#steve harrtington x y/n | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

eunoiathewriter · 2 years

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S. HARRINGTON X F!READER

Sypnosis: The stress of that one person that seems to give you light disappearing, makes their return feel like you were just able to breath again.

Word Count: 4.7k

When the door had been knocked on about three times in a row, Steve had perked his head up from where he had been laying on his family sofa. Per usual, he was alone at home, watching TV and just enjoying the peace and calm that had followed after his parents' fight the day before. He didn't know who it could have been that was knocking on his door at that hour. It was almost midnight in the middle of spring. But none the less, with a deep sigh, he had pushed himself to stand up and lowered the volume of the TV. When yet another set of knocks banged on the front door, he walked quicker and called out, "I'm coming."

Steve opened the door, sighing in frustration at having to leave the comfort of his sofa. But as soon as he did, his brows furrowed in confusion. Cops. What the hell were they doing there?

"Yeah?" Steve quickly asked as he looked between the two cops in front of him.

"Are you Steve Harrington?" One of them asked, and he simply just nodded in response. Had he done something illegal? No, he hadn't. Had one of his "friends" gotten into some shit? Well, hell if Steve knew about that.

"Are your parents home? We need to speak with you." It was no surprise they would ask for his parents, but well, they weren't at home. But more so, why did they need to talk to Steve?

"No, no, I'm alone. They're off somewhere. " Steve felt a bit small with the cops right there. He could see curiosity rising in the cops' eyes.

"Where to?"

"I don't know, they had a fight and haven't been home since then."

"Okey, well, can we at least come in and just ask you a couple of questions?" The one to his right asked calmly. Steve contemplated for a minute and then nodded his head yes. He moved to let the cops in. He hoped this would be quick because he had school tomorrow and it was past midnight.

The cops walked inside as Steve closed the front door. Their eyes traveled around the house, looking at pictures, decorations, and more. One of the cops stopped close to the kitchen and seemed to be looking at a photo. Steve, who had swiftly walked into the kitchen to follow the other cop, looked at the one looking at the picture.

"You know this girl?" The cop turned and asked Steve. He furrowed his brows and walked over to look at the picture the cop was pointing at.

The picture was taken by Steve's mom on the first day of freshman year. On it, Steve sat with a girl with h/c hair on the steps of his front porch. They had both been forced to take the photo before leaving for the bus. Steve shrugged his shoulders.

"Yes, That's y/n; she's my friend."

"Thought so much." The cop who was in the kitchen commented before sitting down at the table. With a motion of his hand, his colleague walked over with Steve and they sat down.

"What is this about?" Steve asked, kind of tired already.

"You know, y/n l/n?" She's your friend?" Steve nodded at the question. "Can you tell us the last time you saw her?"

"Um, pfff, five days ago ish." Then when Steve saw how the cops reacted, he got a bit wary. "Why.. why does that matter? Has something happened to her?"

The cops shared a look before they turned to the boy. No way, no way! Something hadn't happened to her, right? The last time Steve talked to her was on Sunday night. He had dropped her off right before her curfew a bit away from her house, as she liked to walk the last bit home. Nothing unusual.

"I'm going to be honest with you, son," said the one who'd pointed out the picture earlier. "From what we know, Miss l/n has not been to school all week. No one has seen her since Sunday night and her parents haven't heard from her since Saturday night."

Steve stared at the two. He knew she hadn't been to school all week, but she had pointed out having felt strange on Sunday and that she wouldn't go to school on Monday at least. Then, everything with his parents arose, leaving Steve to be preoccupied with school and his, in his words, "immature parents" for the past few days.

"So we need you to tell us exactly what you did on Sunday, as we heard you were the last person she was with before going missing."

It was close to one in the morning, but despite his tiredness, Steve began to talk about what they had done on Sunday. It had started off with Steve coming by her house to eat breakfast with her, something that happens at times. They then picked up some of their friends and spent the day at the mall. The girls spent their time trying clothes and so on, while the boys just kind of hung around. Then they drove to the canyon and smoked a bit before it got dark and Steve drove everyone to their place. After that, he and Y/N spent some time just driving around and listening to some music for fun before he dropped her off a bit away from her house.

The cops nodded as Steve finished, rubbing his face as he had grown more and more tired of answering, and right now his mind was also running wild with where the girl could be. One of the cops sighed as if he was unsure about asking a question more because he saw how hearing about his friend's missing seemed to take a toll on the boy.

"Alright, we just have a few more questions if that's okay." "The cop said with a calm tone, almost gentle."

"Yeah, yeah, sure." Steve answered.

"Okay, good. Did y/n do any drugs that could make her confused or something like that? " The question seemed to make Steve want to sink through the floor as he slumped just a tiny bit more in his chair. The officer picked up on this and sighed. "We need to know that, nothing will happen."

"Yes, at times, but she never got confused or something like that. If anything, she got less stressed and just overall calm. " The officer once more, or more like the hundredth time, nodded at his answer and took notes.

"What kind of drugs and how did she take them?"

"She usually smokes some weed. She hates anything else. "

"Did she or anyone else do it on Sunday?"

"No, no you don't understand," Steve quickly protested. "She never did them just for fun; she only did weed like every once in a while when there was a lot in school."

"Hm?" hummed one of the officers. "Well, that should be it. Thanks for helping us, son."

Both stood up, and Steve felt slightly dumbfounded about how suddenly they were done. But he was swiftly on his feet, following the cops to the front door. One turned to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll be back if we have more questions, but try and see if your parents can be here then. We'll make sure to find her." With those words, the warm, larger hand on his shoulder left as the two walked to their car. For a moment, Steve stood there, thinking it all through. He knew y/n hadn't run away, she would never. She loved her life in Hawkins, even though it had been a bit messy lately. She loved her adoptive parents and would never trade her life for anything else. She had verbally told Steve that herself. She would never leave.

With furrowed brows, Steve closed the door. I remember just how alike something like this felt. It kinda... it kinda felt like when Will got missing.

But there was no way, right?

—

The days that followed, or more like weeks that followed, were utter hell. The morning after the cops had talked to Steve, his mom and dad were home again after their fight. And now he had to tell his mom, who very much cared for y/n, that she was missing. Not to forget his dad, who only bobbed his head as he listened to his son going on and on about how she was missing. Like always, his dad was not that interested and, unlike his mother, who immediately went to call and see if y/n's parents were home, only said a simple "tragic". Not soon after Steve's mom had called the l/n household, y/n's adoptive mom answered and was invited to Hartington house that same day.

As soon as Steve had been told y/n's patents were coming over, he went to his room with a sigh. He didn't want to meet her parents, who probably felt even worse and were even more distressed than he was. But as soon as he had walked into his room, the walkie-talkie that he had gotten from Dustin began to let out a static noise. "Steve! Steve! Harrington, do you copy? "

"I copy, you nerd." Steve answered and another static sound went through the walkie. It has now switched to another voice, Max.

"You gotta get over here."

After some arguing over the walkie with Max and Dustin, there then was Mike, who took over, and since no one had informed him what it was about, as soon as Y/N's name was mentioned, he listened closely. And only minutes later, he was out of the front door, his mom calling for him to know where he was going.

Everyone got together, again. Mike, Nancy, Max, Lucas, Dustin, Will, El, Jonathan, and not long after Y/N had been confirmed missing and more strange things happened, Hopper and Joyce joined the kids and teenagers on the lookout for the missing girl. The days were filled with meeting with everyone, trying to find the entrance to the upside-down, search teams going out looking for her, and just a lot of stress in Steve's mind.

It seemed as if everywhere he went, Steve would somehow be reminded of his missing friend. When he was driving to school, he remembered how she used to sit in the passenger seat, quietly singing along to the music or dancing. When he was at school, he was reminded of how Y/N would walk through the halls like a sun. Enhancing the brightness of the days. She was everywhere. No matter how much he tried, she was always there in some kind of way.

He was just sitting in his room, the door closed as he could faintly hear the voices of his parents talking. Yes, talk, like talking calmly and not yelling at one another. It had been roughly a month and a half since y/n went missing, and not long until graduation. It seemed her disappearance had made Steve's parents get better in their relationship, as his father was now more actively asking if Steve had heard anything about it all or

But Steve just sighed and sat there on his bed. Not having the willpower to do something other than just stare into the distance. His eyes fixated on one spot as it got quite comfortable and moving his gaze seemed not to be an option. Then his mind began to wander.

"It's as if you're a mom." The girl laughed from the passenger seat as she glanced in the rear view mirror to see Dustin, Mike, and Lucas crammed in the backseat.

"Am I not?" Steve exclaimed, almost offended, but it held a more playful tone. Y/N only shook her head, rolling her eyes, and turned to face the three middle-schoolers in the backseat.

"Tell me how often you ask him to drive you places, and he does." The three younger boys seemed to be thinking as they waited expectantly, and Steve glanced over at her.

"At least a few times a week," Dustin said, and Lucas nodded.

"Yeah, and he always drives us."

"Ha!" She turned to Steve, pointing a finger at him. "I knew it! You like these kids, especially Henderson. "

"Hey!" Mike and Lucas called in unison

"I don't like these nerds.You, however, do. "

"Yeah so? It's fun, besides, it's not me who acts like a mom and always tries to keep them from getting hurt or shit. That is you, " She flicked Steve's forehead with her fingers.

"First off, that's called being responsible and mature, but I guess that's hard seeing as you're a year younger than me," Steve started off by using the 'I'm older' card even though y/n had skipped a grade. "Secondly, at least I'm careful about my life. You just throw yourself into every plan those nerds have. "

"Hey! Our plans are pretty good. May I remind you that, thanks to us, Hawkins has been saved twice?" Mike protested, and y/n shrugged as if to say 'you got a point'.

"You mean thanks to El? "Steve questioned, glancing at the rear view mirror. The question quickly came with protests from the three boys, who all thought they deserved some credit, though Mike didn't protest as much. Suddenly, then, it switched to the boys arguing with one another over random things.

She shook her head, but a smile was plastered on her lips. She loved the kids and enjoyed their company. Steve glanced back and then turned to y/n, shaking his head at the three in the backseat. Causing a ring of laughter to come from the girl as she finally broke and laughed.

It was a simple memory but one of those that he loved to remember. He loved to remember exactly how she used to always tease him some how. How she used to have no problem with the kids, having an extra strong bond with Max who looked to her as an older sister figure. How her laughter would just make him smile that much more than he already did. Just everything.

But now she wasn't there.

That was until, only a few hours later.

—

As soon as he had heard his mom take a call from the l/n household that made her gasp, Steve's attention was on her. His mom said a good bye, as it seemed y/n's adoptive mom was stressed and in a hurry. When she put down the phone and turned around, she was just blinking. Steve put down the food he had just scooped up on his fork and looked at her, trying to read his mom's face.

"That was m/n," Steve perked up a bit more as his dad put down the Hawkins newspaper and listened. "They found her."

Those three words made Steve's mind to race. Those words could mean many things. They found her as in her body was found, but she was not alive. They found her, as in she's alive and well. They found her, as in they found a body that maybe isn't even hers, like with Will.

"Where?" Steve asked quickly as he stood up from his chair. His mom looked at him with furrowed brows before her expression softened a little.

"The quarry," And a second later, he was already putting on his jacket, shoes, and car keys in hand.

As he rushed out the door towards his car, he could hear his mom and dad, surprisingly, rush after him and try to stop him from going. But Steve had just turned on the car and was already backing out to drive off. There was no one who was going to stop him now. He had to go there and try to find the girl. If not, well, then he would go to the hospital to try and find her there.

The sky had started to turn dark, and it was only minutes before it would be completely dark outside and the only things lighting up the streets would be other cars and street lights. Faint stars could barely be seen as Steve raced through Hawkins. He could almost swear he had just driven past five of the middle-schoolers who seemed to be peddling on for dear life. Having also heard the news. When he was finally starting to get closer to the quarry, Steve could hear sirens, and in the distance he could see the red and blue lights. He swallowed hard as he tried to keep calm and hoped for the best.

He parked his car a bit away from the quarry as to leave room for police, ambulance and more, not wanting to be in the way. Slaming his door he set into a run immediately but was stopped as soon as he could hear one person call for him. Dustin Henderson. Of course he was right about having driven past them erlier. Steve turned and came face to face with the kids, his face held stress and impatience.

"What are you kids doing here?" Steve's brows were furrowed as he walked closer to the five who had dropped their bikes.

"Same reason as you," Mike answered and crossed his arms, seeming to look past Steve.

"Well you shouldn't be here," He shot back and started to walk quickly down towards the quarry.

"Neither should you! She's our friend too," Max jogged up to be in step with Steve, he knew she looked to y/n as an older sister figure.

"I'm just here to see if she's alive," His tone was bitter as he tried to hold away the thought of y/n being dead. "Unlike you guys who's if I guess here to see if this is the upside-down."

"Well, I mean, it has to be the upside-down," Lucas pointed out as they all closed in on the scene. Reporters, photographers, police officers who were trying to block the place, an ambulance with people running around, all were scattered around the quarry.

"Yes and-" But Dustin cut himself off as they reached the farthest they could go; the quarry was blocked off by cops.

Steve tried to look above all the people that blocked off his view, as did the younger kids, but to no avail. It then seemed as if one of the cops recognized Steve as he slowly walked up to the group that was desperately trying to see if their friend was there.

"Steve Harrington?" Asked the cop, dragging Steve's attention to him, and low and behold, it was one of the cops that had talked to him. "What are you doing here, son? You're not supposed to be here, nor you kids. "

All of them looked at one another and then down at the ground, their attention then being taken by a reporter near by.

"We have just gotten news that someone found y/n l/n's body here. We have yet to know if she's alive."

"Look, man, I just want to know if she's okay." Steve told the cop, who only shook his head.

"Sorry, son, I cannot do that."

It was when someone called in the cop that Steve was talking to that he got a glance. As the cop turned to run to where he was called, Steve could see three paramedics kneeling next to what seemed to be a body. But it was when he saw the body move slightly, turning her head towards where people were fighting to see what was going on, that he could see it was her. It was y/n. He straightened his back, eyes wide as he watched how the paramedics rushed to get her to the ambulance.

He didn't know how he had gotten to the hospital so fast. It was as if one moment he had been standing there and watching as the ambulance drove off with sirens on, and the next he was sprinting to his car and ripping the door open. Having the engine on and for the second time that day, having people yell at him to stay there or come back. But it was as if his brain was wired to just do that. All his sarcasm was out of his brain now and only filled with seriousness.

Steve was now rushing through the clean and sterile feeling building quickly. It's light walls and the blue florescent lights almost gave him a headache in comparison to the darkness outside. He followed the signs that were to take him to the reception at the emergency room to try and find y/n, her parents or someone that could lead him to her. Because at least what he knew now was that she was alive and not dead, but she could die in minutes if she had suffered any major injury.

He got a few weird looks from the nurses and a few doctors moving in the halls, but Steve really didn't care. When he finally spotted the reception, he let out a sigh of relief and dragged himself up to the desk. The woman behind it looked at him with a nice smile but curious eyes.

"Anything I can help you with, young man?" She seemed to not have one stressed bone in her body.

"Yeah, a y/n l/n got her if I'm not wrong, and I was wondering if you could get her room?" He spoke so quickly that his words almost flooded together into one long word, his hands resting on the desk as he looked around. The older woman frowned as she, like anyone in Hawkins, knew of y/n.

"I'm sorry, but only immediate family is allowed with her," The woman sighed as she quickly got back to writing things down, seeming almost annoyed. (Well, she did think he was a reporter or something.)

"Look, she's my friend. She's been gone a month and a half and I just want to know that she's as okay as she can be. "

"Yeah, I believe I will hear a lot of that in the upcoming days." Commented the receptionist and didn't look up at Steve, making him more and more frustrated.

Beginning to argue back and forth with the receptionist, Steve almost didn't hear the commotion coming from down the hall that was turned right and out of Steve's view. There was the sound of nurses seeming to console someone as multiple footsteps could be heard pattering down the cold floor. The closer the sound got, the less of Steve's attention was on the receptionist that was trying to explain why she wasn't allowed to let him see y/n.

y/n was on shaky legs, making her way down the hall that held Steve's attention. Nurses and her parents following. She tried to keep a good distance from them all, a few singular tears falling down her cheeks. She was confused and in horror. She had not been able to process the past weeks and suddenly being back in the real world made her confused, causing her to immediately fight off nurses and her parents as she got to the hospital and came to.

"y/n, we just want to help you. You are okay and safe," One of the doctors held up his hands in front of him and cautiously walked closer to the girl as she backed off.

"No, I'm not," She protested and glanced around at the grown-ups, her parents not far from her, but she continued backing up. "Just leave me alone."

Her voice was pleading and tired as she just wanted to be by herself and not have doctors and nurses ask her a dozen questions at once. Having her almost relive what had happened was not something she wanted to do.

"We only want to help you," the doctor repeated.

"y/n honey," Her mom spoke with softness. "I promise we'll be home as soon as possible."

"Just listen to the doctors and nurses, sweetheart." Her dad then joined in on the consoling. But she now stood with her back towards a wall and just wanted to melt into the hound or crawl into herself.

"Leave me alone, please!" Her voice was louder this time as it broke. This, however, caught the attention of none other than Steve. He turned his head at the slightly familiar voice.

"y/n," He breathed as he saw her. She had her arms hugging herself as she stood against the wall. She was in some new hospital clothes instead of the clothes she had at the quarry that were the same as the last time he saw her. He could see her tired face even from a distance.

"Young man!" Called the respetionist as his feet got minds of their own and he started to swiftly walk over towards the girl.

y/n looked around to try and find somewhere she could just lock herself in and be alone to process the many memories in her mind when she spotted the boy walking quickly towards her. She no longer listened to the doctors.

"Steve?" Her voice was low, but she repeated herself a bit higher right after.

"Oh my fucking lord," Steve breathed as he got closer and, despite the nurses and doctors telling him to back off, walked up to the girl who reached for her friend. The one person she had been yelling for, so her vocal cords hurt in the upside-down.

As his arms finally enveloped her in a hug and she wrapped her shaky arms around him, Steve could finally breath. All the nurses and doctors around her calmed down as they noticed how calm the girl got.

"You're okay." He didn't say it for her reassurance, but for himself more. y/n didn't say a word and only hugged him. As Steve looked over and met y/ns parents' gaze, her mom let out a breath. And y/n dad gave a nod to the boy. But Steve lifted his hand from y/n's back and motioned for them to come over.

She was fine; she would be okay.

—

Steve sat on the left side of the hospital bed, looking out the window into the room. He could see his parents and y/ns parents with a doctor. Oh, how he would get shit from his mom for just rushing off like that without telling where he was going.

But it was kind of worth it in his opinion. Y/N lay on her back on the right side, hands subconsciously fiddling with Steve's hand as she stared up at the ceiling. This was what she needed; peace and quiet so she could process everything. She only let Steve be in there because she knew he wouldn't even try and talk to her unless she spoke first in this situation.

When a deep sigh left her, Steve's eyes went to her. Looking down at her battered up face, he could see the dark circles under her eyes now, better than earlier in the hallway. Her eyes held exhaustion. Seeing her before, standing and getting to hug her again was as if it refilled his lungs with new, fresh oxygen after having held one's breath. It made an invisible weight leave his shoulders. And he knew that as soon as she got better than this, he'd be back teasing, being sarcastic, and making sure she laughed again. But for now, all she needed was a friend.

He brushed away a piece of hair that almost landed in her eyes. That was when she seemed to try and say something, but she stopped herself as she contemplated what to say. And Steve was patient, just sitting there next to her as she tried to find the words.

"It was cold and dark." That was all she said. The answer to a question the cops wanted answered about an hour ago: where were you or what were you doing? Well, that was her answer. Cold and dark.

"I know," Said Steve as he laced his fingers with hers, y/n having stopped fiddling with his hand.

"The upside-down is cold and dark."

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eunoiathewriter · 2 years

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S. HARRINGTON X F!READER

Sypnosis: The older ones of the group of Hawkins go to find where the gate to the upside-down is, making old struggles come back and those feelings come creeping up even more.

Word Count: 7.7k

All five of them were quiet on the boat, no one in the mood to talk right now as they all stared at the compass in Nancy's hand. It was still going bonkers and being completely incorrect, as it had been ever since they tried to find Eddie at Skull Rock. It was thanks to that that they had figured out there was probably a gate in Lovers Lake, and that explained just how the five oldest members of the group were now sitting in silence on the boat.

Nancy sat next to Robin on the front of the boat, with Eddie behind them, as y/n and Steve sat next to one another by the motor. It was cold and dark outside; the water was black as the night, and there was only the moon and the flashlight in Steve's hand that gave off light, making it less dark.

Steve let his eyes travel from the compass to y/n. She seemed to be on edge, but he understood completely. They were going to look for the gate to the upside-down, and that was the last place y/n wanted to be close to. His eyes lingered longer than he intended, like always lately and how it had been for a long time now. He didn't know how he suddenly fell for her, but it happened, and now she was on his mind more than any other girl ever.

When he thought about it, it might have been after she returned from her time in the upside-down. He had been there. He willingly came over to her house at night and would just spend time talking to her as she lay and listened, relaxing. Or how, after everything that happened at Starcourt Mall the previous summer, Steve was relieved when y/n invited him to stay at her house for the first time in about three months, as everything from months earlier had resurfaced.

He saw the girl he grew up with go from being an unscared and sweet girl to a shaking mess, but she eventually returned to the same girl. Talking about what happened with a lighter heart. But now, as Steve sat there in the boat next to her, he could see an unsure look on her face.

To say that since all of this started, Steve had started to be protective of y/n was an understatement. At first it was just him wanting to keep her close to him and be sure she was okay, but as not only was Chrissy dead but Fred also, if y/n wasn't close by, he would turn around and hold her by his side. Then, when Max had read her file and found out she had similar problems like Fred and Chrissy, Steve couldn't help but also connect some dots to y/n. She had trauma. She watched her biological parents die in a car crash, which she blamed on herself due to her distracting her dad while he was driving. Anyone else would say he did all this because he blamed himself for what happened last year.

"Woah, woah," Nancy reached to stop Robin and Eddie from going further. "Slow down, guys."

"Woah!" Steve exclaimed.

As they stopped, taking up the oars in the boat, the compass went even crazier and started to spin uncontrollably. As they stopped, y/n looked around and felt the slight rise of the hairs in her neck. She touched her neck and glanced over at the compass. Steve put a hand on her shoulder, giving a questioning look as he knew that move from last summer, thanks to Will Byers. But y/n said nothing and only continued to look around.

"Guys, what's going on?" Dustin asked through the walkie as he and Lucas noticed them stopping through the binoculars."Come on, guys, talk to me. What's going on?"

As y/n continued looking around, she then looked straight down into the water, leaning slightly over the edge of the boat and not focused on the compass like the rest. It was then that the sudden voice in her head made another chill go through her spine. "y/n, I was right after all. I knew we would meet again."

"Eh, Dustin, your compass has gone from wonky to wonky with a capital, uaAaahh." Answered Robin as she looked at the compass. y/n knew that there was a gate down there; she could feel it. She could hear faintly in her head how Vecna quite literally was telling her to get down there, to meet him again. She had been starting to take off her shoes and socks, making sure she didn't get noticed. But then, when Steve started to shuffle beside her and seemed to be looking through things in the boat more, everyone looked at him.

"Steve, what are you doing?" Nancy asked as he was taking off his shoes too. It seemed Nancy, Robin, and Steve did not notice y/n doing the same. But one person did, Eddie. He looked at her questionably.

"Someone's got to get down there to look at this thing," Steve said, looking up, not at Y/N but at the others, as if he thought she'd never go down there. "Unless any of you three can top being a Hawkins High swim co-captain and a certified lifeguard for three years, then it's got to be me, okay, all right! "

"I think someone else has the same idea," Eddie commented, grabbing the others attention that went to y/n who had been quite the whole time. She swallowed, feeling the cold prickle her skin as she had just taken off her zip-up, being left in just a short-sleeved shirt.

"y/n?" Robin asked with a confused look as she looked at the girl.

"I can go," y/n said, and it was quite confident. "I'm also a certified lifeguard. I know how to dive and if anything is found and happens that gets me to the upside-down, I know how it works." y/n was now standing up in the boat, looking down at all four of them. Nancy glanced at Robin and then Eddie. To Steve, this was seen as a signal that they were for y/n going. So he stood up, almost a little too quickly as the boat became a bit unsteady, but y/n stood still, looking at him expectantly. waiting for yet another time where he would treat her like a kid, like he had been doing quite a lot lately.

"No." was all Steve said as he looked at y/n, but she didn't budge from where she stood and shook her head. Knowing that there was more to come. "No, you're not going down there. You're not going down there to risk getting back into the upside-down."

"Look, Steve," y/n sighed as she looked up at the boy. "I really don't care what you think. Forgive me if you see me as weak or whatever since what happened last year, but I'm just as capable as any of you four, so for once in a while, let me do this."

"You're not going down there. No more arguing." But y/n only sighed and rolled her eyes as she looked over the side of the boat.

"Steve," Nancy started. "It's actually not such a bad idea that it's her to go down there. She knows the upside-down and how to communicate if you get stuck. Right? " Nancy looked up at y/n who nodded her head, having tried to communicate with the others last year but failed, as it seemed none of them were listening closely enough.

"Besides, she's not reacting like in the summer when she froze up and all seeing that mind flayer thing, you know." Robin chimed in, trying to sound convincing and be helpful, but just as many times she ended up saying something that didn't help at all. But bless her heart.

"We're not arguing about this," Steve turned to y/n who was too irritated to even blush at him being shirtless. "I'm going, you're staying."

"Okey, you know what," y/n mumbled to herself and turned so she stood straight towards the edge of the boat. In a swift motion, she reached over towards Eddie, who had already held up the flashlight he had put into a plastic bag for her. Giving a slight smile before glaring at Steve. Their eyes were glued on one another until y/n smiled a bit too sweetly at him.

"If you don't want me to go, then come get me." With that, she dove straight into the water with no hesitation. She did a perfect and beautiful dive into the water, but her sudden dive took the others by shock, and Steve was immediately by the edge looking for the girl.

"Goddammit," Steve cursed as he shook his head and quickly got to diving in after y/n, only the protests from Nancy and Robin being heard before he was under water.

"Man, he didn't waste a second." Eddie commented and earned a glare from Nancy and Robin, who quietly agreed with Eddie.

The sudden splash that she could barely hear a good ten feet above her made y/n stop, pointing the flash up only to come face to face with Steve. But without even a second more, she turned back to diving further down. Focusing on the eerie voice in her head that got stronger in one direction but weaker in another. It called for her, the voice, whom she now thought had been Vecna ever since last year, asking her to join him. Steve, who was behind her, wanted to curse her out there and then if he could have been able to talk or breath under water.

Once at the bottom of Lovers Lake, Steve tapped y/n and showed he'd go in another direction, and y/n simply nodded at him. But soon, Steve realized that he had no light and was quickly by y/n who followed the tingling in her body and the voice in her head. They came to where a skeleton was, and it was not white and clean but brown and dirty looking. Just as they got over the stones by the skeleton, they were met by a light. The light was in a red hue, and immediately they both knew what it was. The gate.

Both of them swam closer and looked at it with great fascination. She knew that when this was all over, Steve would ask if she went through one of those portals to get stuck in the upside-down, but she knew her answer would be that she just happened to be there. It was something that seemed to cover the gate into the upside-down, like a skin layer. y/n reached her hand out and touched the skin-like cover of the gate, only to jerk back with Steve as a vine-like thing hit the skin like layer. Without wasting a second, they both returned to the surface as quickly as they could.

After what felt like the longest time ever, they both reached the surface. As oxygen entered their lungs for the first time in minutes, they breathed deeply to calm down. Robin, Eddie, and Nancy all looked over the edge at the two. y/n placed both her hands up on the edge of the boat and held on to relax her legs. Steve mimicked her move.

"We found it." y/n announced and the three in the boat smiled. "There's a gate."

"Dustin, you're a goddamm Einstein. Steve and y/n found the gate." Robin spoke with a smile into the walkie.

"It's pretty wild," Steve spoke out of breath, glancing over at y/n who was just resting and relaxing. "It's more like a snack-sized gate instead of a mama gate, but still, it's pretty big." y/n

nodded along when she felt something slimy slowly wrap around her ankle, then it tightened its grip on her leg, and suddenly she was pulled under the water for a split second, which took everyone by surprise. As she, for a moment, resurfaced, Steve looked at her with wide eyes. "What was that?"

"Something is pulling on my le-" And her sentence was cut short as she once more was pulled under the water and this time wasn't let go of. Everyone on the boat called for her, but their voices were muffled under the water. Steve cursed lowly to himself as he looked into the water and, without second thought, dove down after y/n.

"Steve!" Robin and Nancy called in unison, and had Robin not been in such a shocked state, she would have made a comment about them saying it at the same time.

"What the hell was that man?!" Eddie stressed behind the two girls as they did not know what to do.

Under the surface, Steve had gotten a hold of y/ns hand and was being dragged along with her down towards the gate. She reached both her hands to hold onto Steve's wrists but lost her grip as the vine pulled her down harder. A screm left her and, instead of oxygen, a fair bit of water entered her system. Steve fought harder to dive after her as fast as he could, but suddenly he was being pulled by a vine down into the gate.

It was sudden when the vine pulled her, so she fell into the air and then hit the hard ground. The upside-down. Steve came soon after her and hit the ground with a grunt, but both of them were dragged harder against the ground by the vines. Both of them fought against the vines as much as they could, both of their backs hurting from being dragged. And then they were pulled to a stop and the vines let go of both of them as they hit what seemed to be the boat in a lot of vines.

"Shit," Steve breathed as he slowly pushed himself to stand up and looked around, but the pain-filled groan coming from his left made him turn. "Woah, hey, you okay there y/n/n?"

Steve reached out to help her stand up as she rolled her shoulders for the pain in her back. Her eyes squeezed shut. He held his hands on her upper arms and waited for a reaction from her. "I hate those things."

It made Steve let out a short laugh as y/n opened her eyes and looked around. Her features, instead of sarcasm, got filled with discomfort as she looked around. The dark blue sky with a slight red, they stood in the middle of Lovers Lake minus the water. The vines were everywhere and the trees were left bare of leaves. But then there was also that dusty thing in the air. Steve's hands fell from y/ns shoulders as she reached up and touched the dust. She was back into the cold and dark as she once described the place.

"We should get—" But Steve was cut off by the rumble of lightning and the sky being painted a red color. A screech could be heard from the distance, and out of instinct, his hand reached out and grabbed y/n's as they both turned to see a creature in the distance.

"What are those?" Steve asked, with a quick look over his shoulder at y/n.

"I don't really know what the kids would call them, but I call them demo bats," y/n said as she could still hear the faint voice of what had to be Vecna in her head.

"Well," Steve said, taking two oars from the empty boat and handing one to y/n, who scowled at him. "Can you put up a fight against those things?"

"I can do my best. The second best option is to run."

"And how easy is that?" Steve stood with his back again y/n as they both looked opposite ways.

"Not the easiest."

When the demo bats were close by and started to attack the two, they started to hit them one by one. Steve had it easier to hit the demo bats. y/n, on the other hand, struggled a bit as the oars were quite heavy and hard to hold up. It being solid wood didn't help her case. But she did as well as she could and hit them herself. Occasionally, either Steve or y/n would cover the others' backs when a bat tried to attack all of a sudden.

"Die, you lousy piece of shit!" y/n yelled as she hit one of the bats repeatedly and seemed to forget that there were others. This was proven right that she had forgotten as one bat was able to wrap its tail around her wrist and pull her back. It caused her to fall and scream as the spikey thing on its tail stabbed her arm.

At her scream, Steve turned and began to angrily hit at the bats, trying to get them off of y/n. But all of a sudden, he too got pulled back as one had its tail wrapped around his neck and had him down on the ground in seconds. The bats split up on the two, some going to Steve and the rest on y/n. Both of them screamed in pain, y/n kicking around as she tried to free herself. Not being that held down as Steve, who had been held by his neck and began to get choked out.

Memories came back into y/ns mind as she fought for her life and tried to keep from getting bitten or hurt worse. The last time she was here, they had been her number one fear. It seems that this time, though, the bats didn't try to hurt her badly. as they only stabbed her in the arms a few times. It still hurt, but not the worst.

"Steve!" y/n called as she heard him fighting to breathe, but as she tried to get free, the bats tightened their grip.

It was when a demo bat was hit off by y/n and no longer held a death grip on her arm that she stopped struggling against it and turned her head. Since last year, y/n had never been so relieved to see a human. "Hi there," Nancy said quietly as she hit another off y/n.

"Not me! Help Steve," Nancy and Robin did as instructed and focused on assisting Steve in breaking free from the demo bat that was choking him out. Eddie took over and helped y/n get up, and they kept the newer bats that came for them away together.

y/n and Eddie turned to see Steve repeatedly hitting the demo bat that had tried to choke him into the ground. Over and over, the demo bat hit the ground and screeched in pain at the violent hits to the ground. He then put one foot on its one wing and began to pull the tail and was somehow able to tear it into two pieces. y/n blinked as she stared at him. Now, there was no more, and everyone began to do their own thing to calm down. Nancy was quick to check Steve and, after y/n, Eddie began his own little ramble of curses to the side as Robin stressed over the fact that she thought Steve could have rabies and wanted to get him checked out.

y/n let out a breath and walked over to Steve as Robin continued her little rant as Nancy was as nice as she could be and listened in.

"That looks nasty," y/n scrunched her face up as she took a quick look at Steve's lower stomach wound. "How are you feeling?"

"Other than a piece of flesh missing, I have never felt better." He smiled at her as he had taken a look at his wound himself. For a moment, his gaze just stayed there. He looked into y/n's eyes as they seemed to hold relief. But when his eyes landed on the stabbing she had received in her wrist, he immediately grabbed her arm and inspected it.

"Ow ow, be careful!" y/n swatted his shoulder. His eyes moved to look at her face for a second before he returned to inspecting the wounds. Some blood had seeped out of the rounded wounds, but nothing too bad. His hand holding her wrist more gently now.

A screech from the far distance made all five of them turn and look to see a few dark figures of demo bats heading for them. There was no way they were going to fight more of those things. Nancy had pointed to the woods, and in just a few seconds, all five of them were running for protection there. Steve, however, seemed to have forgotten about that y/n and had told himself he could handle herself as he dragged her with him. Holding tightly onto the right hand and never letting go. He would never do what he did last year. matter how much she wanted him to stop, Steve knew it was going to be hard to do so.

All five of them huddled together under Skull Rock. The demo bats flew right over the tree tops, and they never stopped screeching. But as the last of them faded into the distance, all five under Skull Rock let out the breaths they had been holding. y/n had been sandwiched between Nancy and Robin, who had somehow been able to rip her from Steve. y/n had a hold on Robin's arm to keep herself calm and finally released the girl. As she did, Robin pulled a face at her. "Ow," Robin said, shaking her arm. "What kind of death grip is that?"

"Sorry, but, you'll survive." y/n told her friend, who slapped her upper arm gingerly.

y/n then turned to Steve to see how it was going, but as she did so, he stumbled against the stone wall of Skull Rock. "Oh shit," Steve breathed as he leaned against the wall. y/n was quickly by his side, helping to steady him out.

She helped hold Steve's arm a bit as he swayed from the dizziness. "Woah hey, shit," she said in almost one word. But his stubborn side soon came out and began to swat y/n away, acting as if everything was fine.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. I just need to stand here a bit," He protested, but the obvious sway in him disagreed, and Nancy was by his side, checking on Steve's wound a little.

"You're losing blood," Nancy stated, and y/n, out of instinct, slapped Steve across the head.

"Stupid," y/n grumbled at him before helping him sit down to let the dizziness stop. "Come on, easy."

Robin then came and sat next to y/n beside Steve, worried for her friend. Nancy stood up, starting to rip a large enough piece of fabric from her long shirt. y/n's hand laid gently on Steve's bicep, and even though he was in that bad state, it still grabbed his attention more than the wound on his stomach. But his attention was drawn away by Robin, who started a rant once again.

"Okey, so the good news here is that I'm pretty sure that wooziness is not a common sign of rabies. But, ehm, if you start having hallucinations or muscle spasms, or you feel really aggressive, like you kind of want to punch me or something, just let me know then. She ranted as usual, making Nancy let out a breath as she handed Y/N the piece of cloth from her shirt, and y/n only smiled slightly at Robin being so worried.

"Robin. "Steve said as he pulled a face.

"Yeah?"

"I kind of want to punch you," It made y/n smile a bit more, and her hand slid down to Steve's wrist, once again drawing his attention.

"Your sense of humour's still intact; it's a good sign!" As Robin said, she smiled brightly with hope and then moved to let y/n help Steve. Nancy put a hand on the girls' shoulder before also backing off slightly, which, in y/n's eyes, was kind of strange.

"Okey," she said, as she held up the cloth and Steve sat up a bit more. Now this was a pretty inconvenient time for both of them to feel their cheeks heat up, but thankfully, the darkness of the upside-down made sure the other couldn't see. y/n looked to the side and took a breath before turning back to Steve, who had his arms up to give her room.

"You ready?" She asked, and Steve simply pulled a face before answering.

"Yeah, just do it already." With that, she reached to wrap the cloth around Steve's midsection. He took in a sharp breath at the pressure and y/n looked up to make sure she didn't hurt him any more.

"Tighter or is that okay?"

"That's fine,"

y/n finished by tying the cloth so it wouldn't move out of place. When she was done, Steve let out a sigh and held out his hand to help her stand up again. She took it without question and just shot him a small smile without looking up at him, but Steve kept his eyes on her and wouldn't look away. Her arm had stopped bleeding a while ago, and except for a cut under her eye, she was fine.

It was when his fingers reached and brushed some strands from her face that y/n looked at him. His eyes were glued on her without moving to anything else. But it was Nancy this time who made y/n quickly turned away from Steve and walk over to her. Cheeks on fire and insides doing cartwheels It seemed Nancy noticed y/n and mumbled her shoulder, but the girl simply said nothing. Steve, however, had dropped his hand from where his fingers had brushed away from the hair on her face and pushed himself off the stone wall of Skull Rock.

A conversation quickly arose as to what they were to do next. But they all came to realize how useless oars were for beating up demo bats or even Vecna. That was when Nancy remembered her guns she hid in her house, and that meant those guns were probably and hopefully in her room. which was not too far away.

Right as they were about to start walking to the Wheeler house, Eddie stopped Steve by throwing his jeans jacket at him. Steve grabbed it and gave a confused face. "For your modesty, dude." Eddie said, and Steve just shrugged.

Just as Steve was about to put the jacket on, yet another earthquake like thing happened. The ground shook violently and made almost everyone lose their footing, except Steve and y/n. In a split second, Steve had wrapped an arm around y/n's shoulders and pulled her into his chest. Her hands came up and held onto his arm that was wrapped around her. It seemed they would always be put in these situations, especially lately when both of their feelings had gotten stronger. Oh, how fate wanted them to be together.

—

Walking to the Wheeler house felt like it took forever. The woods felt endless and every time there was a sound that definitely did not come from any of the five, they all would react, turning to look round and then up at the sky. At times, the sudden sound would make y/n jump slightly, as she realized it was far from her and couldn't hurt her where she was. It never left her. Being stuck for one and a half months in the upside-down, it stayed like an annoying fly that wouldn't fly away. But she had done her best at coping with it all; that meant not graduating when she was supposed to so she could stay at home in the comfort of her bed; asking Steve to stay over; when she became friends with Robin, she spent time with her. Then everything at Starcourt happened, and she kept as far away as she could, which proved to work and none of the others blamed her. In the autumn, she worked up her grades to get her high school diploma and graduated just before the end of the fall. y/n found that occupying herself with things along with trying to shine light on what happened every once in a while worked for her. Maybe not the best, but it worked.

Robin, y/n, and Nancy were all three walking a good few feet in front of the two boys. Nancy and Robin seemed to be getting along better than they had when the three were at the library the previous day. Steve and Eddie walked behind the girls, or more like Steve being quite behind Eddie with a flashlight. Before Steve came to realize one thing, he hadn't thanked Eddie for earlier.

"Eddie. Eddie, hey, man, "Eddie slowed slightly for Steve to catch up. "Uhh, I just... uh, I just want to say thanks. For saving my ass back there. "

"Shit, you saved your own ass," Eddie said as they walked on. "I mean that was a real Ozzy move you pulled back there."

Steve furrowed his brows and looked at Eddie with confusion written all over his face. "Ozzy?"

"When you took a bite out of that bat." Silence followed. Steve didn't understand. "Ozzy Osborne? Black Sabbath? He- he bit a bat's head off on stage,"

"I don't know," Steve simply shrugged at the metalhead, which he didn't, because it wasn't his style of music, but he respected it.

"It was very metal; what you did is all I'm saying."

"Thanks,"

"Henderson told me you were a badass. Insisted on the matter in fact. " Eddie paused for a second.

"Wait, Henderson said that?" It kind of surprised Steve. "Oh yeah, shit, kid worships you dude. Like you have no idea, it's kind of annoying, to be honest." Steve let out a dry laugh. "I don't even know why I care what that little shrimp thinks, but, eh, guess I got a little jealous, Steve."

Now that made Steve look even more lost than he was when Eddie tried to see if he understood who Ozzy Osborne was. They continued walking, with Steve still holding the flashlight in his hand and just waiting for Eddie to continue.

"I guess I couldn't accept the fact that Steve Harrington was actually a good dude. Rich parents, popular, chicks love him. Not a douche? No way, man, no way. That's like flies in the face of all the laws in the universe. " Eddie explained, and Steve simply just listened. "Still super jealous by the way."

Steve laughed as Eddie leaned closer a bit when he said that and just shook his head. As silence then surrounded them except for the faint voices of the girls in the front talking, Steve's eyes landed on y/n as she was walking next to Robin. What he didn't know was how clear he had been making it all to Eddie, who sighed at Steve and shook his head.

"She likes you a lot, man. She talks about you a lot." Eddie spoke, catching Steve's attention. What Steve had grasped was that when y/n worked up her grades to graduate, she had automatically hung around Robin more. But apparently, one time Dustin and Mike dragged her off somewhere because they needed help and she met Eddie. They became friends, kind of.

"What? Who? " Steve pretended not to understand.

"Man, I'm not blind. You're all googly eyes at y/n." Eddie rolled his eyes a bit and continued walking.

Steve knew he was completely smitten with the girl at hand, and there was no denying it to him. He had never felt so strongly for another girl. She held a special place in his heart. She was the girl who had just been sitting there and called him an ass when he got beat up by Jonathan Byers, but not in a bad way. Y/N was the girl who, when he picked her up in the summer, was out dancing with her adoptive parents on their front porch to music. She was the girl that had asked for him to just talk to her for her to feel safe and who would lie next to him with her hand interlocked with his as she'd fallen asleep after hours of worrying about what would meet her in her sleep.

"I'm not." Steve simply said and averted his gaze away from y/n to look around the place. But this only made Eddie sigh even deeper and quite practically made him want to hit Steve across the head.

"Dude, okey, you know what?" Eddie stopped Steve from walking any further, making him frown in confusion. "That girl over there, she cares a whole lot for you, man. I mean, I've only known you for less than four days and can already see those heart eyes of yours. And hers. No girl would ever freeze up like she does when looking at you without liking you. No way."

Steve turned his attention over to y/n in the distance. She, Nancy, and Robin seemed to be in their own conversations. It seemed important too.

"Look," Eddie started, making Steve look at him. "She didn't want you to jump in and go here. She'd rather go through whatever happened to her last year than have you go through that. That's what I call being in love. I don't know what it is between you two or exactly why you are all so protective over her, but trust me. You love her, and she loves you. Now, if I were you and a girl looked at me the way she looks at you or sought to be close to you in that way, I'd take the chance rather than have her go for another guy."

Steve was quiet, as he just stood there and took in what Eddie was saying. y/n was looking at him in a special way? That had to be impossible. There was no way he was that blind. Had he never seen her look at him the way Eddie had described her? Had she ever really looked at him in any way similar to how he was looking at her, it had to have been quite obvious that Eddie noticed and not Steve.

"Hey! y/n!" Eddie then called out for the h/c as she stopped and turned to show she was listening. "Steve's bored of me. I think he'd rather talk to you." It was quite smoothly done as Eddie was away from Steve's side within seconds.

Steve cursed Eddie out in his head as y/n stood and just waited for him to catch up so they could continue to the Wheeler house. His eyes were on the ground as he came up beside her. y/n smiled slightly as they started to walk behind the others in silence, but it didn't last long.

"You feeling any better?" y/n asked as she took a quick look at where he had been hurt earlier.

"It's going." Steve said as he glanced at her arm. "What about you? I didn't get to ask you how you are, you know, being here and all. "

It made y/n's heart flutter just a little more that he wanted to ask her that. She took a look around at her surroundings and then focused forward. "Not exactly where I wanted to be, he won't leave me alone." It made Steve's brows knit together as he looked over at her.

"Who won't leave you alone?"

"You know how I said there was this voice before I woke up, that said we were going to meet again?" Steve nodded his head. "I think it's always been Vecna, and he was right, we meet again. It's like a voice in my head. He's like telling me that he's happy I'm back. I hate it. "

"Hm," Steve hummed. He wasn't going to say he understood. because he didn't understand. He didn't know what it was like to have someone torment you for a month and a half and leave you with a constant reminder.

"Anyway, so, you got tired of Eddie, huh? Is he being like Robin? " y/n questioned as she wanted to lighten up the mood.

Steve rubbed his neck and said, "No, no, he kind of lied about that."

"Why?"

"To be honest, I don't even know." He did. "But while I can, I just want to say sorry for how I've been acting."

"You mean for hoovering the past year?"

"I wouldn't say I've been hovering," Steve mumbled, but y/n turned her head to him.

"Really? You don't call starting to work with me and Robin at Family Video, never dropping me off where you've always been dropping me off, not letting me go down here, not letting me do practically anything, aren't you hovering? "

Steve didn't say a word and just continued walking. It seemed that this didn't help his case, as y/n let out what seemed to be an annoyed sigh. She really wanted to know why he was like that. Sure, she loved to hang around him, but it was as if he saw her as less capable. Now Steve was struggling to tell her why he was like he was. Right now, in the upside-down, didn't seem like the right time to tell the girl you liked that you did just that. He would much rather do that when it was all over.

"I just want to know, you know? I'm just as capable as everyone else no matter what happens. " This made Steve stop and just shake his head, grabbing y/n's hand to stop her from walking further, giving them some distance from the others.

"I don't think you're less capable. I know you can take care of yourself."

"Well, you sure as hell make it feel like the opposite."

"Okay," Steve said in an exasperated tone. "Well excuse me for caring over the fact that last year you weren't yourself for three months and I'm so very sorry for feeling guilty about it. And I'm also so sorry that I'm worried you'll be like that again after this. " This truly shut her up. She took a step back from Steve and just looked at him.

"I just—" But Steve didn't know what more to say. As she stood there before him, listening to him, he could see that slight glimmer in her eyes. That glimmer he recognized from when they were younger and y/n had a crush on some boy. He would always tease her about it. But now, that glimmer was in her eyes as she looked at him. Eddie was right.

Without thinking, Steve reached out and placed his hands gently on her cheeks. holding her face as he stood closer now, his thumbs brushing her cheekbone. And in just a split second, he had leant down and placed his lips softly on hers. y/n was taken aback. She was stiff for just a slight moment before she sank into it. When Steve felt she began to relax, one of his hands moved so he could brush his knuckles on her cheek, lips still connected. y/n was unsure what to do with her hands, but she placed them gently on Steve's waist to steady herself.

After only what had been a little more than ten seconds, they parted. y/n was slow in opening her eyes and didn't look up at Steve. But he kept his eyes on her and tried to find her gaze. She felt his thumb brushing her left cheek, right under the cut she had gotten earlier. It was... comforting, nice. just what both of them wanted.

Steve didn't say anything, just waiting for a reaction from Y/N. Her eyes had been fixed on the ground as she seemed to be deep in thought. But then he could feel her lean a bit into his left and that rested on her cheek, making his heart leap a bit. The softest of smile grazed her lips. It seemed as though she was about to say something but was interrupted by Nancy.

"Hey you two, come on, my house is over there!" Nancy called to the two of them in the distance.

Steve turned back to look at y/n, and in a quick motion, which took him aback, y/n had placed one hand in his cheek and leaned up to give him a quick peck. And just as quickly as she'd done that, she was slowly jogging up to the other four. Steve stood there in shock, but despite the circumstances and location, a smile tugged on his lips. His heart rate increased, as did the flushing of the cheeks.

"Hey Dingus, you coming?" Robin yelled from where she was, making Steve shake his head and come back to reality.

—

Both parties of the Hawkins group were quite relived and all for the same reason. The oldest ones were in the upside-down because Dustin had come to realize that there was going to be a gate at every murder site, meaning they could all five get back into the normal Hawkins. And the younger part of the group, that being Max, Dustin, Lucas, and Erica too now, because the eldest ones had been gone for long enough and were all freaking out a bit inside because of the cops.

As soon as they came to realize that there was a gate at Eddie's place, it was in a matter of seconds that Nancy had said that they should still have bikes at her house in the upside-down. Since it was 1983 there, but when they had gone to take the bikes, there was one problem. They were one short. This meant that someone had to sit behind someone else on one of the bikes. This, however, appeared to be an easy choice, as Nancy, Robin, and Eddie had just taken bikes and rushed to get on. Leaving y/n to ride behind Steve.

None of the two said anything on the way. None of them mentioned the two shared kisses before, but it seemed that both of them knew about the other's feelings now at least. But as y/n sat and rode behind Steve, her hands rested on his waist from behind, and boy did this move make Steve blush like crazy. He peddled on and when they had reached the top of a hill to ride down, he simply relaxed and let the bike glide down. As he did, he put his larger hand on top of y/ns and slightly grabbed onto her hand. It, too, was a simple move, but enough to bring a smile to Y/N's face. It was only one of the other three that noticed them both; not Eddie, but Robin. She pulled a face and knew instantly when all this shit was over, she was so going to tease them about this.

It was when they rode past a house, one that was dark and seemingly familiar. Nancy knew what house it was; Victor Creels' house. All five of them felt on edge as the lighting seemed stronger there, but it was y/n was even more on edge. Her grip on Eddie's jeans jacket that Steve was wearing got tighter and she swallowed. A shiver went down her spine as her eyes never left the house. "Don't worry, we'll meet very soon." The voice said it loudly in her head, and she turned her eyes away. She focused on other things, like how El was doing, she missed the girl.

When they turned into the trailer park, the sky was still occasionally lit up by lightning and red hues in splotches of the dark blue sky. Eddie was first as he led them all. "Right here!" He called out as he jumped off the bike.

Robin and Nancy did the same, throwing their bikes to the ground. y/n jumped off a few feet away from the rest, so Steve could easily jump off the bike and drop it.

"It's got to be a Guinness world record, most miles traveled interdimensionally." Robin pointed out as they all walked towards the door.

"I just inhaled a bunch of that crap." Steve coughed while taking up the flashlight and his other free hand went to take y/n's. Bold. "It's stuck in my throat."

"Funny, ain't it?" y/n commented as they walked inside. But as they walked in, it was right there, the gate. It was right as you entered the trailer, in the ceiling. Just like the one in the lake, it was small and had a skin-like cover that gave off a red hue. All of them commented on it, Eddie pointing out that that was exactly where Chrissy had died. Then it was Nancy who pointed out the movement of the skin-like layer.

y/n walked closer to get a better look, but Steve's hand was still intertwined with hers, which stopped her from walking much closer. But then, when the skin layer broke, all five jumped back and looked with wide eyes at the gate. But when looking closer, they could see something, something that was strange. It was then the muffled sound of a triumphal laugh from the other side of the portal that they all walked closer. only to find the kids standing upside-down from where they were and in Eddie's trailer. His real one. All smiles and happy. They all waved at one another happily and relived that this was going to be over in just a matter of minutes.

Dustin had thrown a bunch of tied together sheets to form some kind of rope. According to him, when they threw it to the other side, it should stay and not move. Max and Lucas had put down a mattress to land on. "All right, pull on it, see if it holds!" Dustin called.

Robin hung on the tied-together sheets as instructed, and when it held, she became the test rabbit to climb through. It worked like a charm, and Robin landed on her back on the mattress with a sigh. Next was Eddie, and then Nancy.

"Well," Steve turned to y/n. "See you on the other side."

Y/N nodded and smiled at him. "On the other side." With that, she let go of his hand and reached out to begin climbing.

Steve stood beside her and just made sure he was ready if she were to fall on the wrong side, so she wouldn't get more hurt. But y/n climbed like a champ. She went through the gate, and once she was upside down, her own weight became too much to hold up, so she let go. But instead of landing on the soft mattress, she fell into nothingness, falling into a black void that felt like forever. The sound of a grandfather-clock ticking around her as she fell into slow motion. That was until she landed stuck under something. She knew what this was, Vecna.

She then finds herself lying under a piece of debris, no, a piece of a car. Flames around her as she looked around, feeling small. The memories were all coming back as panic began to set in. And then she was standing on the road beside the burning car, watching as it burned and saw two shadows inside.

"Mom! Dad!" She called out for her biological parents, not those who she now called mom and dad. But for those two, whom she had lost at the age of five due to her dad not looking on the road when another cat came and crashed into theirs.

She had never even touched the tied sheets. Right as Steve had turned to y/n and help her through, he noticed how her hand was just completely floppy in his. Not holding on, just laying there. And when he had turned, her eyes were blue as the clearest of sky but rolled up in her head. Twitching.

"y/n," Steve squeezed her hand, but she didn't respond. She just stood there, unresponsive and in a worse place than she'd been in a year ago.

"y/n, please," He now stood in front of her, hands on her shoulders before moving to hold her cheeks. He was cold, and his stress levels began to go up. Once again, he shook her slightly, but nothing came out of her, no response. His blood ran cold with realization.

"Steve! What's going on? " Robin yelled through the gate as she began to worry over the way y/n just stood there. But his focus was elsewhere.

"Come please! Damn it, come back, fight it! " Steve shouted at the motionless girl whom he had just gotten to, at least in some way, able to show how much he cared for her. And she had shown she cared as much for him as well. They both loved one another, but here he was, trying to get her back to him just like a year before.

"What's going on?" Dustin asked with wide eyes. Max took a breath and swallowed.

"Vecna" was all she said.

Mah gog that's the longest I've ever written, new score I guess. Anyway, yes, I will write another part when Vol. 2 of season 4 comes out but until then you'll have to wait <3

Also, you can submit ideas to me with Steve now too. I plan on writing a lot for him lol, and I already have a few cute one-shots in my drafts. (+one with Robin)

@srhxpci @anitatvd @lucypotterparker

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