.𖥔 ݁ ˖꩜ 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄 ꩜ ˖𖥔 .

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ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : 【 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵. 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬 3 】

𝐀𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐘 𝐀𝐍𝐃 the party drew nearer and nearer, Molly set her mind on nagging Steve to get her a costume. He finally caved and went to a local store that sold costumes. A few of the other kids, including Nancy, Steve (and Jonathan if he actually showed up) couldn't quite afford full costumes for a single party and simply made one from clothes they already had, however, since Molly had no clothes that weren't borrowed and was living with one of the wealthier families in town, she was able to splurge on whatever costume she wanted.

By no means did Molly plan to make a habit of dragging Steve wherever she wanted to buy whatever she wanted. Her family didn't live a particularly lavish lifestyle and she had gotten used to seeking out only the bare bare essentials (including the night before she came to Steve for help and decided to sleep in the lost property at school and eat out of the dumpster) so spending money on clothes, especially clothes for fun, was going to be a one-time treat for her.

As she strolled across the aisle, eyes tracing past each plastic bag containing cheaply made wigs, shirts and accessories, she was reminded once again of the strange brightly coloured paradise she was living in. She had this pride within her that she always had a disdain for such unnecessary flashy things, especially the Christmas decorations she was exposed to last December. She preferred to keep things picturesque yet simple, she preferred natural beauty which is why she enjoyed spending time in the Byers' house.

Yes, one could argue it was a bit dark and dreary inside with the dark wood walls and floors, little to no wallpaper around the house, lights only coming on at night, and the mysterious forest surrounding the house, but if she was being honest, the house reminded Molly of her own old house near the outskirts of Leningrad. They didn't need a huge towering palace or extravagant fancy lights and decor around the house. They had each other to keep things light and warm.

She knew the flashiness of American life was part of some foolish capitalist tradition that only served to distract from more important societal issues... but she'd be lying if she said the general bright and cheery nature of her surroundings didn't lift her spirits a bit. Yes, she did prefer to see herself in an environment with muted colours and an air of mystery, but whenever the sun rolled out, illuminating all the bright fabricated colours of the little town, she couldn't help but feel like a normal pretty American girl with a normal pretty life full of normal pretty people who loved her.

Such feelings were invoked when her eyes landed on a Morticia Addams costume (well, it was labelled 'Spooky Vampire Wife' but who were they fooling?). She went back to where Steve was waiting to tell him she made her choice.

She tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, "Okay, what've we got here? Spooky Vampire Wife, huh? Didn't think you were into that goth stuff."

"Hah," she sarcastically laughed, "I'm just a fan of The Addams Family, is that such a crime?"

"Addams Family? You got that over there?", he asked.

"Yeah, don't look so surprised," she scoffed before lowering her voice, "My dad had this weird friend who had a homemade Russian version. After that, Gomez became the love of my 8-year-old life. And it taught me the importance of not always trusting normal people."

"Huh. Well, that's sweet I guess. But really? Gomez Addams was your crush?", he raised his eyebrow.

She scoffed, "Well sorry, Uncle Fester wasn't really my type. But come on, he was romantic, he was passionate, he absolutely worshipped Morticia, and he knew how to tango. What's not to like?"

"I know, I know, I just always pictured you more as a Brady Bunch kinda girl," he said with a smirk.

She looked him dead in the eye and said in a low voice, "Tell me that's a joke right now."

He knew how displeased Molly got whenever he, she and his parents gathered around the tv and watched The Brady Bunch. She couldn't help it though, they were just so happy and perfect and blonde, it was horrible!

˖𖥔 .

In the last hour before the party, Nancy had come over to not only have a little pre-party hangout with her friends (Molly took that to mean flirting with and kissing Steve) but to also give Molly a hand with her lack-of-feminine-anything situation, bringing along some spare ballet flats and some makeup. Molly tied back her hair, threw on the black wig and put on her Morticia dress. She was going to call Nancy into her room to get her to help her with makeup when she looked at her body in the mirror in her room.

When she had first arrived at Hawkins, she had been thin as a stick and flat as a board, due to the Soviets underfeeding her. They never fed her much but it was always packed with vitamins and protein. She always guessed this was so that she would be strong enough to fight Americans but not strong enough to fight them.

However, looking at herself now, she felt completely different. She admitted, she had neglected taking note of her physical condition, appearance wise (she always made it a habit of testing her strength in one way or another), as it was never a top priority for her. Yes, she did feel a tinge of envy for the girls who had tiny waists and big curves and knew how to flaunt them, but it was hardly something she took regular note of. This is why it was such a surprise to Molly when she looked in the mirror and saw a girl who looked just like those other gorgeous girls. She couldn't help but stare at slightly longer than she should have. She looked almost as beautiful as the real Morticia Addams. Granted, not quite as skinny, but still far more attractive than she could have anticipated.

Her hypnosis from her own body was shattered when Nancy came in saying, "Hey Molly. Did you want me to do your makeup for you?"

She stuttered, "Uhh, ye-yeah, thank you."

"No problem," she said as the two went into the bathroom, "You look great in that dress by the way."

"Thank you so much, and I know, right?", she gawked before gasping, "Oh my god, what am I turning into?"

Nancy chuckled, "You're pretty and you're just discovering it for the first time."

"Wait I'm-.... You think I'm pretty?", Molly asked in disbelief.

"Of course you are," she said as she started getting out the makeup.

The two continued chatting about prettiness while Nancy did Molly's gothic makeup for her.

Nancy found a little bit of solace talking about this with Molly. She was like the slightly younger sister she never had. The fact that Molly seemed so shocked surprised Nancy herself. Sure, she didn't always dress like the sexiest girl alive but Nancy always presumed that was just part of her style (or lack of wardrobe choices), not complete lack of awareness for her own body. When she walked down the hall, she was very good at commanding attention in a subtle way.

Nancy consoled the confused girl, "Don't worry, I know exactly what you're going through. The same thing happened to me just before I started dating Steve. It was like this insane discovery, like you look at yourself in the mirror one day and it's like boom!"

"Right?! It's like, why didn't anyone tell me? Hell, why didn't you tell me? You're like the only other girl I know!", Molly ranted.

"It's because you come across as so confident, like you already know you're gorgeous and you don't give a shit about what anyone else thinks," Nancy started laughing at Molly's visible confusion before admitting, "Y'know I'm pretty sure when you first arrived, Jonathan had a bit of a crush on you."

Molly paused, processing the information, before saying, "Don't even joke like that. I know I make third wheel and double date jokes but... but they're jokes. I'd never go out with him."

"Wow, beauty has turned you mean," Nancy joked

"I didn't mean that, okay. He's a good guy, a good friend but... well what gave you that idea anyway, this idea that a sweet shy boy like him would have been attracted to a crude and unfeminine girl like myself?"

"Well you were the only one he'd really smile around back then, and honestly you seem like his type."

"What, a rude loner with a weird accent?"

"No! Someone who doesn't fit in, and doesn't need to. It's your confidence. And I think you comfort him. You always keep showing up when he expects you to ditch him and you know how to make him laugh."

It was in this moment that Molly began to suspect that Nancy had similar feelings for Jonathan as he did her. The thought worried her because, although she did want her friends to be happy together, she did know that if handled the wrong way, it would break Steve's heart and as much as she enjoyed tearing into the idiot, she hated the thought of a broken-hearted Steve.

Molly sighed, "... Jonathan is a wonderful friend and I'm very happy to have him. That being said, I simply don't think we'd be a good match."

Nancy then widened her eyes before smirking at the half-made-up girl.

"What? What is the staring- Are you going to kill me?"

"No, no, I'm just thinking."

"About what? Please don't do that sitcom mother thing where you try and make your single friends date each other."

"No, nothing like that. I'm just thinking the reason you were so quick to write off Jonathan is because you already have your eye on someone else."

'Because there's so way a hunk like Jonathan couldn't be dateable in every possible way,' Molly was tempted to say.

"Shut up. I'm not the crushing type," Molly told her before thinking to herself, 'I mean I have crushed someone's skull but different scenario'.

"Who could it be, though? You are pretty secretive," Nancy muse as she pulled out some black eyeliner.

"This should be stunning," Molly muttered before closing her eyes and letting Nancy draw on her face with her makeup things.

"Well, it's obviously not Jonathan."

"Obviously."

"And you insult Steve too much to have a crush on him."

"Also I'm not a homewrecker, but please continue."

"Hm... Oh my god, it's not."

"What's not?"

"There's no way you would!"

"Just spit it out, woman!"

"The new boy, Billy Hargrove! The way you were staring at him when he pulled in the other day, it looked like you were staring through his soul."

"I do that with every new person! And I would be a Soviet spy before I have any romantic feelings for that airheaded flirtatious asshole!"

"Flirtatious? Has he...?", Nancy paused as she read Molly's flustered and nervous expression, "Oh my god, he's already made a move on you. Tell me everything!"

"It was nothing, he was just staring at me in class and I let him cheat off me so he'd stop and then he tried flirting with me before he realised I was a weird little vacuum bag of a woman."

She started giggling, "He liiiiikes youuuuuuu..."

Molly hated the weird way her heart lurched at the thought.

"Shut up, it doesn't even matter anyway, I'd never go out with someone like him. Plus I could beat his ass in under a minute if I wanted to."

"But I don't think you do," she continued teasing, "I think you'd like to impress him with how good you look tonight."

"No, I would n....not."

Nancy then turned Molly's face towards the bathroom mirror, showing off her work. She'd done a winged eyeliner around Molly's eyes, not too heavy but still vintagely gothic enough, perfectly accented by some light shimmering white eyeshadow, adding some paleness around her eyes, some slight sharpening of her eyebrows with an eyebrow pencil that was just slightly darker than her natural colour, a distinct lack of blush fitting for the ever-pale Morticia, and finally a pop of bright red lipstick, the only colour in her entire outfit.

The sight of such a pillar of comfort for her imagination being embodied by herself made Molly suddenly forget what she was playfully arguing with Nancy about. She genuinely looked like those ladies from the magazines other girls her age flipped through. The wonders of makeup.

Nancy smirked, "You're speechless."

Molly chuckled, "You're lucky you're so good at girl things otherwise I'd remember what I was mad about."

Nancy laughed, "We better get going, don't wanna miss the fun."