steve harrington is a total slime. (x reader)

5

By the time you got to your car, the streetlights had turned on. You were thankful for that- you weren't sure if Hawkins was safe at night anymore. You were more thankful, though, for the chance to rest your aching legs. Your feet felt like they were going to fall off. Walking for almost an hour would do that to you.

The long walk had given you plenty of time to think. Too much time to think, probably. You wondered about where Will could've gone, about Nancy's sudden disinterest in you, about Dustin's teenage moodiness, about Hopper's newfound coldness, about the  history test you had definitely bombed that morning.

It was all too much for you right now. Nothing seemed to be going right in the world, you thought as you unlocked your car and slid into the driver's seat. Absolutely nothing.

As you drove home, you noticed a familiar face biking out from the Wheeler's garage. You slowed down, stopping next to the fourteen year old boy who was definitely out way past his curfew. "Mike, what the hell are you doing?"

He froze, awkwardly adjusting his backpack as he fumbled for an excuse. "I'm going to Lucas's house, to uh. To study."

"Yeah?" You weren't stupid. He wasn't going to get away that easy, not with everything that's happened lately. You don't know what you'd do if another kid ended up missing. "Look, I know what you're doing."

He bit his lip. "You do?"

"Yeah, and as stupid as it is, I'm going to go with you." His eyes widened, obviously not expecting this. "Look, just-" you sighed, exasperated- "Put your bike in the back."

As Mike was putting his bike in the trunk of your car, you looked over to the Wheeler house. Knowing Karen, she probably had her kids on lockdown. If she found out you formed a search party after dark with her son, it'd be safe to say that you wouldn't be babysitting anymore.

Hold on.

Was that?

It couldn't be.

It was.

Steve Harrington was trying, and failing, to climb through Nancy Wheeler's window.

It all made sense now. The girl you thought was your best friend was messing around with your sworn enemy. It explained her sudden detachment, why the note she held looked so familiar, why Steve was late to class. You cursed yourself for not realizing it sooner.

Before you could begin to mourn the death of one of your only friendships, a knock on the window of the passenger side of your car broke you from your thoughts. Right, you'd forgot to unlock the door. Quickly, you leaned over to pull up the lock, waiting for Mike to get in and shut the door before driving off.

You waited until you couldn't see the Wheeler household in your rearview mirror to speak. "You do know how stupid this is, right?" You risked a glance away from the road to look over at the boy beside you. "I'm assuming Dustin and Lucas are in on this too?" Taking his silence as a confirmation, you sighed.

"He cast fireball."

"What?" You really didn't think this was the right time to talk about that stupid game.

"Will, he-" Mike's voice wavered slightly- "He could've casted Protection and protected himself, but he didn't. He risked himself for the party." Oh, you got it now. You could cast Protection and stay home where it was safe, or you could cast Fireball and risk your own lives looking for Will. It was kind of a stupid metaphor, but you understood what Mike was getting at.

"Okay, yeah, so we're casting Fireball right now. You do realize we'd have to roll at least a 13 out of 20, right?" Realistically, the chances of you finding anything helpful was slim to zero.

"That's not the point!" Mike raised his voice, getting irritated now. "The point is that we have to do something!" You sighed. The boy was stubborn- you knew even if you told him not to, he'd go out to look anyway. He'd already disobeyed his own mother, so what was the point in trying to keep him home?

You took a second to think about it. You knew, deep down, that you should be doing something too. What if Will really was out there? What if you found him? The chance was small, yeah, but it was still there. You decided you had to try, for his sake.

The rest of the ride was silent, except for the occasional rumble of thunder that let you know it was going to storm soon. As you pulled up, you saw the two familiar headlights shining from the bikes of Dustin and Lucas. Somehow they'd beat you here.

"Y/N?" Lucas looked astonished as you got out of the car, Mike doing the same. "Look, if you're here to take us home, we're not-"

"Chill. I'm here to make sure you don't get yourself killed." He closed his mouth, exchanging a look with Mike before huffing.

"Hey, guys?" Dustin tilted his head up, reaching out to the sky with an open palm. "You feel that?" You could hear the nervousness in his voice as it started to rain. "I think maybe we should go back."

"No!" Mike retaliated almost immediately. "We're not going back, just- stay close." He started off, Lucas behind him. "Come on." You looked at Dustin, who hesitated to follow. "Just stay on Channel 6. Don't do anything stupid."

"Hey guys, wait up." He quickly set down his bicycle before running to catch up with the other two. "Wait up!"

While the boys were talking, you had been rummaging around in your glovebox. Eventually you found what you were looking for- a mechanical, crank-powered flashlight that you kept for emergencies. Not bothering to lock your car just in case you had to make a quick escape, you quickly caught up to the boys.

"Alright, here's the thing. I'm the oldest, so if you one of you does something stupid, I'm the one who gets in trouble." You look at the three boys as the rain picks up. "So you're going to follow me, okay?" They didn't seem particularly excited by the idea, but nodded nonetheless. The four of you wandered around the woods in the pouring rain, shouting Will's name in hopes of locating the missing boy.

"Guys, I really think we should go back." Panic laced Dustin's voice as he spoke. He had never quite gotten over his childhood fear of the dark- he still slept with a nightlight on, not that he'd ever admit it.

Lucas was clearly fed up with his constant second guessing. "Seriously, Dustin? You wanna be a baby, then go home already!"

"I'm just being realistic, Lucas!"

"No, you're just being a big sissy!"

"Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?"

Dustin had a point. Maybe you shouldn't have encouraged this.

"And we're going to the exact same spot where he was last seen?"

Yeah, he really had a point. A bad feeling was beginning to creep up your spine.

"And we have no weapons or anything?"

"Dustin, shut up." Mike stopped in his tracks, focused on something.

"I'm just saying, does that seem smart to you?"

"Shut up, shut up." The four of you froze as you heard rustling coming from somewhere in the woods. "Did you guys hear that?"

"Yeah, I heard it. Really wish I didn't, though-" Anxiously, you swung your flashlight around in an attempt to find the source of the noise. You gasped as it landed on a scared looking kid. They seemed to be about the age of your brother and his friends, and looked soaked to the bone in an oversized t-shirt. "Holy shit."