It Gets Stranger [Stranger Things x Reader]

forty five

"how the hell are we supposed to get inside? it's closed." max says as nancy swerved into the convenience store's parking lot.

without answering, jonathan and nancy get out of the car. i watch as nancy picks up a big rock from the sidewalk and throws it at the glass doors.

"like that, i guess." i say, wide eyed.

max and i get out of the car and walk over to them. the others eventually follow. max stops to help mike lead eleven into the store.

"okay, get her down." nancy says as the three of them come around the corner. they set eleven down on the ground and up against the cleaning aisle.

"okay, lemme see." nancy says. i come around the corner and see nancy lift el's pant leg to reveal a bloody ankle.

"oh, shit." max says as el groans.

nancy scrambles to open one of the gauze pads but i stop her. "what- hey, what are you doing?"

"i'm cleaning the wound." she says.

"no, first, we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage." i explain.

everyone pauses to look at me, not sure whether to listen or not.

"just trust me on this." i say, shaking my head and putting a piece of cloth over el's leg. "mike, hold this."

mike puts his hand where i had been holding mine and eleven groans again.

"keep the pressure on it, nice and firm, okay?" i turn to nancy and jonathan. "we're gonna need water and soap."

"yeah, okay." nancy says as the two of them start getting up and running down the aisle.

lucas empties out his backpack behind max and we all turn to him.

"does any of this help?" he asks.

"no." max rolls her eyes at him.

"go get me a washcloth and a bowl." i say.

"a bowl?"

"lucas." i say in an annoyed tone.

will hits lucas' arm. "go."

"okay." lucas stammers before following will down to another aisle.

"i better go after them. i feel like lucas is gonna get the wrong thing." max sighs, getting up from next to me.

i sit on the ground in front of eleven while mike sits next to me. eleven's sitting up now, not in as much pain as she was a few minutes ago.

"does that hurt?" mike groans.

"uh, not bad." she says in a soft voice.

"you're gonna have an awesome scar." i smile, sitting with my knees up to my chest.

"yeah, you'll look even more badass." mike agrees.

"bitchin'." eleven grins.

"yeah, bitchin'." i say, nodding.

eleven chuckles and looks down at her ankle. mike looks over at me, motioning his head to the side as if to tell me to leave. i furrow my eyebrows at him, pretending i didn't know what he meant.

it's not that i enjoyed sitting here being a third wheel, but a part of me was growing jealous. i didn't want to leave the two of them alone. not right now.

"el," he starts, turning back to her. "i've been meaning to tell you something."

she looks up at him and i lean back.

"it's just, being broken up," he scoots closer in between el and i. "its been hard."

oh my god. this motherfucker.

eleven's eyes shoot towards me for a split second before turning back to mike.

a distorted noise comes from the radio, forcing mike to stop talking for a second.

"anyways," he continues. "i like that you and max are friends now and that you and y/n have gotten closer over the past few months. it's just, i was jealous at first, and- and angry. and that's why i said all that stupid stuff. and it's like i wanted you all to myself. and now i realize how unfair that is."

"bare minimum mike, really." i cough not-so-discreetly.

mike curls his lip at me.

"but, i just wanted to say i'm sorry. it's just- i've never felt like this" he motions towards him and eleven. "with anyone before."

ouch.

"and...y'know, they do say it makes you crazy." mike smiles.

"what makes you crazy?" eleven asks him, her eyebrows furrowed.

"aaand i'm out." i say, getting up and waking down the way max went.

mike was an asshole. the way he would just pretend that nothing ever happened between us? i was over it. for real this time.

as i'm about to turn the corner, i hear static and voices coming from the radio. mike and el must've heard it to because they pause their conversation.

"i repeat, this is a code red!"  dustin says on the other end.

i run back down the aisle to get the radio but mike beats me to it. "dustin?"

"mike?"

"dustin!"

"mike!" dustin screams. "oh my god, you have to listen. i know i've been MIA, and i'm sorry, it's not because i'm mad. i mean, i actually was mad, but it's also because i..."

the radio starts to cut in and out and we can barely make out what dustin is saying.

"dustin, you're going way too fast. i can't understand you." mike says.

"the goddamn russians!" i hear dustin yell. mike furrows his eyebrows at me. "and now- they're using- to open the gate."

"dustin, you're breaking up." mike explains, but dustin doesn't seem to hear.

dustin's end of the radio of continues to go in and out and a bunch of garbled noise comes out.

"dustin, you're cutting out!" mike says again.

"mike?"

i grab the radio. "dustin, you there?"

there's no response. just static.

"what is it?" nancy asks, coming around the corner with jonathan.

mike and i look up at them.

"it's dustin," i answer. "something's wrong but we couldn't tell what he was saying."

"do you know where he is?" jonathan asks

"no, we couldn't hear him." mike says.

we sit there in silence for a moment, trying to figure out what to do. eleven sits up all the way and grabs an american flag bandana from the shelf behind her.

"i can find him."