Steve Harrington x reader

Chapter 44

Fall of 1987

It's been a year and a half since Vecna opened all these gates from the Upside Down. Hawkins has been in a military quarantine. The Byers live with the Wheelers now that since they had nowhere else to go after everything that happened last year.

Steve, Robin and I have been working at WSQK radio station. It's basically out in the middle of nowhere. We've been relaying coded messages to the group. Our main goal is to communicate crucial information we learn about Vecna and how to take him down. We also play music and talk about the latest news, obviously. It's a fairly new job but it works and is very convenient.

Us three are inside the recording room as I'm reading the local paper about all the government bullshit that has been going on. Steve is holding sound props for sound effects as Robin starts off the morning with a positive tone, "Good morning, Hawkins! This is WSQK The Squawk!" Steve squeezes a screeching chicken. I smile at him as I keep silent to not interfere.

"It's looking like a regular day in Hawkins. Fifty-five degrees, low chance of rain, medium chance of arrest, high chance of helicopters. But general banality aside, it's an exciting day for me, your friend, entertainer, and DJ, Robin Buckley. Nice to meet you! AKA Rockin' Robin." she queues the music as she turns around in her chair holding a notebook with the word "Applause" on it. "And why is it a big day for me, you ask? Well, it's my 500th broadcast. Yeah, you heard that right folks. Five-double-o!"

Steve quickly puts in an applause cassette tape as the sound effect plays in the background while Robin continues to talk, "Which means it's been longer since you've heard the sultry voice of Jimmy "Fast Hands" Lee, but while Jimmy was fleeing Hawkins even faster than he moves those hands," Steve plays a woman screaming cassette. "Yours truly was watching slack jawed as the earth split open beneath her feet and coughed up that tsunami of mysterious dandruff. And now, I'm stuck with you, my fellow quarantine compatriots. And if I can be brutally honest, I couldn't be happier, because when you really think about it, why would you want to live anywhere else?" Robin explains. "I mean, what town on Earth can match our very impressive military-to-civilian ratio?"

Steve blows on his slide whistle as another sound effect. I sip my coffee as I listen to Robin's sarcasm about how normal Hawkins has been. "And those free, mandatory medical checkups? I mean, very cool. Cause after we inhaled those springtime snowflakes, who knows what's wrong with us? Maybe we're fine, maybe not. No one knows for sure. After all, this was a "natural phenomenon never before seen by man." She mimics a robot voice. "A phenomenon now covered up by a giant metal Band-Aid. Quite the eyesore but hey, great for sledding. Though seriously, kids, stop sledding on the giant steel Band-Aid. You are going to kill yourselves."

Oh yeah, when Vecna combined the Upside Down with our world above the government kind of just patched it up and called it a day. We always say it's like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg and saying it'll heal the problem.

Robin continues to broadcast, "Also, the men with guns, they don't like it, not one bit. While we're on the subject of things not to do, please steer clear of the Military Access Control Zone, aka the MAC-Z or as I like to call it, the Big Mac. I have no idea what's going on in there, but I have a gut feeling there's a pretty good reason they'd like you to stay away. But hey, the rest of Hawkin is still there for you to enjoy. Someday soon, they're gonna let us out of here." Steve rings the bell twice in the background. "In the meantime, be thankful this is your home, study for that test, enjoy that TV dinner, and go on that date." Robin then smiles to herself at the thought of Vicky. "Which, by the way, is exactly what yours truly is doing tonight. That's tight. Rockin' Robin has a date, ladies and gentlemen." Steven punches the screeching chicken again.