people are strange ♔ steve harrington x oc

• 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕 •

Jenny practically fell out of Hopper's car when El got off of her. The Byers' front door burst open in an instant and Nancy stormed over to her brother.

"Oh, my God. Mike! I was so worried about you!" She gushed, pulling him into a hug.

Lucas, Dustin, and Jenny all looked at each other in confusion. That had to have been the first time they'd seen Nancy be affectionate with her brother in years.

"Yeah, uh... me, too?" Mike said, standing stiffly as Nancy held him at arm's length.

"Thanks for the concern, Nancy," Jenny joked, Nancy let out a breathy laugh.

"Jenny? What're you doing here?"

"Babysitting," She said. "And I'm expecting double pay for the trouble."

Nancy laughed again before her attention turned to Eleven, looking her up and down for a moment.

"Is that my dress?"

Eleven looked confused, looking from Jenny and the others back to Nancy.

"We don't have time for this," Hopper interjected. "What's important now is that we catch each other up on what we know, okay?"

Everyone voiced their agreement and followed Hopper back into the house.

Jenny gasped slightly as she walked inside. She had been there once for Will's birthday party that one time her brothers had been invited, but this was hardly the house she remembered.

Unscrewed Christmas lights were randomly hung around the ceiling, and all the furniture had been torn.

There were wooden boards nailed awkwardly to one of the walls, and torn, peeling wallpaper on the others.

Joyce, Nancy, and Jonathan took a seat on the large couch underneath ominous black letters painted onto the wall, while the boys, El and Jenny took a seat on the floor.

Hopper sat down in an armchair and laid back, "So? Get on with it."

"Oh right, so imagine an acrobat..."

Mike went on to explain the situation, finally coming to its conclusion without anyone interrupting for questions.

"Okay, so, in this example, we're the acrobat," He said. "Will and Barbara, they're this flea. And this is the Upside Down, where Will is hiding."

"That monster you guys were after, it can move like the flea too, through rips in time and space," Jenny explained.

"Which explains how it's travelling through Hawkins, we found one of it's holes in a tree hollow," Nancy said, which only raised more questions for Jenny that she just didn't have time to ask.

"A gate," Dustin confirmed.

"And we tracked the biggest one to Hawkins Lab with our compasses," Lucas added. The adults and teenagers looked at each other in confusion.

"Okay, so the gate has a really strong electromagnetic field, and that can change the directions of a compass needle," Dustin explained further.

"Is this gate underground?" Hopper asked.

"Yes," It was the first thing Eleven had said since arriving.

"Near a large water tank?"

"Yes."

"Ho-How do you know all that?" Dustin asked, puzzled.

"He's seen it."

"Is there any way that you could... that you could reach Will? That you could talk to him in this-" Joyce asked Eleven, looking hopefully at the little girl.