My Significant Bother || Steve Harrington × Reader

The Flea and the Acrobat

"What was Will saying? Like home... Like home...but dark?" Mike said to no one in particular as I placed El down on the basement couch. "And empty." Lucas added on. "Empty and cold. Wait, did he say cold?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know. The stupid radio kept going in and out." Lucas responded. "It's like riddles in the dark." I said. "Like home. Like his house?" Mike asked as he paced up and down. "Or maybe like Hawkins." Lucas said as he clicked his fingers. "Upside down." El said as she laid on the couch. "What'd she say?" Lucas asked.

"Upside down." I responded  "What?" "Upside down!" Mike said as he walked over to the table that had their DnD board on it. "When El showed us where Will was, she flipped the board over, remember? Upside down. Dark. Empty." Mike explained. "Do you understand what he's talking about?" Lucas asked as he looked at me and Dustin. "No." We responded.

"Guys, come on, just think about it. When El took us to find Will, she took us to his house, right?" Mike said. "Yeah. And he wasn't there." Lucas said getting annoyed. "But what if he was there? What if we just couldn't see him? What if he was on the other side? What if this is Hawkins and... this is where Will is? The Upside Down." Mike said as he flipped the board over. "Like the Vale of Shadows." Dustin said as we all looked at each other.

"The what?" I asked. Dustin sighed and went to go grab their DnD manual before sitting down again. "The Vale of Shadows
is a dimension that is a dark reflection or echo of our world. It is a place of decay and death. A plane out of phase. A place of monsters. It is right next to you, and you don't even see it." Dustin read.

"An alternate dimension." Mike said. "But... how... how do we get there?" Lucas asked. "You cast Shadow Walk." Dustin said. "In real life, dummy." I said. "We can't shadow walk, but...maybe she can." Dustin said as we looked over to El. "Do you know how we get there? To the Upside Down?" Mike asked. El responded by shaking her head, 'No'.

~•~

I drove Lucas home before driving back to my house. We got ready for Will's funeral. "Why do we have to go, we know he's alive." Dustin said as I helped him with his tie. "Think of it as us going undercover, if you're not there it'll will look suspicious." I said as I fixed his collar.

~•~

"Fear not, for I am with you. Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  It's times like these that our faith is challenged. How, if He is truly benevolent...
could God take from us someone so young, so innocent? It would be easy to turn away from God... but we must remember that nothing, not even tragedy, can separate us from His love. We are here today to find comfort in the truth of scripture, and to surround Will and his family..." we listened to the Pastor as we stoon infront of Will's casket.

"Just wait till we tell Will that Jennifer Hayes was crying at his funeral." Dustin said. I nudged his arm.

We threw roses onto the casket before greeting the other guests.

I noticed Nancy and Jonathan disappear so I followed them. I saw them sit down, so I listened from a distance. "This is where we know for sure it's been, right?" "So, that's..." "Steve's house. And that's the woods where they found Will's bike and...that's my house." "It's all so close." "Yeah. Exactly.
I mean, it's all within a mile or something.
Whatever this thing is, it's... it's not traveling far." "You want to go out there. We might not find anything." "I found something." "And if we do see it...then what?" "We kill it." Jonathan got up and Nancy followed suit I decided to slowly make my way over.

"When this thing is dead." I heard Jonathan say. "When what things dead?" I asked, causing them to jump. "Uh..um." Jonathan stuttered. "When the thing that took Will is dead?" I asked. Jonathan looked at me with wide eyes. "How-" "Long story, I'm all in, I want to help." I said.

~•~

I stayed with Nancy and Jonathan as we talked about a strategy. We decided to meet up after the funeral so we could walk around in the woods near the three locations to try and find the thing that took Will.

~•~

Dustin got a ride with the Wheelers while I went home to gear up. I filled a backpack with some essentials like a medi kit, some snacks and other things.

I grabbed an axe from the garden, just incase.

I drove to the location we all agreed to meet. I Heard gunshots before I saw Nancy waving at me. I got out of my car, and put my things on my back. "Is that an axe?" Nancy asked me. "It was either this or a stuffed animal." I said as we walked towards the gun sounds.

"You're supposed to hit the cans, right?" Nancy said as we saw Jonathan missing all his shots. "No, actually, you see the spaces in between the cans? I'm aiming for those." Jonathan said. "You ever shot a gun before?" He asked as he reloaded it.

"Have you met my parents?" Nancy said. "Yeah, I haven't shot one since I was ten. My dad took me hunting on my birthday. He made me kill a rabbit." "A rabbit?" "Yeah." Jonathan said as I put my stuff down and sat on the ground.

"I guess he thought it would make me into more of a man or something. I cried for a week." Jonathan said. "Jesus." Nancy responded. "What? I'm a fan of Thumper."
"I meant your dad."

Jonathan handed the gun to Nancy. "I guess he and my mother loved each other at some point, but...I wasn't around for that part...Um, yeah. Just, uh, point and shoot." Jonathan said.

"I don't think my parents ever loved each other." Nancy said as she shifted her feet. "They must've married for some reason." "My mom was young. My dad was older, but he had a cushy job, money, came from a good family. So they bought a nice house at the end of the cul-de-sac...and started their nuclear family." Nancy said as she aimed for a can. "Screw that." Jonathan said. "Yeah. Screw that." Nancy said a she pulled the trigger, the can went flying seconds later.

"I don't know my parents." I said as I looked at them, shielding my face from the sun as I got up. They turned back and looked with awkward smiles.

We killed some time by chatting and reviewing the plan. I learnt that Nancy wasn't a bad person, she just has a douchebag boyfriend.

When it started to get late we decided to begin our walk. We had been walking for a little bit when Nancy and Jonathan started talking, I sensed some tension so I continued forward to give them some privacy.

I had the axe hanging out my bag on my back as I snacked on a granola bar.

After walking for what seemed like hours, it got dark. We were walking together when I  heard a noise causing me to stop abruptly.

"What, are you tired?" Jonathan asked in a mocking tone. "Shut up." I said as I listened.  "What?" Nancy asked. "I heard something." I said as I heard the noise again and began to follow it.

Nancy and Jonathan followed behind me, we stopped when the noise became louder. I looked down to see a deer laying down in a puddle of blood. "Oh, God." I said as I put a hand over my mouth.

"It's been hit by a car. We can't just leave it." Nancy said as she held out the gun. "I'll do it." Jonathan said. "I thought you said-" I tried to say but Jonathan cut me off. "I'm not nine anymore." Jonthan pointed the gun at the deer, getting ready to shoot when all of a sudden it got pulled away in a quick movement. "What was that?" I said a bit scared. Jonathan and Nancy started running towards the deer, I trailed closely behind.

"Where'd it go?" I asked. "I don't know." Jonathan responded. "Do you see any more blood?" I asked. "No." He responded. "Shit where's Nancy?" I asked as I looked around.

We walked around trying to find Nancy. "Nancy? Nancy? Nancy, where are you Nancy! Nancy!" We yelled as we walked around the woods. "Jonathan!" We heard her voice echo.

Where the hell was she?