HAWKINS, INDIANA — 1986.

     "SO YOU'RE TELLING ME... THAT YOU joined a D&D club?"

Erica rolled her eyes, raising a finger. "No, I'm just filling in for Lucas since he has a game tonight."

Theresa looked back at Erica from the passenger seat of Steve's car, raising an eyebrow.

"I didn't even know you played Dungeons and Dragons now."

Erica gave a shrug. "It's fun."

Steve glanced at her in the rearview mirror. "What is it with all of you guys playing board games nowadays? Don't teenagers still go to parties and stuff?"

Tess rolled her eyes, turning her head to him. "She's not a teenager yet."

"Close enough," Erica retorted.

Theresa ignored her, Steve pulling into the parking lot of the high school. As they got out of the car, Tess saw Mike and Dustin waiting on Erica.

"Tess?" Dustin approached her and Steve. "When did you come back to town?"

"Today. I came to watch Lucas play. You guys... aren't coming?"

Mike and Dustin exchanged a look, trying to come up with a response.

"Uh– D&D campaign. I-It's really important. We wanted Lucas to be there, but I guess Erica will do," Mike replied.

Theresa folded her arms, frowning. She could not believe Lucas's closest friends were not going to be at the game.

"Okay then," she finally muttered. "Oh– what about Max? Is she gonna be at the game?"

Dustin and Mike slowly shook their heads.

"She went home, I think," Dustin informed, checking the time on his watch. "Shit, Eddie's gonna kill us! We've gotta go."

Mike and Erica followed him out of the parking lot, Tess chewing her lip in thought for a moment.

Steve placed a hand on her shoulder from beside her. "You alright?"

She gave a nod. "Yeah. I'm just kinda worried about Max. She never responded to the last letter I sent her."

Theresa walked alongside Steve toward the high school gymnasium, Steve furrowing his eyebrows.

"Wait a second, you send Max letters? How come you don't send me letters?"

She halfway rolled her eyes. "You literally see me once a week."

Steve scoffed, grumbling, "It'd still be nice for you to send me letters."

They walked into the gymnasium, already packed full of people. Tess immediately spotted Robin with the band, laughing to herself.

"Aw, she's such a little band geek."

As the two walked past Robin to get to the bleachers, her eyes widened upon seeing Theresa.

Tess gave a small wave as Steve helped her up the steps, finding a spot and looking for Lucas standing amongst the other basketball players. He turned back to see her and Steve, a smile forming on his face. Lucas gave a wave, Theresa waving back with a reassuring smile. She could tell he was upset.

"Tess?"

She looked to her left, eyes widening for a startling moment. Theresa blinked a few times in disbelief while she swore in her head.

"Rudy," she eyed the boy standing on the other side of her, hoping Steve had not noticed him yet. "Hi."

Rudy gave a charming smile. "Hey. I didn't know you were back in town."

He reached in to hug her to which Tess, taken by surprise, returned with a sheer amount of reluctance. Steve looked over, quickly frowning with confusion. As Rudy pulled away he realized who it was, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Theresa cleared her throat as Rudy eyed her for a moment, then noticed.

"Oh, hey Harrington," he raised a hand with a nod, Steve clenching his fist at his side.

"Rudy," Steve nodded back, fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

Inhaling slowly, Theresa turned her attention back to the court. There was no way this could have been happening; sitting between her ex-boyfriend and her current boyfriend.

Tess halfway paid attention through the national anthem being sung by none other than Tammy Thompson, whose singing voice was definitely not as great as she thought it was.

"Told you," Steve whispered to Robin who stood slightly below them to the right. "Muppet."

Covering her mouth, Theresa snickered to herself.

She tried to watch the game, which was quite boring considering she knew practically nothing about sports, but she had Steve to explain it for her. Tess was trying to ignore the fact that Rudy was sitting right beside her, but it felt so painfully awkward. Steve was a bit bothered by him being there as well, but he did not say anything.

"Hey," Tess hit Steve on the arm, pointing, "Lucas is getting in the game!"

She sat forward, resting her elbows against her knees as she watched eagerly. The game was almost to an end, the time running down on the clock.

The coach called a timeout. Tess looked at the score, bouncing her knee nervously. Steve noticed, laughing softly.

"Look at you getting invested in sports," he teased, Theresa holding her stomach.

"I'm so nervous. I can't watch."

Jason Carver, the captain of the basketball team, took the ball and made a shot. It circled around, falling out of the basket. Then, Theresa realized that Lucas had gotten the rebound.

Everyone jumped out of their seats, watching as Lucas took the shot.

Theresa held her breath as the ball bounced out of the rim, hitting the backboard. Finally, it went in the basket.

Her mouth fell open, grabbing Steve as they both cheered wildly. The team crowded around Lucas, picking him up. Tess had a huge grin on her face, immensely proud of her younger brother. She had faith in him all along, even if Erica and his friends did not.

Afterwards, Theresa and Steve walked outside with Robin.

"Why didn't you say you were coming back early?" Robin questioned with some lighthearted irritation. "What if I was planning on throwing you a surprise party?"

Tess rolled her eyes with a smile. "I would've found it unnecessary, but sweet."

She paused, looking around before leaning closer to Robin and saying, "So, that girl that was beside you... that was Vickie?"

Robin's face immediately flushed, bringing her hands to her cheeks. "Y-Yeah. Wait, how did you know that? Steve–"

"I'm obligated to tell her everything," Steve defended. "She's my girlfriend!"

Theresa grinned, looking back to Robin with a shrug. "She's better than Tammy Thompson."

"Anyone's better than Tammy Thompson," Steve cut in, Robin glaring at him.

Tess stopped as she noticed Lucas walking alongside his teammates. "Hey, I'm going to talk to Lucas really quick. Wait up for me."

She hurriedly walked over to him, taking the boy by surprise as she crashed into him from the side with a hug.

"Hey dork!" Theresa grinned, pulling away to face him.

Some of the players muttered some things amongst themselves, one of them whistling at Tess jokingly. She rolled her eyes, ignoring them.

"I'm proud of you," she said, Lucas looking down with a smile.

"Thanks. And thank you for being here," he glanced back up, then looked behind her.

Theresa turned, seeing Erica, Dustin and Mike walking out of the school having some kind of celebration of their own. They were with a group of kids, all wearing shirts that said 'Hellfire Club'.

She looked back at Lucas. "Hey, go out and celebrate alright? I'll cover for you."

Lucas laughed softly, nodding. "Y-Yeah. I'll see you tomorrow."

Theresa gave a nod, gently nudging him toward his teammates.

"Hey Lucas, is your sister single?" one of them questioned, Lucas shoving him with a shake of his head.

Tess sighed, watching Lucas go. She was a bit worried for him lately, since she knew he and Max were no longer together. He cared about Max a lot, and Theresa knew Max was just not in a great place for a relationship at the moment.

As she turned around, Theresa halfway yelped when she bumped into someone.

"Shit, I'm sorry," Rudy spoke, Tess fighting the urge to roll her eyes as he grabbed her arms to steady her.

She gave a faux smile, taking a small step back. "It's fine."

Rudy looked her up and down, rubbing his chin. "You're at Notre Dame, right? For law?"

Tess nodded, looking over his shoulder to see Steve and Robin standing at the car waiting for her. They were watching the entire conversation.

"Yeah," was all she replied, making it clear she wanted to end their talk there.

But Rudy seemed to not take the hint. "It's nice to see you back in town," he continued. "I decided to visit and see Jason play."

Theresa frowned. "Jason? Jason Carver?"

"Yeah," Rudy nodded, "we're cousins."

"Ah, right," she nodded again, glancing to Steve and Robin who were still watching.

Rudy glanced at his watch. "Sorry, you've probably got somewhere to be. I didn't realize I was talking so much."

Tess gave a small laugh, easing past him. "It's fine. See you, Rudy–"

"Hey, wait. Are you– are you and Harrington together?"

She nodded, chewing her inner lip. "Yeah, why?"

"No reason," Rudy shook his head. "I just, well– I was gonna see if you wanted to go out to dinner sometime. Just to catch up. But Steve probably wouldn't like that."

I wouldn't either, she thought, knitting her brows.

"Oh– yeah... probably not."

Rudy laughed a little. "That's alright. Well, have a good night. It was nice seeing you, Tess."

She waved a hand. "Bye."

Once she got to the car, Steve was visibly annoyed.

"What the hell did that dork want?" he questioned bitterly, opening the car door for Tess.

"He was gonna ask me out on a date," she casually replied, getting in the car.

Steve froze, walking around to the driver's side. "He what?"

Theresa grinned, looking over at Steve. "Yeah. He said he was gonna ask if I wanted to go out for dinner but didn't because I'm dating you."

From the backseat, Robin said, "Uh oh Steve, got some competition don't you?"

He ignored her, starting up the car. "Rudy blew his chance with Tess in junior year."

"True. He was boring," Theresa replied, buckling her seatbelt.

Steve glanced over at Tess, still clearly bothered that Rudy had tried to make a move on her. He should not have been, because he knew Theresa was definitely not interested, but sometimes his jealousy got the best of him.

Tess noticed Steve looking at her, snorting with laughter.

"Are you seriously still mad?"

Steve shrugged her off. "N-No!"

"Yeah he is," Robin interjected. "Look at how tight he's holding the steering wheel. He's super jealous."

Theresa snickered, patting Steve on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, honey. The last person I'd want to get with is Rudy Daniels."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

THERE WAS NOTHING WORSE THAN waking up and immediately rushing to the bathroom to puke.

Both Theresa and Lucas were experiencing that issue the next morning, but for much different reasons. Lucas's was due to his very first hangover, which he was not enjoying at all.

And as for Tess, it was for a reason she was scared to tell anyone.

Two weeks before, Theresa had woken up the exact same way; rushing to the toilet to throw up without knowing why. She tried to ignore it, but it became harder to ignore when she missed her period the following week.

She had taken three different tests. They all said the same thing.

And Tess knew she had to tell Steve. She had thought about it nonstop since being back in Hawkins, but had not yet found the courage to sit Steve down and inform him.

So, she decided to put it off for the time being. She would wait until later in the week, maybe.

"Tess?"

The bathroom light flicked on, Erica entering the bathroom. She was only halfway awake, rubbing her eyes as she saw Theresa sitting on the bathroom floor in front of the toilet.

"Are you hungover or something?"

"No," Tess replied, holding her head. "I'm fine. Go back to bed."

Erica stood there, pursing her lips. "Do you want some aspirin?"

"I'm fine," Theresa repeated. "I promise."

The younger Sinclair would not buy it. She walked further into the bathroom, taking a washcloth from the cabinet and running it under the sink. She folded it over, handing it to Tess to place on the back of her neck.

With a sigh, Theresa stood up and let the toilet seat down, flushing it. She sat on the seat, looking up at Erica.

"How did the D&D campaign go?" Tess questioned, folding an arm over her stomach.

Erica leaned against the counter. "We had a successful victory. It was really all because of me."

Theresa laughed softly, glancing down. "Lucas was pretty disappointed that his friends missed the game. He didn't say that, obviously, but I could tell."

"I can't believe he actually played," Erica sarcastically remarked, resting her elbow on the counter and her chin on her hand.

"Give him a little more credit," Tess nudged her with her foot teasingly, Erica shoving it away.

She made a face. "Whatever. He's still a nerd."

Theresa nodded. "Yeah. But so are you. And... so am I."

Erica looked up, surprised.

"You're actually admitting it now?"

Tess shrugged. "I've been in denial for far too long. I guess it's time to accept myself for what I really am."

She and Erica both laughed, Theresa sitting up. Drawing in a breath, she chewed her lip and brought the washcloth from around her neck.

"You wanna know something, Er?" Tess stared at her hands, finally bringing her head up.

Erica raised an eyebrow, unsure where her sister was going with this.

"Sure..."

Theresa closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Okay. No one knows this yet, so you have to promise not to tell anyone, alright? Please."

Erica quickly nodded. "Sisters never snitch," she stated factually.

"Right," Tess muttered, setting the rag aside. She sat forward, lacing her fingers together and giving Erica and deadly serious look. Their eyes locked, Theresa's heart pounding.

"I'm pregnant."

notes.
and then erica fainted

rudy stay away from my gf challenge! sorry, steve's gf 😒

i really wanted to keep the pregnancy reveal a secret up until like the very end but i couldn't find a way around because if i only dropped hints y'all would've figured it out anyway

plus, i have to give vecna something else to use against theresa 😝 plotting against my own oc as i should!

okay, now i get to ask this question hehe: boy or girl? gender reveal may happen at the end 😏

tess and eddie's interaction is coming! it will definitely be interesting to say the least