers, and now how the Russians have somehow found this gate and are attempting to reopen it.

Erica, to her credit, listens. She doesn’t question a thing, and Dustin is surprised by her lack of sarcastic input, but when he finishes explaining everything, the girl only has doubts about one thing: Lucas being involved. 

“Wait, so you believe everything about El and the gate, and the Demodogs and the Mind Flayer, but you question your brother’s involvement?” Dustin asks the girl, in disbelief of how her mind works. 

“That’s correct.”

Then, surprising them both, you finally speak. “Lucas is brave, Erica. He’s done a lot for the party.”

Erica’s stony expression softens slightly, her usual argumentative demeanor backs down. “Yeah, well. Whatever. You’re damn lucky it’s your birthday and I feel bad for you.”

It’s not much, but you know that she’s spared you her malice. For once you accept the sympathy, even if your luck has run out hours ago when Steve kissed you and then tore you apart. “Lucky,” you snort. “Yeah.”

Dustin and Erica look at one another wearily, though you pretend you don’t see it. After a few heartbeats, your brother clears his throat and goes back to unscrewing the control panel.

“Um, you need help with that?” Erica asks the boy, doubtful of his capabilities. When Dustin tells her no, she doubles down. “I mean, it’s taking a while, so–”

Dustin huffs at her. “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock.”

“Don’t cuss at her.” You butt in, but Erica has already started back with her arguing. 

She claims that at the slow pace you’re going, Steve and Robin stand no chance, and her words make the nausea claw up your throat. Dustin notices the way you clutch at your stomach and he quickly tries to reason with Erica, maybe say that she’s wrong, but the girl only continues to talk. 

“I mean, we’ve made it about point-three miles in nine hours.” Erica looks down at her watch as she speaks, but her eyes almost swim with the numbers you assume she invisions in her mind. “Then we had to walk three hours down that tunnel, so I’d estimate ten miles back to the elevator, which should take us approximately twelve and a half days.”

You and Dustin look at each other, baffled. No way Erica managed to come up with those numbers all on her own. Sure, you’ve always secretly suspected that she was more intelligent than she let on, but Jesus. You can hardly remember the multiples of seven on a good day. 

“Did you just do all of that in your head?” Dustin asks her, eyes wide with astonishment.

Erica shrugs. “I’m good with numbers.”

“That’s an understatement,” you mumble under your breath, though you’re starting to feel more like yourself again. Dustin calls Erica a nerd, which she adamantly denies, and the light hearted conversation almost seems to draw you out of your state of shock, albeit slowly. 

Your brother lists off all the proof he has of Erica’s “nerdiness” and you listen, chuckling. The genuine offense on the girl’s face is hard not to laugh at, and when Dustin sees that it seems to be cheering you up, he doubles down on his efforts. 

“Fact number three: you love My Little Pony.” He holds up Erica’s backpack that has two ponies printed across it, which you snort at.

Erica crosses her arms defensively. “And what does My Little Pony have to do with this?”

“Let’s recall the ponies’ latest adventure, shall we?” Dustin clears his throat and begins retelling the tales of the ponies, and you cannot believe that your fourteen year old brother still watches the show and pays enough attention to understand its themes and narrative. “Ergo, My Little Pony is nerdy. Ergo, you, Erica, are a nerd.”

“Not to take sides,” you poke your head between the two kids. “But why do you know so much about the show, Dustin?”

“Because I’m a nerd.” He manages to get the control panel open and rips the wires out of it. Electric sparks fly as they disconnect and the fans behind you slowly come to a stop. “Now, let’s go, nerds.”

Erica glares at him before turning to you. “Do you watch My Little Pony, Y/N?”

You shake your head. “No, I’m not that pathetic. I read comics instead, like the mature seventeen year old I am.”

The girl rolls her eyes at you, entirely over you and your brother, and starts crawling through the air ducts once more. As she leaves, Dustin stays behind. “Hey,”

His hand wraps around your arm and stops you from following Erica. You pause, confused as to what he may want. “Yeah?”

“Are you okay?” In the lighting, for just a moment, Dustin looks up at you and he’s the nine year old little boy who once feared you would get lost in your mother’s grief and father’s anger.

The last icy tendrils of shock melt, you come back to yourself when you hear your little brother’s fear for his sister. Taking Dustin’s hand into yours, you squeeze it. “Of course I’m okay. I have you.” 

Dustin laughs softly, relief evident within his exhale, and you yank his hat off of his head to break the remaining tension away. He lunges for it, betrayed, though he laughs again anyways, and for a few seconds it’s just the two of you giggling to yourselves as you fight over the hat. 

“Are you two shitbirds coming, or do I gotta kill those Commies on my own?” Erica shouts, now on the other side of the air duct.

With one last tug, Dustin tears the hat from your grasp and sticks his tongue out at you. “Last one to Erica owes the other $5!” He starts speed crawling towards the girl, giving you absolutely no chance of winning, and you hang your head in defeat and sigh.

The fucker owes you so much money already.

–

It takes hours.

Back aching and knees bruised, you crawl behind the kids in the seemingly endless maze that resides in the facility’s air ducts. It’s similar to the tunnels you walked through what feels like years ago originally, with Steve holding your hand through it all, though you know it couldn’t have been less than a day ago now.

The entire time, your mind doesn’t once quiet its concern for Steve and Robin. Just when the pounding in your head becomes splitting, Dustin stops you and Erica.

“Y/N, help me remove the vent.”

“Why, what’s up there?” You’re next to him, squinting through the grate’s small holes. All you see are what appear to be a line of vaults, though it’s hard to tell. “I don’t see anyone.”

Dustin starts prying at the vent. “Exactly, there’s no one up there and look, can’t you see it?”

You squint again, getting even closer to the holes to peer inside. Something glows bright green on one of the vault’s shelfs. “Is that…?”

“Uh huh. Now help me, will you?”

It takes a minute or so before you’re able to pry the vent open. Together, the two of you slowly lift your heads through the opening and look around. The room you’ve ended up in is empty. Along its walls are rows of vaults with multiple vials of the green chemicals you found in the elevator. 

You’re not entirely sure what your brother has in mind, but you know it can’t be anything good.

“Jackpot!” Dustin breathes out with newfound exhilaration. He climbs out of the air duct first and eagerly starts looking around while you help Erica out. 

The two kids look around in amazement, but you survey the area out of habit. It’s too quiet within the room. Being so close to the chemicals again leaves you on edge. “Stay close to me, we don’t know who could be nearby–”

“Oh!” Dustin abandons your caution in a heartbeat. He starts running down the steps, and when you see what’s gotten him so excited, you follow after him. There’s a cart right at the bottom of the stairs, parked to the side without anyone in it. 

It could be your ticket out of here, if you’re lucky.

“Do you even know how to drive?” Erica teases Dustin, but you step past her and join him to inspect the vehicle. 

He waves an indifferent hand at her. “How hard can it be? Max did it.”

“That was the worst car ride of my life” You shiver at the memory. The taste of blood fills your mouth and you can almost feel the bruises again. Shaking your head, you force yourself to focus. “Think you could hotwire this?”

Dustin furrows his brows and ducks his head under the wheel. He shuffles around, mumbling to himself, before he curses. “No, it’s one of those fancy, expensive carts. Which is goddamn ironic for people who hate wealth. We need a key.”

“Okay, that’s not how Communism necessarily works–”

“Did you two seriously think they’d leave keys in there?” Erica interrupts you, cutting straight to the point as she always does. 

Dustin starts digging around the cart now. He checks the mirror compartment, under the seat, wherever his hands can reach. “There’s gotta be a spare…” When he comes up with nothing, he shoves you out of the cart. “Go and look inside the vault room.”

“A ‘please’ wouldn’t hurt.” Though you do as you’re told, trusting that the room is secure enough to leave him and Erica alone for a few minutes as you look.

There are vials everywhere, but no signs of a spare key. You wander the rows, the green liquid glows ominously. Drawing your face closer to one of the vials, the liquid bubbles in its glass container. This small, inconspicuous vial is what melted cement back at the elevator.

An idea comes to you. 

“Dustin,” you call over your shoulder, eyes still on the chemical. “What if we grabbed some of these vials and used them as some kind of weapon? I mean, it’s some pretty powerful stuff.” No one responds, which you frown at. It’s then that you realize it’s become suspiciously quiet, and with your heartbeat in your throat, you run back towards the kids. 

You find Dustin with spare keys in his hand, a proud smile on his face. “Found ‘em.”

“I’m going to start making you pay me every time you give me a goddamn heart attack.” A hand rests against your chest as you try to lower your heart rate. “I mean, this just can’t be good for me–”

A loud, spine tingling crack of electricity zaps behind you.

Screaming, you jump at the noise and into Dustin’s side. You both turn around, coming face to face with a giant electric prod held by a smiling Erica. 

“What the hell is that?” Dustin shouts at her, fear still in his voice. 

“A deadly weapon.” She zaps it again and the sound is deafening. “Could be useful.”

Both hands on your chest now, you hunch over and try to not to have a heart attack right then and there. “You kids are going to kill me one day.” You swallow, take a deep breath. “God, why can’t we stick with knives? They’re quiet, quaint. Not at all terrifying.”

“Knives against Commies? I thought you wanted to save your boyfriend, Y/N.” Erica swings the prod as she speaks and you hold your hands up.

“Let’s not swing that around, okay? The last thing I need today is to be electrocuted by that thing.” When she lowers the prod, you continue. “But…  you should keep it. It’ll be useful for saving Steve and Robin.”

Dustin steps in front of you. “Wait a minute, aren’t you always lecturing me about being realistic? We don’t even know where they are.”

“And aren’t you always lecturing me about putting the party first?” You can’t believe that Dustin isn’t tearing the place apart to find Steve. “We can’t just leave them here. No way you think I’d let you do that.”

“But there are a million guards up there with weapons way deadlier than that!” He points at Erica’s electric prod. He starts walking towards the cart, keys in hand, and beckons you to get inside it as well. “Admit it, the best thing we can do for them is get out of here and find help. Our chance of surviving, and theirs, rises substantially.”

“No.” You don’t step foot in the cart.

“Just trust me on this.” Dustin tries to get you into the cart, but you plant your feet on the ground and refuse to move. “Y/N, please don’t be difficult right now.”

“I said no.” Your voice hardens. Dustin has never been one to back away from a challenge, and yet here he is. Accepting defeat and leaving Steve and Robin to suffer the consequences of it. You’ve always been the first to stand behind realism, to denounce insane ideas and stunts that the party always manages to get itself into, but this time it’s different. 

Somewhere within these walls, your friends are facing unimaginable terrors. They sacrificed themselves to save you and the kids. Once again, Steve Harrington has saved your life.

And you’ve always evened out your debts to him. 

“We’re going to look for them.” You walk back into the vault room and start grabbing vial after vial of chemicals. There’s an air of authority in your demeanor, daring the kids to argue with you. You’re taking control now after being numb for so long. Dustin follows you, tries to argue, but you continue grabbing vials from the shelves as a plan forms in your head. “We are going to grab as many of these as we can, load them up into the cart, and then drive around this shithole until we find our friends.”

You shove the vials into Dustin’s arms. He blinks at you, this is the most clear headed he’s seen you since descending down in the elevator. Marching back towards the cart, you place your own vials down. “Then, we are going to use whatever chemical this is to cause a distraction. We’ll melt something, maybe cause a fire. I don’t give a shit what we do. All I know is that we are going to then save our friends and get the fuck out of this hellscape. Do I make myself clear?”

Dustin and Erica stare at you, jaws slacked, both now sitting in the cart. Taking their silence as a yes, you nod, pleased. “Fantastic. Now, my dear brother, start driving or I will. Either way: we’re leaving.”

He gulps and tightens his hands on the steering wheel. When you’ve settled into the back of the vehicle, he starts the cart. “Let’s go, then.”

As Dustin drives, Erica twists in her seat to look at you. She’s impressed, albeit still slightly terrified. “Have you always been so scary?”

“Yes. I just hide it well. Makes it more useful when I need it.” 

– 

You’ve just finished counting the vials when Erica seems to decide now is an appropriate time to ask invasive questions. 

“So what do you see in that hair guy?”

“You mean Steve?” Although, you suppose that hair guy is a pretty good indicator for him.

Erica nods. “Yeah, I just don’t understand how someone like him could impress you. He wears a sailor’s uniform and flings ice cream all day long.”

You’re oddly touched by this, though her description of Steve makes you sad. He’s so much more than just some guy who scoops ice cream. He’s brave, selfless, sensitive, and kind. “Don’t give me too much credit. There’s a lot you don’t know about Steve.”

She makes a disgusted face. “Yuck. It sounds like you love the guy.”

Dustin cringes and looks disgusted as well. He doesn’t want to hear his sister waxing and waning about his friend. “Can we not talk about that right now?”

Erica pinches his side, causing him to nearly crash the cart into the wall. “I’m an inquisitive person and clearly they’re in love. Y/N almost bit your head off when you suggested abandoning him.”

“Okay, I didn’t suggest abandoning him.”

“It’s just the facts!”

They argue, forgetting that you’re there. However, you need the distraction, and talking about Steve has always made you feel braver than you really are. A smile spreads across your face when you think about him. The words spill from your mouth without any effort. “I do love Steve.”

Dustin’s arguing fades away. His eyes meet yours in the cart’s rearview mirror. He already knew that you loved Steve, but to hear you say it, to see the blush that invades your face whenever you talk about him, it makes everything more real. Guilt washes over him. He wanted you to leave the boy you love behind. 

“Look,” Dustin sighs. He needs to get this off of his chest. “I’m sorry about telling you to leave Steve and–”

A scream echoes within the hall. It’s feminine, familiar. 

“Robin,” your stomach twists. She’s alive. And close. She has to be close if you can hear her screams. You grab Dustin’s shoulder. “Go!” 

He slams on the gas and the cart picks up speed. Rounding the corner, he brakes harshly and you’re in yet another hallways. It’s silent, there isn’t anyone there. You close your eyes, you’re close. You can feel it, but you can’t locate them if you don’t know where they are. 

“C’mon, Robin, “ you plead. “Help us find you.”

Another scream, this time it sounds even closer.

“That way!” Erica points left, and there’s no time to doubt if she’s right. The three of you jump out the cart and grab the chemicals. Dustin also grabs the electric prod, and then you all start running. 

Robin screams again, and this time you can place which door it comes from. Adrenaline rushes through you. You have to work fast. At the end of the hall you see what looks to be an alarm switch on the wall. It wasn’t a part of your plan earlier, but it’ll have to do.

“Erica, go to the switch down there. When I say go, you press it. Alright?” She nods at you, quickening her pace. You turn to Dustin next, grabbing the vials from him. “Get the prod ready. I’ll throw the vials.”

When you get to the door that separates you from Robin, you press your ear against it. Voices are muffled, but still Steve's voice comes through as well. Your heart jumps. He’s with her. He’s alive as well. 

Erica stands at the end of the hall and you hold your palm up, signaling her to wait. Looking at Dustin, he nods at you and holds the prod to his chest. Taking a deep breath, you start throwing the vials harshly against the floor.

You use all the anger within you to guide what little strength you have left. The anger drives you, it propels the vials, it shatters them. The chemicals spill everywhere. The cement floor begins to erode away, sizzling. After you’ve thrown your last one, you shout to Erica, “Now!”

Alarms sound overhead. Erica runs back towards you and you shove the kids behind a barrel. Within seconds the hallway fills with Russian guards and they swarm around the melted floor, but you keep your eyes on the door. Silently you beg for your plan to work. The door has to open, whoever is inside has to come and investigate the damage you’ve caused. 

An agonizing three seconds pass. Sweat drips down your face. Then, a man comes crashing out of the door. He marches down the hallway and disappears when he turns the corner. As soon as he’s gone, Dustin slams through the door. There’s a man dressed in doctor’s scrubs within the room, but your brother attacks him with the prod and knocks him out quickly.

Erica and Dustin stand over the unconscious man. They’re surprised the plan has worked. Yet all you see is Steve. 

Everything else fades away. He’s tied to a chair, his face is bleeding. You run towards him, uncaring about whatever else may be in the room. A whole fucking army of Russians could be standing next to you right now and you still wouldn’t spare them a single glance. 

“Oh, honey.” The sentiment drips from your lips as your knife cuts through the rope that binds him. You’re so fucking relieved that he’s okay, that Robin is as well. But there’s so much blood. In your periphery you see a tray with a bone saw on it. 

“There’s my pretty girl!” Steve giggles, head lolling to the side as he admires you. “Isn’t she the prettiest, Robin?”

Robin giggles as well, her face just as bruised and bloodied as his. “So pretty!” 

“Oh God,” despite their injured state, the two teens are in an unusually good mood. They giggle like school girls, Robin even bats her eyelashes at you. Something is off with them. “How hard did they hit your heads?”

Dustin starts to help you untie Steve. “Get ready to run.” He instructs them with a firm voice. However, Robin and Steve continue to laugh. As if this is all one big joke to them. 

They almost seem… drunk. 

But there isn’t time to ask any questions. Any minute now the guards will return. You cut the last rope that’s tied around Robin and ask Erica if she can carry her. They’re too loopy to walk straight, you’ll need to help Dustin carry Steve back to the cart.

It takes a lot of yelling, slapping Steve’s hand away from your face as you struggle to drag his limp body to the cart, more bribes for Robin than you ever would’ve imagined, but miraculously you get the two idiots into the cart parked outside. 

As soon as they’re secured in the back with you, Dustin steps on the gas and you leave the Russians behind.

“Tried promising you I’d come home, angel.” Steve is sprawled on your lap. His eyes are cloudy, he isn’t quite here with you. 

“You didn’t have to say anything. I knew you’d promise me.” You reassure him. Carefully, you brush hair out of his face and you inspect his wounds. The cuts don’t look too deep, but you’re worried he might have yet another concussion. Thankfully, however, the blood has already started to scab over. The worst of it is over, and yet your heart still constricts when you remember that he’s injured because of you. “My poor, sweet honey.”

Steve closes his eyes and hums with content. “I love it when you call me honey.” He rolls onto his side now and nuzzles his bloodied face into your stomach. “Makes me feel special.”

Your fingers find his hair, careful to avoid any bumps and heart swelling at what he’s said. Clearing your throat, you look to Robin who is on your other side. You start checking her over as well. She isn’t as battered as Steve is, though a bruise is forming on her cheek. 

When she sees you looking at her, she winks. “I lived!”

“You did,” you squeeze her hand and her head falls against your shoulder. She lets out her own content sigh, and you play with her hair as well. They’re still with you. Still whole and alive.

With Steve and Robin safely wrapped around you, you can finally rest.

-

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The Bear + text posts (Richie edition)

dan amy - i will (mitski)

My heart belongs to you

masterlist

ah ha ha no girl don't use Vampirism, Religion, and/or Cannibalism as a metaphor for all consuming love and obsession you're so sexy ah ha

what do you mean this is not how their dynamic works in the movies? [insp.]

01. HEAT — joel miller.

flat broke with a busted engine, our girl finds herself in the middle of the sweltering austin street outside of miller’s garage. generosity might need a bit of a push to get moving, and joel miller’s not one to offer help without something in return. lucky for her, nothing gets her going quite like driving too damn fast.

18+!!! minors do not interact

no outbreak au joel miller x f!oc // first person pov, no names, can be read as self-insert

f!oc is mentioned as having curly hair and the last name “denver”, no other descriptors used

tags: no outbreak au, full-time mechanic and part-time criminal joel miller, slight violence, reckless and dangerous driving, age gap (joel is early 40s, f!oc is implied to be mid 20s), mention and use of guns, mention of family troubles, mention of drug use, mention of drinking, no smut in part one sorry folks, slow burn that i promise will be worth multiple parts, flirty tommy miller, cranky joel miller turned “yes ma’am” boyfriend

word count: 5.3k

based on: heist inspired by the final heist in baby driver, the rest inspired by my family being a bunch of street racing mechanics who know nothing in the way of self-preservation!!

————————————————————————————

It is a sweltering 101 degrees out here in Austin today, folks, and it’s only noon. If you’re not inside, you oughta be, and if you are, you’d better stay there. Gotta be smarter than the heat.

I didn’t think my car would make it to the mechanic shop. I could see it from the red light I sat at, that big rusty sign reading Miller’s Garage. I rested my elbow on the open window frame and wiped the sweat from my brow, praying for a cool breeze and for these mechanics to find me pretty enough to get a good deal.

The light sat red for a thirty seconds, a minute, minute and a half, as I listened to the sputtering engine just barely cling to life. The radio host droned on about the heat wave, and I released my foot from the pedal just slightly, rolling past that thick white line and up to the intersection. Empty. No cars coming from any direction, no cars behind me, just me and the heat radiating from the black top.

Good a time as any to run a red light.

I pressed the gas and my car lurched forward, making it directly to the center of that intersection before a loud crack came from the engine, my car jolting to an aggressive halt and slamming me into my seat. I swore, slamming the palm of my hand against the dashboard and jumping out of the driver’s seat.

By the time I was out of the car with the door slammed shut behind me, thin plumes of smoke had started to wisp from the edges of the hood. If my car hadn’t been completely fucked already, it was now. I turned, thankful to at least not see any other cars around, and kicked the front tire.

Wincing against the sun, I looked to see if anyone had by some miracle come running from the mechanic shop that was now just a few hundred feet away. Not a soul in sight. I pushed my hair out of my face and assessed my options.

Keys outta the ignition, I remembered, my dad’s voice nagging in the back of my mind, ‘less you wanna deal with an engine exploding, too.

I leaned through the open window, the scorching black paint of the exterior burning into the skin of my thighs exposed by these damned Daisy Duke shorts as I reached for the keys, tugging them out of the ignition before fumbling around for the latch to pop the hood.

“Seems we got ourselves a bit of an engine problem here,” a gruff voice suddenly said from behind me.

Startled, I tried too fast to get my upper half out of the car, hitting my head off of the car roof. A hand rubbing the top of my mop of curls, I turned to face the source of the voice.

Goddamn.

All tan skin and scruff and dark hair, not to mention him being every bit of six foot tall, the mysterious stranger was so easy on the eyes I wondered how hard I’d hit my head. He was definitely older than me, that sort of off-limits hot that friends’ dads tend to be. He wiped his hands with a black bandana, and I tried not to swoon when there was no wedding ring to account for. Jeans covered in oiled fingerprints, heavy black boots, and a dirty blue work shirt with sleeves rolled up tight around his thick arms, he was precisely the kind of guy I needed right now.

“Yeah,” I spit out, hoping he hadn’t noticed my ogling, “Been giving me trouble for a while now, but she died on me before I could pull into the shop.”

I nodded my head towards the sign ahead of us and he huffed approvingly, tapping two fingers on the still steaming hood of the car.

“Thought I heard something out here. S’my garage, you’re lucky I was bringing a car out to the lot, else you might’ve been rolling her down there by yourself,” he replied, his accent thick and smooth.

“Very lucky,” I replied, hoping his generosity would stick around to when it was time to pay.

“Hop in and put it in neutral, I’ll push the thing while you steer it into the lot,” he ordered, “You a half decent driver? I’ve got a lotta nice vehicles in that lot, don’t need ‘em getting dinged up.”

“Better than half-decent,” I said, the urge to prove him wrong swelling suddenly in my chest.

“Show me, then,” he said simply, brushing past me as I hopped into the driver’s seat and put the car into neutral.

“Ready when you are,” I shouted out the window, watching him in the rearview mirror.

He leaned over the trunk, his jaw set and eyes dark as the muscles in his arms flexed, straining to get the car rolling. His hands were massive as they gripped the blazing hot metal, pushing me and the car towards the garage.

“Right in here,” he shouted, his voice gravelly with the effort, and if I had been paying attention, I wouldn’t have hit that damn curb.

Unfortunately I hadn’t been paying attention at all.

“Thought you said you were better than half-decent,” he grunted, and I felt my whole body go pink.

“Sorry,” I squeaked, adjusting the wheel so he could push the car the rest of the way into the shop, carefully avoiding the shiny, luxury vehicles in the lot. For an old, seemingly run-down mechanic shop, he had exceptional clientele. I pictured the fancy, impossibly clean mechanics shop my dad had taken me into once upon a time, where cars less expensive than the ones here were serviced by men in clean, white jumpsuits. And to think I’d chosen this shop because it seemed cheap when I’d driven past months earlier.

Parking my car in the empty bay of the garage, he patted a hand against the trunk, a hollow thud drawing my attention.

“Leave the keys in the ignition, I’m gonna go grab Tommy. There’s some chairs around, go on and have a seat and I’ll be right back for ya, ma’am,” he said with a nod, heading around the front of the building.

I realized I hadn’t even asked for his name.

I sighed and took my moment alone to pull myself together. It’d worked before, the whole damsel in despair act. I was off to a pretty good start. Brushing the remnants of a near-empty bottle of lipgloss onto my lips and adjusting the loose white tanktop that was now sticking to my body from the heat, I figured I had a fifty-fifty shot of flirting my way to some free repairs. They must’ve made enough from those fancy cars that sat in the lot, I figured they could spare a few hours to help out a pretty girl.

Getting out of the car, I figured I’d better really commit to this. I leaned against the back end of the car, copying a pose I’d no doubt seen on the cover of some douchey mechanic’s magazine. After a minute, two pairs of footsteps headed my way, and I adjusted myself best I could. I ran a hand through my hair as a new face rounded the corner, who I assumed was this Tommy the handsome stranger had spoken of.

He stopped in his tracks for a moment as the stranger came up behind him, shoving him forward with a small push.

“Well, Joel here tells me we’ve got some engine problems goin’ on, is that right?” Tommy asked.

“Joel,” I repeated, the sound sweet on my tongue, “Forgot to ask his name in all that chaos, forgive me for being so impolite. And yes, seems to be the case.”

“My brother’s an ass, he should be apologizing for not introducin’ himself. Mind if we take a look under that hood? Get an idea of what we’re workin’ with,” he continued, eyeing me carefully.

“Not at all. Keys in the ignition,” I replied with a smile, leaning back on my elbows and deciding to test the waters, “You wanna see the registration, insurance, any of that?”

“We’re gonna get this fixed right up for you, ma’am, don’t worry about fussin’ with all that,” he said with a slick grin. He was more charming than his brother, and nearly as fine.

Joel had already gotten the hood open and was checking the engine, digging through wires and tubes and not flinching as he touched the smoking components. I took a few lazy steps, watching the two of them talk quietly about parts I half-recognized the names of.

It had been a while since I’d been in a garage, and the smell of metal and oil had my mind running a mile a minute with memories from before I’d moved away from home, of being a child watching her daddy work under a truck, of being a reckless teenager behind the wheel of one of his buddy’s drag racing cars. I felt the same pang of regret I did every time I had to set foot in one of these shops and let some stranger fix the problem for me, that I couldn’t do it myself.

“Blew out the head gasket,” Joel said, straightening himself and closing the hood of the car, the veins in his forearm popped at the motion, “Gonna be a while ‘til we can fix that.”

“Might need to see that insurance card,” Tommy admitted sheepishly.

I swore under my breath, kicking myself for waiting until the car had completely died to get it looked at. I grabbed my insurance information from the glove compartment and handed it over to Tommy, who scanned it quickly before looking back up at me.

“Your last name is Denver?” he asked, eyebrows furrowed.

“It is,” I replied, a bit worried about the implication it carried.

“Any relation to a Howard?” he pressed.

I’d moved from one side of Texas to the other with the hopes my dad’s reputation wouldn’t follow me, but here I stood. Joel laughed, a loud bark of a laugh that make my stomach turn, and Tommy shook his head in disbelief.

“Makes sense why you said you could drive,” Joel said, “Most infamous fuckin’ racer in Texas is your old man. Why the hell are we lookin’ at your car instead of him?”

“Your garage is a hell of a lot closer than his,” I said, which wasn’t a lie, but wasn’t the answer I knew he was poking for.

“But it’s gonna be a hell of a lot more expensive for us to do the job, he’s probably got fifty cars you could take your pick of and just junk this one,” Tommy said, his voice curious.

“Not an option,” I replied, the I’m fucked feeling starting to settle in at him mentioning expensive, “How expensive are we talking? I don’t think I can spare more than a couple hundred bucks.”

“Three grand, easy,” Joel said with a shrug, “More if it damaged anything else when it blew. Engine’s been overheating for God knows how long, bound to be somethin’ else wrong with it by now.”

I groaned and turned on my heel, pulling my hair up into a pile on top of my head as I walked outside of the garage into the blazing sun and squatted down, my boots digging into the skin of my calves. Three grand was more money than I could imagine right now, even if I worked doubles at the bar every day for the next month. And I wasn’t working doubles if I couldn’t drive to work. Fucked was not a good enough term to describe the situation I’d gotten in.

“Just how good of a driver are ya?” Tommy called from inside the garage after a long silence, his boots heavily thudding against the concrete floor as he took a few steps towards me.

“Depends on the car,” I replied, “Doesn’t matter if mine’s not running.”

“Tell you what,” Tommy started, “I know your old man, might be willing to do a favor for you if you can do a favor for me.”

“Tommy,” Joel warned. I stood up and turned to face him, my face stern as I waited for whatever he was about to ask me to do. My mind circled through the list of favors older men had asked of me, none of them good, all of them being worthy of smacking him as hard as I could manage.

“Ever drive a 1970 Challenger?” Tommy asked.

“Learned how to drive in that car,” I replied.

“Then you’ve got yourself a deal.”

————————————————————————————

Sitting in the driver’s seat of an impeccable 1970 Dodge Challenger felt better than drugs.

Well, almost.

Painted a shiny, deep black with a lush black leather interior, the thing was fitted with so many modifications it couldn’t have been legal. It was spotless inside, as if it’d come straight from the factory and I was the first person to ever sit in the driver’s seat, smelling only of warm leather and the cologne Joel wore beside me. I could have drooled.

It’d been years since I’d driven one, but it was second nature to me after so many years of taking cars exactly like this on test drives through abandoned neighborhoods and around tracks. I’d been an adrenaline junkie back then, a miniature version of my dad who spent every waking hour around cars. I fiddled with the radio, the windshield wipers, the shift stick, tapping into a part of my brain I’d forgotten was there. My lips pursed around a cherry lollipop I’d found in the bottom of my bag as I mindlessly reacquainted myself with this beauty of a vehicle.

“Stop messin’ with my radio,” Joel muttered from the passenger seat, reaching over to switch it off, “And get that fuckin’ lollipop outta your mouth. Don’t need you makin’ my seats sticky.”

He reached over and pulled it from between my lips, a small pop filling the air before he tossed it out into the garage. I turned, hoping he didn’t notice my cheeks turn a deep shade of crimson.

“Where am I going?” I asked, clearing my throat as I yelled out through the open window while Tommy rummaged through an old toolbox. I hadn’t even noticed the second set of garage doors at the back of the main garage, which had opened to reveal this beauty of a car, along with a random assortment of parts that I recognized as modification pieces, as well as two metal tabletops full of machines and tools I didn’t recognize.

“Just need you to give Joel a ride to the post office across town,” Tommy said.

“You got a suspended license or something?” I asked Joel, only half-joking.

“Something like that,” he replied, sinking deeper into his seat and pressing his hands into his strong thighs, which strained against his jeans. I forced my eyes to face forward, taking a deep breath and trying to get the image out of my head.

“Joel’s gotta run a job your old man used to do, s’all,” Tommy said. His explanation didn’t do anything in the way of clearing up what was actually going on. I wasn’t going to argue, but if I was going to be getting myself into trouble, a little warning might’ve been nice - and my dad’s jobs had been nothing but trouble my whole life.

“How do you know him?” I asked.

“Howard? Used to race with our dad out in Arlington before we moved down here,” Tommy answered, nodding towards Joel, “Long time ago. Haven’t seen him in probably, dunno, fifteen years. Can’t have been more than twenty back then.”

I hummed, putting together the pieces. Joel drummed his fingers against his knees as Tommy shoved some items into a duffel bag, tossing it into the window and onto Joel’s lap. Leaning into the passenger side window, he held out a dangling, single silver key to the car, though he snatched it back when I went to grab it.

“Listen, kid, we gotta establish some things here,” Tommy said sternly, a tone I hadn’t yet heard from him, “I knew your dad real well. Know where to find him if there’s any sort of trouble here. Seein’ as you’re a far way from home, I can imagine that’s not an ideal outcome here for either of us. So you’re gonna drive Joel where he needs to go, then straight back here, and when you’re done, you’re gonna forget the whole thing ever happened. We’ll get you a brand new engine, hell, I’ll throw in some other repairs for that busted thing. But you’ve gotta fulfill your end of the deal here.”

“Got it. Chauffeur Joel around, come back, and shut the hell up. Not a problem,” I said with a shrug. By the looks of them, I couldn’t imagine it was anything worse than I’d gotten into before - a drug deal, maybe, or buying illegal parts.

“Gonna be a problem if you can’t drive like your old man,” Joel muttered, pulling out the black bandana that had been stuffed into his pocket and tying it loosely around his neck.

I put the key in the ignition and started the engine, the familiar purr vibrating the seat and sending a shiver down my spine. I tried to conceal my smile, to brush away the feeling that I should be driving something like this instead of my busted tin can of a car.

“Just bring the car back in one piece and I’ll be happy,” Tommy said, running a hand through his floppy, graying hair.

I flung the car into reverse and swung into the parking lot, dodging around one of those shiny silver cars they had parked out front. Joel shot me a glare as I put the car in drive, smiling like a fool knowing I still had it in me.

“Told ya I was a good driver,” I happily hummed, looking both ways before flying down the street.

————————————————————————————

The problem wasn’t going to be getting Joel and the car back in one piece, it was going to be avoiding a speeding ticket.

I’d gotten onto the highway easily, the early evening traffic just beginning to show itself as I weaved between minivans and school busses, Joel’s hand firmly gripping the overhead handle as I turned up the radio. I was ecstatic, some biological switch flipped in me that reminded me just how badly I missed racing, forgetting everything I had ran from.

“You mind slowin’ down there?” Joel grunted.

“Not even goin’ that fast,” I complained, glancing at the speedometer as it creeped above ninety.

“Goin’ fast enough to kill us both,” he barked.

I ignored him, mentally counting down the exits as we passed them, impatiently speeding as I watched for that big, sun-faded DOWNTOWN sign. I almost wanted to drag the drive out, to slow down and spend longer in a car that had functioning air conditioning and an engine that worked perfectly, but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

“Are you gonna tell me what we’re going to a post office for, anyways?” I pried.

“Not happenin’,” he replied.

“No fun,” I complained.

“Might be a little more fun once we’re back at the garage alive,” he muttered.

“Oh yeah? What’s Joel Miller like to do for fun?” I asked, checking my mirrors before swerving across three lanes to make the exit.

“I’m usually the one drivin’ like this,” he admitted.

“You’ve got it in you, too,” I said.

“Got what in me?” he asked.

“My dad always called it heat. Get your adrenaline goin’ one time, and you’ll keep goin’ back for more. Like a car engine, you’ll keep at it until you burn up, or until you crash. Always gonna be one or the other.”

I could feel his eyes on me and I became very aware of the way the black strap of my bra was too loose, fallen over my shoulder, the way my hair had gone wild with the windows down, the adrenaline that had flushed my skin. The air was heavy between us as I waited for him to speak, but the words never came.

It didn’t take long to reach the post office from the highway, and I rolled up slowly, around back as Joel instructed. It was past five o’clock, and the neon open sign out front had been switched off. Around back, there was only one other car and an empty mail truck, parked for the night after the driver’s day had ended.

“Leave the car on,” Joel instructed, popping open the door and tossing the duffel bag over his shoulder, “The second you see me comin’ out that back door, you put this thing in drive and be ready to fuckin’ move.”

“We running from somebody?” I asked, choking out a small laugh. This had started to seem less like a small-time drug deal I’d gotten myself into.

“Just be ready,” he replied simply, his dark eyes lingering on mine for a moment before he got out of the car and slammed the door behind him. “If I’m in there longer than two minutes, you get the hell out of here.”

I watched intently as Joel looked around carefully as he approached the docking area at the back of the building and disappeared through a thick metal door clearly intended for employees. Turning up the radio just slightly, I sunk into my seat and watched the main road, counting the seconds as the same radio host from earlier reported the score from that night’s Rangers game.

Fifteen seconds.

Thirty seconds.

Forty-five.

My heart thrummed in my chest, wondering what the hell he could possibly be doing inside of a post office.

One minute.

One minute fifteen seconds.

One minute thirty.

An alarm began to blare from the building.

It was somewhat muffled from the brick exterior, but it was loud enough to make me jump. Muttering curses under my breath, I switched the car out of park and into drive, one foot slammed into the brake and the other hovering over the gas.

That metal door slammed open so hard it cracked against the brick outside of the building and dented the door, a bright red light illuminating Joel’s figure as he booked it towards the car. The engine hummed under me as my heartbeat thundered in my chest, my palms slick as he was trailed by two other figures in uniforms, just a few yards behind. I realized as he got closer that Joel had at some point pulled up that black bandana to cover the lower half of his face.

I reached over and unlatched the door, swinging it wide open just in the nick of time for him to jump in.

“Fucking drive!” he shouted, throwing the now over-stuffed duffel bag into the backseat as I slammed the gas pedal into the floor, the tires squealing as the car accelerated too quickly, whipping from left to right before I could finally get control of the thing.

The uniformed men chased after the car as I raced through the empty parking lot towards a back alley that would lead me to the highway again, and a loud pop followed by the sound of cracking glass made me turn my head. Joel’s hand pushed my head down until I faced the street again, though not soon enough for me to not have noticed the bullet lodged in the cracked back windshield.

“What the fuck do you steal from a post office that makes us get shot at?!” I screeched, whipping the car into the alley and watching the speedometer tick past 60 miles per hour in a 15 mile zone.

“Girl called the damn cops the second I opened that door,” he muttered, ducking low as he peered behind us to see if we were being tailed yet.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Joel!” I replied, my voice sounding hysteric.

Before the words left my mouth, the sound of sirens could be heard in every direction.

Without looking, I booked it across the four-lane main street, darting for the highway as cars around me slammed on their brakes and horns, the sound deafening over the roaring engine. Up the on-ramp, I swerved into traffic, looking desperately for other black cars that we could attempt to blend in with. The rearview mirror gleamed red and blue as cops half a mile back began to trail after us and I pushed the car to go faster, past 90 and well on the way to 100 miles an hour.

“We’ve gotta get off this highway and lose ‘em,” Joel said sternly.

“Tommy said to go straight back to-,” I started.

“I know what he fuckin’ said. Three exits down leads out through a tunnel and wraps around the back of the city. Get out fast enough and we might be able to lose ‘em,” Joel ordered.

“That’s gonna take us out towards an industrial plant, nothing to hide us out there,” I argued.

“Just fuckin’ do it. There’s a Mustang and a Charger up ahead, both black, both fast, get near them and take the exit, pray they trail one of ‘em instead of us,” Joel snapped.

I darted between cars until I reached the two that were nearly identical to the car we drove, one of them switching lanes just in front of a tractor trailer. If we were lucky, the cops wouldn’t have been able to notice that we’d swapped places, and the exit was just a few hundred feet away. Painfully, against all better judgment, I slowed down, letting the cops get closer to avoid looking like the car that was absolutely fucking booking it. I could’ve breathed a sigh of relief when the Mustang sped up to pass us as we made the exit, and the sirens and flashing lights veered off to the left to follow the highway as we went right down the ramp.

The sun had sunk below the horizon at this point, the sky a hazy orange as I pulled off of the road into an empty industrial parking lot, shoving the car into park and jumping out.

“What the hell are you doin’?” Joel asked, getting out of the car behind me.

“Need a second,” I said, taking a few steps and running my fingers through my hair, resting my hands on my head as I turned to face him.

“Don’t tell me you’re gonna be sick or somethin’,” he said, leaning against the open frame of the passenger door.

I shook my head, surprised at how I felt. I should have felt nauseous, scared absolutely shitless, but I didn’t. My whole body was vibrating, like I could have ran a marathon, like I’d just taken the best cocaine known to man. A knot in my stomach felt so hot it could’ve been glowing, and I started to laugh.

“You gonna tell me what’s goin’ on it that head of yours?” Joel asked, tilting his head as he watched me.

“You gonna tell me what’s in that duffel bag?” I asked.

He nodded towards the car and I followed him as he opened the back door, ripping open the zipper and showing me hundreds of blank sheets of some kind of forms, looking almost like blank checks.

“Blank checks?” I asked, my face twisting into a disappointed frown.

“Blank money orders,” Joel corrected.

“We got shot at over some blank money orders? What the fuck did you drag me into, Joel?” I asked, my hands burning as I held myself back from slapping him.

“Got a buddy, think he’s a friend of your old man’s, actually,” Joel explained, “Got this machine. Turns blank money orders into cash. Makes ‘em valid somehow, real techy sort of guy.”

“How much?” I asked, tugging on the lip of the bag to try to guess how many were inside.

“Thousand bucks a piece.”

There must’ve been five hundred blank money orders in the bag, and that was on the low end of the estimate. My eyes widened, and he quickly zipped the bag back up. I looked up at him, noticing how close he stood to me, how much taller he was than me, the way his body entirely shielded mine. He looked down at me, one hand leaning against the roof of the car, his muscled arm just inches from my face.

“Tip of the iceberg, darlin’,” he said, his voice low and smooth.

“And y’all need a driver,” I replied.

“That we do.”

The cool breeze I’d been wishing for earlier finally came with the last streaks of golden sunlight, wisping a few loose strands of hair over my face. Before I could reach up myself, Joel’s hand, strong and calloused and stained from work, gently brushed them out of my eyes. His skin grazed mine and I couldn’t say if it was the adrenaline or the closeness that did it, but I leaned in just a millimeter closer to him, eyes wide as a doe and desperate for the smell of his cologne.

“Oughta get back to the garage ‘fore Tommy thinks we got caught,” he breathed.

“Guess so,” I replied, not moving a muscle.

He stepped away, closing the back door between us, eyes lingering for a moment before he rounded the car and got back into his seat. Breathless and stirring with jittery, pent-up adrenaline, I got back into the driver’s seat and flipped the key in the ignition, the engine thrumming to life again.

————————————————————————————

It was dark by the time we rolled into the garage again, Tommy pacing by the front door of the main office with a cigarette illuminating his face. He followed us as we parked, and Joel hopped out before the car was at a full stop, reaching up and pulling down the main garage door. Tommy flipped on a light as I reached into the backseat, tugging the heavy duffel onto my lap and over my shoulder before getting out of the car.

The pair of brothers followed behind me as I dropped the bag onto the metal table, unzipping it in the dim fluorescent lighting and breathing in the smell of that off-the-printer paper. Tommy’s jaw was gaping as I slowly started to count the stacks, each wrapped in a rubber band, each containing fifty money orders. It took a while, with Joel neatly piling them up on the table as I counted.

He’d gotten over a thousand.

“Fuck,” I breathed, my voice shaking with excitement as I handed over the last stack, our final count being 1,100 money orders.

“Grab a fuckin’ calculator,” Tommy barked, and Joel started towards the office before I grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

“One-point-one-million,” I answered. Joel let out a low whistle and Tommy choked back a laugh.

“Jesus,” Tommy said, the cigarette still dangling from his lips, ashes falling onto his shirt as he spoke.

“Tip of the iceberg,” Joel muttered.

“You still gonna fix my car?” I asked, still staring down at the piles of paper below me.

“More than that,” Tommy replied, “You go out there and pick whatever car you want outta that lot. And then some.”

I took a few deep breaths, trying to steady myself when the ground below me felt like it was spinning. My palms pressed flat against the cold metal and I ran through the thousand different options I had before me now.

All I could think of was driving that damn car with Joel in the passenger seat.

“The red one,” I finally said, “1970 Chevy Chevelle. Candy apple red.”

“You keep gettin’ us away from cops like that, and you’ve got a deal,” Tommy replied.

I nodded once, real slow, before turning to look at Joel. His eyes were already on me as he grabbed a set of keys from the rack on the wall, nodding towards the garage door. Behind me, I heard Tommy reach over to grab the money orders and load them back into the bag.

“You go alone to meet with Buddy, Tommy,” Joel said, eyes not leaving me, “I’m takin’ miss candy-apple-red Chevy out to celebrate.”

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a/n: thank you for reading!!

part two coming within a few days.

please reblog, comment, follow, etc etc etc if you enjoyed, it would truly mean the world to me ❤️‍🔥

*Logan Paul*