[ 𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚐𝚜 & 𝙳𝚒𝚛𝚝 ] ~ 𝙳𝚞𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗 𝙷𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝙾𝚌

VIII - Hawkings: Power & Light

Mike was helping El get cleaned up in the bathroom, leaving Lucy and Dustin on their own out in the main part of the basement. Now that she was sitting, Lucy could feel how tight the muscle on her left leg was. The wound was putting extra strain on it that it wasn't used to. Dustin sat next to her, falling into the cushions with a 'hmph.'

"Hey, Luce?" Dustin turned so that his face was looking toward Lucy.

"Yeah?" She turned her head too, their noses nearly touching.

"Is your leg okay?"

"I'll be fine. Not my first rodeo." She laughed, smiling. Though Dustin could see through it. Her words held weight. Pain.

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just clumsy." She lied, looking away from the curly haired boy and instead at the roof.

"Luce, you can trust me. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"You can tell me what you actually mean."

She sighed, turning her head again. She liked the feeling of their noses brushing, it felt comfortable, soft. "My parents aren't home a lot, y'know. They go on a lot of conference trips. But when they are. . .well, uhm. . .my dad's not the nicest guy." She let out a small broken laugh. "He gets mad, and I guess he just needs an outlet." She mumbled the last part, hoping that Dustin didn't hear it. But he did. Though he didn't say anything, all he did was pull her into a tight hug. He wanted her to know that he was there for her, that she would be alright.

"You can come to my house. . .you know, if you ever need to hide." He muttered into her ear. "My mom won't mind. And Justin's barely ever there."

"Thanks Dust."

Their moment was broken when Lucas's voice came through Dustin's TRC. It was crackly and unclear, but he sounded panicked. The two preteens pulled from their hug, looking each other in the eye. "Lucas!"

Dustin scurried up, running over to the bathroom where Mike and El were. "Guys!" He panted, "It's Lucas, we think he's in trouble." The three all ran over to the couch where Lucy sat with the walkie in her lap. "Do you remember how he said he was looking for the gate?" Dustin slid into the couch, bumping against Lucy's side.

"Yeah?" Mike questioned, not quite getting the urgency. El and Mike both stood nearby, waiting for the situation to be explained better.

"Well, what if he found it?" Lucy rushed out. Mike pulled the radio from her hands when Lucas's words seemed to get more panicked, more rushed.

"They know about e. . .Get ou. . .of. . ." Came through the walkie.

"What's he saying?" Mike asked the two.

"I don't know, he's way out of range."

"It sounded like 'they know about us, scatter.'?" Lucy shrugged, not quite sure if she heard right.

". . .Son of a bitch!" The heard through the static.

"Lucas, if you can hear us, slow down. We can't understand you." Mike spoke into the radio.

After Lucas's shouting persisted through broken words, Dustin asked Mike a question from what he could gather. "'Mad hen', does that mean anything to you? Like a code name or something?"

"The bad men are coming!" Lucas shouted again.

"Bad men. Bad men!" Mike gasped, handing the walkie back to Lucy. "Stay here." He then ran up the stairs with Dustin close behind, leaving the two girls confused.