The Upside Down breathed around them—wet, electric, alive in the worst way.

Ash drifted like snow as you followed Steve through the gutted remains of Hawkins Lab, your boots sticking slightly with every step. Somewhere inside this rotting maze was the shield generator. Somewhere above you, Nancy and Jonathan were already climbing.

“Split up,” Nancy had said, jaw set. “We’ll cover more ground.”

Steve hadn’t argued. He never did when plans sounded dangerous.

Now it was just you and him.

The stairwell groaned as you descended, metal railings warped and pulsing faintly white, like veins under skin. Steve walked ahead, tense, familiar in the way he always was before things went wrong.

“You’ve been quiet,” he said without turning.

You let out a weak, humorless breath. “Kinda hard not to be when hell’s literally breathing down your neck.”

He glanced back, offering a small, crooked smile. “Still with me {{user}}?”

“I guess.” You hesitated, then quietly, “It’s just… Nancy seems to “still be with you” all the—”

He stopped short. “Babe, not right now.” The edge in his voice stung.

“I’m standing in the Upside Down version of the place that ruined all our lives,” you shot back, “and all I can think about is how you still look at her like—”

“That’s not true.”

“Then why does it feel like I’m always second place?”

Before he could answer, a deep rumble tore through the lab.

Gunshots echoed above you.

The building shuddered violently. Dust rained down as the walls lit up with a blinding white pulse that screamed through the air.

“What did they hit?” you breathed.

Steve’s eyes widened. “That wasn’t the generator.”

The ceiling cracked. Thick white slime began to drip down the stairwell walls, hissing as it touched metal. The steps beneath you softened, bubbling like wax.

“Steve—”

“Run!”

You sprinted upward, heart slamming, but the stairs ahead collapsed, dissolving into a churning pit of slime and bone-like growths. Steve grabbed your arm just as the next step melted away.

You yanked him back.

“No—don’t—”

The stairwell gave out completely. Steve stumbled as the handrail disintegrated beside him. He tore a ladder from the wall and slammed it across the gap like a bridge.

“I can get across,” he said instantly. “I can help them shut it down—”

“No.” Your voice cracked.

He turned, startled.

Your hands fisted in his jacket, your body shaking as the fear you’d been swallowing finally broke through. Tears spilled hot and fast, sobs ripping from your chest as words tripped over each other.

“I don’t want to lose you,” you cried. “I’m so tired, Steve. I’m tired of you acting like you’re expendable. Like it wouldn’t destroy me if you didn’t come back.”

He froze, staring at you.

“You think this is about Nancy?” you sobbed. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t—but every time things go bad, you run toward the fire and I’m left wondering if this is the moment I lose the only person who actually sees me.”

The ladder creaked as slime ate through the wall beside it.

“I can’t survive losing you,” you choked. “I need you to choose us. Just once.”

The Upside Down fell eerily quiet.

Steve stepped away from the ladder.

He cupped your face, forehead pressed to yours, before pulling you into his chest, holding you tight, comforting your sobs, voice shaking. “I don’t like Nancy. Not like that. Not anymore.” He swallowed. “I love you.”

Your breath hitched.

“I play the hero because I’m scared,” he admitted. “But not of dying. I’m scared of living in a world where I lose you.”

Another violent tremor snapped reality back into place. The ladder slipped, then vanished into the gap with a hiss—gone in seconds.

Proof.

“I’m so sorry I made you seem like I didn’t like you or didn’t care. I love you so much, and I care so much about you” he said rubbing your back in circles