HIGHER and HIGHER - Steve Harrington x Reader

xvii - tunnels

— 𝐓𝐮𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐬 —

"I NEVER gave up on you. I called you every night. Every night for—"

"353 days. I heard."

"Why didn't you tell me you were there? That you were okay?" Mike asks Eleven.

"Because I wouldn't let her."

We all turn to look at Hopper and I feel my stomach sink. Hopper walks towards Eleven.

"The hell is this? Where have you been?" He asks her.

"Where have you been?" She asks.

They embrace in a hug and Mike starts to get angry.

"You've been hiding her." Mike says, "You've been hiding her this whole time!"

He pushes Hopper.

"Mike!" I say to him.

He turns around and looks at me with anger.

"You were hiding her too! You knew about this!" He yells at me.

"Hey!" My dad says, grabbing his jacket, "Let's talk. Alone."

Hopper pulls him into the other room and we can hear Mike yelling.

I hand my axe to Steve and walk towards Eleven. I give her a small smile and she smiles back. I grab her quickly and pull her into my arms, squeezing her tightly. She squeezes back and I plant a kiss on the top of her head. She pulls away and I hold the side of her arms, taking in her silhouette.

"I like the new look." I say to her.

She smiles at me and then I let her go. She walks over to Lucas and Dustin and they engulf her in hugs. I walk back to Steve and he puts an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into his side.

"So, you were hiding a fugitive?" Steve whispers to me.

"I had to." I whisper back.

"That whole time I was coming over to your house, she was there?" He asks in disbelief.

"That's why I had you wait until everyone was asleep." I say and smile up at him.

"I thought that was just cause of your dad." He smiles back at me.

"That too."

Lucas and Dustin let go and Max walks up to El.

"Hey. Um, I'm Max. I've heard a lot about you." She sticks out her hand for El to shake and El pushes past her, not saying a word and hugs Joyce.

Max looks down at the floor and then over to Steve and I. I give her a small smile with my lips pursed.

"Yikes." Steve says.

I nudge his side and swing his arm off of my shoulder, taking my axe back from him.

Joyce takes El to see Will and then they come back out. El walks over to the dining room and we all follow her. She looks at the paper on the table that says 'CLOSEGATE'.