Chapter Text
It’s too goddamn bright for a Friday morning. It’s too goddamn early for a Friday morning too. Here he is, up at the ass crack of dawn because he just can’t listen. His mother is right, it’s like there’s nothing going on in his head. He chugs out of his travel mug, hoping Karen has more coffee ready for him. He needs at least a gallon more.
He spent a large chunk of yesterday digging out camping gear and packing, why Mike didn’t help is beyond him. His stupid camping trip. The cooler hit him in the head even as he drug it out from the rafters of the garage. When he pulls on their street he pauses. Why is the Wheeler’s station wagon looking packed in the front yard? Why are there parents? How the hell is everyone even conscious.
“Steve!” Lucas is waving at him a million miles a minute when he opens the door.
“Hey. What’s going on?” He looks at the vehicle, there’s no groceries in it like his.
“Oh Steve! You’re here!” Karen and other moms walk towards him as Nancy has a smirk. She’s sitting on the hood laughing already at a joke he’s unaware of.
“Hey Mrs. Wheeler.” He smiles at her.
“We’re so happy you’re taking the boys!” Mrs. Sinclair looks genuinely happy.
“They’re going to have the best time! They need things like.” Mrs. Henderson has a huge smile.
“You’re sure you can handle them?” Mrs. Byers asked him, maybe she is the only reasonable one.
“Don’t be silly, Joyce! He’s one of the boys!” Mrs. Sinclair calms her.
“We packed up a lot of the station wagon already for you!” Karen says at him and Steve blinks.
“My car?” He questions, looking back at the Beemer.
“You can leave it here, silly.” Karen tells him and he turns around seeing the kids already in his trunk.
“Hey! Hey! Be careful!” He shouts as he sees his sleeping bag hit the ground.
“We figured it’d be easier. More roomie!” Karen tells him.
“Oh, that’s okay.” He wants his car, Nancy is laughing like a hyena now on the hood of the station wagon.
“We insist!”
“You got two bags of marshmallows!” Will is holding them up like a trophy.
“No way! Oh my god, I’m only eating s’mores for dinner.” Dustin tells him.
“Hey, no, no. Don’t open those!” It’s too late, Mike’s hand is in the bag when he looks back up. He guesses marshmallows are breakfast now.
“Save them for car ride!” Karen shouts at him.
“They’re like a pack of dogs.” Steve mumbles to himself.
“Okay, so, you have been camping before, right?” Mrs. Byers asks him.
“Joyce, I told you. He was a Boy Scout.” Karen says to her.
“He’s got it handled.” Mrs. Sinclair adds. They have a lot of faith in him all things considered.
“I packed a car bag. There’s even car bingo in there.” Mrs. Henderson tells him with a big smile, like he should be excited about car bingo while driving. He’s still staring at his stuff being poorly loaded into the back of the station wagon. He’s going to have to stop at another grocery store, he’s going to have to take them in with him.
“I bet they will love it.” He’s watching as they carefully move his backpack with the baseball in it. At least they have some type of thought process.
“Oh, you don’t need to grab his tent honey. We packed the big one.” Karen says as she grabs the two tents back from Mike.
“Oh no.” He whispers to himself.
“So, we wanted to tell you that you don’t have to worry about what time you get home Sunday. We know you’ll be having too much fun to keep track of time.” Mrs. Sinclair adds. He watches them fight over seating arrangements next, he thinks he will count the seconds until they can come home.
“Sounds good.” Steve nods.
“Oh! Get together for a picture!” Mrs. Byers yells, he spots the camera he got Jonathan.
“You too Steve!” Mrs. Henderson shoves him towards the car as Nancy leaves the hood. He’s shoved between the four of them, they’re all buzzing with excitement.
“Say cheese!” Karen yells, also sporting a camera. They all smile, the boys laughing and talking while Steve silently prays. After they’re done with the group shots he approaches Nancy, mentally preparing to hand her the keys.
“You excited?” She smirks at him.
“It’s not too late for you to join us, you know?” He dangles his keys.
“Oh, I think I’m busy.”
“With what?”
“Anything else. I’d rather cut the lawn with hand scissors.” She smiles and pecks his lips, grabbing his keys from him.
“I think you’re missing out.” He smiles at her.
“I know I’m not.” She pats his face.
“You’re brains.” He reminds her.
“Your job is not to kill them. It’s easy.”
“It’s not them I’m worried about. They’re going to sacrifice me over the fire.” He sees Lucas waving intensely from the front seat.
“Probably.” Nancy agrees before she pats his back.
“Do you need anything else?” Karen asks him. He stares at the travel mug of coffee in the front cup holder.
“I guess not.” He says and she hands him the keys.
“You’ll have fun. Thank you.” He gets in the front seat, sighs to himself and turns the car on.
“Bye! Have fun! Love you!” Is being shouted at the car as they pull away. He knows silence isn’t what is waiting as they pull away.
“We got your tapes out.” Lucas tells him.
“Did you?”
“Yeah, you have a lot of shit in your glove box.” He wants to slam his head against the wheel and they aren’t down the block yet.
“Is it still in my passenger seat?”
“Yeah, we dumped it out. Figured you’d be more mad if we kept touching it.” Dustin says from the far seat. Great, he has to clean that up when he gets home.
“You and my brother listen to some of the same music.” Will says from the other seat.
“How’d you end up in the middle?” He looks back at Mike.
“Will pukes.” Steve laughs.
“Great.”
“I’m up front because I lost rock paper scissors.”
“Shouldn’t the kid who gets car sick be up front?” It goes quiet. No one wanted to sit with him, that doesn’t hurt his ego at all.
“If he feels sick we will move him.” Mike eventually says after the awkward pause.
“Sounds good.” He rolls his eyes.
“Your music taste is like my dads.” Lucas tells him, he’s officially going to drive the five of them off of a cliff.