revivalproject | +1 Babysitter

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+1 Babysitter

WHO: Steve Harrington
WHERE: Wandering in town and at the diner
WHAT: A Babysitter named Steve enters the chat
WHEN: Post sports day. He'll be devastated he missed it
WARNINGS: S4 Stranger Things spoilers but nothing else.

[Welcome to Even Stranger Things]

Steve still wasn't entirely sure what had happened to him. One second he was asleep in the hellscape that was now Hawkins, and then he was in some sort of alien city? The floating orb thing had explained it to him, kind of, but he didn't know if he could trust that information. After all, why would a group of aliens looking to hurt them just outright say that? It would be stupid. So who fucking knew what this whole thing was about.

Not to mentioned they were all kidnapped. That didn't seem like great behavior, all considered. Definitely not a super first impression.

But it didn't seem like he had a lot of say on it. He was here now and it was up to him to make the best of it. At least he had his bat. Steve rested it against his shoulder as he walked around the area, just getting the layout. Not that he was absorbing all that much, of course. He kept stopping short, seeing some sort of weird animal or strange looking building. Finally though, after his wandering, he saw something that looked more familiar. Someone to talk to, maybe. Another hostage?

"Hey! Wait up!" Steve runs to catch up. "Hey, I'm new here. Are you...uh. Kidnapped too?"

[Boy's Gotta Eat]

It's been a long few days of trying to get his bearings and settling in. Steve finally stopped bringing his nailbat with him but that didn't mean his guard is down. He'd had enough moments of thinking things were fine only to have a monster pop out of nowhere to ever be truly relaxed. Besides, he is still a hostage, nevermind that the aliens are pink and sort of adorable in an oblivious, Eleven sort of way. Have to stay on his toes.

And that means he really needs to get some food.

Steve saw the diner on the map and ventures out early in the morning. He isn't sure how he is going to pay or what sort of food will be in there, but he's finished the protein bars he'd gotten from the replicator and is starving. Beggars can't be choosers.

"Hello?" He walks inside and looks around. "Uh. Here for the food? As long as it's not like, alien worms or something like that?" Although he's hungry enough that it maybe wouldn't matter.

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Steve stares at the strange animals that are strung around the huge guy's shoulder. They look like nothing he's ever seen before but also not like something from the Upside Down. He's not sure if they were hunted or caught like mice. It probably doesn't matter, really. If this is what people eat here, he'll have to get used to it.

"Heh," he laughs at the joke, snapping out of his curiosity. "Yeah, just arrived pretty much. My name is Steve." He looks back at the animals. "What are those?"

"Gladio," he says in response. What sort of name is Steve? Well, whatever. He turns fully to look at the kid. "They're piglet-squirrels. Going to have the cook kid make kebabs."

Sounds good, right?

Steve looks at the animals and tries very hard to not look as confused and vaguely grossed out as he is. "Oh. Piglet-squirrels. Right." He wrinkled his nose a little, head tilting. "Do...they take like pig or squirrel? Or is it chicken? I heard that everything tastes like chicken."

"I'd have to know what chicken tastes like, but it tastes rich and savory when made right," he said with a shrug. Sorry he can't give you more man.

Steve nods, not really wanting to question that. It did make him pretty interested in trying it though. 'Rich and savory' sounded pretty damn good. "I don't know who the chef kid is but I can uh...help with whatever? Trying to pull my weight where I can."

"His name is Tommy," Gladio said as he gestures for the guy to follow him. "I still have the job of cleaning these before they can be cooked. Guy's a bit squeamish. You cool to help with that?"

"Oh yeah. Tommy, the fast dude." Steve follows behind the giant guy and only stumbles a little when asked if he'd butcher the piglet-squirrel. Steve looks at it and then back at Gladio. If he appears a little green that's just a trick of the lights.

"Oh. Uh. Yeah, sure. But, aw shit. I don't have a knife or anything. Damn."

See, Gladio hasn't seen the speed as much and he raises an eyebrow as he looks at the kid. So of course he takes it in the more... implications sort of way.

"Is that guy harassing you? I can step in if you want. And don't worry, there are spare knives. And these little things aren't hard to clean."

The implications whiff over Steve's head so hard it's sort of a miracle he doesn't need to fix his hair.

"Hm? Oh, nah. I just know now if I call him up I'll need to ask him to go slower or something." Steve's still staring at the piglet-squirrel, wondering why it's so easy to clean. "Not like he didn't warn me. Told me to close my eyes and everything. My own fault."

Yeah, that isn't making it better Steve.

"If a guy isn't willing to consider slowing down to your pace when you need him too, then he ain't worth your time."

And so he has to consider talking to this Tommy guy if Steve doesn't take care of himself. Though the other part...

"It's just as nice, you know. With open eyes and looking. It's about the connection. That matter. No one should be telling you to close your eyes and think of Insomnia."

They're definitely talking at cross purposes.

Insomnia? Steve frowns a little, confused but not wanting Gladio to think badly of Tommy. The dude had helped him out, after all.

"I think he just wanted to make sure it over with quick so I didn't freak out. It was my first time doing anything even close to that except like. Maybe once in my car."

He laughs at the memory, pushing 90mph with the windows down. It had been fun.

"I was lucky something didn't like, fly in my eye that time. So, yeah. I'll just keep em closed."

A fly in his eye? Gladio stops and turns to regard Steve. What the actual fuck?

"Why would a fly get in your eye? Where were you?"

Which is a super invasive question but the city isn't exactly safe, and if it was the guy's first time it should have been somewhere safe and comfortable.

"I was out by the flooded place? There was this big mosquito thing that scared the shit out of me and I posted on the Network for help. Tommy saw it and came right out."

Steve thinks about his hair and snorts another laugh.

"Man, literal white knight, right?" He glances at the piglet-squirrel and figures that, if he's squeamish, this is a pretty good trade off. "It's nice to pay the favor back."

No. Nope. Gladio is cutting this off now. He stops and turns to look at the kid.

"No proper knight, of any realm, trades rescues for sexual favors!"

That's horrible. And he's going to have to talk to Tommy about this. Loudly.

Steve blinks.

"What? What are you talking about?"

Steve replays the conversation, trying to figure out where sex came into it. As far as he can tell, they've been sticking to talking about Tommy and his speed. Maybe he thought Steve had thought he needed to pay Tommy back now with sex? He had no idea why that would even occur to Gladio.

"I'm just gonna clean the piglet-squirrel for him. Unless that's some euphemism around here?"

Gladio takes a deep breath, because what the hell man.

"You said he was fast," Gladio points out. Which apparently means something different to Steve. "Where I'm from that means they are quick to get into bed with people. Think about the rest of what you said from there."

Does that make sense?

"Wha-..."

Steve reframes the conversation with that new information and is mortified.

"Woah!! Woah, no. No, dude. No I meant literally! The guy has super speed! He picked me up and like zoomed me away from the mosquito monster! Holy shit."

His face is burning. No one can ever tell Max or Eddie about this. Actually, no one can ever tell anyone about this. Jesus Christ.

"I... Appreciate the...uh. Concern for my dignity or whatever. Your advice was good if, you know. That had happened. Which it didn't! For the record, I want that clear: no sex!"

Well, that's a relief. Gladio sighed.

"Good. Hate to think the guy that manages most of the harvesting of food, that my boyfriend is fond of, was doing something as fucked up as that. But you know, if you want to repay him, you should ask him what he might appreciate most."

Steve, fresh out of 1986, has his eyes go wide at the mention of Gladio' boyfriend. He is silent a second before recovering and nodding along. "Uh. Yeah, that's a good idea. I can do that."

Boyfriend. Steve reformed his world view silently as he continued walking along.

"So. Uh. Who is your boyfriend, then? Maybe I met him?"

Why wouldn't Gladio have a boyfriend? They were literally just talking about sex between two men? How is that shocking kid?

"His name is Noctis. He's been feeling a little under the weather recently so I doubt it. But if you ever go out fishing, you'll probably see him."

"Oh. Sorry he's sick," Steve says, still feeling a little off balance. He tries to just shake it off as they keep going along. "I don't think I've ever gone fishing before. My dad I think went with his dad once, but the only time I was near a lake was to swim."

The idea of fishing is actually interesting. Something new.

"Are there a lot of good fish to catch?"

"If you want to learn, wouldn't be surprised if Noct would be happy to teach you," Gladio said with a smile. "And then someone other than me can hang out with him while he does it."

He's sat by while Noctis fished for eighteen hours. It's a reasonable need to get away from.

"Plenty enough."

Steve imagines who someone like Gladio would be dating and pictures another huge guy with bulging muscles as well. The vision of the two of them sitting with little fishing poles is almost funny with how out of character it seems, but how would he really know? At any rate, he wants to find out.

"Yeah, that would be fun. Something to do with my time at least and then I can bring food to the diner."

Nah, his boyfriend is a decided twunk. He's not into muscle dudes.

"I'll see if I can't send him your way sometime," he says as they approach the diner. "But don't feel like it's your job to feed us, kid. You can contribute other ways if you want."

He pulls a face as though to show how much he doubts that. "With what? Back home I fight monsters and shelve VHS tapes. I didn't see a video rental store around here and hopefully the monsters will stay away. So what else am I really gonna do?"

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