• The Best Hargrove • Steve Harrington x Reader •

Chapter Eighteen

After the big scene that had just happened, you had all made your way back to the Wheelers for the night. Dustin was on Max duty, well, so it was thought. You were awoken by the sound of a voice coming from the walkie-talkie, but you hadn't yet noticed that Dustin was asleep. You slept beside Steve, but he was fast asleep, and so were Robin, Lucas, Nancy and Max.

"Dustin, can you hear me? Dustin" Eddies voice was heard from the device. You went and picked it up to see what he needed since clearly, no one else would. "Hey, it's Y/N" you spoke softly into the walkie, trying not to wake anyone up. "Hargrove, hey! Umm.. I'm gonna need a food delivery like really soon, unless you want me going out into the world.." he requested.

"No, no no, don't do that.. Just stay where you are, and we'll be there as soon as we can" you assured, ready to turn the device off, but he said something else. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen.. could you pick me up a six-pack?" you sighed. "I know it's stupid as shit drinking right now, but a cold beer would really calm my jangled nerves" you looked over at the couch where Max was. Well, supposed to be.

"Hey uh, I'm gonna have to call you back" you mumbled before immediately turning off the walkie-talkie and rushing over to Dustin to wake him from his smubler. "Dustin! Wake up!" you hit his shoulders which caused him to lightly hit his head on the shelf behind him. "Aren't you supposed to be on Max watch?"

"Yep, yep, yep, sorry.." he brought his hands up to his eyes to rub them. "Okay well then where is she??" you worried, pointing at the empty sofa behind you. "She was right there.. a second ago, I swear I just dozed off!" he looked at the same spot you pointed at before fully jolting awake.

You and Dustin rushed upstairs to find Mr. and Ms. Wheeler, Max, and Holly in the kitchen. Suddenly, a wave of relief ran over you knowing that Max was safe. "Morning guys! Everything okay?" Ms. Wheeler asked with a hot pan in her hand. "Yep" Dustin panted.

"I think it's so sweet that you guys are sticking together like this!" she cheered, placing some freshly made pancakes onto a plate. "You could try sticking together at a different house for a change.." Mr. Wheeler proposed, lifting his head up from the newspaper he was so focused on.

"You know you're welcome here any time, you kids are like family" Ms. Wheeler welcomed and shot you and Dustin a warm smile. "Thank you, Ms. Wheeler" you thanked before making your way over to Max to see what she was doing.

You noticed her headphones still placed over her head and numerous pieces of paper covered in colour. "Hey, you okay?" you interrogated as you took a seat beside her. "Just couldn't sleep" she admitted, removing her headphones. "People kept blasting music in my ears for some reason" she joked, to which you giggled. "But, Holly let me borrow her crayons" she looked at the small blonde girl who sat across from you two. "We've been having a fun morning, right Holly?"

"Is this what you saw last night?" you asked as you gazed upon the many drawings spread across the table. "I mean, it's supposed to be.." she disclosed. "I thought it'd be easier to draw it out than to explain it, but not so much now that I'm really doing it" she explained. You were happy that she started opening up to you more now.

"Is that Fred and Chrissy?" you queried as you dragged over one of the drawings. "It was like they were on display or something, and then there was this red fog everywhere" she hovered her hand over all the red papers. "It was like a dream. Well, a nightmare.."

"You think Vecna's just trying to scare you?" you asked, looking at her with wide eyes. "With Billy? Yeah" she agreed. "But when I made it here, I don't know, it seemed different. He seemed surprised almost. Like he didn't want me there.