She didn't know any better. Years of being raised by the evil entity that was once Henry Creel skewed her view of the world she once lived in. When Y/N is sent by him from the Upside Down to infiltrate those that so tediously continue to thwart his plans, she ends up finding something with someone that she never could have expected. Will she betray the one who raised her, who helped her escape that horrific lab? Or will she help him burn it all to the ground? One thing was for sure. There was only one thing that might change her mind... She just doesn't doesn't even know he exists... Yet. ( Set from the beginning of S4 once flashbacks cease but reader has been part of prior Vecna plans. Reader is over 18/older than El to fit with Steve without it being weird and has powers; is 002 in this story so assume the bullies in the show were 003 upwards. Long-ish intro with flashbacks to try and make it make sense lmfao but only a few chapters. Please read TW's before reading and let me know if there's anything I missed. TW: Violence, brainwashing, death, both mental and physical abuse, manipulation, smut in later chapters, fem!Reader, angst )

𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒉. 𝒙 𝒇!𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒓 "𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒚𝒐𝒖 - 𝒔𝒖𝒅𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅𝒍𝒚, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆." -𝒎.𝒎 𝒎𝒄𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒚 ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ 𝙞𝙣 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙝 𝘢 𝘨𝘪𝘳𝘭 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘢𝘸𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩'𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 . . . reminders! ➤ stranger things and it's characters belong to the duffer brothers & netflix, excluding [y/n] and all additional characters written originally by me in the story ➤ this xreader insert will be using she/her pronouns, but all are welcome! ➤ story will begin at s2 ✎ season two - ✓ ✎ season three - ✓ ✎ season four - ✓ ✎ season five - in progress ━━━ highest rankings #1 in steveharrington 9/23/2025 #1 in xreader 11/28/2025 #1 in strangerthings3 12/27/2025 #1 in friendstolovers 1/2/2026 #2 in netflix 10/29/2025

Julia never expected her quiet life as a bookstore owner to collide with the world of Hollywood. But after a few unexpected encounters with rising star, Joe Keery, her life takes a turn she never saw coming.

A year and a half after their lives took different turns, Julia and Joe are living in separate worlds: hers grounded in the routine of her New York bookstore, his swept up in filming projects across the globe. But when an unexpected reunion stirs up long-buried feelings, their paths slowly start to intertwine once more. **Sequel to The End of Beginning**

Maggie swore she'd never be like the girls who fell for Gator Tillman, the sheriff's rotten son. But hate burns close to desire, and when old wounds and buried truths resurface, Maggie finds herself caught in a web of betrayal, control, and the one man she grew up despising. **This story uses characters and references from Fargo S5, but the events don't explicitly follow the show.**