HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1983.

     HAWKINS, INDIANA HAD A NEW 'IT' couple.

Steve held the door open for Theresa as they entered Hawkins High School together, aware of the looks they were receiving as they walked down the hallway.

Tess had almost forgotten how much she liked attention.

"So your mom didn't suspect anything?" Steve asked as they reached Theresa's locker.

She shook her head, turning the combination on the lock and opening it. "Surprisingly, no. I made it back before the crack of dawn, which is basically when she wakes up."

Steve leaned against the locker, his hands in his jacket pockets. "Did you climb through the window?"

Tess cut her eyes at him. "...No? I just went through the back door."

"Oh." Steve scratched the back of his neck. "Well, if you were a real expert like me, you would've gone through the window. I'm like a ninja," he winked.

She rolled her eyes playfully, shoving him. He grabbed her wrists as she did, pulling her into a kiss. Placing her hands on his chest, Theresa kissed him back a moment longer before pulling away.

"Jeez, Harrington," Tess teased with a coy smile, "it's not even eight o'clock."

Steve was about to reply when someone walked up, clearing their throat. Turning, they saw Sidney standing there.

"Sorry to interrupt," she said irritably, looking to Theresa. "Can we talk? It's urgent."

Glancing over at Steve, Theresa pursed her lips and started toward the girl's bathroom. Sidney walked behind her, drawing in a shaky breath.

"What is it?" Tess asked, turning to face her.

Sidney twisted her fingers. "I-It's about Priya. There's something I forgot to tell you about the night she went missing."

Theresa immediately frowned, her gaze turning to a glare. "What do you mean?" she replied slowly.

Sidney kept her eyes trained to the floor, refusing to meet Tess' eyes.

"Sidney!" Tess snapped in a demanding voice.

She jumped, looking up at Theresa.

"Priya kept saying something about a monster," Sidney finally spoke. "I mean– me and my sister just figured she was drunk and we didn't really think anything of it but Tess, I think something really bad might have happened–"

Sidney broke away with a sob, turning away from Tess.

Theresa clenched her jaw, not realizing that she was shaking. She was not yet sure if it was from anger, because Sidney kept something like this from her, or fear.

She dropped her head. "Why didn't you tell me?" Tess asked in an eerily soft voice.

Sidney met her eyes with a tear-streaked face, mortified.

"I-I'm sorry, Tess, I didn't think it really mattered–"

"Everything matters when Priya's fucking missing, you stupid bitch!"

Some of the girls who entered the bathroom just then exchanged looks, then turned around and walked back out.

Sidney's chin trembled. "This is why you have no friends now. No one likes you because they can see how shitty of a person you are."

Tess simply stared at her, unfazed by her words.

"I don't give a shit about who does and doesn't like me," she replied through gritted teeth, leaning closer to Sidney. "But I do know one thing. If Priya is dead because of your own stupidity and carelessness, I'm going to drag you by your fucking hair and put a Prada footprint on your face."

With one last look, Theresa aggressively pushed past Sidney and walked out of the bathroom. Steve was still standing at her locker, perking up as he saw her coming over.

"Hey," he said with a small smile, but then frowned as he saw the scowl on Tess' face. "Is everything alright?"

She rolled her eyes shortly, slamming her locker shut. "Everything's just fine."

Theresa looked up at him, plastering a smile on her face. She paused, facing him and placing her arms around his neck.

"But instead of worrying about me, I think you should be worrying about that English test you have in ten minutes."

Steve placed his hands around her waist as mentally counted days in his head, then swore under his breath.

"Shit," he sighed, then looked back at Tess. "How do you remember the days I have tests and I don't?"

Tess grinned. "I'm your tutor, aren't I?"

Steve began to smile back, raising his eyebrows.

"So... can I get a kiss for good luck?" he questioned with his usual cockiness.

Theresa's lips curled into a smile, tilting her head. "Oh, if you make an A, I'll do more than that." With a wink, Tess reached up and planted a quick kiss on his lips, letting Steve go.

He smirked, raising his eyebrows in surprise at her words. Damn, now he really needed to make a good grade. The bell rang just then, Tess holding her books in her arms.

"See you at lunch, Harrington."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THERESA WALKED PAST A BULLETIN board in the hallway with a flyer pinned to it that read: Priya Wilson Memorial, 6:00.

Frowning, she stopped and stared at Priya's face on the flyer for a moment. In a moment of anger, Tess snatched the flyer off of the bulletin board and crumpled it up, tossing it in a nearby trashcan.

Things did not get much better as she entered the cafeteria. The students all eyed her from their seats, leaning over and whispering to each other.

Theresa, of course, never dropped her head. But she did want to know what the hell they were talking about.

She walked over to Steve's table, aggressively pulling out the chair beside him and taking a seat.

"What is everyone talking about?"

Steve looked over at her, immediately sitting up in his chair and clearing his throat.

"Uh, hey Tess."

She turned her head to him with a blank stare, waiting for him to answer her question.

"Oh," Steve scooted a bit closer to her, leaning in. "It's just people talking about Priya. They're all speculating... what might've happened to her."

Theresa clenched her jaw, nodding at once.

"It's not really their business though, is it?" she replied in a quiet voice, her eyes trailing around the cafeteria.

Carol leaned forward from where she sat in front of Tess.

"You know, I heard someone saying that they thought you might have something to do with it. You and Sidney both."

Theresa closed her eyes for a moment, turning her head to Carol. She almost laughed, even.

"And who came up with that rumor?"

Carol opened her mouth to reply, but Tess continued, "Actually, I'll go ahead and give myself three guesses."

She counted on her fingers. "Um, Carol, Carol and... Carol? Am I right?"

Steve looked between them with a bit of panic. "Tess–"

"Shut up, Steve." Theresa stood up and leaned across the table, placing her hands in front of Carol.

She looked her dead in the eye. "If I ever hear my name come out of your big fucking mouth again, you're gonna eat shit. Bitch."

Tess pushed off of the table with one last glare, then looked down at Steve.

"Can I talk to you?"

He nodded without hesitation, standing up and following her out of the cafeteria. Once out in the hallway, Theresa stopped and turned to face Steve.

"Look, I'm sorry about Carol," Steve started, but Tess dismissed him.

"I'm not worried about Carol," she interjected, shaking her head. "What has everyone been saying about Priya?"

Steve shrugged a bit, dropping his head. "A lot of different stuff," he replied. "I think mostly everyone thinks she ran away. But we both know that's not true."

Tess scoffed softly, rubbing her temples. "Yeah. I just– I don't know what to do, Steve." She looked up at him, alarming Steve by the trembling in her voice.

"I don't know where else to look or who else to talk to," Theresa continued. "All I know is that I think something horrible is happening in this town and I'm scared."

He stood there for a moment, then went forward and pulled Tess into a hug. "It's okay," he whispered softly. "Everything's gonna be okay."

Theresa didn't believe that, but she spared her thoughts from Steve. He was being kind, and for once Tess decided not to push him away. She hugged him back, sniffling.

As she looked to the side, she caught a glimpse of Jonathan Byers walking past them down the hallway.

Suddenly Theresa pulled away, wiping her nose. An idea sprung into her mind so quickly it almost startled her, and Steve too.

He frowned, opening his mouth to speak but Tess interjecting, "Hey, I'll see you in a little bit, alright?"

Before Steve could reply, Theresa turned and halfway jogged down the hall. He stood there, baffled for a moment at her abrupt departure. Something was going on with her.

Tess turned the corner and saw the tail end of Jonathan before he left the school building. She hurried after him, pushing the doors open.

"Hey Byers!"

Turning, Jonathan frowned a bit at Tess. He grew nervous as she approached him.

"H-Hi Tess," he muttered, avoiding eye contact.

Tess cleared her throat, trying to think of what she was going to say without sounding insane.

"Um... I'm sorry about Will. I didn't know him super well but I know it really– hurt Lucas."

Jonathan nodded rather awkwardly, not saying anything in response.

She drew in a breath. "Can I ask you a question?"

With a small shrug, he nodded again.

Tess twisted her fingers. "When Will... went missing... did you notice anything strange? Like– this may sound weird, but– have you noticed anything strange around your house?"

He looked up rather suddenly, meeting her eyes.

"H-Have you?"

Theresa squinted slightly, but began to nod.

"...Yeah. That's why I'm asking you."

"Oh," Jonathan scratched the back of his neck, glancing around. "Well, actually..."

He hesitated, then opened his bag and began to search in it. A moment later he pulled out a stack of photographs for Tess to see. She furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head.

"These are from the night that Priya went missing. I was out looking for Will and– I saw this."

Taking the photos, Theresa saw images of Steve's house. They were angled as if they were taken from the woods behind his house. Tess frowned, looking up at Jonathan.

"You took these?"

He slowly nodded.

Theresa eyed him. "Why the hell were you taking pictures of teenagers in the woods at night?"

Jonathan fidgeted anxiously, stuttering. "I-It's not as creepy as it looks. I-I swear, I wasn't stalking anyone or anything–"

"That's kinda what it looks like," Tess replied, holding up the pictures. She dismissed it nonetheless, because Jonathan being a creep was honestly not surprising to her.

She scanned through the pictures again, pausing suddenly. Theresa held the photograph closer, squinting.

"What is that?"

She pointed, Jonathan peered over to see what she was talking about. Her nail pointed to the pool in the image, where a few dark pixels could be seen in the water.

Jonathan frowned. "I don't know."

Theresa stared at the image a moment longer, when someone interrupted her thought process.

"Everything alright out here?"

Both looking up, Tess and Jonathan saw Steve, Tommy and Carol approaching.

Theresa halfway rolled her eyes. "Yeah," she sighed.

Steve looked between Tess and Jonathan. He had seen them talking from inside the school building.

"What's this?" he asked, snatching the photographs out of Theresa's hands.

"What the hell?" she snapped, glaring up at him.

Steve looked down at the pictures, raising his eyebrows in surprise. He laughed abruptly, looking up at Jonathan.

"Did you take these?"

Jonathan did not reply, simply dropping his head. Steve chuckled again, passing the pictures off to Tommy and Carol for them to see.

"I'll be damned," Steve continued, "Byers is a stalker. Who would've thought?"

Tess crossed her arms, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Steve, please just give him back the pictures–"

"Why, so he can have another little jerk off fest? Especially with you, Tess. Call me crazy, but I think Byers is trying to steal my girl."

Theresa looked up at Steve with a deep, threatening scowl.

"Will you just shut the hell up already? You're acting like an idiot."

Steve glanced down at her. "Wait. Don't tell me you're actually defending this pervert. Do you have a thing for weirdos now?"

Tommy and Carol snickered from behind him. Theresa clenched her jaw, balling her fists.

"Fuck you," she sneered, looking past Steve at Carol and Tommy. "And fuck both of you little ass kissers."

Aggressively, Theresa pushed past Steve. He turned and watched her with a smirk, laughing it off. Turning back to Jonathan, Steve took the photograph in his hands and began to rip it to shreds. He let the pieces litter on the ground.

"Watch your back, Byers."

Steve and the other two walked away with that. He was angry, and now he was beginning to regret the way he had acted. Tess was never going to want to speak to him again. But when he saw her talking to Jonathan, an inexplicable jealousy stirred up in him. Steve never really had second thoughts when he got jealous.

Theresa walked back inside and got her stuff from her locker, then went to her car. She got in and started it up, sitting there for a moment. She banged her hands on the steering wheel with frustration, taking steady, deep breaths.

She felt so stupid for letting herself think for even a second that Steve Harrington was different than every other asshole in Hawkins.

Driving out of the school parking lot, Tess started to go home but then she changed her mind and took a detour. A few minutes later, she ended up at the sheriff's station.

Theresa got out of her car and walked in, inhaling slowly. The place smelled of coffee and moth balls.

An older woman walked out as Tess came in, smiling.

"May I help you?"

Theresa nodded curtly. "Yes. I was wondering if I could speak to Sheriff Hopper? Is he here?"

The woman pursed her lips, then raised a finger. "Let me go check. You just wait here."

With another nod, Tess watched her walk away. Once she was out of sight, Theresa slipped past the entrance. She began to wonder how illegal it was to snoop through police files, and how much trouble she could get in for it.

But she pushed the thought away as Theresa opened a file drawer labeled W-Z and began skimming through the names, looking for Priya's.

She saw the last name Wilson and pulled the file, opening it up. Tess read the files as quickly as she could, seeing images of crime scene photos as well. There was a lot, and she didn't have time to read it all.

Especially when someone suddenly called her name, scaring the living shit out of Theresa.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, Sinclair?"

notes.
not her getting caught by hopper AGAIN 😭 he be doing her in the worst way

tbh i think the only way to do tess and steve's relationship is to make it on again off again, it just fits them really well

i'll try to be more consistent with updates since spring break is next week, i want to at least make it to season 2 by next month </3

who's a brotp you want to see with theresa?