(no subject)

[runtowardsomething]

It isn't a birthday party.

Beverly has been adamant about that. She's never actually had one before, more inclined to let the occasion pass as little fanfare as possible, and she doesn't intend to change that now. Still, she can't turn eighteen and not do something. It's a big milestone. A huge one, really, and fucking terrifying at that. There's so much she's still clueless about, so much it feels like she's running out of time to make up her mind about.

Tonight, though, she doesn't want to think about that. She just wants to enjoy not being a kid — a little girl — anymore.

Having settled on a good destination for the night — a bar near her house, the sort of relaxed place that lets anyone in and only requires ID from anyone ordering drinks, so those under eighteen can still freely get in and those of age, herself now included, can reap the benefits that come with that — she texts some friends, inviting them to come meet her if they want. For her part, she finds a reasonably sized table to claim, then heads over to the bar. There's something painfully refreshing about not having to aim for a bartender who looks like he won't bother to card her if she looks at him just right. It's even better when she presents her ID as asked, and the bartender, seeing that it's her eighteenth birthday, tells her the drink is on the house.

It's not much of a sign, exactly, and wouldn't be even if she were to believe in such things, ultimately pretty meaningless. Still, there's a tiny little sprout of something that might be optimism inside her. Maybe, just maybe, it will be an okay year.

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[lost_boy]

I knew Beverly wasn't calling it a birthday party, but it was all the same, and that was why I had a small giftbox in the pocket of my coat. There was a keychain inside, which I knew could be a terrible gift, but I'd put a lot of thought into this one, wanting to share something with Beverly that was special to us.

The keychain was silver, delicately crafted, with a small mermaid on the end. A reminder of the good things we had been able to see on Peter's Island.

For now, though, I just wanted to celebrate and I came up to Beverly's side and threw my left arm around her shoulders. "Happy birthday!" I said excitedly.

[runtowardsomething]

As soon as she sees Jamie, Beverly breaks into a grin. There are times it still catches her by surprise that she actually has friends here, that she's liked, and that seems especially so at a time like this. With Jamie, though, it just makes sense. It always has, practically since they first met, years ago now. Celebrating her birthday without him would simply have felt wrong.

"Thanks," she says, leaning into him, wrapping an arm around him in turn. "I'm glad you made it." All of this was pretty spontaneous, she knows, the better to keep it low key. Still, that could easily have backfired, and she's more than a little relieved that it didn't.

[lost_boy]

I made a face at Beverly and said, "Of course."

She had been my very first friend in Darrow. Maybe not my first friend ever, not after Sal and Charlie, but it still felt like it sometimes. Sal was gone, buried on the Island, and Charlie... well, Charlie was a pirate, I knew, alongside some other version of myself. But Beverly and I were here and she was the friend I was experiencing all this life with now.

"You can't think for a second I'd miss it," I said, then grinned. "Or that Eddie would let me if I tried, which I wouldn't."

[runtowardsomething]

"Good point," Beverly says with a laugh. She wouldn't have questioned that either of them would be here, really, unless they had some previous plans. So close to Valentine's Day, she wouldn't have been able to blame them if they did. Her being so grateful that people have shown up has far less to do with them, though, and more to do with the part of her that's still always a little astonished that people care that much about her.

"I didn't want to do something big," she adds, an explanation of sorts. "Just to be around friends."

[lost_boy]

"I think that's the best kind of birthday," I answered. My first party had been a rather big affair, at least in part because Magnus had made it seem as if I ought to go all out when having my very first party, and I had loved it. Every second had seemed impossibly perfect and I had spent the entire day truly feeling how lucky I was.

But I didn't think I would ever have such a big event again. Not for a birthday.

"Have any grown ups asked you what it feels like to be eighteen now?" I asked, grinning as if I were sharing a secret. "Even though it feels mostly like the day before, when you were still seventeen?"

[something_incredible]

He's been sober for over a year now, which is why Hopper figures he can be in the bar without it being too much trouble. It's Beverly's birthday and while he supposes he technically doesn't need to be here, he's still her dad, even if she is eighteen and even if it's not by blood.

So he's here, he's nursing a club soda and cranberry, watching a bunch of teenagers -- they're not adults, no matter what they think -- running around and having a good time.

He's trying not to look like an overprotective father, but he's not sure how well he's succeeding.

[runtowardsomething]

Maybe it should be a little strange, having someone who is, for all intents and purposes, her parent at her eighteenth birthday not-party. Beverly really doesn't care. As far as she's concerned, it's nice that he wants to be involved, especially now that she's technically a legal adult, especially since it means spending the afternoon around people drinking. She feels a little bad about that part, but she has no intention of getting wasted or anything, and she thinks it's a safe bet that the same will be true for her friends.

"Bored of hanging out with a bunch of teenagers yet?" she asks, smiling as she comes over to him. "Not even terribly behaved ones to make it more interesting, either."

[something_incredible]

"Yeah, c'mon. Someone better do something I can arrest them for before long," Hopper answers in a dry voice, though he smiles a little when he says it, flicking his gaze toward Beverly in amusement.

He's already said it, already given her a gift -- some cash, which he thinks might be a cop out, but also a bracelet he'd found, one she can put charms on if she wants -- but he still sweeps her up into a hug again. Hopper isn't always physically affectionate, but Beverly's been his kid for years now, as much his as Sara ever was, and he lifts her off her feet.

"Happy birthday, kid," he says in a gruff voice.

[runtowardsomething]

Before she met Hopper, Beverly didn't really have any idea of what a good parent is supposed to be like. She'd certainly never experienced it firsthand, and she never really saw it, either. Most of the parents in Derry, even the better ones, seemed pretty checked out at best. She knew only what she saw in movies and on TV, and that seemed more like a fairytale than anything else, something that could only exist in fiction.

Now she has it herself, and maybe that's why she doesn't feel stifled having Hopper here for this. Even if he is an adult, and a cop at that, it feels good to have someone care about her like that. Her nose wrinkles a little as he lifts her off the ground, but it's mostly so she won't do something stupid like get all emotional in front of people.

"Thanks," she says, her own voice soft. "And, hey, if it doesn't get more exciting soon, I can always, I don't know, get Richie to piss someone off and start a fight or something."

[something_incredible]

"Nah, maybe just focus on having a good birthday," he says as he sets her back down, then grins, feeling a little self-conscious maybe. They're both new to this in a lot of ways, new to being a proper family, and he thinks they both -- and Eleven, too -- just kind of fumble their way along.

But it works. It really works.

"So can I buy you your first legal drink?" he asks, his grin growing. He's not a complete idiot, he's well aware this likely isn't Beverly's first taste of alcohol, but he'd still like to be the one to do this part.

[eddie_spaghetti]

"Hi," Eddie said, bustling into the bar and dumping his backpack in an empty chair. He was harried and a little breathless, but for no other reason than that he was himself.

"This place is disgusting," he said cheerfully, dropping her small, carefully wrapped present onto the table in front of her and bending to throw his arms around her neck. "Happy Birthday."

[runtowardsomething]

"That's why I picked it," Beverly replies, teasingly cheerful, though the brightness in her expression at the sight of Eddie is wholly genuine. She wouldn't have thought for a second that he wouldn't be here, but she's thrilled even so that he is. The two of them have been through hell together. There's no way she would want to celebrate her birthday, especially a significant one, without him.

Reaching up, she gives him a quick hug in turn. "Thanks for coming."

[eddie_spaghetti]

"Like I wouldn't," he said, giving her a skeptical look as he dropped into the empty chair at her side.

He gestured to her present, which was a set of two thin gold chain you could wear as a set. The longest one was a tiny, teardrop aquamarine stone, while the shorter of the two had a flat, gold pendant stamped with a delicate B. He said, "Open it now, so I don't have to keep worrying if you'll hate it."

[runtowardsomething]

"I figured you would, but I'm still glad you did," Beverly says, shooting him a teasing grin. Despite how long they've known each other and Eddie being like family, despite the fact that she doesn't think there's anyone here she's closer to, she doesn't think it's something she could ever take for granted — having friends, being loved. A nice handful of people are here today just to help her celebrate, and it's amazing and a little surreal.

Reaching for the little box with both hands, she draws it over to herself, glancing over at Eddie again for a moment. "I'm sure I won't hate it," she tells him, but sets about opening it anyway. The wrapping paper set aside, she takes the lid off the box, then draws in a breath, delicately lifting the two necklaces to get a better look at them. "Oh, they're so pretty," she says. "No, I love them, really. Thank you."

[eggos]

El's never been in a place like this. It's a little smelly, and feels small, but it also feels... good. That's probably a weird way to think about a place. But it doesn't feel cold or scary, or bad. It feels... good.

She finds her way to the table that Beverly has seemed to take over, and she sets down a handmade birthday card. It's stiff with layers of paint and paper glued into place, the sort of bright, clashing colors El has come to really like.

Maybe it's childish. Maybe she'll hate it, or throw it away after a few days. But El made it herself, and she signed it from her and the cat. On the outside it says Beverly's name. On the inside, I'm glad you're my sister.

She hopes Beverly doesn't think it's stupid.

[runtowardsomething]

Among the people that Beverly knew she could count on to be here tonight, Hopper and El would have been at the top of the list. They're family, after all — but they're family she chose, not family she was born into, and for her, that's a big fucking deal. It's the same, really, with the rest of the Losers. They found each other and they picked each other. With her and El, it's a little different, the two of them being brought together by having found and chosen the same person, but it's a bond that means a lot to her all the same.

So does the card, when she reads it, the bright colors something of a giveaway before she even sees the name inside. It makes her smile a little; it makes something in her chest pull tight, too. Somewhere in the back of her head, there's still always that fear of being unwanted, a failure, worthless, like she was with her first family. This feels infinitely better.

Making her way over to El, Beverly wraps her arms around her in a quick, affectionate hug. "I'm glad you're my sister, too."

[eggos]

The hug is quick and warm, and Eleven smiles. She's never had a sister before, and sometimes she worries she's not very good at it, but moments like this, she thinks she does okay. Maybe it's because she has so many friends, so many people to guide her and answer her questions. Maybe it's because of Hopper, helping her see that she has more love in her heart than she's never known what to do with.

Or maybe it's just so easy to care about Beverly.

"Happy birthday," she says, hand still on Beverly's arm. "You're happy?"

[runtowardsomething]

Her smile mirroring Eleven's, Beverly nods. Really, that's an accomplishment in itself, as significant as legally being an adult now. There was a time she was sure she could never be happy, even her brightest moments overshadowed by horrible things — sharing a smile with Bill while cleaning up her blood-drenched bathroom, getting an anonymous postcard that she knew she would have to guard with her life, finding her best friends while living out a nightmare. Here, it's different. It's not perfect, there's plenty that weighs her down and plenty she isn't sure about, but she has friends she loves and a family she chose, and the security that comes with it.

"I am, yeah," she says. "I'm really happy."

[daughterofawolf]

It's not a birthday party, all right, fine: Eponine can understand not wanting to make much of one's birth. But she can't let the girl she'd come to think of as a little sister -- and been close with since a good few years before she was legal to drink here herself -- become a real adult without some sort of gift, and without fretting about it a bit too. In her jacket pocket, then, she's got a little box stowed away, a small piece of paper folded neatly just inside the lid.

But it's hidden on the inside pocket, so that if Beverly does just want to drink and spend time without making a fuss she can recover it when necessary. Likewise, she's dressed up just a bit, but not as though it's a formal affair: rebraided her hair and loosened the plait fashionably, and put on lipstick so the oversized buttondown and faux-leather leggings she's wearing with boots looks like it was intended for going out.

She tries not to think about Azelma on the way over: about if her real little sister even made it to eighteen, and if she did what became of her. She'll never know that, not even if she's returned to Paris, but she has a family she's forged here and she loves them in a way she's not sure she could have imagined loving anyone, back then.

By the time she's stepping into the bar, looking around for her friends, she's smiling again.

[runtowardsomething]

Strange as part of her still finds it for anyone to be here at all, there are a few people whose presence Beverly felt pretty sure she could count on. Eponine is one of them. Even so, glancing over toward the door when she hears it open, she grins at the sight of her friend, getting to her feet and making her way over. Everything is nice and relaxed — or it seems so to her, and she hopes it is for everyone else — with people casually milling about, various conversations taking place. She doesn't want or need to be the center of attention. That's the whole point of it not being a party, really. She just wants to spend her birthday around the people she loves.

Back home, after all, she never had that. Not until that last summer, anyway, and even that wasn't likely to be the sort of thing that would have extended to this sort of thing. Granted, her memories of it are fuzzy at best, but they definitely spent more time trying to figure out how to stop a killer clown than they did just hanging out, doing normal kid things.

"Hey, you made it!" she says brightly, leaning in for a quick hug when she's made it over to Eponine. "I sort of stole us a couple tables over there, but everyone's just kind of wandering around."

[daughterofawolf]

"I wouldn't have missed it for the world," Eponine declares, grinning and leaning in to give Beverly a quick squeeze of a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Isn't that the way of parties?" She follows Bev over to the aforementioned table, sliding in. If the music switches to something she really likes, she'll get them both up to dance or grab some of their other friends, but right now it's exactly the right volume to lean in just a little and chat across the booth, even with other people talking.

"I know you said this isn't really a birthday party, but I feel like it's too big a number to not get you something special," she hazards. "I can hang onto it until we split up, if you don't have a good place for presents, but I...well. I hope you like it?"

They're momentarily interrupted by a server, and Eponine gets herself a Manhattan, which is really only a few hops and a skip away from liqueurs she could have found mixed together at home, but it sounds fancier. She takes the little box out of her jacket pocket and sets it down on the table between them. Inside, the little folded paper contains a short carefully composed note about how she thought Beverly deserved to have something nice, and adult, that was all hers and would only have good memories. Underneath there's a little cube-shaped vial of perfume oil that Eponine had put together with scents that feel like Bev to her: green moss and woods, tobacco and amber, rain, a touch of light floral -- honeysuckle, white violet -- not at all the sort of heavy rose or peony that had suffused the perfume Darrow had dumped on her.

Even as carefully as she'd considered the sort of things she thinks of when she thinks of Bev, and what doesn't smell like that cloying floral scent, she finds herself holding her breath, a little, as she passes the box over.

[haplesshairpile]

It doesn’t really make sense to Steve that Bev is eighteen now.

It’s not her fault. It just makes him realize how much time has passed since he arrived in Darrow. It isn’t as if she was very young when Steve met her, but he saw her like that. He lumped her in with Dustin and Lucas and Max, putting her under that umbrella of kids that he felt responsible for, and now she’s grown.

Dustin and Luke and Max and the rest of them are mostly grown too, wherever they are, and Steve missed it. That kills him a little bit.

The bar isn’t a new place to him, but it’s still strange to walk in and see Bev sitting there, holding court with her friends. It makes Steve feel kind of old, if he’s being honest, even though there really aren’t that many years between them.

Bev may be an adult now, but Steve still sees her as a little sister. He’ll always see her as a little sister, and there isn’t really anything she can do about it.

He orders a drink and waits for Bev to be alone again before coming over to her table and sliding in next to her, sipping from his beer as he drops a small purple gift bag on the table.

“Oops,” he said blandly. “My finger slipped and I bought this on accident.”

[runtowardsomething]

It's not really like it's new anymore. Beverly knows that. Still, there's a part of her that can't help being surprised by all the people who've shown up for her, the family she's cobbled together for herself here. Individually, it isn't as if she would have expected anyone who's here not to come. Put together, though, it's a little overwhelming in the best way, almost a gift in its own right. She's never had anything like this before. Even if she'd had birthday parties growing up, which she didn't, there wasn't anyone who would have cared enough to attend. It turns out that being loved takes some getting used to.

Even with the undercurrent of pleasant sentimentality she hasn't been able to shake off, though, she still doesn't intend to say as much, not outright like that. She just grins at Steve as he sits down beside her, one hand reaching out to draw the gift bag over to her.

"I'm sure it just happened to fall into the bag, too, right?" she teases. She knows that isn't true, of course, any more than Steve's having bought a gift by accident is. Curious, not having any idea what to expect, she asks, "Should I open it now?"

[haplesshairpile]

"Fair warning, I am not that great at gifts," he tells her as he gestures for her to open it. "So, there's a gift card for the mall in there, mostly. But another little something."

The little something is a bracelet that caught his eye while wandering the mall, looking for a gift. He jokes about them being family, her and him and Hopper, but it feels true, and maybe he just wanted to remind them both that family can be something that they choose for themselves, not just what they're born into.

"Happy birthday, kid," he says as he slings his arm around her shoulder and pulls her in for a brotherly squeeze, kissing the top of her head before letting go. "Welcome to adulthood. It's incredibly overrated."

[runtowardsomething]

To Beverly, who grew up never really getting presents at all, not great at gifts isn't really a standard she has, nor is it something that she worries about at all. Even today, she wasn't really expecting anything. It crossed her mind that some people might bring gifts, but it wasn't anything she was counting on. As for adulthood, she's not sure how she feels about it yet, only a few hours in. For a long time, it was something both that she was afraid of and that she longed for — not to be a little girl anymore, his little girl, but not knowing what he might do when that change became unmistakable. Here, it's a much more low-key affair, welcome and curious.

"Well, thanks for the warning," she teases, leaning into his side for a moment before reaching into the gift bag. The aforementioned gift card, she takes out first, shooting him a grin as she does, and then the card with the bracelet on it. Her expression softens then. She's been fighting the impulse to get too sentimental all afternoon, but for the moment, it's a fight she loses. They've joked about being family before, but it's nice to be reminded that it really is true, if only because they want it to be.

"I love it. Thank you."